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Why is pornographic anime and manga referred to as "hentai" by non-Japanese sources? And when did it start?
If you try to google "hentai definition" most result would define hentai as a Japanese genres of manga and anime with sexually explicit images and plots. But Wikipedia explains it otherwise:

In Japanese, the term describes any type of perverse or bizarre sexual desire or act; it does not represent a genre of work.
Internationally, hentai is a catch-all term to describe a genre of anime and manga pornography.

And from this question we know that the word hentai never means anime porn in Japan.

No, hentai is a typical "英製和語" that has gained a totally different meaning outside of Japan. It never means anime porn in Japan.

From that question, OP mentioned that it was originated from 4chan, but from some comment on that question, the word it self was already in use for Japanese animation porn long before 4chan.
So how come non-Japanese refer to anime and manga pornography as hentai? And when did it start?

Relevant reading: http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue12/mclelland.html

hentai generally means pervert. It's the difference between that changes the meaning. So if we see hantai as an adjective to describe such works we tend to do the same or go as far as making it the genre of mentioned works.

As mentioned by Krazer, A Short History of 'Hentai ' by Mark McLelland
provides an excellent in depth analysis of the word's origin.
For people who do not want to read such a lengthy article, its gist is :
Since the Meiji period, the use of the term hentai has had a parallel history in both science and psychology, but the sense that hentai communicates of something being unusual or abnormal comes from the latter.
It was first used in the middle of the Meiji period in the context of the developing science of psychology to describe disorders such as hysteria as well as to refer to paranormal abilities such as telepathy and hypnosis.It had the connotation of something outside or beyond the normal.
Although the term originally circulated only among medical specialists, by 1917 it was being popularised via such journals such as Hentai shinri [Abnormal psychology]. However it did not have any particular sexual connotations in this context. Hentai's sexual reference was to come not through its connection with hentai shinri but through its juxtaposition with another, related term, hentai seiyoku or 'abnormal sexual desires'.
The technical term seiyoku or 'sexual desire' was introduced into Japanese via German sexology which began to be translated by medical doctors such as the army physician and novelist Mori Ōgai from the middle of the Meiji period.The notion of hentai seiyoku or perverse or abnormal sexual desire was popularised via the translation of German sexologist Krafft-Ebing's text Psychopathia Sexualis which was given the Japanese title Hentai seiyoku shinrigaku [The psychology of perverse sexual desires].


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What is the Juralian referring to by "that day"?
In episode 3 of Chargeman Ken, a Juralian speaks to some of the flesh-eating butterflies that have been plaguing Japan (and perhaps, elsewhere):

Oh, my lovelies. The Earthlings are in a panic over you. According to the Earthlings, you went extinct 50 years ago. My lovelies, until that day comes, be my power!
Nobody knows that I saved you 50 years ago, and that I improved you to eat human cells and multiply! All so that you would destroy the Earth!

[Text taken from Crunchyroll subtitles; paragraph breaks are my own.] What does the Juralian mean by until that day comes? Normally, it would seem to refer to the day 50 years ago when the Earthlings thought that species of butterfly extinct. However, this is not a good reading, since the Juralian indicates that this day has not come yet.
Does it perhaps refer to the day when that species of butterfly does in fact become extinct, or to the day when the Earth will be destroyed?

From what I pick out of the Japanese dialog, it seems that translation is quite word-for-word literal. What's interesting though is in the Japanese he uses the words "sono toki" instead of "ano toki" to refer to "that time" and I think that makes all the difference.
By Japanese 101 definitions, when referring to objects, you use "ano," meaning "that", to refer to an object far away from both the speaker and the listener. "Sono," also meaning "that", is used when the object is far from the speaker, but close to the listener.  Mind you, beware of Japanese 101 definitions of words because they hardly ever give the entire context to the word.
Throw in the context that you constantly hear in anime, when the speaker is trying to be vague and mysterious, they will say, for instance "ano hito," (literally meaning "that person" or you could just translate it as HIM, meaning that person we all know because he's that important, but I'm not going to name) often referring to some mysterious big bad who has yet make an appearance, and wasn't mentioned before in the conversation.
The use of "sono" then feels significant, likely implying that he's referring to the time he was just talking about (their extinction), rather than some other time that they all know about but aren't naming.
I also lean to this interpretation over the time when Earth is destroyed, as the subject of Earth being destroyed hasn't come up yet in his speech either.  Japanese is a very contextual language.  You generally will say a thing once to establish the current topic of conversation, then leave out the topic in following sentences until the topic changes.

"That day" means the day when they will go extinct.
Pulling together the two sentences:
"My lovelies, until the day you go extinct comes, be my power"
It would probably be much more obvious if it said "until that day ACTUALLY comes"
But it's Crunchy, they aren't really the best translators, even though they improved a lot during the lase few years.

note that it's entirely possible the subject of the sentence is omitted entirely, leaving viewers (and translators) to guess what is actually being referred to. my guess is that either the character is being intentionally vague (which seems to be a somewhat common literary device in manga/anime), or the writers assumed most people could pick up on the meaning from context.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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Is the episode 6 history of Justy Ueki Tylor in "Irresponsible Galaxy" canon?
In episode 6 of The Irresponsible Galaxy Tylor, a narrator tells the story of Justy Ueki Tylor. He begins by describing the events of The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, before stating:

[…] He returned Goza XV to Raalgon, and brough about a temporary peace.
However … Ceasefires are easily broken. Tylor and Ru Baraba Dom had a battle for control of the galaxy. Tylor won the battle completely, but the Grand Duchy of Ashuran conquered the galaxy. Raalgon and the United Planets put together a joint front, and in the final battle with Ashura, used their ultimate weapon, Suou to win, and bring about eternal piece. Tyler [sic] became president of the Raalgon Republic!
Tylor declared war on the United Planets, and had a final battle with Makoto Yamamoto. Tylor won, uniting the galaxy, and became the pan-galactic emperor! Ensured by Tylor's success, the Pan-Galactic Empire flourished. But now, humanity is in its twilight on the sidereal mega-structure.

[Text taken from the current version of the Crunchyroll subtitles. There may be mistakes: I hear what appears to be ゴザ十六世 in the audio, rather than ゴザ十五世. The narrator is also clearly referring to Azalyn, who is Goza XVI. Paragraph breaks are my own.]
Did the events described here actually happen in the Irresponsible Captain Tylor franchise, or was this all something that the narrator made up (or alternatively, something that was made-up for this spin-off)? Such events do not seem to happen in the OVA, and I also cannot find any reference to a confrontation with Ru Baraba Dom on his wiki page. But it seems possible that there may be light novel content that non-Japanese fans may be unaware of.

The light novels went well beyond what the anime series and OVA covered, and at least come close to what was described. According to The Irresponsible Captain Tylor OVA liner notes the Duchy of Ashran (which appears in the OVA) does try to take over the galaxy with a super weapon, the Raalgon Empire becomes the Raalgon Republic and eventually merges with the United Planets to form Pan-Galactic Republic. One of the titles of the light novels is The Irresponsible President Tylor (though I had always assumed that meant he became president of the United Planets).

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Was the Dressrosa Arc inspired by the Alabasta Arc?
I saw this post 2-3 days ago. Here Oda sensei explained why he drew that!
But apart from that I think there may be a deeper reason why he did that.
I think Oda sensei hinted that the story of Dressrosa Arc is inspired by Alabasta Arc.
We know he does that a lot. But if that is true then he is insane. Writing a story inspired by his own story... is on a different level, I think. In the end we see that these two stories has different viewpoint, nature and ambition of Crocodile and Doflamingo are different and a lot of things are also different (although the two arcs share a lot of similarities).
Is it true that Oda wrote a story inspired by his own story?

This question is unfortunately off-topic, but with a little tweaking I think it could be on-topic. You might consider asking "Was the Dressrosa Arc inspired by the Alabasta Arc?" instead; if Oda himself hinted that might be true, then answers could use that material as evidence for a textual comparison between the two arcs.

@Torisuda I edited a little, is it ok now?

@MANMAID It looks better, but I would remove the line "What is your opinion on this?" entirely just in case. Nevertheless, I'll retract my close vote.

@Torisuda I guess I understood how things work here. I mainly active on Mathstack, but fond of anime (a little biased to one piece!). Thanks for the help!

No problem. It can be hard to know where the line is between opinion-based and not when it comes to a subjective topic like anime, so glad I could help. Welcome to the site!

Well.. it is not stated anywhere by Oda himself (as far as i could search), but there is an ongoing rumor that the arcs in the New world are counterparts of their respective arcs in the beginning of the grand line.
So, we have Dressrosa as the first big arc since the straw hats entered the New World as a counterpart to Alabasta and Punk Hazard as the New World's counterpart of Drum.
Despite the similarities, there is still no confirmation by any official source that Dressrosa was based on Alabasta.
Annex: List of similarities between Alabasta and Dressrosa

thanksssss, a lot of similarities are their I overlooked...


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How strong is Freezer now?
Just watched Dragon Ball Super episode 95th (best episode ever some people says, last episode made record in ratings surpassing One piece ).
In it, (spoilers)
EDIT: If someone can, please edit the spoilers area which isnt working

! Freezer was able to handle with little damage a hakai energy ball mean to wipe out anyone not only from life but from existence and to control it.
! Later he threw it to Goku who wasnt able to control it and who got damage from it.
! Sidra says that if Freezer betrays him, he would take care of him, but a kaioshin commented it wouldnt be so easy for him to do it.
! Goku and Freezer sparring knocked themselves simultaneously , Goku was using super saiyan blue though he wasnt using super saiyan blue kaioken.
! Beerus comments Freezer is even with Goku

How strong is Freezer now? Is he stronger , equal or weaker than Goku? Is he in the level of Sidra?

 (since he was able to control Sidra's hakai energy?) . Beerus was able to remove Hakai's energy from Goku easier, so I take Beerus is still stronger than Freezer

Based on Goku's and Freiza's double K.O. I think it can be concluded that SSJB Goku is as strong as Golden Freiza. Goku on the other hand,  has the ability to stack kaioken *20 on top of SSJB which would make him significantly stronger than Freiza and UI Goku manhandled toppo and dyspo like it was nothing. Toppo is stronger than SSJB Goku and Dyspo is almost at the level of SSJG Goku. So I think it's fair to assume Goku is stronger than Freiza.

I would say Goku still has the upper hand if he would go all out, but Freezer would put a really close fight, well at least based on the info that we have been provided with. Regarding Sidra, no Freezer is not stronger then him. He was able to escape his attack, but that was just a part of his energy that he gave to his minion, in a straight battle he would take care of freeza.
In general, everyone is gaining huge power boosts in Super so the power balance is all over the place. Next week Vegeta could be the "strongest"

There is also more info on "how strong Goku is" in the last chapter of Dragon Ball Super Manga #25. Though I dont know if it's fair to compare anime with manga.

yeah they follow the same story but the execution is totally different this time.


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Who were the ten staff members behind Kemono Friends?
One claim commonly made about Kemono Friends is that it was created by "a staff of 10 over 500 days." (This seems to source ultimately to this tweet.) Some people mention further that five of the ten were animators, but I don't have a source for that part.
Who were these ten staff members who created Kemono Friends?
The Anime News Network encyclopedia entry for the show offers six names. That's a start. If "five animators" is correct, presumably the missing four all shared that title, working under Animation Director Yoshihisa Isa.

I don't have the rep to create a kemono-friends tag. I would've if I could've.

No problem, I've done it for you.

I seem to recall more than 10 names in the credits.

The image attached to the tweet mentioned "10 animation production staffs" instead of "10 generic staffs". The "animation production" is by Yaoyorozu, though no clue on the number of staffs working on it. However, there are 10 names mentioned as "producer" on Japanese Wikipedia... I don't know if it's related or not though.


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What exactly is Sugimoto's relationship to Kawasaki?
In chapters 18-19 of Aoi Hana, it is revealed that the third-year Yasuko Sugimoto is moving to England with Ayako Kawasaki, her co-star in Fujigaya's production of Wuthering Heights. The discussion surrounding this revelation gives a romantic undertone to this relationship — a newspaper headline is shown with "Catherine Heathcliff Honeymoon in England." It is unclear whether this should be taken any more seriously than straight teenage girls who proclaim to be "married to" or "engaged to" or "dating" their close female friends. (I personally assumed that there was potential for a relationship, but that it probably would not develop in that direction.)
Later, during Akira and Fumi's second year, Sugimoto visits Japan and has a conversation with Kyouko Ikumi in ch. 32, in which Kawasaki is mentioned:

Ikumi: … And do you have any plans with Kawasaki-sempai?
Sugimoto: Huh? I see her all the time over there. I'm not going to go out of my way to see her here.
Ikumi: So that's how things are between you? How nice. I like that sort of relationship.
Sugimoto: Well, we're taking it slow over there … Letting our love blossom.

Sugimoto's final comment suggested to me that there is indeed something between her and Kawasaki. However, in ch. 52, which depicts the events around Ikumi's wedding, we are told that Kawasaki is in the hospital with appendicitis. We also learn from Ryouko Ueda that:

Right now, her boyfriend and her roommate are looking after her [Kawasaki].

The panel also shows a character who clearly is not Sugimoto and who is probably male.
With this in mind, was Sugimoto ever romantically involved with Kawasaki, and if so, do we know anything about what happened to their relationship or why Kawasaki now has a boyfriend? Alternatively, am I misinterpreting something in the exchange with Ikumi?


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Why do the humans that can turn into titans kill other humans?
In one of the episodes in the anime, the armored titan is breaking one the walls and I'm still trying to figure out why he did that instead if the helping the humans.

The title seems wrong. Did you mean "humans that can turn into titans?"

Um.... this is the majority of the story.  Are you sure you want this answered here?  It is like asking who killed the victim online when you just started a mystery novel.

Just start watching the second season, it will be explained eventually. Or read the manga. BUT if you like spoilers then I will answer you

Yeah can you just spoil it please?

That's a really huge question here because to answer it you have to reveal a lot of the anime's secrets which would be really sad but if you really want the truth, I'll strongly summarize :

Explanations

This is a map of the actual world of Shingeki no Kyojin. The little island on the upper-right corner is Paradis : the land where the anime takes place. Its habitants are the Eldians. The huge continent is Marley, the land of the Marleyan people. In short, Marleyan and Eldians used to live on the same place, before an Eldian of royal blood, Ymir Fritz, made a contract with the Earth Devil to gain a power. The power of the Founding Titan.

After Y. Fritz

When she died, her power was split between her 9 descendants who were given the possibility to shift into powerful titans like the Female, the Colossal, the Armored or the Beast Titans. Because of that power, the great nation of Marley felt threatened and waged war against the Eldian. The Eldians became too powerful utterly and destroyed the Marleyan nation and obtained complete rule over the continental mainland.

After the War

Many centuries after Eldia's ascension to power, the 145th King of the Fritz family inherited the power of the Founding Titan, the greatest of all Titans. Rather than maintaining order in Eldia as his forebears had done, the King chose instead to relocate the capital of Eldia to the remote island of Paradis. In the King's absence, the surviving peoples of Marley rose up against their oppressors, starting the Great Titan War. At this time, Marley succeeded in obtaining seven of the nine Titans in Eldia's possession, drastically turning the tide of the war. Over an unspecified amount of time, Marley gradually gained control of the continental mainland that once was ruled by Eldia until only Paradis remained as King Fritz's undisputed territory.

Paradis

At this time, in the year 743, King Fritz used the Progenitor Titan to guide countless Colossus Titans in the raising of three concentric Walls, Maria, Rose, and Sheena, around Eldia's remaining territory. In order to force peace between Eldia and Marley, King Fritz gave the ultimatum that any further act of war against Eldia would be met with the releasing of the countless Titans hidden within the Walls. With this, the Great Titan War ended.

What really happened this day

Then here comes the answer for you question : the Titan Shifters who are standing against the Humanity are actually Marleyan Soldiers whose goal is to defeat Eldians because the King of Marley is looking for the resources that Paradis still have underground. Because of the King Fritz's threat, they act sneaky instead of sending a front attack with their advanced technology and incredible power.


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Is Silvana's comment about the moon in her exchange with Mireille a real life quote?
In episode 9 of Noir, Silvana meets Mireille and has a conversation with her, which the Funimation subtitles give as:

S: I thought you would come here. Daughter of Corsica, Mireille. Mireille Bouquet …
M: So you did see me.
S: "The light of the moon is merciless, and exposes those who would hide."
M: But how could you have remembered me? Once … Yes, we only met once before.
S: You were trembling then too. And now, you are before me as a blade known by the name of Noir.

Silvana then gives Mireille "the kiss of death" and tells her where to find her the next day.
The line about "the light of the moon" sounds like a quotation that Silvana pulled out of somewhere, since the Funimation subtitles put quotation marks around it and since it has a "theatrical" quality to it. With this in mind, is Silvana quoting something that exists in real life? I tried searching for "the light of the moon is merciless" and only got results for Noir, but it's possible that I might have missed something.

Googling for the line in Japanese 「月の光は無慈悲。隠れたる者を暴き出す」 also just gives me Noir results.


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What do Seiyuu do after they are no longer at the peak of their fame?
Before they are famous, many seiyuu would work part-time whether it be at fast food restaurants or even physical works. For example the seiyuu Uchida Aya:

During the early stages of her career she supported herself with part-time jobs such as being sales staff at departmental stores, production line quality inspector at factories, and sometimes even menial labor carrying cardboard boxes. The key criteria she had in choosing her jobs were that they had to be shift-based and versatile such that she could report to her entertainment office any time she needed to.2

Others also have career as eroge seiyuu (Nitta Emi, voiced a character in an eroge, Da Capo III), before they went famous and might continue even after they are famous, such as Itou Shizuka and Asakawa Yuu.
Like all entertainment job, a seiyuu job has its peak, and after that peak is over, the number of job offers one receive would reduce. I'm curious as to what does a seiyuu that is no longer at their peak of fame do for a living when they no longer have many anime to voice? Do they work on eroge? Or just normal games? Or they turn into salary-man/woman (office workers)? Please give some examples with your answer.
Edit 1:
If they retire at age of 40 or so (which is already stretching it as most female seiyuu would see the peak of their fame at their 25s, while the male ones would still be able to retain their fame longer), then they still have around 30 to 50 years of life ahead as a retired seiyuu. Certainly they would still need some jobs that earn them money to support their living, which is what this question is about. This is especially true since seiyuu don't get royalties from having their voice recorded, unlike singers. Mangaka gets their royalties from every copy of goods that is produced from the series they make.
krazer suggested that they are like athletes and other celebrities, they retire. Many athletes continue working after they retire from their professional career. Some famous footballer becomes a coach, for example, Zinedine Zidane, Antonio Conte, Diego Simeone, Pep Guardiola, and many more. But as for seiyuu, I never heard of a seiyuu that turned into a voice-acting coach.
senshin suggested that they do Hollywood dubs, while Aki Tanaka suggested that they do freelance voice-acting and voicing for mobile games. Problem with this is that as Aki has mentioned, it is not regular, while their living bills (accommodation, food, etc) still needs to be paid regularly. And with the seiyuu being no longer at the peak of his/her fame, freelancing might not be enough to earn them the money they need. Also I don't think the number of such job available is not much. I mean how many hollywood movies are being dubbed into Japanese anyway? I bet not much. Only the famous ones would see itself being shown in Japan. As I noticed from games such as Chain Chronicles, Kancolle and Panzer Waltz, one seiyuu voice several characters in such games.
Thus, I think the number of jobs available from dubbing Hollywood movies and mobile games won't be that much, and they still have to compete with seiyuu that is still at the peak of their fame, plus the rookie seiyuu as they are often also chosen to mitigate the production cost.

I'm curious about this too, since until literally this season, we've seen neither hair nor hide of Fumiko Orikasa.  The same could be said of Rie Kugimiya; in spite of the fact that she does voice characters in long running anime, we haven't really seen her all that often in newer animes, and even then it's a much more minor role.

They retire. Not unlike athletes and other celebrities.

There's a lot of voicework to be done outside of anime. Japan is very much into dubs of Hollywood films, for example. Aside from "idol-type" voice actors who are more about all-around entertainment value and less about technically-strong vocals, I doubt work ever really dries up for voice actors who have at some point achieved "fame".

Freelance voice acting is also a thing in Japan. They can still be offered to voice act (e.g. in TV advertisement, or "a certain virtual YouTuber"...) although not regularly. And then there are long running social games with almost endless events that need voice acting... (re: Rie Kugimiya as Vyrn in Granblue Fantasy)

I don't think there's one thing that all seiyuu do. Some might retire, others might change profession. It all depends on the person and his/her circumstances.

@KinoEgg true. What I'm asking here is what most seiyuu do after they are no longer famous.

Some of them become narrators who provide their voices for TV shows, commercials, etc. For example, https://www.facebook.com/hodostation/videos/1587682591548530/

What I'm asking here is what most seiyuu do after they are no longer
  famous

Firstly, the assumption that other professions with an early retire age generally have a following job that most workers transition to is not entirely accurate. For your NFL example, according to this, only 19% of coaches were former players and when you consider the much faster player turnover rate and the fact that there is far more players than coaches, it is clear that most players do not become coaches.
In the respect of what seiyuu do after their peak, they are just like other professions of a similar nature. If someone needs money, they try to get the 'best' job they can with their skillset and connections. What someone's connections are, and what they view 'best' to mean is so subjective, and varies so much from person to person that it is impossible to point to a specific job as what most seiyuu do after fame. (and thats before bringing in the ever-changing job market)
The next job is still likely to be at least partly related to seiyuu work, since that is their skillset and they probably made some connections along their career that could offer them some other work. However, this is not necessarily true and because of the variation of job market and each person's circumstance, it seems meaningless to point to any specific examples of working ex-seiyuu's... Someone could probably make a very long list, but hopefully this should answer your question to satisfaction.


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Why is anime so expensive to make?
It's not like I thought that anime could be one thing that one group of people could easily decide one day to do, but costs are seriously way bigger that I could have ever imagined, as shown here for example, what's worse is that making a simple episode can even be more expensive than that, as shown here, it can even go up to 300,000 $ per episode.
It literally says.

An anime episode can cost between US$100,000 and US$300,000 to produce.

That maximum is around 6 times bigger than what I thought an anime episode could cost at most (considering that what's animated is a top series, with top animators, top animation programs, top voice actors and so on).
All costs shown on first link are around 3 to 10 times bigger that I would have expected, so I'd like a general explanation, prefarably using the costs shown in first link as a base, of why it is so expensive to make.
Thanks.

You really want to ask why per-frame animation (not just anime) and voice acting are so expensive (among other things). You can easily google answers for those questions.

there is no Production heading on that Wikipedia Page as such the anchor link doesn't work. i suggest updating the link and also quoting what part you are referring to

while writing an answer i realized you don't actually indicate where your getting you're assumptions of cost from. where did you come up that an anime costed $50k to make (300000 / 6)?

Memor-X Just a guess I had done on my own, with the knowledge I had about anime production, I had calculated something aroung 50000 $ at most per episode, that with an high-end production, it was a surprise that it can be 6 times that.

The link you've given in your question pretty much answered why it is that expensive. Read on and you'll find your answer.

Each episode of "The adventures of the Galaxy Rangers" cost $1M.

Well, you have to take into account that making anime is very difficult to make and require many different professions. To make anime, you need art directors, character designers, teams of artists to draw the anime, directors, film editors, voice actors, sound effects, script writers, music, etcetera.

Which information requires additional references? As I see the question all that can be referenced is referenced, the only things I see no referenced are my personal thoughts, which cannot be referenced.

I don't know why the "additional references" banner was put on the question, but I do think it would be helpful if you went into more detail about specific costs and why you thought they would be less than they really are. I posted a general answer comparing the cost of making anime to other kinds of animated shows, but without more details about why you thought it should be cheaper than it is, I couldn't really address your question specifically.

As animated television goes, anime is actually made on the cheap. This article goes over the costs per episode of a few different US animated shows; every one of them is more expensive than the cited high-end cost of $300,000 per episode for anime.
The Simpsons seems to be top in costs; according to the article, it cost around $2 million per episode in 2007. A 2011 source indicates that voice acting costs per episode alone were around $300,000, and that was after the actors took a 30% pay cut, coming down from a high of around $440,000 per episode. That means The Simpsons was paying more per episode for voice acting alone than the entire budget of an average anime episode.
As for the rest, Nickelodeon apparently spends around $600k per episode on their animated shows; the sources come from comments made around the release of TMNT, but a post in a forum cites a Wall Street Journal article that I can't read because it's behind a paywall claiming that Spongebob too is around $600k per episode. I was shocked that Drawn Together got $700k per episode since it was widely regarded as terrible and was canceled. This Cineeuropa article claims that the average hour of US animation in 2007 cost €776k (about $800k today).
An Answerman column from 2015 also goes over this and offers some conjectures about why: US animators get paid more, thanks to unions and other market factors, and voice actors, like other television actors on US TV, tend to make more money as the show goes on longer, as we saw with The Simpsons. In another 2015 article, ANN reports on a study finding that animators in Japan make around $28,000 a year, which is a very modest salary in the US. This 2009 article goes into more details on staff salaries in anime. Another Answerman column touches on voice actor salaries in Japan and mentions that most voice actors make between $120 and $360 per episode, though the more famous ones can set their price.
So anime are not really that expensive to make, in terms of the usual cost of producing a professional level half-hour animated television show with top talent.

It's depending on the technology which is used by the studio.
I think we can use the forward algorithms of animator programs to easily create the good anime without scanning, but draw on screen can reduce the artistic level of the movie if the artists aren't familiar.
The voice actors can be rented or you can ask your friends for voicing to reduce money until you already have sold a lot of anime.


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Which Pokémon cry out their name, and which don't?
In Pokémon, some Pokémon "cries" are their name and some are not.
Is there a list of Pokémon whose cries are their name and Pokémon whose cries aren't?
I did do research but I didn't find the answer I was looking for.
I asked this on Arcade, but they told me to ask it here instead.

@Matt ninja'ed on the edit.

Welcome to A&M! Would you be able to add a link to your question on Gaming for us? I'm not sure why they'd send it over here if it was the games you were interested in.
Also, I've altered your question slightly as if it's purely regarding the games it would be closed as off-topic.

@DrakaSAN Sorry, haha :P Good work on getting the old question though, I've approved your part.

http://pokecries.com/ may be this will help

The problem with making such a list will be that we would need to know the japanese name of the pokemon and its pronouciation, check for the cries in game, and the cries in the anime too. With 600+ pokemon now, and cries that changed between generations, it would mean checking at least 6k cries.

Most Pokémon names are a reflection of their cries. This makes sense as the scientific community of the Pokémon universe would have easily coined a common name to the fascinating creatures.
Classic examples of name-cry match are Pikachu, Emolga, Cyndaquil, Shinx and Oshawatt. Chatot, Mew and Ditto can say a bit more than their own names due to their nature...
Some perfect exceptions to the name-cry rule are Onyx, Gyrados and Rotom. They just seem roar/screech with no clear decipherable word. Many bug types seem to have no clear cries.
Actually, there are some which say a part of their name but not completely!
Consider Pacharisu, which usually utters "chhipa" most of the times!
Also a few Pokémon communicate through telepathy, such as Lucario and Zorua... They've never seen crying out their own names.
Finally there are Pokémon which don't have vocal abilities, such as Staryu (although it literally sounds like "HYA")
I guess a list has to be manually compiled...

This is not surprising. In real life, many languages have assigned names to animals this way. Listen to the word for cat in Mandarin Chinese and tell me that it is anything other than clear onomatopoeia. Ancient Egyptian did the same thing - writings found in ancient tombs are full of references to mews.

@Robert Hahaha, I googled cat Mandarin pronunciation, that was amazing.    Māo Māo Māo!  xD


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Why is Nisekoi's name written in Katakana?
Noticed it first in this Jump cover in the bottom right corner:

Katakana is used for spelling out foreign words. Nisekoi is Japanese for "fake love". So, why is katakana used? Just to make the name seem more "cool"?

My .02 would be marketing? I learned in my Japanese class that in most business cases like product marketing when dealing with titles of products either katakana or kanji is used.

There's a greater chance for non-Japanese to be able to read Katakana compared to reading kanji. Other than that it is just styling. Just like fripSide was styled as such and not Fripside, ClariS and not Claris, sweetARMS not Sweet Arms. Note that in Japanese there is no capital letter, thus they stylize by using Katakana instead.

@AyaseEri I don’t think manga magazines will think of non-Japanese in any way … Japan is their main market …

The one to give the title is the author, not the magazine.

Replace magazine with author and nothing in the argument changes.


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Why are Chinese names in anime sometimes rendered in English using the Japanese pronunciations?
Background on how Chinese names are pronounced in Japanese
Consider the man who was the chancellor of the state of Shu under Liu Shan during the Three Kingdoms period. In Chinese, his name is written 诸葛亮. In English, his name is typically written Zhuge Liang (pinyin), which is a reasonably close approximation of how his name is pronounced in Mandarin.
Japanese, though, does something that may seem strange. The Japanese language has its own unique ways of pronouncing Chinese characters, and so even though this man's name is still written 诸葛亮 (same as in Chinese), it is pronounced "Shokatsu Ryō" - nothing at all like how it's pronounced in Mandarin! The reasons for this are complicated; basically, it has to do with how the Japanese language borrowed Chinese pronunciations for Chinese characters (so-called "on readings") from Middle Chinese mostly before 1000 CE, and how the Japanese and Chinese/Mandarin pronunciations have diverged in the ensuing millennium-plus.
The actual question
In some anime, the names of Chinese people are spoken. This sometimes happens with historical figures, e.g. Gakuto in Prison School and his obsession with Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It also happens with the joint Chinese-Japanese productions that've been springing up lately, where pretty much everybody's name is Chinese - for example, Hitori no Shita: The Outcast, Bloodivores, and Soul Buster from the past few cours.
The thing I find weird is that sometimes, Chinese names are localized using the Japanese spellings. This makes no sense to me - nobody outside Japan has any idea who "Shokatsu Ryō" is, whereas many people will have heard of "Zhuge Liang".
Some examples:

Crunchyroll's subtitles for Hitori no Shita (for example, the character "Baobao" is rendered in the subtitles as "Houhou")
Crunchyroll's subtitles for Soul Buster (the Han dynasty is subtitled as the "Kan" dynasty!)
the manga Reincarnation no Kaben, apparently
the Crunchyroll subtitles for Cheating Craft also do this (the main character is called "Shokatsu Mumei" in Japanese, but would be called "Zhuge Mu Ming" in Chinese), but since the show technically takes place in the fictitious "mainland" rather than real-world China, I'd let this one slide

I know I've seen this happen elsewhere; I'll update this list if I remember where I saw it happen.
Why would a subtitler or other localizer choose to render Chinese names into English using the Japanese pronunciations? This approach seems wrong on its face to me, so I'm hoping to hear from some involved party why this decision might be made.

FWIW with Hitori no Shita, I remember Crunchyroll "correctly" rendering "Zhang Chulan" instead of "Cho Shaku-rin", but I could be wrong. (Don't have access to the subs right now to check properly.)

@Maroon Funny thing about that - I believe they did go with "Zhang Chulan" for at least episodes 1 and 2 at the time they were aired, but they must've gone back and "retconned" the subs, because it now uses "Chou" instead of "Zhang"; the title of episode 1 is now "The Chou Family's Secret?"; and the synopsis of episode 1 starts with the sentence "The grave of a man named Chou Shakurin has been disturbed in the Chinese countryside."

Most Japanese people don't know "pinyin" name of the prominent figures from the "Three Kingdoms," so it's natural they use the pronounciation that's most familiar to them. Furthermore, English translators of these anime are not expected to be familiar with the historical figures of Chinese history, as such literacy is rarely a prerequiste for the job. Language proficiency is. These translators often deal with short/abrupt deadlines and have little time to verify the accuracy. As much as we'd all like them to be held to a higher standard. Speed is valued more than accuracy in the industry.

@кяαzєя Sorry, why is it relevant that Japanese people don't know the Mandarin names of Chinese people? I get that Japanese people are of course going to call Zhuge Liang "Shokatsu Ryō" when speaking Japanese. It's the English localization process that's weird here. (Incompetence may well be a valid-if-unsatisfying explanation here. Kinda hoping there's a meatier answer to be found somewhere.)

Just relating it to the fact that just as the Japanese stick to syntax they are more familiar with, chances are your common translator for streaming anime has the same mindset. The bar was never set very high to begin with. Dx

@кяαzєя "Speed is valued more than accuracy in the industry." I wonder if fansubs are more accurate in this aspect since they aren't bound to deadlines and involve people with more interest in translation quality.

Personally I encountered this is the historical fiction manga Kingdom. Based on the Chinese warring era I've seen the different translations go to and fro between both the Japanese and Chinese pronunciation of the names. I always chalked it upto the translators personal preference, rather then the mangaka

Translator's preference. 2. So that they subtitle match what is being said. The character speaks the name in Japanese. Thus, the subtitle follows

Not enough to be an answer (plus it's more conjecture than anything), but it may have a lot to do with having to the translator not knowing Chinese. While Three Kingdom characters may be easily accessible, minor characters and original characters would require a lot of research, or the employment of a Chinese translator just for that purpose. Sometimes, manga don't even use the kanji, but just katakana. So I feel they may be erring on the side of caution, instead of butchering the names.

I can't yet cover all the reasons, but at least on Hitori no Shita and Cheating Craft, that's what they're using on their official sites.

Hitori no Shita - Characters (English)

Cheating Craft - Characters (English)

Changing the names from the one stated on the official site may confuse viewers when they notice the inconsistency, especially coming from official licensees (e.g. Crunchyroll). This should also explain the retconned subs of the first 2 episodes of Hitori no Shita when they diverged from the official given names. The viewer's experience could certainly be improved by adding "translator's note" though.
I can't say for Reincarnation no Kaben, because apparently it hasn't been licensed in English yet. In this case, fansub/scanlation is a different thing because they're free to translate how they want to (add "lack of research" into the factor too).

Hm. That's interesting. Though that sort of does just push the question one step further back - instead of "why does the anime use Japanese spellings?", it's "why does the official site use Japanese spellings?".

@senshin now that's a lot harder question... I'd guess that since the production staffs were mostly consisted of Chinese and Japanese (and some Korean) staffs, and since the anime is considered as Japanese anime, they just decided to use their romanized name in Japanese. English editors in this case might only do copy editing, thus fixing vocabulary and grammar without changing the original intent (e.g. romanized Japanese → Pinyin reading). Again, this is just a guess.


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Why aren't Japanese animation studios switching to digital art for production instead of pencil and paper?
In the introduction paragraphs of Visiting Studio Colorido: Up-and-Coming Digital Animation Studio by Naoya Koji posted in October 2015,

[...]
Today, many of Japanese animation studios rely on “papers and pencils” to produce anime. Although some parts have been updated, this is the traditional Japanese style of the animation production which has been handed down for decades.
The world is now in the age of the internet and the digital tools. The animation studios innovate those new cultures, but Japanese studios remain in the world of “paper and pencil.” [...]

Even today, Japanese animation studios still use pencil and paper to produce animation.
Why can't they switch from that method and proceed to digital hand drawing for animation production since it is much less time-consuming? Why can't anime studios use graphic tablets (e.g. Wacom) to draw and animate instead of using pencils, papers, and eraser because it's maybe outdated and obsolete?

As far as I know, the vast majority of anime nowadays is produced digitally. Search for "digipaint" to find out more about the process.

Here is an interesting article about how the anime production process works.
Here's an excerpt I found particularly interesting (and relevant!):

[T]he crucial thing is that the frames are still initially drawn by hand, and no in-between animation is simulated by a computer. There are some animators who draw 2D animation directly onto computer, but in anime this is largely restricted to in solo animation productions rather than commercial anime. The industry prefers this because the animators are generally more comfortable and able with this method, and it allows easier checking and correction of frames under sometimes tight schedules.

its about using graphic tablets in animation by hand drawing digitallly

The animation line works require high precision, which in turn means better drawing tablet/computers are needed.
Much in-betweens are produced overseas. Having been at a small studio in China, I feel that the studio will not be able to afford such device for every animator.
Also one need to take into account of how much changes when drawing digitally. Tablet screens have very low friction compares to pencil on paper, which means complete relearn how one uses muscle and maintains stability. This is a no-go for established studios, as they are constantly on time pressure.
Coloring requires less precision, and can be performed by a mouse, so those are done digitally in the studio.

so why exactly do japanese anime studio still use pencil and paper even today?why not move on to graphics tablet?

@user25750 even if they do (overcoming all the training), they don't gain anything really if the in-between is still tracing their work by pencil and paper.

I think the overhead of providing computers and licenses to every animator, along with the cost of hiring additional team members as IT staff to maintain networks and computers could easily ballon production costs. After that, they would have to hire animators trained to use the software that the studio uses.
Smaller Studios often outsource parts of their animations to studios to do computer animation. Also many studios use computers to color artwork, to do backgrounds, and to composite. Larger studios might have teams in house to do the computer work.

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


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Can the Tales of Games be grouped storyline-wise?
While I was reading up on Dhaos in order to write/answer a question, I believed that the only continuation to Tales of Phantasia was Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon. However, as I continued to read I began to spot some mentions to Tales of Symphonia, for instance Derris-Kharlan (the world Dhaos came from) is a third world in Tales of Symphonia and what is described on its wikia page is

4,000 years prior to the events of Tales of Symphonia

Now I know there are sequels to the games like:

Tales of Phantasia => Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon,
Tales of Symphonia => Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World,
Tales of Xillia => Tales of Xillia 2,

but I thought the connection between Tales of Zestiria and Tales of Berseria was a one off.
Now I am curious how all the Tales of Games can be grouped storyline-wise and what their chronological order is (i.e. when would Tales of Phantasia fit in with the two Tales of Symphonia games).

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because questions about video games belong on Arqade (http://gaming.stackexchange.com), even though there are some anime connections involved.

@ConMan game storyline is on topic

@NamikazeSheena Fair enough, my apologies. The wiki is a little unclear on that topic, but if that's the way it is I'm fine with it :)

I'm not sure if it's official, but I also found some things between Tales of Zestiria and Berseria. Like in the two of them you have spirits that only one person can see in Zestiria, but is aim is for the humans to see the spirits and co exist with them. And in Berseria, you also have spirits but more people can see them and more than that you have those spirits called 'Minouz' which are in the two games. So for me it's like if Berseria happens after Zestiria :)
But I'm interested to know if there are more than that (more than things like, you can see images of Repede from ToV in ToZ and all)

@Ise err, Berseria is prequel of Zestiria. Malakh(Berseria) become Seraphim(Zestiria)

@NamikazeSheena Yep after having played a bit more to it I finally understood that it's the other way around by since then I had totally forgotten this post. Sorry for the confusion ^^


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Why isn't blood pink in the Future Arc (Mirai-hen), like it is on other Danganronpa media?
In the first Danganronpa anime series (2013), blood is pink to prevent the series from having to have a higher age rating.
In Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen - Zetsubou-hen (2016), the "Despair Arc," blood is also pink:

The first time blood was seen in Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen - Mirai-hen (2016), the "Future Arc," the setting was pretty dark, so I wondered whether that made the blood not look pink or if it was actually not pink. In episode 5, we get a clear view of red blood, though:

Given that the "Future Arc" is set after all the events in the other pieces of the franchise, is it possible that something changed in-universe? Or does the "Future Arc" air at a different time, which makes the rating not as important for the producers of the show?
Someone in reddit suggests that it's only so the gag with the tomato sauce in the third episode, when pretending Asahina had been killed, is possible — that's obviously (?) not the case, is it?

Based on a theory from Japanese audiences (source), the pink blood is only shown on school life/game (class trial) setting (e.g. DR1 and DR2).

学生じゃないからじゃね
Isn't it because they are not students already?
学級裁判とは違ってゲームじゃないって事じゃね？
Isn't it because it's different from class trial game?

As for personal theory extending from this theory, it has something to do with school life → age → "censoring". Now that they have graduated (or "matured") in DR3:Future, the blood is shown red, just as real life.

Note: however, some blood is (or looks like) pink in Future's OP scene.

The blood is pink to show that Despair arc is more of a slice-of-life, but future is more gore and gritty. This is also shown in the OP for Despair being in pastel colours, but the OP of Future being dark.


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Why can't Titans attack using the canals passing through the walls?
I saw this image on this question: Why are there outlying towns/cities on the walls in Shingeki no Kyoujin?

If you look carefully, there is a spot near the bottom where the water canal enters the district Shignashina and then through Wall Maria itself.
Why don't the Titans use this opening to attack the city?
From the question, Can the Titans swim?,
there haven't been any conclusive theories as to how the titans cross the water.

Titans floating seems misplaced and I think "Connie's Mom" provides evidence that someone probably turned few people living on the islands to titans to wipe out humanity

Yet again, there was no any reliable info in anime or manga to give proper answer for this question. But most possibly, humans did not leave such spot unprotected, and I suppose this canals at least have some strong grating on them.

Because they are not that smart? Anyway, the canal shouldn't be too deep, so titans, especially the bigger ones shouldn't need to swim at all.

It's kind of referenced in the anime as "the strongest part of the wall" but not explained...

And this is where the cannon fired/transformation happened:

If I remember correctly, the canals have some kind of blockade that can be closed, too (correct me if I'm wrong). Breaching something is easier on land, since moving in water slows down and thus weakens any movement.
Also, since the body temperature of titans is abnormally high, I could imagine the water could evaporate and this would be a nuisance. If enough water is lost this way, there would even be a considerable force of the water pushing back to the titans - being light as they are, this could prevent them from entering.
Remark: This is all speculation, I don't have sources for this at hand.

Nice point regarding temperature.

Just a hypothesis from what has been shown in the story.
Humans has been living for 100 years in peace behind the wall. Assuming that the gate and the canal has always looked like that during the whole 100 years, then I suppose the main reason would be because the Titans ain't that smart.
Before the rise of the Titan Shifters, there was no accident of the wall being breached. Only after the Titan Shifters shows up, that is the Shiganshina attack by the Colossal Titan and Armored Titan, that the wall was finally breached. Their method of breaching was by attacking the weak point of the wall, the gate. Seeing that the canal allows water to flow through a gap under the wall, then the canal should be as weak as the gate if not more. Which once again means that the average titan just don't have the brain to think about such a thing.
As for why Colossal Titan didn't kick the canal instead of the gate, it could be just a coincidence, or maybe because Titans really can't swim

they are supposed to be super light, maybe so light they cant go underwater unless they actively force it using muscles pushing under, something they would likely not be smart enough to do.

@Ryan that's a funny thought, a group of titans flopping about like magikarp on the water's surface trying to swim but can't because they just float

@Ryan also, they are supposed to be really hot. Don't you think, long cooling might do something with them?

They can walk through it, but probably there is some kind of metal barrier or something that allows water but not titans. In fact, if this is true, boats couldn't be possible and they couldn't pass, except if there it was some kind of mechanism that allows to up or down the gate, but just a theory.

it don't mean to be stingy, but does this answer add anything new?


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Why do seiyuu famous for doing eroge still use alias?
Seeing Majikoi S in VNDB, the seiyuu for Kawakami Momoyo and Christiane Friedrich is written as Kamishiro Misaki and Misaki Rina respectively. People that is not too into seiyuu might not know, but the seiyuu-otaku are very likely to know that they Kamishiro Misaki is Asawaka Yuu and Misaki Rina is Itou Shizuka. The first is even more easily recognizable by non-seiyuu-otaku and non-anime-otaku since she is the voice provider for the VOCALOID Megurine Luka.
Heck, even people that doesn't know this would be able to find it relatively easily with some Googling. I tried entering the name Kamishiro Misaki in Google and the 5th entry states Asakawa Yuu's name.

Misaki Rina is even worse. It clearly shows that Misaki Rina is Itou Shizuka.

If they are relatively unknown seiyuu, then it can be said that they use such alias so that later when they finally get famous people wouldn't link them to their previous work as eroge seiyuu. But these two are famous seiyuu even during the time Majikoi S was released. Also the Majikoi anime was aired between 2 Oct 2011 and 18 Dec 18 2011, while Majikoi S was released in 27 January 2012. Given that

those 2 reprise their role in the anime,
they voiced it the same as when they voice the character in the Visual Novel,
and that the anime clearly stated that Christiane Friedrich is Itou Shizuka and Kawakami Momoyo is Asakawa Yuu,

it doesn't take a genius to figure that it is them.
This is apparently common in female seiyuus while many male seiyuus use their usual name even when voicing eroge. For example the BL Emperor, Toshiyuki Morikawa, uses his name, Toshiyuki Morikawa in most of his Visual Novel works even if the said work is a R-18+, such as Gin no Kanmuri Ao no Namida.
Most, if not all famous female seiyuus use alias to voice R-18+ games. Examples other than Itou Shizuka and Asakawa Yuu would be Sato Rina, Goto Yuko, all use an alias when doing most of their eroge works.
My question is, since it is clear that it is them, why do most popular female seiyuu still bother using alias when voicing eroge?

Knowing nothing about seiyuu's background, I could see a reason why they keep the alias even after becoming famous : as long as they are famous, they want all of their works to be linked on the same name. But again, I don't know anything about seiyuu's background

But the example I use, Asakawa Yuu and Itou Shizuka actually uses a lot of different aliases. If they want to keep their works under the same name, then there is no reason for them to use that many aliases.

It could be the case that their agencies don't want to spread the (immediate) negative image of a client of theirs doing eroge, or that they want to disassociate themselves from a work that they're not particularly proud of.

H-actors and eroge seiyuus indeed use aliases because of following reasons:
1. Avoiding union penalties and expulsion (legal reason)
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) is a union most voice actors comes under. SAG-AFTRA forces their members to only take on union work. This is how the union makes sure that its members get paid fairly, have good working conditions and aren’t taken advantage of.
The problem with hentai voice actors is that hentai sometimes don’t meet SAG-AFTRA's standards for working conditions and pay (as little as $150 to $450 per video). In those situations, there are willing buyers (the studio or small business hiring a voice actor) and willing sellers (the voice actor wanting to do the work). So it can make sense to use an alias to sidestep the issue which means that if a voice actor wants to do non-union work, being credited in their real name could cause them to be in breach of their contract with SAG-AFTRA. Being in breach of contract with SAG-AFTRA can result in a fine. Actors can also be expelled from the union, which can make it a lot harder for you to get work from companies contracted to SAG-AFTRA.
2. Using unique name/aliases/stage name to avoid personal or professional confusion
Sometimes one might have a common name/surname. In order to tackle any personal or professional confusion (getting confused with other actors), they use stage name or aliases.  Using a stage name can help one distinguish the work life with personal life and also can use the name to make it as a "brand" (actors can become famous by that name and people can recognize with this name rather than the personal name).
3. To protect their identity and professional career due to nature of the work
Using an alias has an advantage for h-actors because they can hide their identity due to nature of work being "adult oriented". Voice actors are extremely popular in Japan and have a huge fan following which also includes some messed up people like stalkers and their name can reveal a lot about them so the information can be easily misused (more than 20000 stalking cases reported to Japanese police in 2020).
This can also be a way for the actor to do any non h-work work without future clients knowing about the work in the past and avoiding any miscommunication because some company feel strongly against h-work. It can also protect themselves from exposure from any "bad/low-budget h-projects". A lot of independent clients can easily find the gigs with a quick Google, it could reflect badly on the actor.
References

Why Do Voice Actors Use Aliases?
Why do people use aliases and pen names?
Why do anime actors go by different names in different anime
H-anime voice actors
Why do some anime voice actors hide or do not reveal their name, even though people know its them?
Why seiyuu (voice actress) in Japan always use a stage name instead of their real name?
anyone know the reason why voice actor for anime usually use fake names instead of their real name?

#1 and #2 are very good answers but what's the point of #3? Hmmm... aahhh you mean like a reverse search: I can easily find out that 'Kamishiro Misaki' is an alias for Asawaka Yuu, but I can't as easily find out that Asawaka Yuu has an alias of 'Kamishiro Misaki' ? well ok...but someone will put it on their wikipedia pages anyway like after jk rowling was discovered to be Robert Galbraith ?


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Have Mikage's powers diminished?
At the very beginning of Kamisama Kiss, Mikage gave Nanami spiritual powers and made her the Kami of Mikage shrine, but did he do this without losing any of his own power? Is there any evidence that his powers have diminished? If so, how much has he been weakened? Is there any evidence to the contrary?
Related question with no satisfactory answers: What is Mikage's status (in the spirit/god world) after he passes the Tochigami Crest to Nanami? Is he still a god?
I'm looking for an answer with more evidence than the one for this question and I would like to see more of a focus on Mikage's power and abilities rather than his status.


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Which episode of Sailor Moon is this scene of Usagi in a bath towel from?
Which episode of the classic Sailor Moon anime are these douga (動画) sketches for animation cels of Tsukino Usagi (Sailor Moon) from? I know that in a small number of episodes she was shown with her hair down from its usual odango style, but I do not recall an episode in which she was in a bath towel as well as with her hair down straight.

This was in episode 123 in Sailor Moon S (Super). This is played around the beginning when Chibiusa wonders about Hotaru and Usagi and her are washing up before bedtime.


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What are the contents of the unaired next-episode previews included with the Nichijou Blu-rays?
One of the bonus features on the Nichijou Blu-ray discs is "unaired next-episode previews" (オリジナル次回予告). What is in these previews?
(I found the answer to this while writing this answer, and I figure the information may as well go on here somewhere, so here's a separate question to that end.)

There are 25 of these previews (since there are 26 episodes, and episode 1 doesn't get one, naturally). BD volumes 1-12 come with two each; volume 13 comes with one. Each preview is 30 seconds long, and perhaps reflects what KyoAni had planned to use as the previews before switching to the scheme they actually used (non-sequitur voiceovers from guest voice actors, mostly).
Video-wise, all of them are set to footage that was already in the main series; the only new part is the audio. What follows are brief summaries of the contents of each one, starting with the preview for episode 2. Note that the previews for episodes 6 and 7 are missing because I haven't actually seen those.

Yukko/Mio. Yukko and Mio talk aimlessly about zodiac signs. Yukko reports the death of one "Mikhail Libra", age 55.
Nano/Sakamoto. Nano calls Sakamoto various things ("Sakamoto-kun", "Ryouma", etc), and Sakamoto gets generally offended by said things.
Yukko/Mio/Mai. Mostly Yukko making hilarious sound effects ("Za! Guwa! Shu! Zubaan! Strike!", etc).
Yukko/Mio. Picks back up with zodiac signs after the episode 2 preview. "Let's combine Cancer and Scorpio into 'Crustacean!'", suggests Yukko.
???
???
Dolph / Princess Starla. Dolph says things in a funny voice.
Nano/Hakase. Hakase makes Nano capable of getting cavities. Nano enjoys this (it makes her more normal), but then she notices that something hurts. Turns out that Hakase also just gave her a cavity right off the bat.
Yukko/Mai/Mio. Yukko writes "E" on the back of her hand, but can't remember what she meant by it. Mai and Mio try to guess, but fail. Turns out, it was "European heart urchin", which is apparently a meme.
Yukko/Mai. Yukko asks Mai what a "Living National Treasure" is. Mai tells her that to become one, you must be able to recite the contents of a large number of textbooks by heart. This is, of course, a joke.
The vice principal / the principal. The vice principal tells the principal to say words like "pappelbon" and "shishikabago". The vice principal is rather amused when he does so, unnerving the principal.
Annaka / Ms. Sakurai. Annaka starts calling Ms. Sakurai "Ms. Izumi", which makes her very nervous.
Hakase/Nano/Sakamoto. "Is 'borscht' food?" Yes. "Is 'shark chocolate' food?" Yes. "Is 'shark' food?" Yes. "Eeeeeek!"
Yukko/Mio. More zodiac signs. Yukko is troubled by Gemini being two people yet only counting as one zodiac signs. Why not split them up into separate Castor and Pollux zodiac signs?
Mr. Takasaki. He teaches his students about the power and versatility of the (English, not translated) word "ENOUGH!". And also "baka".
Yukko/Mio. Yukko gets "San Francisco" and "Francisco Xavier" mixed up.
Makoto / Mr. Takasaki. Makoto asks Mr. Takasaki to be the advisor for the go-soccer club, and offers to set him up with his sister in exchange. Naturally, Mr. Takasaki is hugely flustered.
Misato/Mihoshi. Misato is feeling down; Mihoshi suggests she ask Sasahara for help. Misato then blows something up. Classic gundere!
Hakase/Sakamoto/Nano. Hakase pretends to be a maid and serves Sakamoto food - but using a mortar and pestle, which Sakamoto is affronted by.
Yukko/Mai. Yukko says "selamat pagi" to Mai; they then have a conversation in what I assume is Indonesian. Yukko eventually gets frustrated and says "bakayarosu" (sounds like baka yarou "you fool"), which Mai points out is a food. This appears to be a Japanization of the Greek word for "cod" (μπακαλιάρος / bakaliáros)? Nichijou is weird sometimes.
Nano / Ms. Nakamura. Nano comments on the cuteness of Ms. Nakamura's streetwear; she is thrown quite off guard by this.
Yukko/Mio. Yukko's still going on about zodiac signs; this time, it's Ophiuchus. Seriously, what's the deal? You can't just add another zodiac sign! What is he, a transfer student?　"Your seat is the one between Scorpio and Sagittarius"? And then Virgo falls in love with him, and Aquarius gets jealous of them, and suddenly! Mikhail Libra out of nowhere!
Hakase/Mai. Hakase asks Mai what she's drawing; in typical Mai fashion, she's drawing Gōzanze Myōō, "space", and something else I don't quite get. "Are there sharks in space?" asks Hakase. Apparently, yes.
Mihoshi/Misato. Misato vigorously denies ever talking to Sasahara or even being acquainted with him at all. She closes with "it's not like the next episode is going to be episode 25 or anything, okay?".
Nano/Yukko. Nano tries to ask about how Yukko often calls herself an idiot. Yukko replies that "she's an idiot, but also a genius, so it's okay".


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Did that person actually fail to save Menma?
Spoilers below.
Did

 Poppo really fail to save Menma as she was drowning?

In real life, I doubt he would have just run away for help. It is known that her body washed away so if he saw her where she fell initially, it must have been just as she started drowning.
Is it known that he saw her, in the middle of drowning, and just left? Or did he see a body, or maybe just the flip-flop?
I need to know...

It is revealed through flashbacks that Poppo was really quiet and shy when the accident happened. According to his flashbacks (assuming that they are accurate), he actually did see Menma drown; however, he could not do anything to help her because he was scared to do anything. This guilt is the main reasons why Poppo decided to travel the world and become more outgoing and extroverted.


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Is there an incidence of a Hiden (Meaning Secret) Jutsu being used by someone OUTSIDE the clan?
Hiden Jutsu: http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Hiden
I answered this question : Is it true that hiden jutsu can be taught?
I've researched quite a bit and tried to build an  understanding on these Jutsu. The OP asked for example instances where the jutsu is used by someone outside the clan sine they can be learned by anyone. I however could'n't find any such instance.
Can anyone else remember/find such an instance in Naruto (preferably Canon). Boruto movie doesn't count cos the Scroll Stores the original jutsu casted by someone from the clan.

Primary suspect -> Orochimaru

Neji learned the Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms and Eight Trigrams Heavenly Rotation techniques through his own genius and skill - these techniques were not taught to branch members thus he would never have been taught them.
Ref: http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Eight_Trigrams_Sixty-Four_Palms
Edit: though not in the spirit of the question, technically Hashirama's Deep Forest Creation technique was his Hiden jutsu, but after his death was used by Madara after gaining Hashirama cells without any training.
Ref:http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Wood_Release_Secret_Technique:_Nativity_of_a_World_of_Trees
Also, in the Boruto movie Momoshiki can absorb and then use Hiden techniques

the question is outside the clan. even if they did'nt teach to branch members, he is still a Hyuga. We need someone outside the clan.

@Bej Hiden techniques were used to make interesting characters, making their techniques easily reproducible would have taken away something from their character. Also, this was the only true to the spirit of the question answer that I could find.  I'll edit it with what could technically be an answer

I'd shared the example of Neji figuring out the Advanced Gentle Fist techniques without training. Hashirama's techniques May've been copied with the Sharingan. I can't find a source citing Hiden techniques can't be copied... But kakashi not using them would counter  it

Using Neji is a bad example. The Hyuga hiden ninjutsu relies on a Kekkei Genkai, Byakugan. You need hiden ninjutsu that doesn't rely on Kekkei Genkai.

Neji is a great example. The fact that Gentle Fist utilizes the Byakugan is irrelevant. Neji learned a hidden technique he was not supposed to learn. The branch members were never meant to learn Heavenly Rotation or 8 Trigrams 64 Palms, they were supposed to be main branch Hiden techniques. But neji learned them through his own observations and genius.

Hasirama's Deep Forest is a Kekkei Genkai as much as if not more so than it is a Hidden jutsu. It is Wood Style after all. That being Said, I do not recall any actual examples besides Momoshiki who is almost an excception. To learn the jutsu, you would most likely need one who already knows it to teach it to you, something nearly impossible to do without mind control which we all know is pretty much nonexistant or extensive mind reading which is very inconvenient at best. Neji is probably the best example thanks to that.


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Who is Prince of Darkness?
When Ichigo was using Hiyori Sarugaki's workout machine, there is some banter with the Visored such as Kensei Muguruma complaining about Lisa Yadoumaru reading swimsuit magazines instead of watching Ichigo.
At one point, Roujuurou Ootoribashi asks Love Aikawa if he has heard the new Prince of Darkness CD that has just come out, who then replies if he had read the latest issue of Shounen Jump.
Now I get why Shounen Jump is featured because the Bleach manga is serialized in it, but I am wondering, is Prince of Darkness a real life band? If so, then what is their connection to Bleach? Is it just merely product placement?
NOTE: this is in the English Dub.

It is most certainly a reference to Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy Osbourne - Prince of Darkness.
As for why, this is what I found in  The Bleach Breakdown: The Unofficial Guide
by Issei Handa, Walt Wyman in the Character Breakdown Section, for Rose, emhasis mine.

Rose
  Long, Blond, wavy hair and seventies hard rock clothes. Seems like a narcissist, and maybe gay. Calls Rabu "Love" (he pronounces it "Ravu", which is one step closer than the typical Japanese pronunciation, "Rabu"). Wishes Rabu would let him read his Shonen Jump. More calm and easy-going than most of the Vizards. He plays the guitar. At one point he mentions "Prince of Darkness's new Album." It can be surmised that he is named after Ozzy Osbourne's legendary first guitarist Randy Rose. Prince of Darkness is an Ozzy Osbourne album.

Thus I consider it mostly an easter Egg about the name Rose.

The only "Prince of Darkness" I can think of (in relation to music) would be Ozzy Osbourne.  Now, I couldn't say for certain that this is who they were referencing, as Japan could have their own "Prince of Darkness," but Ozzy would be a good guess.


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What is the difference between king vessel and metal vessel users?
What is a king vessel? Is it a dungeon capturer that is rewarded with a djinn? Then isn't it no difference from a metal vessel user?

A King Vessel is a dungeon conqueror who was chosen by the djinn of the dungeon and rewarded with a metal vessel containing the power of the djinn. Almost always they are chosen by a Magi who helps them through the dungeon.
A member of the Kjng's household is someone loyal to them who carries a household vessel, imbued with power by the same djinn the King controls, they have not themselves conquered a dungeon, and have not been chosen by a Magi. They do not have the full power of the djinn, and are unable to use Extreme Magic.


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Kakuzu's way of getting all the five chakra elements
So I went back and started reading, or just looking at, really old questions about Naruto, including Shippuden. I read this question, but this answer got my attention. After looking at the answer, I started to wonder how exactly Kakuzu's methods of getting the chakra natures work.
We know that he gets all the chakra natures by stealing people's hearts throughout the years but once the hearts he has on are damaged or just get too old he has to get new ones. But how does that work? I always thought the nature of the chakra was in the body not exactly the heart. Or do both, body and heart, have the chakra nature, so when Kakuzu gets the hearts he gets part of the chakra nature?
Also, since we also know that Kakuzu has been living for a while, until Kakashi killed him, exactly how old is he? I know he has been living since the First Hokage was alive, which I guess was about 100 years ago, so I think he was at least a little more than 100 years old.

Kakuzu is 91 y/o when he is killed. I guess it`s similar with how Sasori using chakra in his heart to move his puppets, but Kakuzu using his own body to convert normal chakra into their elemental form.

This is just the theory, but I always assumed that since the blood vessels and the chakra network are intricately related, if you take one the other also follows.
Thus when Kakuzu takes the heart of the shinobi he also takes the chakra vessels tied in and around the heart. Thus he would push his own chakra into the heart while his unique body mimics the nature of the chakra vessels of the original body.
Thus he builds his own chakra, uses the handsigns to concentrate/accumulate it, but when nature transforming the chakra he passes it through the heart which acts like a processor to change the chakra nature to the type needed.


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What jutsu did Minato use on Naruto?
I wanted to ask if anyone knew what jutsu Minato used on Naruto in episode 442 of Shippuuden. I understand it is a filler episode but I was curious. Minato uses it on Naruto while breaking up his fight with Sasuke. At 6 minutes 33 seconds Minato places a flat palm against naruto and sends him flying. No hand signs are shown and no rasengan chakra ball is shown either.

When exactly did he use the jutsu? do you maybe have a time stamp?

Maybe that just Chakra Burst ? Not a jutsu, but just expeling chakra from his hand. Similar how Ninja can jump so high.

its probably the jutsu he is most known for... the flying rajin jutsu... its why they call him the yellow flash. bascially this jutsu works by sending somthing minatos chakra is in contact with to another location using a specialy placed seal or marked kunai. minato has already placed several seals around the village in case he ever needs to move somewhere quickly and he sends naruto to this seal when he places his hand on him... as for the no handsigns minato is a hokage level ninja.... his hand signs are too quick for average ninja to see.


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Does a series in Japan only get aired if it has more than 13 episodes?
while reading this answer it said in one of the quotes

After the first season of Beast Wars (comprising 26 episodes) aired in Japan, the Japanese were faced with a problem. The second Canadian season was only 13 episodes long, not enough to warrant airing on Japanese TV.

however i have a number of series which don't have even 20 episodes like Puella Magi Madoka Magica (12 episodes), Black Rock Shooter (Series) (8 Episodes), Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (the original series and A's, 13 episodes each) and a number of Monogatari series have less than 10 episodes
So i am wondering if what the quote says is accurate and if so how does a series, like the ones i mention, get aired on TV if they aren't long enough to warrant airing on Japanese TV?

closely related. Pre-90's they were a lot stricter in series lengths.

I'll be honest - looking at the original Wikipedia page and where the reference comes from, I'd slap a huge [citation needed] sticker on that bit.

No, 13 episodes are enough.
Wikipedia page in Japanese have different note for it:

加えて、この作品と『メタルス』は元々は1つの作品だったが、当時海外では『メタルス』が展開中で日本放送が間に合わなかった。その為、本作（『メタルス』と『リターンズ』を含む）の未来に当たり、日本オリジナルの『ビーストウォーズII』と『ビーストウォーズネオ』を挟み放送することとなった。その為、最終回放送直後、抗議の電話が殺到した。

Translate:

Originally this anime (Season1) and "Metals" (Season2) are same series. but at the time Season1 finished in Japan, "Metals" is not created yet. then, they create and aired original seasons called "Beast wars2" and "Beast wars neo" before "Metals". Many user complain it.

Based on aired date table in wikipeida,
It's always aired weekly in Japan but not in US.
Episode 1 in Season 1 is aired 9/16/1996 in US, and 10/1/1997 in Japan.
But Episode 26 is aired 4/1/1997 in US, and 3/25/1997 in Japan.
Japan side needs more episode for 4/8/1997.


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What are the Norse Mythology References in Alfheim Online?
In one of Yui's Trivia Corner Segments from Sword Art Offline 6, she says that  Alfheim Online is mainly based off of Norse Mythology, so there are a number of references to it in ALO.
The only reference that I know of is that the World Tree in Alfheim Online is supposed to represent Yggdrasil, with the 9 Fairy Nations around The World Tree being the 9 Realms that are connected to one another by Yggdrasil.
Thus, I am wondering what other Norse Mythology references there are in Alfheim Online.

The Norns, Skuld Urðr and Verdandi just like in Oh My Goddess and also Thor with his legendary hammer Mjölnir

The references are as follow. I'll divide it into its categories. Also note that I'd refer to SAO as ALO here since the story takes place in Alfheim Online and not Sword Art Online's Aincrad.
Worlds
Alfheim (Norse: Álfheimr) means the land of fairies. This is the world where the players live. Funnily, the races that live in this land are not from Norse mythology, but is actually from England, Ireland and Scotland, with the exception of Salamander. More about the races in the races section down below.
Jotunheim (Norse: Jötunheimr) means the land of giants. The creatures that live here are the giants. Tonki (Jellyfish Elephant, Kuzuha/Leafa's friend/pet(?)) is one of those giants.
Nilfheim (Norse: Niflheimr) is the land of ice and snow. It is referenced in ALO as the cause of change in Jotunheim, that is the outbreak of ice giants from Nilfheim, which is located under Jotunheim, cause the change in Jotunheim's once green lands to that of ice and snow.
Muspelheim (Norse: Muspelheimr) is land of fire. In ALO it is located under Nilfheim.
Yggdrasil (Norse: Yggdrasil) the three that connects the 9 worlds according to Norse mythology. Out of those 9 only Alfheim, Jotunheim, Nilfheim and Muspelheim mentioned in ALO. Out of those 4 only 2 (Alfheim and Jotunheim) are actually shown.
NPCs
Thor (Norse: Thor) the god of thunder, wielder of the magic hammer Mjolnir, son of Odin.
Freya (Norse: Freyja) is a goddess associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death.
Thrym (Norse: Þrymr) is king of Jotunheim. In ALO he is a king of Nilfheim who invaded Jotunheim along with his ice giants.
Weapons
Excalibur is a sword belonged to the legendary King Arthur of England. It is also one of the sword featured in many video games, mainly Final Fantasy. In Final Fantasy series it usually is one of the strongest swords. In ALO it is a sword promised by Thrym as a prize for slaughtering the original dwellers of Jotunheim (Tonki's race).
Mjolnir (Norse: Mjölnir) is a magic hammer of Thor, capable of summoning thunders.
Story
Thor missing his hammer is one of Norse legends, where Thor lost his magic hammer Mjollnir. It was said that his hammer was stolen by the king of the Jotun, Thrym. Thor, although reluctant, agreed to Loki's suggestion to dress as Freyja in his attempt to get the hammer back. Thor later killed Thrym and get his hammer back. This is referenced in ALO with Klein finding a female NPC with HP bar locked in a prison made of ice. Later during the fight between Kirito's party and Thrym, the said female NPC revealed himself to be Thor. Thor then killed Thrym much like in the legend.
Races (Bonus Section)
Cait Sith in its original myth stole people's soul before they are collected by gods upon their death. In ALO, they are beast tamers. Silica and Shinon are Cait Sith in ALO. Cait Sith originated from Scotland.
Spriggan are small fairies said to be guardian of treasures. They are said to be mischievous. It has the ability to transform into huge creature. Kirito is a Spriggan in ALO. Kirito also used a transformation magic to transform into The Gleam Eyes which is a reference to this ability. Spriggan in ALO also known to be very useless in magic due to their magic being mere illusions (reference to their magic being for mischiefs).
Gnome are small, humanoid Earth fairies. Gnome in ALO are known to be master miner. Agil is a gnome.
Imp are small goblin like creature. Imp in ALO are not very well explored with the only known Imp is Konno Yuuki/Zekken.
Leprechaun in its original myth are said to have hid a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  Lisbeth is a Leprechaun in ALO.
Pooka originated from Ireland. Pooka or Púca means ghost or spirit in Irish. It is not well explored in ALO. Sasha is a Pooka in ALO.
Sylph are wind spirits. Sylph in ALO are master in wind magic. Sylph is also the race that has the most known characters. Lady Sakuya - Lord of the Sylphs, Leafa, Recon, Sigurd (Exiled), and Erika (Asuna's alter account) are Sylphs.
Undine are water spirits. Undine in ALO are also master of water magic. Asuna is an Undine in ALO.
Salamander in ALO are known to be master of fire magic. This is a reference to a type of salamander (animal) that is resistant to fire, called fire salamander. Salamander in ALO is unique in that it is the only race not based on English, Irish, or Scottish myth. Klein is a Salamander in ALO.

I am not entirely sure but I don't think the fairy clans from ALO are Norse Mythology based. I think you should double check it. None of those strike me as any of Norse legends.

@Alchemist I already mentioned that they are based on Scotland, Ireland, and England. I edited it and bold that part.

Rather than making my own answer (because this one is pretty much most of it already), I'll just point out two things you missed as a comment. There is also the 3 sisters, Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld, who are said to rule over fate. On top of that, the entire magic language of ALO, is really just Old Norse words, with an arbitrary grammar, and rough kana-ized pronunciation.

ALO seems to draw from a wide range of mythologies, including the Arthurian Excalibur, and the naming of the nine realms of Norse mythology like Jotunheimr furthermore the Cait Sith, Pookas, and Leprechauns originate from Celtic folklore. Which makes some parts of this answer incorrect.

Well, I'm no expert in folklore, and not a European either so I can only go with what Wikipedia says about them. Also, I've already mentioned that Excalibur is taken from legend of King Arthur, which makes Excalibur an English folklore.

Yes that is true indeed. I am not sure but it seems like you haven't gone through the second season of SAO yet. I can't seem to recall any more references to Norse mythology in the first season but there were several references in ALO in the second season.
SPOILERS AHEAD!

 1. Thor in the last fight during the "The Holy Sword of the Ice Palace quest"
 2. Jötunheimr. The realm of giants
 3. Urðr. One of the rulers of the Beast-type Evil Gods
 4. Verðandi. Urðr's sister
 5. Skuld. Another of Urðr's sister

According to the Wiki

 In the alternate ending of the Calibur story, Calibur SS, it is also speculated that, lore-wise, the castle of Aincrad, which was implemented into ALO at the end of the Fairy Dance arc, is designated as Midgard, the world of humans in Norse mythology, by the NPCs of the game, as all characters in Sword Art Online were humans.

ALfheim Online, or ALO, is loosely based on both fairy lore and Norse mythology, drawing elements from other legends as well for its setting.
According to Alfheim Online's entry in Wikia:

The influence of Norse mythology is more emphasized in the evil gods
  of Jötunheimr and the quest related to them. Yet the appearance of the
  deities, or Aesir, from the Norse forum is also present such as Thor,
  Urðr, Verdandi, and Skuld.

ALfheim Online is loosely based on Norse Mythology. For example,    Yggdrasil (The World Tree), supported the entire cosmos in the actual
  myth.
Another example is Jötunheimr, which was the icy home of the Frost Giants.
"ALfheim" itself is a reference to "Álfheimr", the land of fairies/light elves, in Norse mythology.
In the alternate ending of the Calibur story, Calibur SS, it is also speculated that, lore-wise, the castle of Aincrad, which was
  implemented into ALO at the end of the Fairy Dance arc, is designated
  as Midgard, the world of humans in Norse mythology, by the NPCs of
  the game, as all characters in Sword Art Online were humans.

Notes
Aside from references to Norse mythology, ALfheim Online also references various other myths or stories. For example, the Cait Sith, Pookas, and Leprechauns originate from Celtic folklore.
In ALO, Excalibur is a sword promised by Thrym as a prize for slaughtering the original dwellers of Jotunheim, but it is NOT part of Norse mythology but of Arthurian legends.
The original basis of ALO is that of a land of faeries, which seek an audience with the king, Oberon. The naming of the fairy king, Oberon, and his queen, Titania, suggests that it holds its roots in the Shakespearean play A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Aside from that, ALO seems to draw from a wide range of mythologies, including the Arthurian Excalibur, and the naming of the nine realms of Norse mythology like Jotunheimr.
After Thrym was defeated, Thor decided to reward the fairies for helping him reclaim his hammer by giving Klein, who freed him from the cage, an extra reward: a fairy-sized replica of Mjölnir, called «Thunder Hammer Mjölnir».


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Is Junketsu conscious?
Why is Senketsu the only Kamui that can talk? is a related, but slightly different question.
Senketsu is the only uniform that can talk, and apparently he can only talk to Ryuuko because their brains are connected at some level by Life Fibers. He also seems to be the only uniform that can move and think on its own.
However, late in the series, when Ragyo forces Ryuuko to put on Junketsu, it seems like Junketsu might have a consciousness—it might be able to think, even if it can't speak or move. It seems to have a will; it resists being removed by Ryuuko, and after she tears it off, Satsuki is only able to wear it because it was infused with some of Ryuuko's blood and Senketsu's Life Fibers, which changed its "personality" in some way. It also seemed like Junketsu might be creating some of the visions in Ryuuko's mind while she wore it, like when she saw herself at a wedding. But the scene was ambiguous; it could have also been Ragyo and Nui creating these visions and making Junketsu bind itself to Ryuuko.
We never see Junketsu talk or move, and it seems safe to assume it can't. But does Junketsu actually have a consciousness, or was it just made to behave this way by Ragyo and Nui?

I think its consciousness is not as good to be at sentient level as Senketsu's because it wasn't created with that purpose in mind, and all life fiber clothing has animal instincts to cling to wearers to some extent, and it's what we see.

@Hakase That's an interesting idea that didn't occur to me—that Junketsu might be conscious, but lack the ability to think and just have the instinct to grab on to people, like insects or shellfish do.


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How did Gecko Moria created marine zombies in Marine War without Hogback around?
Back at Marineford War. I noticed something, Gecko Moriah summoned marine zombies from nowhere instantly without Hogback around.These marine zombies have stitches which is only done by Hogback back in Thriller Bark. Some even take the form of animals which is another problem in its existence.

So how did Gecko Moria has done it?

Is there any reason he couldn't reuse bodies that had been made earlier?  He removed the shadows from most of his zombies himself (though those were eventually released.) He would only have to put in new shadows right?

@Kaine - I don't remember seeing many marine zombies during the Thriller Bark Arc. And when Hogback with unconscious Moria left the Thriller Bark they didn't bring with them any dead zombies.

Hogback was useful for Moria, because he could stitch together different parts of separate bodies, thus  only using the strongest parts of those bodies. The best example for this is Sanji's zombie. He is essentially a penguin, but instead of the useless mouth, hogback replaced it with a dogs jaw.
If you look at the marine zombies, none of them has a dog head or bear hands. The closest to this category is the centaur on the left, but that's..."normal". A normal marine doctor should be able, to fix those bodies up.

Yes Hogback is very useful to Moria but my question is how did Moria summoned stitched zombies without Hogback around? I did re-watch the anime and the zombies just came out underground.

@bot Have you actually read my answer? Hogback's specilaity was, that he could stitch together different dead bodies, thus creating an ultimate zombie out of the best "ingredients". They were probably hiding there. It wasn't the first occasion, where we see enemies coming from underground

I don't question his specialty I salute it. Your answer is just explaining its ability. How could Hogback create new zombies if he is not around right.? Have you seen him(Hogback) around when Moriah summon those zombies from underground?

@bot If Moria needed Hogback for his ability, then it would be a bit weak in my opinion. Hogback is nit creating zombies, Moriah does, hogback only creates bodies.


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What happened at the end of the movie?
I haven't seen the original series of Captain Harlock, however I recently watched the movie during our most recent Weekend Anime Extra.
I feel like I followed along with the plot pretty well, and understood where the story was the whole time... That is until we got to the last few minutes and everything I knew just went out the window. So, it seems everyone just came back to life and the legend of Captain Harlock is going to continue, but why?
Basically, I'm looking for an explanation of what happened at the end. Why did everyone come back to life?

Basically, Harlock activates the detonators each time and he dies, and logan is replacing him. At this point if you didn't understood, logan is harlock. Although this time, he did not activate the detonators by seeing logan (his younger self) eager for life and merelly having the same dream harlock once had for earth and humanity. At this point, he's steping back in command allowing logan to lead arcadia and the crew. That's why you see 2 of them in the end, and that's why the crew revived and the dark matter came back.
The movie gave you a big hint at the start by saying:
"Far, far in the future... Or perhaps, the distant past..."
Hope it solved the trouble you had with the ending.

At the end, after the Arcadia has crash-landed on earth, a fleet arrives and signals "This is the Solar Federation, ...".
The Solar Federation has been non-existent for 100 years in the main plot. This already tells you all you need to know.


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Did Magata Shiki have a sister?
I was reviewing my question about how the killer got on the roof and it suddenly struck me how weird the scene I posted in that question was.
Here it is again for reference:

In this scene, we see Yamane introducing Miki to her own aunt. We later find out that Miki was actually Dr. Magata. Did Dr. Magata really have a sister, or not? I ask because I find that it's weird that the Aunt would not know her niece, or at least know if her brother/sister had children. It also seems weird that they would not have met. I remember that while Dr. Magata was acting as Miki she told Professor Saikawa that she was raised in America, away from Dr. Magata. However, even that sounds strange as Dr. Magata's parents were not separated.
On the other hand, it seems ever more odd if she didn't have a sister, because that would mean the aunt should have known right away that Miki was an imposter.

This bugs me too. The most plausible explanation I've seen is that 1.) Shiki never had a sister; 2.) Shiki's aunt didn't comment on this because she was privy to Shiki's scheme. I've seen various motives proposed for her being willing to go along with Shiki's scheme, such as her being unhappy with her husband (Shiki's uncle) for the whole affair thing and being okay with Shiki killing him.

This wasn't so odd after activating my suspension of disbelief to allow for me to overlook that she got a child while isolated from everyone and nobody noticing for 15 years.


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How was the plan communicated between the killer and the director?
In episode 2, Yamane Yukihiro tells Nishinosono and Professor Saikawa that the director isn't there, he's off picking up Dr. Magata's younger sister, Miki.

Nishinosono: Where did the director go?
Yamane: He went to get Dr. Magata's younger sister.

However, we later learn that Miki was actually Dr. Magata all along. This means that the director was aware this is the day he would die all along. How though, was this plan between Dr. Magata and the director communicated? I understand that all communications were recorded. They also said multiple times that no one had gone in to Dr. Magata's room for 15 years, except they did open the door anytime they had to put a large package in.
What was the method they used to communicate this plan?

I assumed that the director was aware of the doctor's plans from the start, but I don't know if they ever got into the specifics, and I wonder if the doctor ever considered her daughter's noncompliance.

It seemed like he was not surprised that it was her instead of her daughter when she appeared on the roof. For any of this to work he had to be in on the plan but I guess that implies she had it all planned from the very beginning. That explains how the volumes went to 15 and they were in there before she was.

The daughter's death wasn't intended though. Perhaps either they had some communication after her death, or he was simply aware that he would die and wasn't too perturbed by the change in the killer's identity?


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Will a person's first chakra nature always be the strongest?
Answering this question and reading an answer by Ero Senin made me think some more about chakra natures. Will attacks that use the chakra type that the user has a natural affinity for always be stronger than attacks that use other types of chakra, even after mastering these other types?

Please try to not edit the questions to a different context. I have tried to accomodate it my answer

Answered for if the first chakra nature will be the strongest attack of a ninja?
There is no such thing as FIRST Chakra Nature. Each and every individual has a chakra nature that he has an affinity for, and he can master stronger Jutsu of that nature with much  more ease as compared to others.
To prove my point, what was Sasuke's first chakra nature modification? It was Fire. but he learnt it after a lot of effort and Uchiha's have the inclination towards Fire Jutsu. But individually his chakra had an affinity for Lightning nature and thus he has a larger variety of Lightning chakra moves and mastery.
Thus a ninja will have a single nature towards which his chakra leans which will be easier to master. Strength is more of an effort effect. For similar strength, he'd have to work harder to master any other chakra natures...
An exception I can think of would be Bloodline Chakras. I don't think there is any difference in strength of different natures inherited as part of bloodline. Yamato using Wood, should have similar competency with both Ground and Water chakras.
EDIT: I remember Kakashi saying something to this effect during his battle with kakuzo. What he said was that Kakuzo has used such strong Lightinng and fire attacks which can't be used unless the user has natural affinity to that chakra nature. This means that the strongest attacks of each chakra nature will not be mastered unless you have a natural affinity for that nature.
What I am trying to say is that the jutsu of same level will have equal power(strength), but the natural affinity. But higher level jutsu can only be mastered if and only if you have natural affinity for the chakra nature. Thus absolute mastery of other chakra natures is not possible.

Can you provide some examples from the manga, anime, or data books to backs up the what you're pointing out?