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How is Alphonse Elric able to see?
How is Alphonse Elric ( And all the other souls affixed to objects ) able to see ?
Contains Spoilers
Alphonse soul got affixed to a armor but his real body still remains in the void. So how is he able to see through the piece of armor? And does this not collide with his real body's vision. All his other sense's such as feeling, taste are removed. And he also has the inability to sleep. So why does his vision remain?

Maybe its a spirit that's attached. Traditionally spirits don't have a physical body, thus can't feel, smell, taste or get tired, but can see.

There's a bit of speculation here, since there is no blatant in-universe explanation nor Word of God to fully demonstrate the reason for this.
You may want to take a look at the answer to why a soul bonded to a suit of armor can move, because the explanation here is pretty similar. Essentially, keeping in line with the series' representation of eyes being windows to the soul (a common trope), basically: Sight is not necessarily handled biologically.
Here's basically how this works: If an average person loses his sight (as does happen in the series), he cannot see, because there is no channel of vision connected to his soul (for either eye). However, Alphonse, Barry, and the other soul-bound armors do have this channel of vision, just as there is the ability for them to move their steel fingers (with, of course, the channel being in opposite direction).
The reason what he sees does not collide with what his body sees is because his body is not transmitting its sight to a soul. It has no conscious mind to connect to its sight. As for his sleep, because he has no biological mechanisms, they do not need to rest, but his conscious mind still remains active because it is affixed to his soul (imagine the way we dream).
You're probably thinking, "Oh, hurr hurr, mister clever, there's still no physical organ to transmit the vision data!" And you'd be absolutely right! There is nothing which suggests that there is a physical entity able to transmit visual data from the real world to the armor seal, whereas there is a physical entity able to move his limbs. It's not even known that only armor with helmets can see; in fact, when Barry is reduced to a single plate of armor, he appears to be able to see his body standing over him.
So to put it simply, your answer is: Alphonse and other soul-bound armors see because it's necessary for the story. We can loosely explain it, as I did above, but there still is no legitimate, solid reason why this should be possible.

It might be worth noting that Ed still manages to get attacked by one of the Slasher brothers after the helmet's been removed (probably implying that said brother can still see).

you might almost be able to call it a instance of powers as the plot demands http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NewPowersAsThePlotDemands

Trying to factor how the Soul works in physics is a very hard thing to do since currently there is no way to confirm or deign it's existence of weight, there is a believe that all senses connect to the soul.
When we touch, taste, smell, hear or see, our mind translates this so that our soul can understand it,

for touch and taste we need nerves to collect the information, since Al has no nerves he can't use these, he can however feel his Soul being scratched at only when someone is scratching at the blood seal
for smell we need a nose, since Al has no nose he can't smell
for hearing and seeing, the soul can understand what it hears/sees however it can recognize which is why Al is unable to remember key arts of his memory

this is all just speculation however and will change based off belief, as i said, trying to factor how the Soul works in physics is a very hard.
As for what you mentioned about Al's vision not colliding with his real body's vision, the Gate can only be access via special methods, remember at first Ed and Al believed Al's body to be lost however then started to believe that his body may still be at or in the Gate, it could be that when Al Body and Soul were separated so too was the connection between them thus disallowing Al to tell if his body still existed or not, this would too explain why in Botherhood Barry was surprised to see his body.


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Why do some anime characters never grow old?
Ash Ketchum from Pokemon

By never growing old, I mean the anime has been airing for a long time, but the character never grows old. I think the most popular example for this kind of character is Ash Ketchum from Pokemon and Nobita and his friends from Doraemon. (Yes, I do realize that both anime are for kids - I don't remember any other example that the character never grows up for a long time). However, most characters from long-running anime that I know of always grow up, like those from Dragonball, One Piece, Naruto, Fairy Tail, and Shin-chan. (The last one I mentioned has similar traits to Pokemon and Doraemon, although I'm not sure Shin-chan is for kids). Any reason behind this?

I guess it depends upon the story of the anime. In pokemon, the main hero is Ash, which is the main character of the anime. If he grows old, he won't look good as a pokemon trainer xD For example, in DBZ, the goku is amain character. But if he grows old, it won't affect the anime much. That's my opinion.

See also: How is the passage of time handled in Pokemon?. Also, this is not unique to anime. Consider The Simpsons; Bart has been a pre-teen for 20+ years.

@berserk with Goku's case, he stopped growing older by DBZ (remember he was a kid in DB) and before he could get any older he kills himself saying that it's because he's around that earth is in danger.....that doesn't stop him coming back in the Majin Saga as a spirit

The creator of Pokemon wanted children watching the show to be able to relate to the main protagonist, Ash/Satoshi (personally I believe the protagonist is Pikachu).
Keeping the character around the age of ten is a good way to get kids that will be this age (ten) soon to watch the show.

A possibility is that the time leap between episodes is short. In Pokemon's case, there are about 887 episodes, but the time span between the episodes is never revealed. If each episode occurred back to back, only about 2.43 years has passed since the first episode occurred, which is a short time for some people to physically change. Another example is Detective Conan, which currently has 787 episodes. If each episode occurred back to back, about 2.15 years has passed. This is relatively short, especially for grade-schoolers, to change physically.
There are a couple exception, and one of them is Doraemon. Doraemon has more than 2000 episodes and even if each episode occurred back to back, more than 6 years has passed. For ones like these, the only probable explanation is that the author wanted to keep the characters young to appeal to younger audiences.

2 years is enough for grade schooler to change significantly, especially when they are in grade 5 (if I remember correctly), as they are approaching the onset of their puberty.

I have no expertise in this area, but at least in the area that I grew up in, most kids tended to stay the same (height, physically, face, etc) until their transition to high school. But I don't know, hormones might flow differently in Japan.

I don't know about Japan either, but 2 years should be enough for the height of any kid to change, assuming they are not malnourished.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Is Vivi a Celestial Dragon?
According to the latest episode 653 of One Piece, Joker says to Trafalgar Law that the creators of world government were 20 families which are called Celestial Dragons. One of the 20 families was from Alabasta and its name is Nefertari Family. One person who comes to mind when we talk about Alabasta is Vivi, the princess of Alabasta, who belongs to Nefertari Family.
So is Vivi a Celestial Dragon?

The World Nobles, also known as the Celestial Dragons (天竜人 Tenryūbito, literally meaning "Heavenly Dragon Folk"), are the descendants of nineteen of the Twenty Kings who established what is now known as the World Government.

(Source: Wikia)
So no, she is not a Celestial Dragon.

but all twenty families made world government together so why Vivi is not a celestial dragon and Joker is?

@MurtazaA. Because the Nefertari refused to go live in Mariejois and live among the filthy common folk. If the Nefertari moved to Mariejois at the time of creation Vivi would have been a celestial dragon

filthy common folk huh. Celestial Dragons are really worst :). Thanks for information

Nope. Although her family belonged to the one of the 20 Kings who participated in Alliance during Void Century , They did not move to Mariejois.

The World Nobles, also known as the Celestial Dragons, are direct descendants of the founding kings who moved to Mariejois. As such, these Nobles possess the authority to do as they please, simply due to their heritage.

so you mean then moves to Mariejois and that is the reason they are Celestial Dragon.

Correct. Celestial dragons is the name given to the descendants of 19 out of 20 Kings that help establish the World Government.

Nefertari family rejected to be Tenryubito back in the day WG was created.
When someone rejects the title all the descent loses the blood right.

Any citation to go along with that statement?

For the 1st:  ch.722   ep.653      For the 2nd: ch.760+  ep.699+   (I think)  Doffy tried to return to be a Ternryubito despite his father´s previous acts, but couldn´t

If you could edit this information into your answer (and maybe even add a picture of it if possible) it would be a better answer.

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


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Do all the children in Wammy's House receive codenames?
Everyone who watched Death Note knows that L was raised in a orphanage called Wammy's House. So, L's Name was L Lawliet. Near's is Nate River, and Mello's was Mihael Keehl.
Does every child of Wammy's House have a codename? If every child has a codename, is the first letter from the codename the first from the real name?

Does every child of Wammy's House have a codename?
Yes, almost every child has a codename, all but Beyond Birthday. See next question for a complete overview of all characters related to Wammy's House.

The orphans use aliases rather than their real names, which are kept secret. In addition to these aliases, notable graduates may be assigned a letter by Watari.

Is the first letter from the codename the first from the real name?
Yes, the first letter from the codename is the first from the real name. Here is an overview of all characters related to Wammy's House.
The following list is formated as alias, letter, real name and relation. Also the following legend is used.

(-) Indicates that the character does not have a Letter.
(†) Indicates that the character is now deceased.
Watari, W, Quillish Wammy, A famous inventor and philanthropist, founder of the orphanage and assistant and mentor to L. (†)
L, L, L Lawliet, The famous detective L. He was found by Wammy as a child and brought to the orphanage. The goal of the orphanage is to train a worthy successor to his title.(†)
Near, N, Nate River, The youngest of the two boys in line to succeed L. He takes on the mantle of 'L' by the end of the series.
Mello, M, Mihael Keehl, The eldest of the two boys in line to be L's successor. He leaves the orphanage soon after learning of L's death, and gives the title of 'L' to Near. (†)
Matt, (-), Mail Jeevas, He is the third smartest student at Wammys, though not a successor to L. (†)
Beyond Birthday, B, Beyond Birthday, The second child of the "first generation" in line to succeed L. He eventually ran away from the orphanage and became a serial killer. (†)
A, A, Unknown, The first child of the "first generation" that was in line to succeed L. All that is known is that he committed suicide. (†)
Linda, (-), Unknown, A female student who appears once, when she asks Near to come outside to play. She is referred to later as being a successful artist.
Roger Ruvie, (-), Roger Ruvie, A close friend of Watari's who runs the orphanage in Watari's absence.

X, Y, and Z - Only briefly alluded to at the end of Another Note, they are referred to by Mello as three children that appeared in the "Detective Wars" bio-terror case with L.
Various other children are depicted in both chapter 59 and the one-shot special's flashback, though none are given any names.
Other characters

K - A former student of Wammy's in L: Change the WorLd, who has become part of a bioterrorist organization which plans to "cleanse" the world of its excess population by a deadly virus.
F - A former Wammy's student and colleague of L's that dies early on in L: Change The WorLd, while on a deadly rescue mission in Thailand.
D, P, Q, G, I, E - Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change the WorLd.
R, V, T - Also shown on L's mailing list however their letters are grayed-out along with B's, implying they were killed.
J - A character in the D.S. game L: The Prologue to Death Note. Due to the game not being available in English, little is known about him, but based on his name, it is assumed that he is from Wammy's.

Source Death Note wiki

PS: I wanted to put the list in a table as on the wiki, but the formatting seemed to be completely off. Anyone know of a way to format tables on SE?

dam, you beat me by 12 seconds while i was proofreading, well played

@Memor-X Lol. I noticed I made a mistake while proofreading though. So I guess you beat me too it in the end :p

Yes they do but not all of them.
Wammy's House is one of several orphanages established by Watari (real name Quillsh Wammy) after World War II, initially a training facility for especially gifted children. After it's most accomplished child, L Lawliet (AKA L) become a renowned detective the goal of Wammy's House chnaged to produce a successor to L.
The orphans use aliases rather than real names and notable graduates are assigned letters. in L: Change the WorLd and email i sent out after Watari's and L's death with the mailing list filled with letters, a number of them are grayed out and assumed dead because Beyond Bithday who is given the Letter B, is too on the list but grayed out
As for how the Letters are assigned it seems that it is based off the first letter of their Alias as while L, Nate and Mihael start with their assigned letters, Quillsh Wammy is Watari and has the letter W. Beyond Birthday is also known as Rue Ryuzaki though this may not be his real name as he was pretending to be L for a period. A is mentioned in Death Note: Another Note however we don't know if A was also is alias like with L or even his real name
you can read up on on the Characters related to Wammy's House however it should be noted that the information is from L: Change the WorLd, i am unsure which one the information is from as K is in the Movie but the Novel is more faithful to the canon  bu al;tering the plot of the movie.


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How much does the Chuunibyou anime differ from the light novels?
There seems to be a lot of exclusive content in the anime of Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!, such as Sanae Dekomori, Kumin Tsuyuri, and Touka Takanashi (Rikka's older sister) all being exclusive to the anime.
What major differences (how differently do the events in the anime play out in the light novels) are then in the light novel compared to the anime? Why did the production make such changes?

Is this really true? (Sorry - never seen the novel before) I can't imagine how the story plays out without the involvement of those "side" character.

According to this post, the Director, Tatsuya Ishihara mentions in a NewType article that:

Shinka Nibutani appeared in the novel, but Kumin Tsuyuri and Sanae Dekomori are anime original characters. The reason they were created was that there wouldn't be enough characters for a TV series. Similarly, the story has been arranged to have many new elements added.
"The amount of novel material we had was insufficient even though it was published via Kyoto Animation's KA Esuma label. In short, it feels more like an original series from our company. Because of that, we put so much effort into this series. 'Make it entertaining until the very last scene!' We put in every entertaining moment we could think of and arranged them together. The end is also different from the novels. We hope you enjoy watching it until the very end."

This makes sense.  The manga is definitely different due to the lack of the anime characters, and it does seem to give the anime a life of its own.  Thanks for (eventually) finding the answer on this one.


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How different are the Index light novels from the manga/anime?
The original Toaru Majutsu no Index light novels were adapted as anime and manga. I heard, that the LNs had much more content than the manga or the anime, but I couldn't find any reliable sources. Do the light novels have more content than the manga/anime? And if yes, do the adaptions differ much or are the differences minimal?

I've read the first ten novels from the series and I'd say the content is pretty much the same, i.e. the anime follows the novels pretty well, but of course, the novels are much more detailed, for example more explanations during the fights, small additional scenes or more detailed explanations on certain (pseudo-scientific) concepts regarding the story. Also, in the novel you can often read what the character is thinking at the moment, which gives certain scenes a different feel than in the anime.
Personally, I found some parts of the novel rather streched-out, but on the other side, some other scenes were really fun to read. If you have time and you really like the anime, you should check out the novels, but don't expect a blast.


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How much of the Yumekui Merry manga was adapted into the anime?
The anime series doesn't end conclusively:

 With Mystletainn's defeat Merry's past is still unknown and "Pharos" Hercules's plans is still in motion being unaffected by Mystletainn's death.

So I am wondering, how much of the manga was adapted into the anime? And are there any deviations?

In this case, the manga and anime really weren't very close at all. The most reasonable place to say that the anime ended is at the end of chapter 12 (i.e. the end of volume 2). The manga volume 2 ends with Yumeji learning about Engi and Yui. Almost everything after that in the anime is original. Even before that, there are several very significant changes, so  I recommend rather than starting at volume 3, read from the beginning if you want to read the manga, or else you'll probably end up confused.


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Does Nao ever realize that Pastel Ink is Ink?
In Moetan, Nijihara Ink gains the ability to transform into a magical girl called Pastel Ink through the powers of Arcs, a magician turned into a duck. She uses this ability so that she can help Nao (who she has a crush on) learn English without getting embarrassed.
Does Nao ever realize that Pastel Ink is just Ink? In the first episode it's implied that he might have already realized, as he asks Ink to translate something to the effect of "Magical girls look the same after they transform" but that very well could have just been them breaking the fourth wall for comedic purposes.

By the end of the series, this is still unclear, perhaps deliberately, but the evidence points a bit towards Nao having realized.
After episode 10, Ink can no longer transform into Pastel Ink, but she decides to cosplay (poorly) as Pastel Ink anyway in episodes 11 and 12 and help Nao with his studies. Mio, who had not seen Pastel Ink before this, immediately recognized her as Ink. However, when Nao sees Ink wearing this outfit, he first calls her "Ink" but then immediately changes it to "Pastel Ink-sensei", the same way he called her before. Mio is annoyed by her brother's apparent cluelessness at this. However, given the context of the scene, it's also quite possible that this change was out of consideration for Ink.
Furthermore, at the end of episode 12 (the last episode to have this Nao and Ink), Nao also says ambiguous lines to Ink, to the effect of "I haven't seen Pastel Ink since then, but I'm sure if I ever needed her help she would show up again." Given that he was talking to Ink, this could be an acknowledgement that he knows Ink was Pastel Ink in a way that remains ambiguous. He could still just be clueless, but the way this statement is phrased, it seems like he's thanking her in a way that doesn't give away the fact that he knows she is Pastel Ink. Nao's actions in all of these scenes are of a slightly different character than his interactions with Ink and Pastel Ink in the first 10 episodes.
Exactly when he realized is difficult to determine. There is one scene earlier in the series in which he sees Pastel Ink and has a vision of Ink. There are also several scenes between the two in which he seems like he's going to say something important, but backs out at the last moment and says something relatively trivial. At any of these points, it's possible that Nao is actually aware that the two are the same, but it's also possibly just a running gag that he is clueless.
With that said, there's nothing in the series which explicitly refutes the idea that Nao is just incredibly clueless and never realized even after episodes 11 and 12. But at the very least, it seems like a reasonable interpretation that by episodes 11 and 12, Nao is aware that Pastel Ink is Ink, and that he's only playing along to avoid upsetting her. There unfortunately just doesn't seem to be any more definitive statement that can be made based on canon sources here.


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What was the first anime to have a "please notice me senpai" moment?
This meme has been prevalent in English-speaking part of the internet, but so far no one really knows its true origins. I've searched for something similar in the Japanese sphere of the internet and I haven't really found anything either. So far as I know, it seems to be made up and not really existent in anime. Yes, there has been stories about kouhai wanting to be with their senpais, but it doesn't seem like this particular line could have come from an anime.
What anime could have started this meme?

Related: "I Hope Senpai Will Notice Me"

To be perfectly honest there was no original "notice me senpai" moment in anime. The way it started is when a female character has feelings for a guy, but she never manages to tell him, and this just happens again and again. My guess is that it was probably a fan of one of these anime that made the first meme.
As for what anime was used in the first "notice me senpai" meme, neither I nor anyone else would be able to give you a definitive answer.
Unless you got Google themselves to look it up for you :P
(I'm sorry that this probably wasn't the answer you were looking for, but I've watched a lot of romantic comedy type anime, but have never actually heard someone say that).

I agree, it's probably something that probably slowly formed a meme from the stereotypical shoujo girls usually calling their love senpai, and wanting attention from them, rather than originating from a particular series

In real-life Japanese culture, many people do hope to get and attempt to get the attention of their love interest without ever voicing it or being direct, so this is not an anime/manga-specific trope but rather works of anime/manga are incorporating a very standard experience of elementary/jr. high/high schoolers in Japan past and through to the present. In other words, a particular anime did not start the meme, but rather some particular anime was simply the first to document the real-life occurrence of such moments. Shoujo manga magazines such as Ribon often feature color page spreads of advice and instructions on what hairstyles, fashion, and accessories could help you be noticed by the guy you like (I personally find this very dubious, having taught in 5th~6th grade in Japanese public schools... I'd be surprised if any of the boys are paying attention to how darling a girl's pencil case is and thereby thinking, "Oh, she's good at being cute. I like her now," but I digress), so from a young age, Japanese girls are encouraged in this practice of trying to attract a love interest without needing to confess her feelings to him directly (so that he will get interested in her before he realized she's interested in him).
Sempai (「先輩」) are upperclassmen in some sense to whom a Japanese person will always be kouhai (「後輩」, underclassmen) throughout their lives after graduation. There is no analogous system to the sempai/kouhai system in Western culture.  Sempai are often older, but not always: more important than age is the person’s year in school or number of years in the shared bukkatsu (student club), company, etc. at the time that the kouhai enters said school, club, or company. This is true of both males and females, so we cannot say that a meme developed out of only girls in romance-focused series thinking secretly about their sempai; in shounen action anime, boys pine away for girls who they think might be out of their league too, whether older or the same age. For example, I'm a member of the manga student group at my university in Japan, and we all call each other by “-san.”  Even though they're all younger than me (since I'm a grad student and they're undergrads), it would be totally inappropriate for me to start calling them in yobisute (that is, without a respectful name suffix) because they either 1) are my sempai in terms of number of years of membership in the club, or 2) they entered the club at the same time as me. If you enter university as a freshman and meet a sophomore who is your own age, he/she is automatically your sempai by virtue of being a grade ahead of you.  Then, even if you have not seen your sempai in decades and you are now both middle-aged and working at different companies of equal repute, when you meet again he/she is still your superior to whom you must look up to, defer to, and serve; there is no evening-out of level in Japanese sempai/kouhai culture.
You write,

"it seems to be made up and not really existent in anime. . . . it doesn't seem like this particular line could have come from an anime."

If you are asking, which anime first featured this exact line of inner monologue where the seiyuu voices it, you might be correct in that the exact wording cannot be found; however, that would be hard to confirm. Since the sempai/kouhai relationship and the don't-confess-feelings-directly cultural element are both so standard in Japanese culture, it would be hard to pin-point and verify the earliest case of this moment documented in the anime medium, because you would need to be looking at the earliest anime TV films and series produced in the 60s that contain school settings, or possibly you would even need to check through the older propaganda films and shorts of the previous decades (which are difficult to get ahold of, even for anime scholars). That would entail investigating all the genres ranging from shounen sci-fi to shoujo sports series. Though I am not very familiar with 60s anime, I can say, at the least, that you can find this "notice me, senpai" moment, though not the exact phrasing, in many anime produced in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Such an English phrase would be summarizing the moment that we do often see occur in anime.
See also my answer to this question:

. . . a major format of Japanese romance is to like someone who you are not friends with for a long time, and finally "confess" your feelings in a sudden love letter, on St. Valentine's Day, or on graduation day, in which the recipient must abruptly decide whether or not he/she has romantic interest in the other person -- who might not have been on the recipient's radar whatsoever. This can result in either being turned down on the spot ("I don't even know you"), a willingness to try to go on a couple dates ("Maybe I could get interested in you"), or the first-choice being the recipient is overjoyed ("I secretly pined away for you for years too!"). A lot of romantic feelings and sexual desire are never confessed, but some that are get rejected due to the format in which the potential couple does not get to know each other through friendship or casual dating before a major DTR (defining the relationship) event takes place, or reciprocal feelings are confessed right after the graduation ceremony and the respective parties part ways to go to different schools for high school or university, so the mutual interest doesn't lead anywhere.

I have added some details to the "sempai are often older, but not always" paragraph in an answer about that specific question at the Japanese SE here.

'Notice me senpai!' Really didn't originate from anywhere, it's more of a reference to when there's a romance in Animes that deal with school life. Before it somehow always was the girl chasing the guy (and still is). So I'm betting that whatever was the first anime to have an older male protagonist and a younger female protagonist, is most likely where it really originated from. If you watch older romance anime's their almost always about school life, so I'm assuming as time went on people noticed the pattern and came up with that meme.


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What ruleset is used for the Prefecture and National tournaments?
Riichi mahjong has a number of different variants in terms of rules, scoring, allowed hands, etc., even at the pro level in real life. Most of these rarely come into play, but when they do they can have a big impact on the game. In the Saki anime, the rules they are playing with are sometimes referenced (for instance, no multiple yakuman, robbing a closed kan for kokushi musou is allowed, and pao is applied for rinshan kaihou).
However, a lot of the other, more mundane rules aren't shown in the anime (e.g. whether a player may call for a redeal if they start with a lot of terminals and honors, the validity of open tanyao hands, whether renhou, shiisanpuutā/shiisuupuutā are allowed, etc.). Is there any official word on what ruleset is being used for these tournaments?

It's been two years since this question was posted, but since there's been no answer so far and a lot has happened since then, I thought I might have some fun and see what I could find.
Parts with * means that it happened outside of a tournament, e.g. at a training camp. For references I'm using the Saki and Achiga-hen mangas/animes only.
Basic yaku/han rules

Kuitan (open tanyao): Yes

Ippatsu (one-shot): Yes
Dora: Red (four), ura, kan, kan-ura
Sanrenkou/Suurenkou (3 or 4 consecutive triplets): No (Ch. 52 Saki)

Scoring rules

No-ten penalty: Yes
Tobi (going bust): Negative score, not zero (Ch. 42 Kana)

Koromo, being the sadistic loli she is, purposely cheapens her hand to drop Kana's score to exactly zero.

Tiebreaker after score: First dealership (Achiga Ch. 20 Awai)

Awai ignores a potential sanbaiman since it would make her tie in points with Shizuno, and because Shizuno's dealership was earlier Awai would end up behind.

Uma/oka (bonus points based on final placements): No (Ch. 11)
Double wind pair: 4 fu (Ch. 47 Saki)

Saki gets a 1 han 110 fu, which is only possible with this rule due to 102 fu being rounded up. For rules where this is 2 fu, it would be stuck at 100 fu.

Yakuman rules

Robbing a closed kan for kokushi: Yes (Ch. 36 Saki)

Saki avoids calling kan on a set of wests, being suspicious of Yumi's kokushi (which was 1-shanten at the time).

Double yakuman: No (Ch. 43, Ch. 51 Kana)

Hisa explains that there are no double yakumans in "this year's rules", so the rules most likely change from year to year.

Allowed yakuman: Either mentioned, attempted or actually won

Riichi tsumo toitoi Suuankou/Four closed triplets (Ch. 3 Saki*, Ch. 20 Kaori, Ch. 51 Kana, Ch. 125)
Kazoe-yakuman/Counted yakuman (Ch. 44 Kana, Ch. 52 Saki, Achiga Ch. 20 Himeko)
Kokushi musou/Thirteen orphans (Ch. 4 Saki*, Ch. 42, Ch. 48 Kana, Ch. 53 Yumi, Ch. 125, Ch. 140 Yukiko, Anime Ep. 21 Kaori)
Chinroutou/All terminals (Ch. 68 Hiroe)
Shousuushi/Little four winds (Ch. 56 Hatsumi, Ch. 89 Hatsumi)
Daisuushi/Big four winds (Ch. 125)
Tsuuiisou/All honours (Ch. 125)
Daisangen/Big three dragons (Ch. 13 Mai, Achiga Ch. 15 Takami)
Tenhou/Win on first dealer draw (Ch. 71)
Chiihou/Win on first non-dealer draw (Achiga Ch. 19 Awai)
Ryuuiisou/All green (Ch. 58 Kaori*)
(Possibly more)

General play rules

Daiminkan pao/sekinin barai (responsible for open kan rinshan): Yes (Ch. 52 Saki)
Temporary furiten: Yes (Achiga Ch. 6 Shizuno)

Shizuno could only win on 1-sou with a 2-3 wait, but could not ron in one of the rounds due to a 4-sou played earlier that round. Later she ignores a ron off one player in order to win off another.

Taahai (penalty for having too many tiles): Yes (Ch. 62 Maho*)

In the training camp Maho reaches to draw a tile even though she's dealer before the first discard.

Empty riichi: Yes, and counts as tenpai on draw (Ch. 27 Hisa)
Furiten riichi: Yes (Ch. 137 Yukiko, Anime Ep. 21 Mihoko)

Yukiko draws her winning closed 2-man but contemplates a furiten riichi to gain more points. Mihoko actually pulls off a furiten riichi against Hisa in the individuals, and wins with it.

Calling pon on a tile you just discarded: Yes (Achiga Ch. 8, Teru)
Dealer can extend leadership after last round: Yes (Achiga Ch. 10 Teru)
Going west (extra round added if no player gets at least 30000): Yes (Anime Ep. 21)

Halfway through Ep. 21 Mutsuki explains how Nanpo was able to make a comeback once it entered the south round, despite it being a tonpuusen (east-only game). Note that no round is added if the top player ends on exactly 30000, as Saki did in Ep. 22.

Draw condition rules

Kyuushuu kyuuhai (starting hand has 9+ terminals/honours): Yes (Ch. 140 Yukiko)

Yukiko says that "normally, one would abort the round" (普段なら流すところだけど), which suggests that she has the option to do so.

Suufontsu renda (all players discard same wind tile on first round): Yes (Ch. 73 Yuuki)

Yuuki reaches tenpai on the first round, but is forced to abandon it since it would require discarding a west, drawing the round.

(Possibly more)

Tournament room

People allowed: The four players only (Ch. 11)

Presumably this refers to the competing schools only, since tournament staff are seen in the room later in the same chapter.

Mobile phones: No point since they won't get any signal (Ch. 11)
Stuffed toys: Yes
Food: Yes
Taking off shoes and socks: Yes
Singing: Yes (Ch. 125 Choe)

The commentators go on to explain that this is allowed in European championships, but not for pro tournaments in Japan (interhigh is okay).

Throwing a tile into the air then slamming it down: Nobody complained (Ch. 25 Hisa)
Playing with tiles face down: Yes (Ch. 141 Megan)
Playing left-handed: Yes (Ch. 138 Yukiko, discussed in Ch. 142)

Other rules

Practice games for prefectural winners: Only against other non-prefectural winners (Achiga Ch. 3)

Similar rules seem to apply to the individual tournament (Achiga Ch. 7)

Vanguard for team tournaments: Must be Japanese (Ch. 108)

This rule was recently changed, since up until now Rinkai had all five members being foreign (Ch. 106).


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Who is the creator of the manga Yu Yu Hakusho?
Yu Yu Hakusho is one of my favorite shows. But unfortunately I don't know the name of the creator of this series. Can anyone help me?

The original manga was written by Yoshihiro Togashi. He's also the author of Hunter x Hunter, among other less well-known series.
I read an interview in the US Shounen Jump where he talked about how Yu Yu Hakusho began with his idea for a series that would start with the protagonist dying, and how later portions were informed by his love of horror movies such as Dawn of the Dead.
He's married to Naoko Takeuchi, the author of the Sailor Moon manga.
Wikipedia article.


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What is Caramelldansen, and where does it originate from?
I've been seeing this thing called Caramelldansen show in in .gifs by 2 characters from all different series. pairs such as Ed and Al from Fullmetal Alchemist, Arcuied and Ciel from Tsukihime, Rin and Saber from Fate/Stay Night and these crappy quality ones on youtube of L and Light and Mello and Near from Death Note
But what is Caramelldansen and where does it originate from?

It's not worth adding another answer for, but here's the original Swedish version and the translated English version. Where the meme comes from is immediately apparent.

Take note that the dance and a song are two parts of a whole.
Most familiar with the the meme would know that the title is Swedish for "Caramel Dance" and comes from the first track of the album Supergott released in November 2001, by the Swedish band "Caramell."
What's important about this is not the music but the animated dance that make up this meme. The meme is said to have appeared during the second half of 2006.
While its exact date of inception is uncertain, for a fact, this means started as a fifteen frame Flash animation loop showing Mai and Mii, who are characters of the Japanese (adult) visual novel Popotan, doing some sort of swinging hip dance while holding their hands over their heads imitating some sort of animal ears. The music played in the background was a sped up version of the song aforementioned song sung by singers Malin and Katia from the aforementioned band. There were other remixed versions that showed up almost in parallel, but that's not the most important part about this meme or its dance.
You see this popular dance clip originated from gif loops of the game's OP:
https://youtu.be/--Yr5q6tU9A?t=102
The game itself was released in 2002, with an anime following it in 2003. So why did it take so long for the meme we know today to appear?
It's possible that the anime, being anime, was more available to the public than its adult visual novel counterpart. For obvious reason such as content and availability, since fast broadband and Youtube (it appeared early 2005) were as readily available and prominent as it is today.
There's evidence to suggest that the a similar loop from the anime brought attention to the game. This particular loop was created based off a loop of the character Mii from the OP of the anime:
https://youtu.be/tboQg1xj010?t=62
This particular loop was probably made sometime around when the anime aired in the later half of 2003: http://dagobah.biz/flash/miidance.swf
Clearly the game's dance sequence would be considered cuter by most fans. Before Caramelldansen was even a thing, there were many other remixes being called different things with different songs from different bands playing, from Aerosmith and Run DMC's "Walk the Way" to "Dare" by the Gorillaz, most of them done in Flash. Subsequent spin-offs were created based on original characters and popular characters alike. But where and when did the meme in question start its popularity?
Apparently a guy from Sweden by the name of Sven, created the flash loop and posted it on his personal website: http://md5.se/h/032/
From there it made itself across the internet in the later half of 2006. Originally many large communities such as Hongfire and 4chan "Popotan Dance" or "Popotan Dansen," but as after 2008 it became more popularly known in its country of origin, Japan, as the "uma uma dance."
However it's believed that it wasn't until early 2008 that the meme truly popularized, with the help of versions and remixes shared via video sharing communities such as Youtube and Nico Nico Douga where its popularity truly peaked.

Carameldansen on Know your meme

Caramelldansen (eng. The Caramel Dance) is a series of animated dance videos that use the dance track with the same title. Its original track was released in Supergott which is the 2nd album of the Swedish pop group Caramell in November, 2001.
The big sensation was caused on the web by the huge amount of fan-made videos and artworks in such as YouTube, deviantART and the Japanese video sharing service Nico Nico Douga (NND) around 2008 to 2009.


text:
What airs on TV in Japan during the break between the fall and winter anime season?
With little to no new anime airing in the next week or so, with fall season now being over and winter season starting in January, I for the life of me, cannot figure out what airs on TV in Japan to take the place of anime which would usually air. Wouldn't there be a lot of empty time slots? They can't fill them up with Christmas specials right? Christmas isn't even that big in Japan from what I know.

New Years.  They celebrate New Years.

Date a Japanese girl and tell her that! lol (And then get ready to load up the Brinks trucks)


text:
How many students are there at Hagun Academy?
After watching Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry, I found myself confused by what seems to be a plot hole. Specifically, the anime depicts the qualifying matches at Hagun academy for the Seven Stars Sword Art tournament. The qualifying matches seem to be a 20-round single-elimination tournament with 6 winners. This is never outright stated, but many points of dialogue suggest this rather strongly, and at the very least it is stated explicitly in the last episode of the anime that all of the competitors on the last day had won 19 matches.
The 6 winners:

By basic math, a single-elimination tournament with 6 winners and 20 rounds would imply that there are about 6.3 million entrants to the qualifying tournament. That number of students at the school seems to be effectively impossible. For comparison, the population of New York City is about 8 million people, and the total number of high school students in Japan in 2011 was about 3.5 million. So this seems unreasonably large as an absolute number.
In addition, the number is too large relative to the size of the school. The area of Hagun Academy is said to be more than 10 times the size of the Tokyo Dome (according to http://rakudai-kishi.wikia.com/wiki/Hagun_Academy); using that figure, the average population density would be about 5 people per square meter (more than 100 times as dense as the most dense city in the world). In addition, we've gotten aerial shots of the school, and while large, it isn't nearly big enough to contain that many people.

So, I'm wondering, is this really the right number of students at the school? If not, is there some explanation for how the tournament has 20 rounds, or is this just a plot hole?

Certainly it is Single Elimination for Representatives, but i don't see anything about what happens when you loose. It would make sense that you have to continue fighting anyway, but it would be for prestige and the ability to knock other representative candidates out.

Hagun Academy (破軍学園 Hagun Gakuen) is one of the seven Mage Knight schools -> there are only 7 schools.
We have a rule

With the competition, six students defeat 10 different students earning them their spot as Hagun Academy’s representatives for the festival.

So looks like we have less students in Hagun.
BTW, it's LN logic !!!

For 20 rounds, it should be 2^20, not 2^19. If there were 1 round, it should be 12 students, not 6. It seems that I used the wrong figure for the area of the Tokyo dome, though yours isn't right either; it should be 112,456 m^2 for the whole site. But no matter how you fiddle with the numbers it comes out to at least 1 people per square meter, which would represent a dense (standing room only) crowd everywhere on campus, with no empty spaces (clearly not what's shown)...

At 5 people per square meter there is serious risk of being crushed or stampedes occuring, and that would be the average crowd everywhere on campus. Simply put, based on what we're shown in the anime, it seems unlikely that the density is much more than 100-200,000 people per square kilometer, and it's much more likely to be below 50,000 /km^2. In any case, none of this solves the issue that a single school with that many students would be completely impossible to administrate and manage.

ok, i edited my answer, sorry :D

Please make your answer consistent by replacing the wrong number with the correct figure. Please refrain from adding "Edit" addendum when the main content is wrong.


text:
Why is Akame the center of attention?
Akame is just an ordinary member of Night Raid. She doesn't have an integral role in the plot, and she is not an essential character: her absence wouldn't had changed the framework of the story significantly.
Though she did fight an amazing battle, this doesn't seem like it should differentiate her from the others, because all the other members did the same thing. The only difference is that

she fought Esdeath, the primary antagonist, and ultimately survived.

However, on the other hand, the show is named after her. In addition, the opening and ending is full of portrayals of her. She takes most of the attention, but she doesn't seem to display a leading role.
Why is she emphasized so much, especially over the other characters?

I vaguely remember hearing that Akame was originally going to be a more central character, but that that ended up changing along the way as more of the manga was written. I know of no source to support this claim, though.

About the "ordinary member" thing: At least in the manga, on missions and when Najenda is absent she´s essentially the boss (appointed by Najenda herself). And why the series name: The same thing could be asked about the manga...

I've heard something along the lines of what Senshin said and that the manga was going to be an h-manga before it became fully developed. Wiki listed the author's name is Takahiro and you'll find a lot of h-manga written by authors of a similar name, but I can't confirm this.

Very late to the party here, but as a writer, I can say that the "POV" and the "protagonist" are not the same thing, even though ~99% of the time in stories, shows, or films the POV character is in fact the protagonist.
It's hard to say for certain if it was intentional, but this makes it even more emotionally impactful when Tatsumi dies.
Gave this show additional rewatch value for me knowing that Akame is, in fact, the main character. Besides Tatsumi, she has the most character growth.

I could be completely off base here, but honestly I think it's because

 she is the one of the only ones who survive.

I think she is very central to the story, though. She just isn't your stereotypical front and center protagonist. She does have the most backstory, and they did create Akame ga KILL! Zero to further develop her character.

Akame, like all other Night Raid members, had a reason for joining. However, unlike the others,

she had to leave an actual relative behind on the government's side,

so she's already different from everyone else right off the bat, not to mention the fact that her sister (pretty much her past) came back later on in the series.
She had the most character development. Sure the author could've used any character to zero in on, but he chose Akame. As to why she was the center of attention, well, she was really the strongest one,

not to mention the only one who survived of nightraid.

So it's only natural that she was the center of attention.

Akame is the centre of attention because her role in the anime is to kill the minister or esdeath either so the story follows all of night raid however it shows akame more due to the her experiences as a imperial spy and being seperated from her sister. although tatsumi is the main protagonist and the main character its akame who has the main role of "assassin of the empire"

Akame didn't kill the minister in the anime (Leone did). She only killed Esdeath. And the King was defeated by Tatsumi and later executed by Najenda. Therefore, it is a bit off to say that she is assassin of the empire from the anime.

Guys both of you watch out for spoilers, place it in a spoiler tag or just don't mention spoiler sensitive information

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


text:
When does Kud Wafter fit into the story?
Kud Wafter is a spinoff of the original Little Busters! visual novel in which Kud is the main heroine. When, in the timeline, does it occur? Is it after Kud's route, or an alternative to Kud's route (i.e. after the common route) or in some other place in the story (e.g. after Refrain)? Of course, the name is a pun on "Wafu" (which Kud says frequently) and "After", but that alone doesn't seem to answer the question of how it fits into the main story.

You could say Kud Wafter as a possible continuation of all the events of Little Busters (Refrain).

In the paradox world, Kyousuke chooses the "best candidates" not by their cutness (but they  are ^_^) but their life before die.
If you would realize, every non-core member from little busters had a bad life.
In this case, Kud had the feeling to say goodbye to her mother (she didn't it when she was alive).
This spinoff is after the events of Refrain (carcrash + good end = jumper).


text:
How does Charmander breathe fire?
Charmander is a small lizard-like Pokémon. It is a fire-type Pokémon, and is capable of breathing fire.

How do Charmander and its evolved forms do this? Is there any biological basis for it, and is it ever explained in canon?

he uses the fire on his tail as a pilot light

http://bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species:_Charmander  might have some usefull information about that

none of the real life laws apply to Pokemons :P

I doubt you could answer that question with logic. It's like asking where Squirtle is stockpiling all that water he is shooting. It would physically be impossible to store all those gallons in that tiny body of his.

I don't think our known biology can be applied to Pokemon. Blastoise has cannons, for instance, and Pikachu can shoot electricity (is not the same be able to create electricity to shock predators that attack you and actually shooting it).
I mean, we could make theories about how they can do all those things, but the designers just didn't think about it. It would be an interesting pastime, but pretty pointless, because they would be just that, theories.

Yeah, the physics/biology is waaaayyyy out there: Pokemon can travel through time, hypnotize large numbers of people, are less dense than styrofoam/helium, wear their mother's skull....

"We are right in the dessert. Snorlax, use Surf!" One of the things I'll never understand.

I would just like to coin the phrase, "Theory of Pokevolution". That is all.

It might hard to elaborate with a canonical explanation. The only things I can think of are:

Charmander might store methane gas in his stomach, like other living things do.
His stomach might be specialized for compressing gases numerous times (enough to breath fire )
His throat or digestive system might include something that can make sparks, which would bring the fire from his belly.
Methane is lighter than air, so it can be presumed to be one of the reasons that Charizard can fly.

I'm pretty sure Charizard can fly because he has wings and not because he is full of methane on the inside.

Charmander might technically be a lizard Pokémon, but it eventually evolves into Charizard, a Pokémon that very closely resembles a dragon. Indeed, Mega Charizard (X) is partially dragon type.

Charmander can also learn Dragon-type moves, albeit only by Technical Machine (TM) - Moves such as "Dragon Tail" and "Dragon Claw".
Therefore, I would consider your question a similar question to "How do dragons breath fire" - In which there have been many theories in fantasy novels, mythology, etc.
One theory for how dragons can breath fire is that they contain flammable gas or liquid sacks in their bodies, which is then ignited when they wish to exhale it. Some theories imagine that dragon have small natural pieces of iron and flint in their mouths, which they would use to create sparks.
The Bombardier Beetle is an interesting example of a creature that has a similar mechanism, storing corrosive checmicals inside its body then spewing it out when threated (1)
There are a bunch of other theories, like hydrogen being emitted from the stomach during the dragon's digestion - or simply, Magic.

I read an article a while back which theorized that Pokemon were beings composed of energy rather than matter.
This also explains how they can be stored in computers and Pokeballs.
See this video it's not the original article that I read but it covers the basic idea.

Maybe he stores some kind of inflammable gas in his stomach. He can create a spark in his throat. The gas comes out and due to the spark appears like a flame pillar.
This concept is similar to that of a cigarette lighter.


text:
Is it explained why Satoshi cannot create art?
In D.N.Angel, Satoshi can copy any art that he sees but not create art of his own. Is this because he was not raised by his family (the Hikari family)? Is some other reason given, either by the manga or by the author?

It wasn't mentioned.

As far as I know, it wasn't mentioned either in the anime or manga. But having him raised by his adoptive father Kei Hiwatari instead by the Hikari family themselves probably was the main reason. He probably lacked training from his ancestors so he can only create a copy of an artwork, and cannot create an artwork of his own.

I think that is more like he does not want to.  They never directly talk about it, but both in the manga and in the anime (with more depth on the former) Dark comments about Daisuke wanting to paint to defy his heritage and mentions a similarity with Satoshi. Also, he can make artwkork and reproductions, but he does not like to ( that would mean being like his family which he outright says hates) also he does not hold his family artwork  in high regard


text:
Is 3x3 Eyes based on any real legends?
It seems like a familiar trope to have a powerful being in human form take a human as their indestructible guardian.  3x3 Eyes has that relationship between Pai and Yakumo. I'm wondering if it's more than just another expression of this general trope; if it's an adaptation of an actual legend or traditional story.  There's something compelling about an immortal and her companion both wanting to just be human.
So, is 3x3 Eyes based on a real legend or traditional story, or just made up?

The most closely linked legend I can find is Shiva. Shiva is a hindu deity who has three eyes and is worshiped by people in the region that Pai is from.

Third eye: (Trilochana) Shiva is often depicted with a third eye, with which he burned Desire (Kāma) to ashes,[98] called "Tryambakam" (Sanskrit: त्र्यम्बकम् )(Tamil :நெற்றிக்கண்), which occurs in many scriptural sources.[99] In classical Sanskrit, the word ambaka denotes "an eye", and in the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as three-eyed, so this name is sometimes translated as "having three eyes".[100] However, in Vedic Sanskrit, the word ambā or ambikā means "mother", and this early meaning of the word is the basis for the translation "three mothers".[101][102] These three mother-goddesses who are collectively called the Ambikās.[103] Other related translations have been based on the idea that the name actually refers to the oblations given to Rudra, which according to some traditions were shared with the goddess Ambikā.[104] It has been mentioned that when Shiva loses his temper badly, his third eye opens which can destroy most of the things to ashes.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva
This is the best three eyed deity of the correct region I could find. I think that 3x3 eyes may have taken part of the legend as inspiration and then ran with it.


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What happened between Kirito and Asuna in those 2 years?
According to the 2nd episode, Kirito and Asuna met in the first month of SAO. Yet 2 years later, they meet again and it seems they are like complete strangers.
What happened to them in those 2 years? Do the light novels explain this?

"Yet, 2 years later, they meet again and it seems they are like complete strangers." - Where is this mentioned? I don't remember this at all.

Same, they were constantly together on the clearing groups and they killed the first boss together too. He was also constantly running into here, IIRC.

Its a world of -10k people.  They probably were bound to meet each other.  "It's a small world after all"

Sword Art Online: Progressive

This is where the glopping noise of 2 years worth of  ****** comes into play, right?

During the two years, players teamed up to clear the floors.  However Kirito decided to solo the game (heavily influenced by Sachi's death ep. 3).  This made contact between other players uncommon.  Even though Kirito was a solo player, he participated in Boss Battles.
Before the boss battles he talked with other players for strategy. Asuna being one of the leaders, and Kirito being one of the strongest of players, would talk to each other or at least be in the same area.
It was referenced during the time of Gleam Eyes (Boss of the 74th Floor) when Klein found Kirito in a party with Asuna.

In the anime, a lot happens to Kirito through those two years.

He distances himself from other players after clearing the first floor's boss, due to him being identified as a "Beater" (beta tester/cheater).  When he does run into people he knows from the real world...

 ...he reluctantly agrees to join a guild with them, then they go on a raid and it winds up costing all of his friends their lives.  He shoulders that grief for the next two years.

He tells Asuna to go ahead and join a guild if she sees an opportunity, due to her strength.
He never really got to know her in the short period of time they interacted when clearing that boss, except for the fact that this was her first MMO, and that she was surprisingly talented.

Two years later, they reunite - recognizing each other from the boss raid they did way back when.  That's about all they could recognize each other from, anyway.  In that time, they've both become very strong SAO players, and are fighting on the front lines, determined to clear the game.

Progressive doesn't agree with you. It seems Kirito and Asuna were together up until 9th floor. Eg. where beta testers were able to get.

I was following the progression of the anime, as that's the only real reference material I have at hand.

They both meet at a guild, trying to beat the first level, and they formed a group. Kirito becomes a solo player, then plays in a guild called “The Moonlit Black Cats”. They then meet again, and sort of like each other. Asuna wants to quit the “Knights of the Blood Oath” but Heathcliff stops them. Kirito challenges him, and the leader turns out to be Akahiko Kayaba (the creator of SAO). As a result, Kirito try’s to stab him, but Heathcliff prevents himself from dying with an immortal shield. Kirito then has a fight with Heathcliff. Then, Kirito gets almost killed before Asuna comes to save him and dies instead. Kirito says he wants to be here for sleeping today.

Ok, so kirito first met asuna while clearing the first floor. They team up, and beat the boss. They later meet while buying bread and after that when kirito is sleeping and the whole grimlock thing happens. That basically is what happens in the two years.


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Why does Himura Kenshin say ～ござる (~gozaru) at end of every sentence?
Why does Himura always end almost every sentence with gozaru in this show? Is this normal for people in that time period?

Not just this show, but many others... For example, the maid from Shana ends almost every sentence with "de-arimasu". Although the reason is clearer in that case.

～ござる is commonly known as a more polite way of ending a sentence, but it's also common in historical dramas because it is a bit archaic-sounding. ANN has an entry on this in their lexicon here. A more detailed analysis of Kenshin's speech patterns can be found here.
EDIT: It was pointed out in chat that there's a closely related question with a really good answer on the Japanese  Stack Exchange.

Why does Himura always end almost every sentence with gozaru in this show?
To express his self-abasement, modesty, and serving attitude.  This is the persona he adopted in the Meiji era as a rurouni (wandering samurai).
Kenshin's usage of this speech pattern is not for the intent of marking the series as historical fiction.  This is evidenced by the fact that none of the other characters in the series speak this way.
Furthermore, Kenshin did not use「でござる」(de gozaru) when he was younger (before his rurouni phase of life), and when he flips into hitokiri battousai mode within the series proper (when his eyes are yellow), he does not use this copula verb form because, in battousai mode, he does not have a meek personality.
The stark difference between his speech patterns and everyone else's emphasizes Kenshin's personal, intentional choice to use this style of speech. Rather than the mangaka, Nobuhiro Watsuki, intending this phrasing to be representative of the era, it highlights Kenshin's now humble personality and that he is a bit different from the new norms of his time period (in the same way that he persists in carrying a sword and sheath, still wears hakama rather than pants, etc.).
"De gozaru" is part of Kenshin's response to realizing that he was very mistaken in his previous actions and convictions during the Bakumatsu period. In combination, he also uses 「拙者」 (sessha), which is a 謙譲語 (kenjougo = humble language) word. Kenjougo is a lowering of the speaker in comparison to the person/people being spoken to. As seen in thejapanesepage.com's article on keigo (polite speech), kenjougo is (to this day) employed in

referring to oneself or one's family members and (usually) speaking to someone higher up in social rank, position or some other criteria for determining status. However even some people with high positions may choose to use the humble form with those under him/her.

As Kenneth Hanson explains

A copula is a word meaning “to be”, and is used to predicate a sentence. . . . The copula takes three basic forms in standard speech: the plain form だ (da) in informal speech, the polite form です (desu) in formal speech, and でございます (de gozaimasu) in honorific speech. In the case of the last form, the same word is used both for respectful and humble speech; unlike other components of keigo, de gozaimasu is neutral to who the subject is. . . . In truth, things are a little more complicated than this. . . . de gozaru is the honorific form of de aru, but with keigo the polite form of an honorific verb is almost always used, so we get de gozaimasu.

Is this normal for people in that time period?
No.  It was not customary for people to use 「でござる」 in this period. Rurouni Kenshin takes place starting in 1878 (year 11 of the Meiji era) and the epilogue ends in the spring of 1885 (Meiji Era year 18). The side story Yahiko no Sakabatou takes place 5 years after the Great Kyoto Fire.
As Boaz Yaniv explains on the Japanese Language SE,

the stereotypical Samurai speech in Jidaigeki is actually based on the Edo dialect of late Edo period. Many of the mannerisms you'd find in this speech do not specifically represent Samurai, but rather a typical resident of Edo in that particular time.

The Edo era lasted from 1603 to 1868; however, Japan had been forcibly opened to the outside world by Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s black ships back in 1853 (15 years before Edo officially ended).  The Convention of Kanagawa was signed with Perry in 1854, with three more international treaties of Amity and Commerce following in 1858 (the shogunate was successfully disbanded in 1867, the Boshin civil war raged for over a year as loyalists attempted to restore the shogunate to power, and the Republic of Ezo, a secessionist state located in what is now Hokkaido prefecture, stayed afloat for half of 1869 before being crushed by Japan’s imperial forces).
In contrast to speech patterns of the late Edo period, Meiji is when Japan's first generation of young men attended college, learned English, learned how to eat with fork and spoon, and went to study abroad. Japan was very keen to portray itself as rapidly modernizing so as not to be colonized by other nations (approximately when Perry opened Japan to the West, the British Empire took control of India; America annexed Alaska and Hawaii; and the Berlin Conference of 1884 set the Scramble for Africa into motion. Historical figure Nitobe Inazo explained that "[t]he Union Jack was firmly planted in India and was moving eastward to Singapore, Hong-Kong, and there was some probability of it marching on to China.  Why not to Japan too?  The French Tricolor was also seen floating over Cambodia, Annam, and Tonkin, and nobody could tell how far north or east it would fly.  More alarming than these, the Muscovite Power, like a huge avalanche, was steadily descending southwards from its Siberian steppes, crushing everything on its way."  Inazo Nitobe, “Lectures on Japan: The Manchurian Question and Sino-Japanese Relations,” in Lectures on Japan: An Outline of the Development of the Japanese People and Their Culture, pp. 227–29).

Thanks for the thorough explanation. I find this extremely annoying actually, while watching the series.


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What is Mii Fujibakama saying?
I would like to know what Mii Fujibakama is saying in romaji in the anime is "Date to a Live". At minute 15:15 of episode 1 of season 2 she says something like " Majikku " but it isn't that!! I been searching everywhere on Google for hours how to type/write that in romaji? I know the meaning in English which means gross or disgusting, but I couldn't find how to write it in romaji.
It's the girl wearing glasses that has purple hair. How do you write what she says?

Please don't link to unlicensed streaming sites. As for your question itself, I'm pretty sure she always says the same thing, まじひくわー, which in romaji would be written majihikuwaa.

I'm promoting my comment above to an answer. What she says in every instance she talks is 「まじひくわー」, or majihikuwaa.
Here, maji (まじ) means "really" or "seriously". It's a very strong, almost superlative way of modifying whatever follows, so it's literal meaning might be closer to "profoundly" or "incredibly", but it's far more colloquial than those.
Hiku (引く) is a common verb which has several possible meanings. The meaning here is a rather colloquial one, which literally means something like "to reel back in disgust or fear". The use of the verb in an unconjugated form here is rather casual, and would not be done in polite speech.
The sentence ends with waa (わー). wa is a feminine way to end a sentence (see this question on Japanese SE). It's relatively uncommon in real life. It doesn't add much meaning here. Making the vowel long at the end just emphasizes the statement while making it less polite.
So in all, 「まじひくわー」 is a slang phrase which means something to the effect of "That's seriously gross". I'm simplifying things a bit here as the meaning could change a bit depending on context, how it's pronounced, etc., but it's always going to be a rather strong, course slang expression of disgust.


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What's the name of this vehicle in Code Geass?

I tried the wiki, but couldn't find any information on this cool-looking walking (hydron?) canon. What is the name of this and what does it do?

If memory serves me well it is the Raiko, made from 4 Knightmare Frames.

it's the Raikō which, as the Wiki says, literately translates to Lightning.
It's a Japanese Seige weapon which was originally developed by the Japanese Liberation Front, first seen in the JLF's Hotel Hijacking which saw Euphie held hostage and the rise of the Black Knights. it was later used by the Black Knights duing the Assault on Tokyo Settlement in the Black Rebellion.
As it's translated name suggests, it's a lighting cannon, more precisely it's an Electromagnetic Cannon using the 4 Knightmares to move it around and to stabilize when it's being fired, in the anime we only see 2 crew members so there isn't one in each Knightmare. only Suzaku and the Lancelot is shown to be able to destroy it.


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Why is it called Dramatical Murder?
Is there a special reason for this name? I have watched it up to episode 3 but I still don't know why it's called Dramatical Murder.
If it won't spoil anything, please give me an explanation.

Technically you might want to play the VN. I played it and there are some different routes I have played such as the Koujaku bad ending, otherwise I don't think it was mentioned but that just gives me an excuse to play it again. xD

@アズーサ oh so its based on a visual novel didn't know that so i looked it up and am wondering will the VN be enjoyable for a non yaoi fan.

@NoLifeKing- I would suggest playing just Ddmd rather than re:connect first since re:connect has got kinda hardcore yaoi and stuff where as just the first one in my opinion just had a lot of action and only like one yaoi scene but it depends on the route chosen I guess. xD


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Why is Natsume Desperate
During episode 11 of Tokyo Ravens, there was a scene on a weekend that Dairenji Suzuka visited Tsuchimikado Harutora's room and explored its inside just to annoy Harutora.
Then after that, Suzuka also asked to enter Tsuchimakado Natsume's room. However, Natsume deliberately refused Suzuka's demand even though that they know that Suzuka can black mail Natsume about revealing her great secret.

Natsume even forced herself to go to her room even when Suzuka was already restraining her.
(Just look at Natsume's worried face XD)

And after that, Natsume was forcibly tied by Suzuka in order for them to visit Her room. The inside of the room was pretty normal, so they wondered why would Natsume be that worried, but as Suzuka monitored the room, she noticed a very complicated barrier that is protecting Natsume's closet. Curiously, Suzuka tried to forcibly open the closet by removing the barrier. Then Natsume desperately crawled going to her room with tears in her face showing her great fear of Suzuka opening the closet and them knowing the contents inside.
(Just look at her annoyingly cute expression as she crawled! XD)

Since Harutora was kind enough to feel pity on Natsume, He ordered Kon to release Natsume from her binding.
As soon as Natsume's binding was released, she desperately called Hokuto (Overpowered) just to protect her secret; Thus destroying her room due to Hokuto's size.

Now, this is my question:

Why was Natsume desperate of not letting them (Suzuka, Harutora, Touji) enter her room, even though its pretty normal? (if there is no exact reason, maybe a girl's perspective will do)
What is inside Natsume's closet? Is it so very important that she even protected it with strong barriers and even called Hokuto just to protect it? (there is also a question related to this but the answers did not fill the void in my heart.

I can see why you weren't satisfied with the answers to the other question; they are extremely unsatisfying. Unfortunately, I do think this is a duplicate of that question, even if the pictures make it a bit more fun to read.


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Why does Mir appear inside Cloche's Cosmosphere
According to This answer there is a special reason why Shurelia is able to appear in Misha's and Aurica's Cosmospheres.
How in in the 4th Level of Cloche's Cosmosphere Mir appeared despite the 2 never having met. even if the reason for Shurelia appearing in other's Cosmospheres rings true for Mir according to this answer

Cocona is also an IPD, meaning she does not connect to the "correct" server, but to the Infel Phira server.

this means IPDs have a totally different server that they connect to plus Infel Pira was man made after the Reyvateils appeared (as Infel, a Reyvateil herself, made it to prepare to sing Metafalica)
So i am wondering how is Mir turning up in Cloche's Cosmosphere?

minor question about Ar-tonelico. I played the game melody of metafalica on ps2. Is the anime and manga a creation off of the game? Or is the other way around? I see a few of these questions on here and it's got me interested.

The manga and the OVA are both spin-offs from the game, but only the manga from the first game is considered canon. The OVA and the second game's manga are heavily condensed retellings that even break canon.

The servers can connect to each other to make the singing of Dual Songs and such possible, and there are some songs that depend on these connection to even be executed, so it's not unlikely that part of Mir's feelings ended up getting into Infel Phira during the time she and Loude were doing research on it.


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What is the name of the song that plays in One Piece episode 722 at 12:28?
The question is similar to this one but the song I'm looking for is different. I'm looking for the song that started approximately at 12:28 in episode 722. It begins when Doflamingo begins speaking. The voices cover some parts, but I like the song a lot.

I haven't double-checked (because I'm @ work) but I have seen the episode yesterday and I think this might be the track you mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBiAA6BMxbU    Please confirm/deny so I can post it as an answer.

Sorry no this isn't the one i'm looking for.

If I remember I'll check the episode when I get home then ;)

Sorry man, couldn't find it, seems nice tho.. Anyway, here's another track I  found that sounded pretty nice, as a consolation prize xD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgPkVDgjD4M

The OST you're looking for hasn't been released as of yet.
As of now, it's named "Doflamingo's Theme" and you can listen to it here.
I'll update this answer once the OST has been officially released.

here it is guys, i found it finally
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6dXdLHj-E0

Posting a link itself is not considered answering the question. The video could be moved or made unavailabe in which case the information will be lost. Please [edit] your post to include the name of the song.


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How was Holo unfair in this argument in volume 9?
Sometimes I have difficulty understanding Holo and Lawrence's wit, such as in this conversation on pages 48-49 of volume 9 of the light novels:

Holo: Aye, we're all greedy, always running about in service of our own gain.
Lawrence: On that count, I'm forced to agree. Of course...Of course, if I weren't so greedy, I'd be able to buy you tastier food.
Holo: Mm. But is seeing my pleasure not in your interests as well?
Lawrence: If you were truly so easily bribed by food, then that might be so.
Holo: And what other methods could you use?
Lawrence: If food is out, then with words or manners.
Holo: Neither of which is so reliable in your case.
Lawrence: (Quoting Eve) Or you could imagine you've been deceived and decide to trust both. They might well turn out to be genuine.
Holo: That isn't what I meant to say.

They were originally talking about Holo's attempt to get a narwahl, but then it branched off into this conversation.
With line 8, Lawrence feels that he has effectively put Holo in a corner. The text also mentions that line 8 is something Eve previously said. The text then states that Holo has no counterattack. However, when Holo makes her reply with line 9, Lawrence feels like she has done something unfair. I am uncertain as to why Lawrence feels as though he has won, and as to why he feels that Holo was unfair with line 9.

...I think we'd probably need Holo's last reply to help here.

I'm sorry if my wording was difficult to understand, but that is the ending to the conversation. After that, Lawrence goes on to ask Holo to treat the loser nicely for a change. I'll try to edit it to be clearer.

My interpretation is that Lawrence sees Holo's last line as something of an apology for implying that his words and manners aren't genuine. Lawrence sees this as unfair since she won the duel of wits by apologizing, putting him in a position where he couldn't, in fairness, press any verbal attack, because his opponent would not be fighting back. Recognizing that she's won the argument by removing his ability to fight, Lawrence asks her to treat him, the loser, nicely for a change.

Okay. That makes sense.


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Is it safe for me to watch Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou as an anime-only viewer?
I have only watched (season one of) the Shingeki no Kyojin anime, and have not read any of the manga.
As I watch the Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou anime, which is airing this season, I am starting to get a sense that I am at risk of being spoiled for content which is currently manga-only. Nothing glaring comes to mind yet (though that could just be because e.g. I'm failing to notice gags that are based on manga-only content), though there's a character from episode 8 who I don't think I know, and an altercation between two characters in episode 3 that I was told comes from a flashback that hasn't been animated yet.
Can someone who has read the (main) manga and is watching Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou (and perhaps has read the source manga for that) tell me how much of a risk I'm at of spoiling myself for content that hasn't been animated yet?
(If there's a high risk of spoilage, I figure I may as well put it off until season 2 airs in 2016.)

Having read the original manga, I think the worse case scenario is you not getting a few gags and not recognising a few characters, there has not been that much spoilers and references that would spoil the 2nd season for you since the characters are depicted in a silly fashion without relation to the main plot of the original manga.

Hahahaha 2016 remember when we were all so innocent?

@senshin Dude, that's exactly what I thought when I first watched that spin-off series XD I didn't expect them to do something like that.

I recommend watching the anime first as a good overview of the series. Then read the manga, to cover any: plot holes/extras/gags and to get more info. It doesn't really matter because the anime (most of the time) follows the manga (In Soul Eater, the anime and manga are different but the story continues differently so it isn't spoiling anything because it's a different story).


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Does the symbol on the bodies of the damned have any real-world significance?
In Hell Girl, when someone condemns their target to be banished to Hell immediately, they forfeit their own afterlife in Heaven as the price. As a mark of this covenant between the cursee and Hell Girl herself, a black mark appears upon their chest, shown in the pictures below:

Does this symbol have any significance outside the show? Or is it simply a fictional one to represent Hell in the series?

This is just a speculation, but it resembles a mitsudomoe. Some view the mitsudomoe as representative of the threefold division (Man, Earth, and Sky) at the heart of the Shinto religion.


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Does the Ethics Committee control all of Japan?
According to this answer it appears that each of the districts are in each of Japan's Regions
Tomiko, who lives in Kamisu 66 is the head of the Ethics Committee and she wanted Saki, who also lived in Kamisu 66, to take her place one day.
I am wondering if the Ethics Committee's Tomiko is the head of control of all of Japan, or if each region/district has their own Ethics Committee. If the latter, do they all share the same ruleset (particularly regarding the age a child can be terminated being changed to 17 years)?

In the novel, each regions doesn't have communication channel each other.
(Wikipedia describe it too.)
There are no way to control all regions from one ethics committee.
I think the fundamental rules such as got human rights at 17 years old is same, because it's created by scientist group.

To my knowledge, each district has its own committee.


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What happened to the second kira?
After Light and Misa were cleared, everyone seemed to just forget about that there's more than one kira. What was up with that? I seem to recall Light instructed Misa to make a response to the task force's kira video, then L deduced that the two kiras have met, then Light and Misa were confined, then Soichiro fake shoots them and then they try to catch Higuchi. While trying to catch Higuchi and thereafter, has everyone just forgotten that there's more than one kira? Did anyone find it suspicious that there seems to have been only one kira around? Maybe they thought that the two kiras were acting as one?
Based on a comment I made here: Why didn't the Task Force capture Misa Amane?

What makes you think that happened? In L's mind Ligh was still Kira and Misa was still Kira 2, he was making preparations for the 13-days rule to be tested and would have proven it wrong thus confirming Light and Misa as Kira and Kira 2. That's the exact reason why Rem killed him. The rest of the task force knew that Kira and Kira 2 met and probably got along. Why would the Kiras still act as 2 entities? The task force knows that there are 2 Kiras who teamed up (or that one killed or subdued the other) and tries to get at least one of them hoping that this would lead to the 2nd one.

There's nothing to expect from the Task Force. Their main brains were L, Light and Near.
L proposed that Misa is the second Kira, but he was proved wrong because of the fake shot scene by Light's father. So inside the Task Force's mind, the claim that Misa is the second Kira became false, thus the claim of second Kira was probably forgotten too by the Task Force.
After Higuchi's capture part, L still didn't forget his claim about the second Kira and Kira = Light, because L wanted to test the truth of 13-day rules. Unfortunately he didn't live long.
Task Force is just a group of subordinates who receive the orders and execute the orders. They are not the leader of the team. They just follow their leader's instruction. They didn't have insight like L and Near, plus they believes in Light, so they just did their job according to Light's instructions. Even though Aizawa doubted Light after Near emerges, he still didn't have enough brain to prove Light = Kira, and he just had doubt, not confirmation.
As part of a team, Japanese values teamwork and harmony in a team, so they follow their leader. As for the guy who doubted Light, he chose to follow Near's instruction.

Not convinced, but now that you mention Aizawa I'm guessing he was suspicious of Misa. Been awhile since I've seen DN though

They did not forget that there were possibly two Kiras. The task force stopped pursuing that objective due to L throwing the theory out after the shot scene as posted about.
If L didn't pursue the theory, then it was forgotten as the task force had already been proven powerless to stop Kira, which is why L was there in the first place.
Perhaps the individual members still pondered if there were two Kiras or not, but they were not free to pursue their own opinions given their individual positions.

Edited question. Does your answer change?

No mine remains the same however also remember that Higuchi's murders were far different in path and purpose than classic kira and kira 2.0(i.e Misa). So since that was the evidence in front of them L didn't have much of a choice besides his gut feeling which is shown a bit in the anime.

It has been a while since I watched Death Note, but this is my answer from what I remember.
I don't think they forgot about the Second Kira, at least not entirely. After the fake firing scene, they concluded that Light and Misa are not the Kiras.
Later Light turned out to be Kira, but I don't think they never had any reason to suspect Misa again. Also, the task force got hold of one of the Death Notes. So, they probably might have thought that since they have one with them and Kira has another one, Second Kira didn't have a Death Note anymore and so is no longer a threat.
That's what I think.


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What proof do we have that Waiting in the Summer and Onegai Sensei (and Twins by proxy) are set in the same Earth?
Offshot of: Waiting in the Summer and Onegai Sensei seem to plagiarise each other. Is this normal in anime/manga?
It is said that both animes are set in the same Earth (I.E., Waiting in the Summer is a sequel of Onegai Series). While my first question addresses how common is to have two series that are almost a plagiarims of one another, this question is about these two series per se.
What evidence do we have to prove that Waiting in the Summer is indeed in the same World/Earth/Universe than Onegai Sensei, Onegai Twins?

In ep 12, from 13:20 to 14:40, the recording of the "ancient aliens" that visited Earth before begins playing, while Ichika is inside the federation probe being carried upwards into orbit:

I wonder how long it has been, but thank you for finding this.
  I made an emergency landing on this planet after my spaceship had trouble and was saved by someone here.
  Before I knew, he meant a lot to me. But this is a remote planet where contact with the locals is forbidden. Help will soon be on its way.
  I imagine my memories on this planet will be sealed away to mantain secrecy .
  But... I wanted... to leave behind the memories I had with him, no matter what.
  Even if my memories faded, even if I couldn't remember, I wanted to leave something behind. Thank you for finding it.
  I pray that at least my memories will live on with you.
  Please don't forget.

Comparing the text above with the story of Onegai Teacher, if it was left behind by Kazami Mizuho, it should be before she is recalled into HQ and everyone's memories are wiped out. One thing that does not click is that it seems like an accident. Mizuho came to earth on an observer assignment (contrast with Ichika, that came on a "tourist visa").
Some of the alien's technological similarities I pointed out in the other question are then justified if they are the same universe. You would pretty much expect warp nacelles in any Federation ship if it is in the Star Treck universe, for example.
But the final evidence is that the above text is voiced by Mizuho's Seyuu, Inoue Kikuko. Anime News Network has credits for her as "Misterious Voice (ep. 12)".
The production staff for both series is very similar and they share the same character designer.
So they probably are the same universe. Whether any of the characters is a descendant of Onegai ones, is better left to the realm of speculation. But it could explain why Ichika has memories of Mizuho's recording.


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Waiting in the Summer and Onegai Sensei seem to plagiarise each other. Is this normal in anime/manga?
Waiting in the Summer and Onegai Sensei have TONS of things in common:

Luscious Redhead Alien Main Romantic Interest? Check.
Is she a Meganekko (warning: TV Tropes) even though her advanced alien civilization surely can fix the need for glasses? Check.
Mature demeanor indicating a slightly older woman? Check.
Works as a neutral observer on Earth? Check.
Cannot get into a relationship with natives due to alien regulations and job specifications? Check.

Likes to look candidly over the shoulder while holding arms stiff against the back so to enhance the "natural attributes" during the show OP? CHECK!

Almost kills the MC during the first episode due to crappy piloting re-entry skills? Check.
Saves the life of MC after the crash? Check.

Strange critter that doubles as the spaceship control interface? Check.
Critter has the ability to teleport said alien redhead on demand? Check.

Lolita manipulator that seems to know everything behind the scenes? Check.
Secondary "death flagged" romantic interest that never stands a chance against the aforementioned hot redhead alien? Check.
Redhead is forcefully removed from Earth for breaking alien law? Check.
Japanese countryside (almost rural) setting? Check.
Character design by Taraku Uon? Check.
Manga serialized by Media Works? Check.

I really felt deja vu all the time.
Is it common to repack almost the same story, setting and characters into another series?

I already told how the series are almost a copy of one another, I want to know how common is it to repack the same basic storyline and sell it again.
If the two series are in the same world is stuff for another question: What proof do we have that Waiting in the Summer and Onegai Sensei (and Twins by proxy) are set in the same Earth?

"I want to know how common is it to repack the same basic storyline and sell it again" - well, this is kind of difficult to answer. What makes two storylines basically the same? Do all the shows that entail basically "high school boy meets mysterious girl, gets superpowers, and fights evil" count as the same storyline? Because you see that all over the place. Or do you want something more along the lines of Ano Natsu / Onegai Sensei? Because I think it should be obvious that this rare, bordering on nonexistent.

With the way you present the evidences of how the 2 series are so similar, people will immediately ask themselves the question why. You might want to change this question to align with that idea, and ask a different question for your actual question ("Is it common to repack almost the same story, setting and characters into another series?"), citing these 2 series as example, without going into all the details about their similarity.

These two anime are made by the same people. Yousuke Kuroda, story writer of Onegai Sensee, collaborated with the character creator of the Onegai franchise, Taraku Uon, to bring us Ano Natsu de Matteru [1][2].
I would say that what you're experiencing is the many tropescaution! that are in common between these anime. Since these anime share a creator this is significantly magnified. There are many common tropes and themes that are shared between stories as they are the building blocks of making an interesting plot and storyline.
When watching anime I often can pick up when a show is going to be similar to another show, even early on.  That is because another way to think of these tropes is as a sort of template that the creator can use to layout basic plot elements and then fill in the rest of the storyline with their original ideas.  Depending on how well they are able to add their own twist to this template determines how much of a copy it will feel like. Your question asks if this is common in anime or manga, but this isn't just restricted to anime. These ideas apply to broadcasting and entertainment in general, look at all those generic reality TV shows that are popular among baby boomers. If something is popular, they reuse it.  Then, when someone innovates and creates something people truly love, it too will be copied.
While it may seem like déjà vu in such a closely related example like Ano Natsu de Matteru and Onegai Sensee, in my experience shows this similar are very rare.  Perhaps, these two shows are the best possible paradigm for your question.

I take it you've seen Onegai Sensei. I haven't, but I have seen Ano Natsu - and I seem to remember reading that the last episode of Ano Natsu had some references to suggest that Ano Natsu was actually in the same universe as Onegai Sensei. Could you comment on that?

You're right, I will correct that, it had been a while since I've seen the two and forgot that little reference in episode 12.


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Why were Sayaka and Kyoko fighting in the beginning, and what caused them to eventually end up as friends?
Why were Sayaka and Kyoko fighting in the beginning, and what caused them to eventually end up as friends?
(Related: Why exactly does Kyoko attempt to save Sayaka?)

Transcluded from http://anime.stackexchange.com/q/25701/

Why were Sayaka and Kyoko fighting in the beginning, and what caused them to eventually end up as friends?

After Sayaka contracts with Kyuubey, there are two magical girls in Mitakihara: Homura and Sayaka. Add Kyouko to this, and that makes three. Three magical girls in one city is far too many, and so Kyouko starts by trying to get rid of Sayaka (either by disabling her or getting her to leave Mitakihara). Sayaka was presumably an easier target than Homura, given that she had only just become a magical girl.
So why did they end up as friends? If you read The Different Story, you'll see that Kyouko was a lot like Sayaka when she first became a magical girl (more than a year prior) - she was all about justice and saving people and stuff like that. But then a lot of things went wrong (foremost among them, her father going mad and killing her mother, her sister, and himself), resulting in the angry, cynical Kyouko we see in the show.
I guess she sees Sayaka as being a lot like herself, and wants to keep her from suffering the same things she did. (Kyouko says something to this effect in episode 9.)


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In Girl, why does the main character freak out over the couple?
Girl may be a visual masterpiece, but its meaning is completely lost on me.  Or rather, the meaning of these two scenes:

The start of the whole scene happens around 7:35.  The main character is recreating the world in her own, unique way, and a couple walks by.  It does appear as if the main character is initially put off or curious about what they're doing so close to each other, but I can't think of anything that provoked her to freak out in the manner that she did.
The lyrics near that part don't really provide context, either.

足りないものしかない
足りないものしかみえない
あたし以外のすべて
きらめいてみえる理由

There's nothing but things that aren't enough
I can't see anything but things that aren't enough
Everything, except for myself
Has a reason to sparkle

I sort of understand that the main character is alone and has been alone for a while, but...the freak-out just doesn't make any sense based on what we'd seen up to that point.
Could anyone shed some light on this?  I'm...confused.

ME!ME!ME! is the AMV the boy and the girl are from (the couple).The blue haired girl was a character in it, she kept getting the boys attention, in ME!ME!ME! he was addicted to porn and sex and the blue haired one was a porn star he watched. the boy wasn't giving his girlfriend (the pink haired one) any attention and the boy fell asleep watching the porn and in his dream he had a nightmare about his girlfriend turning into some monster wanting his love, it was actually her showing her despair. So when the blue haired one comes back in the new AMV and she see's them back together she loses her mind because she wants (supposedly) all of his attention back.

are you saying that all 3 character in the screenshot in the question all come from an Anime Music Video which is typically fan made?

ME!ME!ME! is not an AMV. it is an serie of ova's, or something like that. it is a collaboration betweenDwango and Khara studios


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Is there a direct connection between the characters' fates and the numbers on the helmets they wear?
Numbers frequently have cultural meaning, which can include superstition and foreshadowing. Anime shows, being Asian-derived (Japanese, right), likely have more local meaning. China represents just one example of cultural number meanins (ref: wiki, chinese.SE)
The characters in Knights of Sidonia have numbers on their helmets, so I'm wondering if they are at all connected to the fates of the characters wearing them.
From the Wikipedia article the digits "2 and 8" in a number mean "double lucky", while the digit "0" is also lucky and even. Inspection shows that Nagate Tanikaze's helmet contains these three values.

The digit "6" (in Cantonese) is supposed to mean "to fall" have some unlucky connotations.

Question:
Is there a direct connection between the characters' fates and the numbers on the helmets they wear? Please provide details, clarifications, and references as possible.
Partial list of character names and helmet numbers:

Nagate Tanikaze, 028 in training, 704 as pilot
Shizuka Hoshijiro , 336 in training, 702 as pilot
Izana Shinatose, 291 in training, 723 as pilot
Yuhata Midorikawa, 256 in training, moves to command.
Eiko Yamano, 290 as cadet, killed in action
Hinata Momose, unit designation 002, killed in action
Kashiwade Aoki, unit designation 003, killed in action
Izumo Midorikawa, unit designation 004, killed in action
Ittan Samari, unit designation 005, often acting as field commander
Koichi Tsuruuchi, unit designation 007, killed in action
Tonami, unit designation 005, killed in action
Ichiro Seii, unit designation 026, senior commander
Do Imada, unit designation 139, killed in action with team (011, 217, and 312)
En Honoka, 203 as cadet, 703 as pilot, injured in action
Ho Honoka, unit designation 705, killed in action
Ren Honoka, unit designation 706, survives.
Norio Kunato, 001 in training, 701 as pilot, murderer, killed by Ochiai

I'm not sure what you're looking for. If you believe that there is some numerology superstition involved, the burden is on you to prove that your theory holds up. So Asians are superstitious about numbers, Japanese are Asians, Knights of Sidonia is a Japanese show. How is this and the numbers pertinent to the series? I don't see any solid connections.

The market is more than Japan.  The cultures are related, exchange contents and ideas, and have shared lineages.  The ideas of numerology are not unique, and show up in "show business" regularly across the globe.

I don't think you need to tell a story at the beginning of your question. Can you edit your question so that it doesn't rely on an anecdote?

@Frosteeze - sure.

The primary target market for anime is the Japanese. All other audiences are secondary. By making reference to Chinese numerology, you don't establish how it is at all related to Japanese culture. While one is derived from the other, not all parts of the culture is equivalent. For an example, the number 9 is unlucky in Japanese, pronounced k(y)u, it is a homophone for "suffering/anguish" (苦), but the inverse is true in Chinese, the number 9 is a homophone of the word for "long lasting" (久), and as such is often used in weddings.

I've made an edit to your question to clarify a connection between the helmets' numbers and the characters. If I changed the meaning of your question, feel free to change it back.

@ʞɹɐzǝɹ - given the new form of the question, not opinion based, more references, excellent edit by Killua, - can you please take it off of hold?

@EngrStudent your question notes that the numbers 7 can mean not only "togetherness," but also "ghostly." No where in the two sources you cite is this stated that it also indicates "ghostly." It does cite that in Cantonese that  "it sounds like the verb 'to leave' which adds emphasis." In the future try to make sure that what you're saying matches up with what you cite. Improperly interpreted facts often times lead to misconceptions. It can become quite troublesome on cultural topics due to how varying sensitivity on those topics.

@ʞɹɐzǝɹ - The SE article has "lucky numbers" but they are followed by "unlucky numbers".  Quote:: 七, the number 7: As stated in the article this number "is considered spiritist or ghostly".

@EngrStudent the answer cites no specific source for that part. The meaning is not intended to be implied to be in a literally ethereal sense, but a religiously spiritual belief sense of context, and therefore not applicable, unless you can provide a primary or secondary source to corroborate.