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Was Kobato's origin ever mentioned?
Kobato has a mission to fill a mysterious bottle with people's healed hearts. However, it wasn't explained in the anime as to why she has this mission or her origin. Wikipedia doesn't seem to know anything about it as well so I'm curious if CLAMP ever mentioned her story before she came collecting jar of hearts and why she had that wish to go to a certain place. Or was her story featured in any of the CLAMP's multiverse or in the manga?

Are you sure the last paragraph of Kobato's description on the page you linked doesn't answer your questions?

Yeah it did, my bad. I guess I was lazy when I read the page. :P

Ooops.. Sorry my bad. I was too lazy to read the whole page when it already contained the answer.. :P

At the conclusion of the anime, it is revealed that Kobato died in the
  distant past. She exists in a liminal state where she neither dead nor
  alive. In the end, when she finally fulfills her task to fill the
  flask, she is reborn without any memories of her past life until she
  meets Fujimoto again few years later. In the manga, it is revealed
  that Kobato had died due to the war caused by Ioryogi and the gods.
  The angel that Ioryogi had fallen in love with felt pity for the girl
  who died before her time was up and transferred her soul into Kobato,
  being able to since they both have the same soul but belong to
  different worlds. The time limit Kobato has is the time before the
  angel disappears.

In the manga, the background of being neither alive nor dead is the same, yet the conclusion is rather different. In the anime, she loses her memory upon being reborn and regains them for no apparent reason when encountering Fujimoto. In the manga, she retains her memories after being reborn and goes back to the kindergarten where, by chance, she encounters Fujimoto (since he doesn't work there anymore). Ginseis wish to God is then fulfilled and restores the memories of Fujimoto (Good job, grumpy Ginsei).


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Is there a special meaning to the class name "2-H" (2-ふ)?
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is focused on the students of the class 2-H. Is there a hidden meaning to that class name or is it just a common class name in Japan?
I recently saw some other, possibly related anime, also with students in class 2-H, but I can't remember which one.

Do you mean other than the year/grade (2) and the division within that year (H)? "H" may be a little high for the number of classrooms for a given grade, meaning there are at least 8 year-2 classes.

I would assume it's what Jon Lin said because that's how they give class numbers. There probably isn't any sort of hidden meaning.

Is there anything in particular that makes you suspect that there's a meaning behind it?

I'm not sure where you got the information that the students are in class 2-H. Wikipedia lists Nozomu's class as 2-へ (2-He). Here, the number indicates the year, while the character indicates what class in the year they are in. Since へ is the 6th character in Iroha order, this would correspond to class 2-F. Incidentally, 2-ふ would be the 32nd class in year 2, which is far more than most Japanese high schools would have.
There's nothing really unusual about having 6 or more classes in a given year. It is a bit unusual that they're labeled in Iroha order, which is pretty old fashioned. It's more common (in my experience) for classes to be labeled with letters in the Roman alphabet or with numbers. I don't think there's any deep meaning to using this though; it just conjures a sort of old-fashioned feeling.
I can't think of any hidden meaning to 2-へ, but I have not read to the end of the manga so there could be something revealed at the end. If there is such a meaning, though, it isn't obvious and it certainly doesn't apply to other anime which have this same class name. The name is a pretty normal one, if old fashioned.

Wikipedia is not the coolest source for that kind of information. This particular manga has a reason to be old-fashioned.

@user1306322 For legality reasons, links to fansubs or scanalated manga aren't allowed here. With that said, I also don't always trust the translations for a series like this (fan-made or official). I've seen enough errors and poor translations that I'm wary of using them unless I check the accuracy myself. Wikipedia, while not perfect, is at least editable so that any minor errors I can fix myself.

You're correct though that this manga does have an old-fashioned atmosphere, so the use of Iroha order makes sense here.

I wonder if some translations assumed (or otherwise decided) to just shorten he to H (the first letter of he in romaji being H). H vs F could just be a matter of translation style since there isn't really a way to convey the old-fashioned part in English.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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Is there a connection between the Eye of God from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and the Rinnegan from Naruto?
After watching FMA again, I couldn't help but notice the similarities:

The same ripple-like pattern.
Both related to godly powers.
Both related to balance (Yin-Yang/All-One)
Both related to life and death.

Is there a mythological or conceptual connection between the two? Is one based on the other?

Although I can't find any reliable source, it seems that both are based on Saṃsāra :

The repeating cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth (reincarnation) within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, and Yoga.

Source: Wikipedia
This represents both the Six Paths of Pain (also Rinne is the Japanese Name for Samsāra) and the "one is all, all is one"-thing in FMA (as seen in episode 12 of the 2009-anime).

Not at all, both are different series in different scenarios. Anything related is because of the different meanings of our cultures that come from ancient myths.

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


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When did the Kin/Gin Brothers get their Nine-Tails power?
Now I'm rather confused. The timeline doesn't add up to me. I was hoping someone to shed some light.
So here's how the events seemingly happened.

The hidden cloud had, for a period, attempted to capture the nine-tails.
As a result, the nine-tails ate the Kin/Gin Brothers.
To survive, they ate the flesh from his stomach.
The nine-tails spit them out, and they had his chakra when they were expelled.

That's all fine, but it doesn't add up.

It was said that between the five great villages, the Hidden Leaf was the first.
It was also said that after Madara's and Hashirama's battle, the nine-tails was sealed inside Hashirama's wife, Mito.
Shortly before Mito died, the nine-tails was transferred to Kushina.
During the short nine-tails attack on the village (after being freed from Kushina), the nine-tails was sealed again, inside of Naruto.

Now, we also know that the Kin/Gin brothers were at the same time as the second Hokage, Tobirama. Given that they were the ones who killed him.
When did they have time to get swallowed up by the nine-tails?. The Hidden Cloud village didn't exist before Konoha did, so it can't be before Madara's and Hashirama's battle, and right after that, the nine-tails was in constant Leaf possession.
So when? When did the cloud try to get the nine-tails?

According to this Naruto Wiki page (second and third paragraphs), the brothers were swallowed by Kurama before the battle between Hashirama and Madara took place (the battle after Madara's desertion from Konoha, when he used the Sharingan to tame Kurama).
This would mean they were swallowed before Kurama was ever sealed inside any Uzumaki.

Chapter 529, page 3

Now, we also know that the Kin/Gin brothers were at the same time as the second Hokage, Tobirama. Given that they were the ones who killed him.

Although this is true, I think Tobirama and Hashirama are almost the same age, which would mean Kinkaku and Ginkaku's age is somewhere around both Senju brothers.

From what I understand, the timeline would go something like this (not sure about how much time between each "step"):

Founding of Konoha;
Founding of Kumo;
Kinkaku and Ginkaku get swallowed, when sent to capture Kurama;
Madara deserts and attacks Konoha, using Kurama;
Hashirama wins the battle, and Uzumaki Mito seals Kuruma inside of her.

But then again, the cloud didn't exist before the leaf, so how does that work out?

@MadaraUchiha Added a timeline, which I think makes sense, but I may be missing something.

@MadaraUchiha The only thing that really bothers me is the consistent use (either by Kishimoto or by the people who translate chapters) of expressions like "a long time before/after event x", which makes the timeline seem a lot longer than it actually is.


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Was the Scouting Legion's patch or the character's Military affiliation changed?
In the Military, there are three units, each with its own patch: Scouting Legion, Military Police and Stationary Guard.

Left to Right: Scouting Legion, Military Police and Stationary Guard
So far in the anime (up to episode 12), from these three we've seen (if I didn't miss any) only the Stationary Guard's patch.

Most of the main characters (Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert, Jean Kirschtein and others) are in the Scouting Legion. However, they seem to have a different patch that exhibits two crossed swords. They've been wearing this patch since (in episode 2) formation, and the people in charge of training then were also wearing this patch.

Even characters, such as Annie Leonhardt, that belong to the Military Police exhibit the Crossed Swords patch.

What differs in the anime from the manga?
Were both the patches and the character's military affiliations changed?

The crossed swords over a shield emblem is the "Training Corps", not sure why the image of Annie has that emblem, maybe it was a flashback picture from when she was part of the training corps?

@JonLin But the picture where Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt appear, with Mikasa's back facing us is on episode 8 (I think). By then they're fighting Titans in Trost (around the time Eren was eaten by the bearded Titan).

After watching episode 13, I realize I misunderstood some things.

So far in the anime (up to episode 12), from these three we've seen (if I didn't miss any) only the Stationary Guard's patch.

This is most likely wrong, as we'd seen Levi before, and he belongs to the Scouting Legion. See this image from episode 13:

In episode 13, we also see the Military Police's patch, although from a distance:

The patch is visible on the arms of the guards standing by the cell
This means we've seen all three patches (Scouting Legion, Military Police and Stationary Guard), plus the Crossed-Swords patch.
Now, my misunderstanding came from the fact that the characters I mentioned in the question are listed in the Shingeki no Kyojin Wiki as affiliated either with the Scouting Legion (Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert and Jean Kirschtein) or the Military Police (Annie Leonhardt).
However, episode 13 also shed some light on this matter, when Jean identified Marco Bodt as "The 104th Training Corps Leader of Squad 19, Marco Bodt."

Also on episode 13, Levi tells Eren he'll accept his application to the Scouting Legion:

NOTE: The Scouting Legion is dubbed/subbed as Recon Corps in the anime
This would mean that the characters mentioned in the question still belonged to the Training Corps, and that the affiliation mentioned in their SnK Wiki pages (which, in addition to the fact that I was under the impression they had already "graduated" from the Training Corps, caused my misunderstanding) is, presumably, from the manga, which is ahead in the plot.
Basically, as JonLin wrote in the comment below the question, the Crossed-Swords patch belongs to the Training Corps, and no affiliation seems to have been changed.


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How are anime seasons released?
Are there set periods of time in which seasons start and end? In America, generally, TV shows begin in the Fall or the Summer. Many shows will start within a week or two of each other. Is the same true for anime? If not, what controls when anime seasons start/are released?

It's the same as Japanese Television seasons (or sometimes referred to as "cours"). There are 4 of them each year and each one lasts roughly 13 weeks. The Wikipedia page for Japanese Television Drama says:

Japan has four television seasons: Winter (January–March), Spring (April–June), Summer (July–September), and Autumn or Fall (October–December). Some series may start in another month though it may still be counted as a series of a specific season.

So while the seasons themselves have a fixed start and end, the shows themselves can sometimes start in the middle month of a season and thus spill over into multiple seasons (given that it's a 13 episode/1 cour show), but it is still considered part of the season that it started airing. There's obvious advantages to always starting at the beginning of a season, the main one being that shows lasting 12 or 13 episodes can continue to fill a time-slot throughout the calendar year without having breaks.
For example, here are the "Summer 2013" shows and their air-times:

07/01 22:25 (AT-X) - Recorder to Ransel Mi♪
07/01 25:00 (Tokyo MX) - Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou
07/02 19:30 (AT-X) - BROTHERS CONFLICT
07/02 25:35 (TV Tokyo) - Senyuu. (Season 2)
07/02 25:40 (TV Tokyo) - Gifuu Doudou!! Naoe Kanetsugu -Maeda Keiji-gatari-
07/03 21:30 (AT-X) - Tamayura ～More Aggressive～
07/03 24:30 (Tokyo MX) - Free!
07/04 25:28 (TBS) - Tokurei Sochi Dantai Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C3-bu
07/04 25:35 (MBS) - Dangan Ronpa no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation
07/04 25:58 (TBS) - Rozen Maiden (New Series)
07/04 26:05 (MBS) - Ren-Ai Lab -Love Lab-
07/04 26:35 (MBS) - Senki Zesshou: Symphogear G
07/04 26:43 (Nippon TV) - Kitaku-bu Katsudou Kiroku
07/04 27:08 (ABC) - Servant x Service
07/05 22:30 (AT-X) - Rou-Kyuu-Bu! SS
07/06 20:30 (AT-X) - Kiniro Mosaic
07/06 20:30 (ABC) - Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou -il sole penetra le illusioni-
07/06 23:20 (Nico Nico Douga) - Fate/Kaleid Liner: Prism-Illya
07/06 25:00 (Tokyo MX) - Monogatari Series: Second Season
07/06 25:00 (Tokyo MX) - Genshiken Nidaime
07/06 25:30 (Tokyo MX) - Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi
07/06 27:28 (MBS) - Fantasista Doll
07/07 20:30 (AT-X) - High School DxD NEW
07/07 22:27 (Tokyo MX) - Teekyuu (Season 2)
07/07 22:00 (Tokyo MX) - Uchouten Kazoku
07/07 22:30 (Tokyo MX) - Hakkenden -Touhou Hakken Ibun- (Season 2)
07/07 24:30 (TV Kanagawa) - Blood Lad
07/07 25:05 (TV Tokyo) - Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist
07/08 25:35 (TV Tokyo) - Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai -The World God Only Knows- (Season 3)
07/08 26:05 (TV Tokyo) - Watashi ga Motenai no wa dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui!
07/11 24:45 (Fuji TV) - Gin no Saji: Silver Spoon
07/12 22:00 (BS Animax) - Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation
07/12 25:58 (Nippon TV) - Gatchaman Crowds
07/13 22:00 (Tokyo MX) - Futari wa Milky Holmes
07/13 23:30 (TV Tokyo) - Kimi no Iru Machi -A town where you live-

So, like you said, everything happens around the same time, the first week of July, then we have a few outliers that start during the second week. It's worth noting that Silver Spoon is only 11 episodes, and Hyperdimension Neptunia, Gatchaman Crowds, Futari wa Milky Holmes, and Kimi no Iru Machi are all 12 episodes, so they'd end right at the end of the season.
The real outliers from last season, Spring 2013 (though some sites attach these 2 shows to the Summer 2013 season), would be:

06/08 23:45 (NHK-BS Premium) - Kingdom 2
06/14 17:55 (Disney XD) - Yuuto-kun ga Iku

In some cases, certain channels will start a show in the middle or near the end of a season, sometimes because of a timeslot that needs to be filled. Kingdom 2 is a 39 episode historic drama on a pay satellite channel that doesn't have any other anime, and the other is a 5 minute-per-episode young children's after school show. These are shows that are typically outside of the usual late-night anime demographics.
See also this question: What defines one "season" of anime?


text:
What artbook is this image of an angel girl from?
This question came up in chat here. The goal was originally to identify this image:

I found a much larger version of the image (click for full size):

This shows that this is actually part of a 2-page spread in an artbook (pages 16 and 17), and has some (Japanese) text on it. The text is somewhat readable, as is the artist's name, but there's some difficulty in reading some of the characters/letters. It also seems likely that the characters are original.
Who is the artist of this image, and what artbook is it from? Also, what does the text say?

Just a note, the translation in Krazer's answer appears to be incorrect. Just to let you know.

@atlantiza I accepted it primarily because his answer was higher voted and had a translation, but to be honest I didn't really check the accuracy of the translation. After checking, I've confirmed that your translation is better, so I've switched that to the accepted answer.

According to imageboards Zerochan and E-ShuuShuu the artist is Tinkle (possible under the alias of Tinkerbell).
It was published in "Angel Ring" which seems to match with the text at the bottom of the pages you posted. Toranoana still has the sale page for it up despite it being sold out, and one of the pages you posted is part of the preview.
*=You can click on either button to view the page. There is no NSFW content on that specific page, but the site does also sell 18+ stuff. Since this page is SFW, it doesn't matter if you say you are over/under 18 on the prompt page.
My translation, based on the higher quality text that Krazer posted:

An angel girl. I went for the image of someone wearing a costume for a photographer rather than the image of a real angel. I love her baby doll features and semi-transparent clothes.
This is a devil girl. Since she's a bit older than the angel girl, her clothes are also a little more revealing. ...But I guess they're not so different anyway.

The images depicted are from an art book called "Angel Ring" from the doujin circle Tinker Bell & More Prity.
You can see some of the other pages here.

I believe the illustrator might have been involved with the Cafe Little Wish visual novel as well.

The one on the Angel one says something along the lines of:
"Angel Girl. Rather than of a real angel (this was) created using the image of (someone wearing) a costume in photo shop. I love baby doll and sheep eyes." (not sure how to translate 羊透明?)
While the Devil one says something like:
"This one is Devil Girl. Angel Girl's smaller elder sister, whose eyes are a bit more (crescent) moon-shaped (月? can't read the character clearly). But that doesn't change anything does it?"
Refer to this answer for the correct translation: https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/4332/63

Your translation is heavily inaccurate. For starters, 写真屋さん means a photographer, not Photoshop.


text:
Is L-Elf clairvoyant?
In the show Valvrave the Liberator, there's a secret agent of the Dorssian military named "L-elf Karlstein", who seemed to belong to a group of other "gifted" members of the Dorssian military. L-Elf seems to be able to see certain sequences of events in the future and be able to predict them (for example, to Haruto) in an almost Nostradamian way, yet during combat, he can clearly strategize a winning plan and even calculate the number of total loses correctly.
Is L-Elf clairvoyant with some sort of super-human powers? Or is he just really, really, smart?

L-Elf is not clairvoyant, he is just highly intelligent. He takes what he knows about the people around him as well as what he knows about the enemy so that he can predict the movements of what will or what can happen. If there is someone he does not know or understand his calculations are seen as false predictions. I believe it was episodes 3 and 4 of the first season that proved that he was not clairvoyant. If you watch the series over again with that in mind, you will see that everything he says is based on what he plans, with some variations.
At the end of the first season of the series Cain clearly states that "L-Elf, I trained you well. That is how I can predict your movements now."


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Just what was the flower we saw that day?
In Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai,
(Lit. "We still don't know the name of the flower we saw that day"), there's a recurring theme of flowers revolving around Poppo, Menma, and the Opening/Ending of the series.
Just what is this flower? Is it what Poppo keeps putting in the jar of flowers where Menma's memorial is? And just what is the "Blue Bookmark"? (Aoi Shiori)

The flower in question is a Forget-me-not.
One theory is that the poem of the same name, by McGonagall1, is the story upon which AnoHana is loosely based2.

McGonagall's Gem, Abridged
In the poem, a knight falls into a river after foolishly leaping over a river to fetch his betrothed a flower which she asked for, then realizing he couldn't swim (...while swimming back), finally crying "Forget me not", while handing her the flower.

It would seem Jinta plays the role of the Maiden, and Menma the role of the Knight.
The other theory is that Menma is coming back to remind Jinta et al that she's still there; many of them have become withdrawn, and want to forget about her death.
Poppo actually puts various flowers into the jar at Menma's death site, Daisies being among them. Something tells me he's not in on the whole Forget-me-not voodoo.
And finally yes, the Blue Bookmark is also a Forget-me-not.
1: He is arguably one of the worst poets in British history, which makes me ponder why such a gem was chosen for a noitaminA show.
2: There is no official word of this, but McGonagall's story seems in-line with the circumstances of Menma's death; they're both based on the forget-me-not, and they're both accidental drowning while their loved one watched.

McGonagall is an awful poet, but would a Japanese reader know that? Personally, I wouldn't be able to distinguish the work of the great Japanese poet Bashou from the not-so-great Batou. When I read an anthology of Japanese tanka a few years ago, the preface said such-and-such poet was great and so-and-so was mediocre, but I couldn't really tell the difference (and I doubt the translation process helped).


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What started the trend of 3-5 minute long episodes for anime series?
It seems there's a lot of these short (e.g. 3-5 minute long) anime series recently, specifically ones that air on TV (as opposed to ONA's). Shows like:

Fireball/Fireball Charming
Chii's Sweet Home
Encouragement of Climb
Recorder and Ransell
Aiura
And an older one, Di Gi Charat

What started the trend of short 3-5 minute per episode TV series. How does that fit into a regular TV time-slot if it's so short?

They channel airing the show would just shift things forward or backward 5 minutes.
So something that normally starts at 12:00 would start at 12:05. The shows in the evening will start at the usual time by, over the course of the day, removing 1 or 2 adverts each advert break. The channels that keep a strict schedule just remove most of the adverts during an advert break and play the show then. They do not allocate a 30 minute slot to a short. However, if they have a 15 minute show, they would play that directly before or after the short.
Channels make a lot of money from adverts so they only remove adverts for series they expect to get a high viewing.
As for what started it, I can not say, but while I can not remember any, I am sure I have seen shorts that aren't anime, but the vast majority would probably be anime.
I think the main reason we see more shorts is because anime companies are getting bolder due to more sponsors and producing more franchise such as games and figurines etc., but I think mostly due to larger viewing numbers. 10 years ago companies might have had a hard time making profit on a short and so channels would not want to air them, but now more money means they can get better music, scripts and animation for shorts (or any other things that make them worth watching) so channels will want to air them.

Do you know what started this trend, is it something stations do in general (as in not isolated to anime)? It just seems as if there's a lot more short shows than 10+ years ago.

I can not remember any but i think it is not only anime that does this, however 99% of the shorts you see will probably be anime. I edited my answer.

Of course, it could be that the broadcasters are using these to deliberately shift the timing of the shows one way or another.  ie, if Popular_Show_A ends at 8:00 PM on Channel_A, and you don't want to compete with them, you have your Popular_Show_B start at 8:05 PM, to give people time for bathroom breaks, etc.  Then, rather than putting in extra adverts (because they'd largely be ignored, and viewers get annoyed if there're too many ads), you put in a quick short, which might be paid for anyways.

Stargazer on PBS use to be about 5 minutes long

Japanese television is common to have short series. Most drama episodes are only 10 minutes long. It's just something to watch daily in the morning or something.
For example, a channel at 9:00 shows a few different series and usually, the short ones are all crammed into one drama viewing period. After all the short episodes are aired, something long like the news comes on.
I think it also helps a lot of people who are on a schedule and don't have time to dedicate half an hour of their day for a show.
A lot of these short anime are also taken from 4-koma manga, so the episode is like getting a comic strip in the newspaper.

Except that short anime are not aired in the morning - they are aired at late night, along with other anime.

A 10 minutes drama would end with just hi hello and bye. Not enough time for proper story telling. I never seen a drama only 10 minutes long. Care for some examples?


text:
Where can I find reliable information about licensing status of manga/anime?
Often I want to buy some anime or manga, but after a long time of searching, I find out, that the manga/anime isn't translated yet. Is there a website where I can find information about whether an anime/manga is licensed and/or translated? At least in English, but if there's a source for German translations, too, I would be very happy!

I typically look up this information on Anime News Network's encyclopedia. They tend to have licensing information pretty well covered. They pay attention to the announcements made by the major licensing organizations and typically write brief news pieces for each release, and more data about the licensing is added to the encyclopedia entry as it becomes available. I can't comment on their reliability in any language other than English, but in English they are usually pretty good. I can't comment on how reliable they are for manga.
Other anime indexing services also tend to have information, though it's often more sparse. MyAnimeList and AniDB both sometimes have licensing data. In MAL it's listed with an L in the "Producers" section. In AniDB, they typically have a link to the website of the licensing company. In both cases, I was able to find some licensed anime which weren't listed as such, so in my opinion these are less reliable than ANN. These sources typically only list English licenses.
Typically, Wikipedia articles also include this information when it becomes available, at least for English releases. However, these are maintained by fans, and usually link back to various news articles anyway from ANN, MAL, etc. so they may not be as reliable.
Finally, if there's any doubt as to whether a specific company has licensed a particular anime, you can usually check their website. All licensing companies that I know of have a list at least containing all anime that they have released, and most also list future releases.

Wikipedia has a list of English licensed manga.
I know of no standard list of manga available, but a google search for buying/downloading manga in google.com (English), google.co.uk or google.ca will yield English manga sites, and google.de, German manga sites.
If you can get to a manga shop or a comic book shop (less likely, but some comic book shops do stock translated manga), ask them for information on new releases in English (or German if you are in Germany) as they will have details on new manga and will stock in the native language of course.


text:
What does this haiku in The World Only God Knows mean?
In the episode where Keima is pursuing Shiori Shiomiya (the bookworm), there's a discussion about how Keima can't read her heart, because she doesn't talk much. He then concludes that instead of reading her heart, he will read her liver.

Perhaps this is something that was lost in translation, but what is meant by observing someone's liver?

I think this is related to Keima trying to make the Shiori angry and make her express her thoughts and feelings. There is an phrase (?) in Japanese "腹を立てる", which means "(I am) angry", and literally means "My stomach is churning up". Maybe there is some sort of relation here?

Probably also related to the practice of Haruspex, often performed by an Augur.  Note that this was really only practiced on animals... but contemporary audiences (and scholars) would understand the references.

Keima is using the liver as a metaphor. In that scene, you can see a diseased liver on the screen. That shows that the liver has to be operated on. That operation will lead to a change so that she can live. The liver, being an internal organ, is a metaphor for her inside voice. Keima is using it to illustrate how though Shiori is quiet on the outside there is a lot more going on the inside and significant changes could be taking place with out people realizing it. Keima needs to perform an "operation" so that Shiori will be able to express herself and "live".
Why they chose to use the liver is uncertain and never explained. Please look at nhahtdh's comment as it does provide some insight into this.


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What was the terrible artwork on the flyer in episode 1?
At the end of episode 1 of Choujigen Game Neptune - The Animation, Compa and IF are handed a flyer with some extremely ugly artwork.

What is this flyer?

The character who hands the flyer to them is Rei Ryghts who is voiced by seiyuu Kobayashi Yuu. Apart from being a well-known voice actor, Kobayashi is also known for her strange and disturbing art style, exclusively using black and red and with only a very coarse resemblance of anything real. This has been covered by many news sources even in English, including Kotaku five times (so far), Crunchyroll (and again here), and dozens of blogs and lesser known sites. This image is just another example of such drawings, included as a comedic reference which many viewers would catch (at least in Japan).
As for any in-universe significance, this does not seem to be important in the anime. A similar event occurs in the third Neptunia game, but as the anime is following an original story line loosely based on the games. The scenes after the credits in this show are humorous bloopers or extra scenes related to that episode but not to the overall story. In both episodes 2 and 3 (the next one with IF and Compa) neither the flyer nor Rei makes any appearance, so it's pretty safe to conclude that this won't be important for the overall plot.


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What is the thing Sakura is carrying?
In the first opening sequence of Cardcaptor Sakura, towards the end she is shown carrying some sort of object which has written on it "SAKURA" in blue.

It seems to be tied to her hand or something. Apart from the letters, it seems to be orange, though it may have been intended to be transparent. I think I've seen the same thing in at least one of the episodes, though I don't remember which and I don't remember it being explained there. I really can't tell what it's supposed to be.
What is the object in Sakura's left hand in the above image?

I only ever saw one episode of this so i wont post an answer, but the answer is: A Bag. It is not deflated so she carries something in it, maybe something she uses in the series or maybe it has no purpose and acts as an accessory.

@曾気青昭雄 I thought that too, but the way it moves in the scene is a bit unnatural if it's something flexible like a bag. It seems to be animated as a stiff, fairly flat object. It's also strange that it would be aligned perfectly for the "SAKURA" to remain readable throughout the scene. That could just be laziness on the animators part, so it's certainly possible that it's a bag, but I think it needs some further confirmation.

The purpose is never shown but I always thought it was a bag of soft french bread or something similar. That would explain it's shape and how it's still flexible. There is however no evidence to support that theory hence I did not post this as an answer.

As the comments by 曾気青昭雄 and Raxon suggest, this is indeed a bag. This bag was featured as the point in the Kero-chan check at the end of episode 10 of the anime:

In this segment, it is explained by  that Sakura uses this bag as a case to carry the baton she uses for her cheerleading. The letters "SAKURA" are embroidered on the bag. It was made by Sakura's father.


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Who killed Lancer?
Towards the beginning (after the OP) of the Carnival Phantasm Special Season OVA, the two waitresses of the Ahnenerbe Cafe, Hibiki and Chikagi, come into the cafe to find that someone has killed their co-worker, Lancer!
Based on the evidence at the scene of the crime, who amongst the extended cast killed Lancer? What was their motive (if any)?

Including the "Based on the evidence at the scene of the crime" part could make this very subjective and open to discussion.

@atlantiza I wouldn't be so sure... the series makes a lot of subtle references that's easily missed on a first watch. E.g., Sakura cameos in the background in the Date all the Heroines scenario.

Spoiler! It's just a running gag referencing Kenny from Southpark. I doubt that they even thought about a reason, they just let him die.

Lancer always dying is a joke in carnival phantasm, the reason why he dies is or who kills him is of little importance. For example, in one of the first episodes of carnival phantasm when the cat characters are talking with the TV on we hear about a man in blue thighs being killed in a car accident. It is of course Lancer, and he just died for no reason whatsoever.
For your case though not a lot of people could have killed him because we can see black keys in his body, the weapon of the church. It means a priest must have killed him.
The only person I could see doing that would be Kotomine, because we also see him asking Grail-kun to do something because Lancer is completely useless, and Grail-kun gives him the "Servant Strengthening Tool" (The kitchen knife in the picture).

The black keys make sense... but what's up with the the kitchen knife?

It looks a lot like the "Friend-maker" from Grail-kun, so maybe Kotomine tried to become friends with Lancer but it didn't go as planned.

It would seem to be the "Servant Strengthening Tool!" I believe we have our motive now. If you include that in your answer, I'll accept it.


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When was the anime toast in the morning trope started?
For the longest time we would see things like energy drinks and other such items in the mornings with anime now the big one is toast. How long ago did this start and how did it get so popular?

It is usually said in several manga that this is a classical situation in shoujo genre for "boy meets girl" opening, in which a girl who is eating toast on the way to school bump into a boy at a corner. I don't know how true it is when we actually look at the shoujo genre, though.

This is a pretty common trope which, I dare say, predates energy drinks and the like. From TV Tropes:

A common device for a series opening or Establishing Character Moment. Things begin in a frantic rush which usually results in taking short cuts, such as eating breakfast on the run. The classic image is of someone running down the street with a slice of toast hanging out of their mouth, dragging their backpack with one hand while trying to put on their jacket or sweater one-handed with the other, bumping into important people in a manner that gets the plot started.

In manga and anime, this is associated with the shoujo (girl's) genre, where the original intent was to establish the protagonist as cute but clumsy, or give her a minor flaw. Overused to the point of becoming a Discredited Trope; current Japanese "How to Become a Shoujo Manga-ka" books specifically advise against using this trope, and more recent manga even lampshade how much of a cliche it is.

The answer to the question of when this trope exactly started is currently unknown. But there's a tumblr dedicated to it and the current candidate appears to be 1986's Project A-ko which is part-parody. It is said to parody Gundam and according to the afore-linked tumblr, the first episode of Mobile Suit Gundam includes a scene with Amuro Ray chewing on a sandwich in a car:

I expect that earlier instances of this trope very likely exist in manga.

+1 This is something that a lot of people have looked into, and no one can figure out exactly where it started. This answer accurately represents what is definitely known at the moment to the English-speaking community.


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Why is blood pink in Danganronpa?
In episode two of Danganronpa, two characters die. On both cases the blood appears in pink, rather than red.

Why is this?
Is blood in the Danganronpa universe pink? Or is this supposed to be less shocking for the viewer or something similar?

I believe this is a censorship thing they did in the game to conform to game censorship regulations. Since it's one of the game's distinct features, the production committee probably thought that the show wouldn't be the same without it.

In late addition to this, the blood in Danganronpa 3's future Arc is red. Suggesting that something (possibly what happened at the end of Dangaronpa 1, caused the blood to be red instead, and it doesn't apply to 2)

According to the Something Awful playthrough thread for the game:

Because of the intricacies of the Japanese game rating system, blood
  in this game is colored pink. Rest assured, though, it is human blood
  you will be looking at, and it doesn't mean our characters are
  secretly aliens or elves.

TVTropes also says the same thing:

Many murder scenes are liberally splattered in Pepto-Bismol, thanks to
  the intricacies of the Japanese game rating system.

So it seems like making the blood realistic would have given the game a higher age rating, possibly restricting some of their target demographic from being able to purchase the game. But the pink blood also goes along with the main artistic style of Dangan Ronpa.
According to Wikipedia:

The game uses pop art, a bright and colorful style, as a way to
  contrast the dark subject matter of murder. Scenario writer Kazutaka
  Kodaka stated he desired to "...shake user's heart by showing a
  devastating accident in not devastating ways. But, by some measure, it
  might be more shocking than showing a devastating scene."

To add to atlantiza's answer, Danganronpa is rated D (17+) by CERO, Japan's rating board for console video games. That's the highest rating which does not carry additional legal restrictions as to where and to whom you can sell it. Danganronpa is a console game, and it's very likely that the consoles would not have approved of it had it been rated Z (18+), but including red blood would have likely pushed it over this limit. Very few games rated Z ever get released, with the exception of a few violent games produced overseas where the ratings are less strict for violent content (e.g. in the U.S.).
Most visual novels are PC games, so they are rated by a different organization from CERO, namely EOCS. EOCS doesn't have the same restrictions against displaying red blood, but most of them are guaranteed an 18+ rating anyway for inclusion of sexual content. An 18+ rating from CERO has a much bigger impact in terms of sales than one from EOCS. It's not uncommon for Japanese console games to not include blood at all to avoid getting higher ratings, but Danganronpa obviously didn't have that option so they did the next best thing.
As for why they kept the blood pink in the anime, it is sort of iconic at this point. The death scenes (so far) have all been very closely following the style of the game. Changing it would probably turn off fans, and the pink blood does fit well with the art style.

It's because of its "psycho-pop" art style. They used pink blood for their art style type, and also censorship probably. Also, they coined the term "psycho-pop".
Also, fun fact, the blood at one point was planned to be red (it was in DISTRUST, the beta version) but when Monokuma's art design was chosen, everything was changed, even the blood.

There is another well-sourced answer above yours explaining why the blood is pink.  If your answer is valid, then consider adding sources to it.

I personally think it's for moderation and censorship. The creator of Danganronpa said that the game had to go through a bunch of approval before the game could come to the US. Naturally, if the blood was red, the game wouldn't have made it through. Also, the ratings. If it were to be red, they would make the game go towards even more mature audiences. In my opinion, teenagers seem to play this game, but they aren't as traumatized because the blood is pink and they know it isn't real.

Because of the intricacies of the Japanese game rating system, blood in this game is colored pink,but the pink blood also goes along with the main artistic style of Danganronpa.

It's done so because when the human mind sees red blood it sets off a red flag in they're brain, but if it's a different color you don't get that reaction.

Can you elaborate your answer explaining with respect to the series in question?

Adding to @EroSɘnnin as asked could you also elaborate as this this "red flag" that's raised and how that too related to the series

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


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List of mangas by readership and reception
Are there any known lists of monthly/annual readership (e.g. top charts) of different mangas in Japan or the US? Perhaps by category and age groups (audience)?
What are some good English sources for looking up statistics of manga readership and reviews?

Do you want something like a Top Ten chart, or do you want actual statistics of number of readers?

@kuwaly I am looking for lists that rely on metrics of reception in general. Readership lists or top charts (as long as they measure or reliably reflect public reception) are good.

In Japan, I don't know of any chart which tracks readership, and statistics for that seem hard to gather. The next best thing is sales numbers, which represent how many volumes were bought, but volumes purchased do not necessarily directly correspond to readership. Comic sales numbers are reported on a weekly basis by Oricon, which is the go-to source for Japanese entertainment media rankings. These are reposted across the internet, including by Anime News Network in English (link to current most recent list). As one would expect, the weekly rankings tend to vary a lot depending on what has been recently released, so they also compile half-year sales statistics (English via ANN) which are probably more useful for determining what's currently popular.
Overseas, even sales statistics aren't going to do a very good job indicating what's popular because of the levels of manga piracy. They are still available for the US via NY Times, but they miss a significant number of viewers who are reading pirated manga (e.g. scanalations) and also don't report absolute numbers, only relative positions. Various indexing sites like ANN or MAL do have data for "most popular" manga based on their listings, which likely includes those who are obtaining it illegally, but these are all-time rankings. Current rankings are probably difficult to compile with the data they have.


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How old is Illya?
I don't believe her actual age is given in either series and since she is a modified homunculus, she ages much slower than an average person.
Based on evidence given in the Fate series, approximately how old is Illyasviel von Einzbern in Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero?

At the time of Fate/Zero, Illya is 8 years old. In Fate/Stay Night, which takes place 10 years after Fate/Zero, she is 18 years old.
It was mentioned in Fate/Zero, that the preparations for the 4th Holy Grail War started 8 years before, where you can see that Illya is born. The 5th war happens 10 years after the events of Fate/Zero making her 18 years old.


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Is the strange reproductive process in The Twelve Kingdoms based on a myth or legend?
In The Twelve Kingdoms, babies are born from Ranka, or giant eggs that grow on trees.  Is this based on an myth or legend?  Or is it just a way the author invented to explore what happens to a society where the women do not have to give birth?  The idea of babies growing in eggs on trees seems like something I've heard of before somewhere else, but I can't recall where.

Not that I know of, but it does raise some interesting questions about why people in that universe still have sex (Youko, the main character, nearly gets sold to a brothel).

I would assume that sex is just for pleasure and not for tangible results in this universe.  I wonder if STDs grow on trees too...

:p - What I meant was, why was that even an option...

I touch on this in my answer to your other question. Eastern and Buddhist myths often use the cosmic egg to explain creation. In Chinese mythology, it is Pangu who hatches from the egg. In Hindu mythology, it is Brahma. In Buddhism, Buddha himself is depicted as hatching from the egg as seen below.

The myth of the World Tree is another that pervades religion.

As with coleopterist's already accepted answer, I don't know the author's inspiration for certain, which would be impossible, unless a writing or interview exists in which Ono explicitly describes any inspiration for the idea. But the following are suggestive, and I think worth mentioning in addition to coleopterist's information regarding Buddhism. Some of these may perhaps be what you were reminded of in term of babies growing in eggs (albeit not from trees; on the other hand, Princess Kaguya of Japanese legend was said to have been born from a bamboo stalk, but not an egg):

...consider the following extremely suggestive legend of T’arhae, the fourth king of Silla. The legend as it is recounted in the Samguk sagi (Historical Records of the Three Kingdoms), the oldest historical chronicle of the Korean kingdoms, is as follows:

T’arhae was born in the country of Tap’ana. That country is one thousand ri northeast of Yamato. Of old, the king of that country married the queen of a country of women. She became pregnant for seven years, and gave birth to a large egg, at which time the King said:
“A human being born from an egg is an inauspicious omen. Throw it away.” But the queen could not bear to simply throw it away, and so she wrapped the egg in a silk cloth and placed it along with some treasures in a box and set it floating upon the sea, where she lost sight of it. ... It thereupon floated to the coast of Ajinp’o ... where an old woman picked it up. When she opened the box, there was a small boy inside.61

Mishina Shōei and others have demonstrated that this legend illustrates a common motif of the nation-founding legends of the Korean kingdoms wherein a child of the sun who is “hatched” from an egg is sent floating on the sea until he reaches a kingdom that has been promised to him. In the Ame no Hiboko/Akaru Hime legend cycle we find at least part of this motif repeated as Akaru Hime, apparently the daughter of the sun god, crosses over to Yamato from Silla after “hatching” from a stone that Ame no Hiboko has metaphorically incubated for an evening.62

--Como, Michael I. (2008) Shotoku: Ethnicity, Ritual, and Violence in the Japanese Buddhist Tradition,  Oxford University Press.
Similarly, in the 16th century Chinese novel Fengshen Bang/Fengshen Yanyi/The Investiture of the Gods/The Creation of the Gods,

Nezha's mother, Lady Yin, gave birth to a ball of flesh after being pregnant with him for three years and six months. Li Jing thought that his wife had given birth to a demon and attacked the ball with his sword.

-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nezha
The above descriptions of king or lord  thinking a child born from an egg is inauspicious or demonic is an interesting contrast to the King of Kou's repeated claim that as a kaikyaku born of a woman and not of ranka, Yōko would bring ruin and even demons to the land. The Kou king's reversal of this trope of suspicion of the egg-born, however... (the following is a spoiler for Shadow of the Moon, the Sea of Shadow: Ch. 12)

 turns out not to be what he truly believes -- quite the opposite in fact: It eventually emerges that he feared Kei becoming, like En, more prosperous than Kou, due to some imagined connection between taika rulers and prosperity.

Lastly, in Chinese Daoist legends of creation,  "Pan Gu, the first man, is said to have come forth from chaos (an egg) with two horns, two tusks, and a hairy body."
(As a clarification, he -- not the egg from which he was born -- had the horns, tusks, and body hair.)

As a side note, I wonder if Pan Gu's reputed appearance or Pang Gu masks served at all as artistic inspiration for the supposedly atavistic transformation of Marvel Comics character Ravage 2099. Probably just coincidence, though.


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Why/How does Eren remember how to activate his Titan power?
Eren's father injects him with the Titan serum years before he first uses it.  So how is it that he remembers how to activate it?

In ep. 15 Eren is asking himself the same question. So I think we'll find out later or you can check manga for spoilers.

I don't know how far the anime is yet, so I'll put it into a spoiler.

 The shift between human is triggered by any injury that causes blood loss. The first shift is triggered when Eren gets eaten by one of the titans and hurts his arm. To trigger the next one, he bites himself to protect Mikasa and Armin. Apparently, also the will to accomplish something is needed to become a titan (kill the titans, save his friends)

So the first time he transforms it's basically by accident.

@unclebrad: Yep.

Is that to say that Erin had never cut himself accidentily or otherwise before in his entire life? That seems a little unlikely to be honest. No kid goes through childhood without scraped knees or clumsy cuts from sharp objects.

@RobertEnglish He was hurt before for sure, but there was never a real reason to transform. As written, it seems like he needs the will to accomplish something.

This still leaves room for chiildhood bullies(and the will to beat them),  or the countless times he could have been injured (it's noted he's the most motivated of all the recruits) during his training as a soldier.

@RobertEnglish I doubt that bullies feel bad enough for transforming to a titan and killing them.

there is incident where he was told to transform but could not but later his arm transform when try to pick Spoon. it happen levy brings him for research.

With the exception of getting chewed by a titan, wasn't all of his bloodletting selfmutilation?

Rober English when eren has to turn into a titan he has to inflict damage on himself and have a clear goal so i'm guessing that when eren was a child he never had a goal like block the cannon or kill the titans

Your answer issent wrong but his power also activates with smaller goals. For example episode 19 at the 11th minute his goal is : Pick up the spoon. Gets schocked by the spoon. hand goes full titan mode

Its triggered by any injury that causes blood loss like Eren biting his finger but Eren must focus on a certain goal in order to trigger his titan form like for example kill all titans or it can be protecting Mikasa and Armin

I think your misunderstanding the question. It's asking how does Eren know/remember how to activate his Titan powers, not how to activate it.

He remembers how because when they explained how he turned into a titan it showed a flashback and his dad said "let these memories cloud your mind".

I have removed your "biggest question", but you can always ask your own in a new post, instead of in an answer.

I would imagine in order to transform the first time that you would have to be in very clear danager and would subconsciesly desire the change. He didn't have any concept that he could and something like getting cut on a tree would certainly not be dangerous enough to warrent the subconsciese into activating.
I would wager though that once he changed the first time and figure out he could do it it bacame much easier because he knew he could. It would be like discovering a secret talent that you had (wiggling your ears or something). You technically could always do it but without strong reason (someone telling you to try) you would never knew you could. Once you discovered you could, it would be much easier to access. (sorry if that's a bad example, not a lot of parallels to turning into a titan :p )
Another idea (though less likely imo) is that age has something to do with it. Maybe you have to mature to a certain point before it's possible. It just happened that he was finally of age/ ability at that point to turn and, with the obvious situation of being eaten, could at that point turn.

This is more of a comment than an answer. Most importantly it's lacking sources for the claims made.


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What exactly was the Parabellum's role?
In Morestsu Pirates / Bodacious Space Pirates, The Parabellum is hired by Gruier to make sure that Marika finishes her business with the Space Pirates before her final exams begin.

The ship makes a grand entrance at one stage, but during the show I couldn't see any way that the ship/crew actively helped Marika and the Bentenmaru.
I might have missed something, but, what does the Parabellum and its crew do to help Marika?

Do you remember which episode this was from?

We find out that they were hired to help in the final episode, and I think the first appearance was episode 22

Towards the end of episode 22, the anti-pirate ship, Grand Cross has just defeated the Big Catch and it was implied that it would have went after Marika and the Bentenmaru next.
Marika had to make a decision on whether to attempt to rescue the crew of the Big Catch, or escape.
It was that moment when the Parabellum FTL jumps in the battlefield and engages the Grand Cross ultimately forcing it retreat.
This allows Marika the Bentenmaru to rescue the crew of the Big Catch. (which eventually got destroyed because the fires couldn't be controlled and it ignited the ammo cache)

So you can argue that without the help of Parabellum, the crew of the Big Catch would likely have perished. It is also possible Marika and the Bentenmaru would have perished as well if they decided to stick around to rescue the crew of the Big Catch.

Ah, it makes sense now, I guess at the time of their arrival the bentenmaru crew also didn't know what was happening ^^;


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Why didn't Tobi bring Sasuke to fight in the Shinobi war?
Tobi, Zetsu clones, shinobi's reincarnated by Kabuto and Madara are taking part in the battle. But Tobi had Sasuke in a hideout under the control of Zetsu to get recovered from eye transplant surgery . Why didn't he bring to the war after he gets cured, while Sasuke had a revenge against Konoha?

It is like you said, he had Sasuke under the supervision of Zetsu, recover from the eye transplant.
Read if you are uptodate with the manga

 Right after Sasuke was fit to join the fight he set out for the battlefield. On his way he met Itachi and things changed there.
 Sasuke along with Itachi took down Kabuto, and then Orochimaru appears from within Kabuto. Along with Orochimaru, Sauske goes in search of the shinigami mask using which Orochimaru tears open the stomach of the Death Reaper, thereby releasing all those that were sealed inside the death reaper seal.
 After this the 4 Hokages are resurrected and then the plot goes into the back drop, and finally Sasuke makes the decision that he will fight for Konoha and thus joins the battle.

This is the flow of the time line. So I see no part where Sasuke was lazing around or Tobi kept him under lock and key.

But weren't he be able to recover at the time when Tobi took the 6 reincarnated jinchuriki's to the battle? I guess its a long time after the war started.

I guess what u said is from the manga. I watch only the anime. Check out the recent anime episodes.

You should have mentioned that in your question as to how far you are into the series. How am I to know unless you share it? :)

@EroSennin If I recall correctly, Tobi takes the 6 jinchuuriki to the battlefield still on the first day of the war, so not a long time has passed.


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What is the most popular demographic?
I know that, in general, the higher-ranked manga tend to be shounen, such as One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto (based generally, I think, on readership). Is there anything showing general demographic popularity, such as the overall popularity of shounen vs. shoujo vs. seinen vs. josei, based on something like readership? If so, is shounen still the most popular? How do the other ones rank in relation to each other?

This is a bit hard to measure, but shounen is clearly the top demographic group. Popularity is usually measured by magazine circulation. The difficulty in this is that there is a lot of overlap of readers, and also that different demographic groups read widely different amounts of manga. For instance, a young reader in the target audience of shounen magazines is likely to subscribe to only one or two magazines, while older readers might subscribe to many. Thus, total circulation numbers for the older demographic groups tend to be higher relative to the number of readers.
Here are some statistics from 2010 for the circulation numbers of various Japanese magazines from the Japanese Manga Publishers Association. By demographic, the results are the following:
╔═════════════════╦══════════════╦═════════════╗
║   Demographic   ║ Top Magazine ║ Total       ║
║                 ║ Circulation  ║ Circulation ║
╠═════════════════╬══════════════╬═════════════╣
║ shounen (boys)  ║    2,876,459 ║   8,344,534 ║
║ seinen  (men)   ║      807,871 ║   7,624,811 ║
║ shoujo  (girls) ║      745,455 ║   2,803,230 ║
║ josei   (women) ║      162,917 ║   2,364,666 ║
╚═════════════════╩══════════════╩═════════════╝

It's pretty clear based on this that shounen is the most popular, followed by seinen. Shoujo is less popular than seinen, but the numbers are similar for the top magazines, suggesting that the fanbases are somewhat similar in size. Josei is less popular than the others. However, in terms of total sales, seinen is almost the same level as shounen, and josei is almost the same level as shoujo, suggesting about equal market shares.
Admittedly, the demographic listed for the magazines is not perfect. However, I think the above is a pretty fair representation of roughly what the sizes are of each of the four main demographic groups. Also, this data is from 2010, so the current data could have changed a bit, but not enough to change the conclusions. I used 2010 data because it was easily available in English and formatted in a way that made calculating totals easy, but more recent data is available through JMPA's website if you follow the link above.


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Why is Monokuma's body half-black, half-white?
Monokuma's body is half-white, half-black.

Is there any reason for this? Does each half represent something?
Furthermore, if each colour/half represents something, does the fact that his over-sized bellybutton is white and overlaps the black half mean that whatever the white part means prevails over whatever the black half means?

White represents Light and Black as Evil / Dark. This could be a representation that his character has both sides

Also his name could indicate that Monokuma (japanese loan word for monochrome -uses limited colors i.e. Black and white) and the word Kuma which means bear in english.

Monokuma's name (モノクマ) is a pun on the word monochrome borrowed in Japanese (モノクロ, or sometimes モノクローム). As you can see, all but the last characters match in Japanese. Presumably that's why he's (almost) totally white and black (monochrome).
As for whether the different sides mean something, in the original game when he talks to you, which side is mostly facing you changes depending on what he's saying. When he's saying things that are especially violent, suggestive, or otherwise evil/despair-inducing his black side is primarily visible. When he's pretending to be a nice good headmaster bear, he'll be facing you with his white side, often holding a flower. A lot of the time for just ordinary talking he'll be facing strait-on. This is very obvious in the game, but somewhat less obvious in the anime as it seems to be hard to animate the switches. I do not think that the fact that his belly button is white is in any way significant.
Here are images of these three cases from the game. He makes a lot more expressions in the strait forward position, such as his angry or nervous expressions, but for brevity I've only included one:

This answer may be incomplete, since it doesn't give an in-universe reason for Monokuma's color scheme. If any reason exists, it would likely be explained in the prequel novel Danganronpa/Zero*, which I haven't read.
*As a note, if you want to avoid having the ending of Danganronpa spoiled, I would not recommend looking for information on Danganronpa/Zero, as it will spoil nearly everything.

Quite simple, actually.

 When you finally meet the true Junko Enoshima in the last trial, she says something to the effect of "Hope and Despair are like two sides of a coin, they can never be separated." She designed Monokuma in a way where Hope (White) and Despair (Black) were two sides of a coin, or bear. The red eye represents evil and bloodshed, which makes a lot of sense. The belly, that's just for show... or maybe it's foreshadowing for the end. (SHSL Hope FTW!)

in despair girls junko says in the last cutscene before izaru destroys Shirokuma and Kurokuma she says "they're pretty much the same white despair black hope in the end neither one but I guess that works" so the black means hope and white means despair

I will give you some spoilers to ask your question:

 Junko and her sister had 2 plush bears: her sister had a white bear and Junko had a black bear. When Junko was thinking on a design for her robot, she remembered their bears and fused them together in a drawing. She liked the design and called him Monokuma.

Hope you liked the spoilers!

Spoilers can be marked using the markdown notation !>, this way you can't see them without mousing over - makes it a bit nicer for others

The reason why is probably because black and white are opposite colors. It shows how Monokuma is evil, but he kept them in the school for entertainment and so they could live. Maybe it shows how he's good and evil. I heard that the white side represents hope and the black represents despair. Also when I think of hope, a light type of color pops into my head like the color white or a light pink. When I think of evil, despair, or loss of hope, I think of a darker color like black or a dark purple.
THIS IS A THEORY WHY HIS COLORS ARE THE WAY THEY ARE.


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What are the dots on Danichirou's forehead?
In the Sankarea manga and anime, Rea's father, Danichirou has a row of dots on his forehead:

What are these dots for and why are they there?


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Is there any more meaning to Ren's name?

In 'Nana', Nana(the singer) has a tattoo of a lotus flower on her arm.
The lotus flower shares the same Kanji as 'Ren' , Nana's boyfriend.
Flowers are used quite a bit in symbolism in media, Is there any further significance to this choice of flower aside from the similar names?

i don't think there's any meaning to the name ren.  as you've noted, there is meaning in nana's tattoo, in that it refers to him.

As @j__m mentioned, There's probably no more meaning to the name 'Ren' than meets the eye, but reading into it, Lotus flowers can symbolize several things that could be linked to their relationship:

The Egyptians believed the lotus was a symbol of Rebirth, Life and Death

 In the final chapters of the manga, Their relationship is cut short by Ren's sudden death

Buddhism associates the flower with loyalty and faithfullness

 Even though they separate, Ren and Nana return to each other. Ren's lock necklace is a symbol of loyalty also.

Also, Red lotus flowers can be a symbol of love and harmony

Ref1 Ref2

The name Ren also means lotus. Nana Komatsu in the dubbed version says, "Nana had a tattoo of a red lotus on her arm, a lotus also known as a Ren flower. At the time I had no idea what that tattoo meant to her"
It is obvious that the tattoo refers to him and is a response to the chain Nana put around Ren's neck as they joked about Ren being Sid Vicious and Nana being his Nancy.


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What will happen to the tailed beast if the jinchuruki is killed?
It is shown in the anime that the jinchuruki is caught and the tailed beast is extracted and sealed into the Demonic statue by the Akatsuki. What will happen if the jinchuruki is killed somewhere else? In search for Tsunade arc, during the fight between Jiraiya-Tsunade and Orochimaru, Orochimaru tries to kill Naruto as he is the jinchuruki of the nine tails. What would have happened to the nine tails if he had killed Naruto?

They died with their host. But they will be reincarnated after some times.

After a period of time the tailed beast will revive, so they will survive the death of the host.

However, it is revealed that the tailed beasts can actually survive their jinchūriki's deaths, with the only consequence being that it will take time for them to revive without a host.

Source: Narutopedia - in the second paragraph of that section.


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Is "Ray" a sidestory of "Black Jack"?
The TV series Ray is about a woman with "X-Ray vision" who was saved by a doctor when she was young. In the first episode of the anime, this doctor is made out to look like Black Jack:

Although you never get a look at his face but you can see that there is some stitches on the doctor's face and his hair is black and white.
Is this cameo just a bit of "fan service"/homage to the old Black Jack series or is this more like a same-universe side-story or spin-off of Black Jack? It doesn't seem like the staff of this show has worked on any of the Black Jack manga or anime.

MyAnimeList claims that Ray is a side-story of Black Jack, while Wikipedia takes the more conservative approach of just saying that they're related. However, it's not clear whether Ray is canon material in the Black Jack universe (and if so, in what sense). In any case, Ray mangaka Yoshitomi Akihito is on good terms with the current license-holders of Black Jack, and has produced his own version based on the original but with his own artwork.

Because of copyright reasons, Black Jack was only alluded to as BJ and never seen fully in the original manga, but because the anime was produced by Osamu Tezuka's own studio he is able to appear fully in the anime (though still somewhat obscured) and be referred to by his original name. Interestingly, in Black Jack 21, the sequel to the Black Jack anime, Black Jack was referred to as "BJ" by the assassins hell bent on killing him.

As far as I can tell, there's no official word on what the relation between the two are, so it's sort of a matter of opinion whether it's a sidestory or just a homage. My opinion is that, by animating Ray, it was more-or-less retconned into the Black Jack universe, or at least some alternate universe, so I think it can be elevated to the level of a sidestory. However, that was a decision made by whoever the current rights-holders are for Black Jack, and while it's valid in a legal sense some might argue that it shouldn't be considered a side-story but a homage. Tezuka manga purists could very-well object and describe it differently, as everything related to Ray (manga beginning in 2004) happened well after Tezuka's death in 1989.

It looks like a homage. From Wikipedia, it seems the mangaka of Ray has worked on Tezuka's Black Jack.

She literally calls him black Jack what more proof do you need I mean seriously there is no room for debate in this

Is this an answer or a comment?

if you are answering than try to provide fact that your answer is valid not just a line.Refer http://anime.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-answer to write your answer

what more proof do you need, well maybe some facts from you validating your answer would be a good start


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For how long were Accelerator and the Sisters doing the Level 6 experiment?
He's killed about ten thousand sisters, if he did it at a rate of 8 sisters per day, that would be:
10000 / 8 = 1250 days

Or about 3 years and 5 months.
Could the experiment have been running for that long?


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Why are there two Utsu-tsus?
In episode 2, there's a scene with Utsu-tsu cleaning the Tachikawa City International Greenery Garden where she volunteers. However, the scene is a bit strange, as it shows two of her in the same shot:

As far as I can tell, both of the people in the shot are Utsu-tsu. She's also in the two shots before this one, and doesn't seem to move between them, so there could be more than two of her.
Why are there two Utsu-tsus here? Is she able to double her body, or does she have clones, or are they imposters, or something else?

It might be to show a passage of time. Sometimes they show that (if both things take place at the same place) by showing the person doing different activities at the same time.

@kuwaly I do not think that is the case here given how the scene is depicted, but you may be right.

In episode 4, it is revealed that Utsu-tsu has the ability to create copies of her body as one of her powers as a Gatchaman. It seems there are other modifications to her body as well, though these have not yet been completely explained. Her copying ability allows her to perform basic functions, but it seems that conversing and interacting with others is difficult through the copies. She uses this ability to simultaneously follow Hajime and O.D.
Here's a gif of her making a copy:

It's probably worth a mention that the opening theme actually foreshadowed this before the scene in the question:

But it seems like when she makes a copy she goes into loli-sized mode. In the park sweeping shot, she seems to be full-sized.

@Krazer She seemed to be full-sized talking to both Hajime and O.D. at the same time with two different bodies in one of the later scenes in the episode. I'm pretty sure the copies are all normal sized, unless I was really misinterpreting those scenes.

Odd, she seems taller in the image in the question...


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What particular advantage was there on making Guilford think that Lelouch is Cornelia?
I haven't read the manga. In Code Geass R2, Lelouch orders Guilford to think that Lelouch is Cornelia upon taking a specific pose. It would seem like he did this just as a precaution before meeting with Suzaku.
But, why not just order him to protect Lelouch when he takes such pose? What particular advantage is there on making him think Lelouch is Cornelia?

There is no manga that I know of that would be more canon than the anime. So do not worry about "not having read the manga".
The advantage of having Gilford mistake Lelouch for Cornelia is that he can leverage Gilford's loyalty to continue giving him orders as long as the Geass is under effect, and having Gilford take whatever initiative necessary that is advantageous to him.
For example, after Gilford had vanquished the guards, he was able to have Gilford take him to a location of his choosing. A simple order to "protect him" would probably have made him a standing duck, as the Geass would have lapsed or stopped driving Gilford to action, as soon as Lelouch was "safe".
That ties in with my opinion that the practical reason for Lelouch not to give blanket orders for people to obey him (as he began doing after some point) was that doing so basically reduces people into living robots without initiative or self-preservation.

It also has the advantage over commanding him to "follow my orders" because Gilford would still protect him without being ordered to or if he couldn't hear Lelouch


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Is there official terminology for anime series that run less than the standard length?
I'm referring to the shorter-in-duration anime, such as Aiura, Recorder and Randsell, and Morita-san is Quiet.  These anime do not run for the "normal" duration of 22 or more minutes.
Is there any official terminology for these types of anime?

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but according to Japanese Wikipedia articles for those series, they can be called tanpen anime (短編アニメ, short anime).
Aiura:

2013年4月から6月までテレビ東京・ニコニコ動画にて、5分枠の短編アニメで放送された。
  From April to June 2013, a 5 minute tanpen anime was aired on TV Tokyo and Nico Nico Douga.

Recorder and Randsell:

5分枠の短編アニメで、2012年1月より『リコーダーとランドセル ド♪』のタイトルでテレビ埼玉、KBS京都にて放送された。
  A 5 minute tanpen anime was aired starting in January 2012 on TV Saitama and KBS Kyoto as "Recorder and Randsell Do♪".

Morita-san:

『森田さんは無口。』のタイトルで、2011年7月から9月までテレビ埼玉、KBS京都、ニコニコチャンネルにて放送された5分枠の短編アニメ。
  From July to September 2011, TV Saitama, KBS Kyoto, and Nico Nico channel aired a 5 minute tanpen anime with the title as "Morita-san wa Mukuchi.".


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How could Naruto twist his ankle?
Well, when Naruto was fighting Sasuke at the Valley of the End, Sasuke popped a hole in his shoulder, to prevent him from using the Rasengan.
Naruto, in response, activated his Nine-tails chakra (to less than one tail), and the hole healed so fast it was actually visibly closed.

A few years into the future, Naruto has (almost) complete control over the Nine-tails' chakra! And yet, when he attacked Kisame, he twisted his ankle, and that didn't heal until much later.
What the hell? That chakra had enough life force to sprout trees from Yamato's logs! Why couldn't it heal a simple twisted ankle? Can we dismiss it as a case of "Allow Gai to fight Kisame and provide Naruto an excuse to stay out of it"?

The more time passes and Naruto grows, so does his stupidity.

Hashirama Senju answering Madara Uchiha's question.hmm ok

During his battle with Sasuke in the Valley of the End Naruto was not in control of the nine tails. The Nine Tails was acting on his own accord, triggered by the emotions of Naruto.
But during the battle with Kisame, Naruto was in control of the Nine Tails. Infact he had just gained control of it. So I would guess that, since he only recently gained control of the nine tails, he was not in sync with the Nine Tail's power, which is displayed by Naruto misjudging his speed and power thereby spraining/fracturing his ankle.
One can have all the raw power in him, but unless the body is in sync with the power, you are no good. Also, about the fallen Zetsu's or wood element's sprouting leaves, this is not done by Naruto, but rather it is done by Naruto's/Kurama's chakra resonating in the wood element. (Zetsu has Hashirama's cells).
Well this is my two cents.

HE was also in a special Chakra cloak different than the normal Biju chakra cloak, which has never shown to rapidly heal his injuries (not that he ever got any with it on), plus its just a twisted ankle, nothing to worry over, and possibly no actual damage to the muscles to heal in the first place. Google wont even acknowledge their existence for me to find out why i can twist my ankle and be unable to stand, but 2 minutes later be walking normally.

Well, there are plot holes which Kishimoto makes up most of the time. Some things can not be reasoned without the wildest guesses.
For example, when Orochimaru attacked Konoha by using Edo Tensei on the First and Second, neither they used the Flying Thunder God of the Second, nor he used the Thousand Hands Jutsu of First with which he could have clearly overpowered the Third.
Well, we can just say, it was a twisted ankle, so healing doesn't work with twisted ankles like it does with wounds, for which healing can be done with sprouting new cells.

I think the part with Orochimaru not utilizing the previous Hokages was reasoned as Orochimaru hadn't perfected Edo Tensei, and couldn't revive them at their full strength (which he could, when he revived them the second time).

@MadaraUchiha, your comment can be an answer.

@NaraShikamaru but that was not his question!


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What is the difference between No jutsu and Ninjutsu?
Aren't Kage Bunshin No Jutsu or Kuchiyose no jutsu of ninjutsu type?
Also please state why Kabuto told Orochimaru that Naruto isn't blessed with a technique and he relies upon the Nine Tails? He said that during Jiraiya/Tsunade fight with Orochimaru in Search for Tsunade arc. I hope Rasengan is a ninjutsu.

Can you specify a chapter or episode for that conversation between Kabuto and Orochimaru? Thanks :)

First of all, jutsu (術) means "technique", "skill", "method", "trick" or "spell".
A ninjutsu (忍術, lit. "ninja techniques") is one of the three types of jutsu that exist in Naruto. This answer defines it as

a term referring to almost any technique which allows the user to do something that they otherwise would be incapable of doing, including the usage of weapons.

As for "no jutsu" (の術): "no" (の) is a Japanese particle that, in this case, indicates possessive, and jutsu is explained above. That means that the expression "... no Jutsu" means "Technique of ..." or "... Technique".
In that way, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (影分身の術) is translated to Shadow Clone Technique and Kuchiyose no Jutsu (口寄せの術) is translated to Summoning Technique.
And yes, these two are Ninjutsu.

The first part of your question has been answered by ton yeung.
As for why Kabuto said "Naruto isn't blessed with a technique and he relies upon the Nine Tails", it's because up until then Naruto had not shown any true signs of brilliance.
He was always up to stupid acts with some sparks of brilliance that looked more like flukes than intentional actions. Even during the chunin exams, naruto had a "lucky fart" that helped him impact the battle to his favor.
Naruto is even termed as Konoha's most unpredictable knuckle head ninja.
And since most of Naruto's efforts had been mass usage of chakra (by which I mean, not effective usage of chakra) Kabuto must have said that he relies on the Nine Tails to provide him the chakra.


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What is the chibi-esque gathering at the end of each episode?
At the end of each episode of Ro-Kyu-Bu!, and sometimes during the episode content, the girls are seen talking to each other or to the audience in chibi form. Usually there is 8-bit music in the background, and the characters appear to be sprites (without animations).

Is this a game they're playing? Or, is it something more meta (like a representation of them talking by phone)? If it's a game, does it have a name?

In the first episode of Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS, the girls are again shown in their chibi forms. It is then revealed that they are simply typing into their phones and computers as their conversation goes on.

Since they're doing this on flip phones, it seems unlikely that they're playing a game, despite the occasional "Now Loading" screen. The most likely conclusion is that the chibis are just a representation of each character chatting with the others, probably shown because it's more appealing than showing each girl on their personal computers.


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How and when did Uchiha Madara learn Edo Tensei?
During the Fourth Ninja World War, Uchiha Madara manage to escape Edo Tensei by releasing himself and put himself in Edo Tensei again. But how or when did Madara knew about the hand seals of Edo Tensei?

It is not really stated how and when Madara learned to use ET.
But it is possible that during the battles between Senju and Uchiha, Madara had seen Tobirama use it. And since ET is not a bloodline jutsu, and Madara as top Uchiha ninja, he copied it with Sharingan's ability.

With all the crazy power-ups it got, people forgot that the Sharingan was originally used to copy techniques :P

There are a few ways he could have learned it:

Copying it from Tobirama
Figuring it out himself
Getting the information from a different source, like a scroll. Orochimaru learned ET from the scroll of forbidden jutsus.

There is no definite answer however. It has never been stated or shown how Madara learned ET.

I might have a more satisfying answer to this. After all Madara already awakened Rinnegan. And I think I heard Jiraiya or someone say that the specialty of Rinnegan is that it grants the Rinnegan user the ability of knowing every jutsu in existence. So of course he knows every jutsu. Simple logic, Right?

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.

authors: ʇolɐǝz ǝɥʇ qoq


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How did Orochimaru turn Jugo's ability into the curse mark?
I know that Jugo is the original bearer of the curse mark, and that Orochimaru used that to create the curse marks (such as the one on Sasuke), but I haven't, not yet being done with the arc of Sasuke collecting team members, seen an explanation of how he did that. Did he draw blood from Jugo and inject it in people, like when he bit Sasuke to give him the curse mark, or was it done a different way?

I might have missed the part about Jugo being the original bearer of the curse mark? how do you come to that conclusion. my reason being Anko Orochimaru's former disciple already has the curse mark. if your theory is right it would make Jugo much older than Anko which i hardly doubt.

@Morpheus - it is repeated several times in the Anime.

Jugo is not the original bearer of the curse mark. He's the source from whom that jutsu was created. Jugo's clan had a special body which could absorb the force of nature and transform into various forms and had immense urge to kill.

Like said on Chapter 349, page 9, Orochimaru used Jugo's blood to create an enzyme that caused similar transformations and gave immense power to the bearer. Orochimaru just injected the enzyme into his subjects.


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Why did Kiki lose her witch powers?
In Kiki's Delivery Service, Kiki is a witch and she sets out to train as a witch by herself (like an apprenticeship). Things are going well for her but at some point she starts to lose her witch powers, unable to fly on her broom and unable to talk to and understand her cat, Jiji.
Why did she lose her witches power? Was it because she got sick (but was still missing powers after she got better)? Or do all witches have to deal with losing their powers from time to time?

idk but when the cat falls in love the cat loses power. kiki falls in love, she loses power too?

The central theme of Majo no Takkyūbin is about self-belief and being yourself. This message is explained to Kiki early in the film when she complains about having to wear the drab witches' dress. Her mother explains that it is her inner self which is important; her outer self is just a shell.
Even before she leaves home, people question how Kiki will be able to survive as the only thing she seems to be good at is flying (and even that is a little suspect). And after she leaves home, she is repeatedly plagued by more incidents which batter down on her self-worth. These include:

Meeting the snooty apprentice witch who pooh-poohs her skills.
Meeting girls wearing pretty colourful clothes who look down on her.
Even Tombo comments on her clothes at one point.
She also stares longingly at a dress in a shop window.
She inwardly does not think much about her chosen profession or her skill level either.
She feels unappreciated and underwhelmed by the response of the granddaughter to the freshly baked cake she has flown over in a storm.
She also feels really out of place when she meets Tombo's friends.

etc., etc. (Personally, I think Jiji's negativity either doesn't help much or is a reflection of Kiki's inner self.)
All these incidents chip away at her inner self until she collapses into a depression, something which her artist friend, Ursula, compares to an artist's block. She explains to Kiki that she has been through a similar situation herself when she lost interest in her art as she was modelling her approach on what other artists were doing or what her audience was expecting rather than believing in herself to come up with her own style.
This brings us back to the early scene where Kiki's mother tells her that it's her inner soul which is important.
All that said, this is also a coming of age story, and as the OP puts it, the loss of power could well be something that all witches go through as they mature. The fact that Jiji doesn't speak to Kiki even after she recovers her powers is telling. In many ways, it is only the childish Kiki who is able to speak to her childhood companion. Kiki, the mature independent witch, is still friends with Jiji, but does not need the cat as a confidant.

Her losing the ability to talk to Jiji is akin to a child who forgot his childhood imaginary friend.

I'd say lack of confidence in herself, in a quarter-life crisis way.
Here's Wikipedia's take on the subject:

[…] after a brief encounter with Tombo's friends, some of whom she had met earlier under unfavourable circumstances, Kiki loses her powers to fly and speak with Jiji. She goes into depression. However, one of her friends, a young painter named Ursula, invites her to stay in her forest cottage, where she analyzes Kiki's current crisis as "some form of artist's block." Since many things had not gone as hoped for, Kiki is experiencing such a period, which resulted in the loss of her powers; but if she finds a new purpose, she will be able to reclaim what she has lost.


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What are the animation studios outside the Tokyo area and why the majority is concentrated in Tokyo?
There are very few animation studios outside the Tokyo area, e.g. P.A. Works is based in Nanto, Toyama and Kyoto Animation in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture. A large majority of animation studios is in Tokyo.
What are the animation studios outside the Tokyo area and why the majority is concentrated in Tokyo?

What animation studios are located outside the Tokyo area?
Japanese Wikipedia's article on アニメ制作会社 (Animation studios) says:

92%[1]の制作会社が東京都内、特に大手制作会社の所在地付近に集中しており、地方には少ない。

Translated,

92%[1] of studios are located in Tokyo Metropolis. In particular, most of them cluster around larger studios. Few are found in rural areas.

Looking through the list given further down on the Wikipedia page, we find that the following studios are not located in Tokyo Metropolis (東京都):

Aomori

Igel-Nest

Fukuoka

Kyushu Animation

Fukushima

Studio Odabu

Kanagawa

Anime ToroToro

Kobe

Anitas-Kobe

Kyoto

Kyoto Animation

Nagano

Sakuraku Create

Okinawa

Jinbun

Osaka

Animation Studio ingres
GoHands
StudioMAT
Studio Muu

Saitama

Ajiado
Mugenkan
studio add Co
Studio Cosmos
Studio Kelmadick

Toyama

P.A.Works

Studios included in the "foreign" and "inactive/bankrupt/etc" sections of the Wikipedia article at the time of writing are not included in the above list. Note also that I generated this list semi-programmatically - I guarantee that every entry on the list above is a non-Tokyo studio, but it is possible there are some other non-Tokyo studios I missed. The report cited for the 92% figure on Wikipedia identifies 14 non-Tokyo studios at the time of its writing (2010), so the 18 I have listed above probably cover those studios fairly well.
Why is the majority concentrated in Tokyo?
The report cited in the Wikipedia article does not, unfortunately, speculate as to why there are so many studios in Tokyo. I would imagine that it is mostly a simple matter of Tokyo being the economic center of Japan, but this is mere speculation on my part, and I have no sources to support this.
Aside: the report mentions a trend of studios moving into more-rural areas as a result of advances in technology, making digital animation and data exchange simpler.

Since animators and studios usually outsource work, it's probably a lot easier when both the studio and the outsourcer are near each other. It's easier to transport deliverables or mock-ups when the destination is close-by as opposed to different cities.

Thank you for your reply, both the answer and the comment highlight the need to keep the distribution chain short and then the Tokyo choice, and the last sentence of the answer is interesting, i.e. P.A. Works is one of the recent studio that made this choice.


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What is happening in the "Depth of Field" specials?
The Depth of Field specials (included with the BD/DVDs) depict Dekomori and Rika going at it against each other in giant, magically-powered CG mechs. What's the story behind this?
Are they roleplaying (while playing some game?) something or is this set in an alternate universe?

In Depth of Field: Phase 6, it is revealed that Rikka and Dekomori are engaged in some sort of role-play thing in the clubroom. They seem to be pretending that the cardboard boxes they wear are mechas.

The preceding episodes of Depth of Field depict the way they imagine their role-play fight to take place.


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Why did Ichigo use his final move?
At the end of the Aarancar arc, Ichigo had Aizen so completely outclassed that Aizen couldn't even grasp the difference in their powers.
Why would Ichigo use his Final Getsuga Tenshou when he knew what it would cost him?

Because he wanted to finish Aizen for good.

Aizen still had the Hogyoku, and even after Ichigo's attack with Final Getsuga, he was able to regenerate (chapter 421), while Ichigo lost all of his powers due to that very attack.

Even Urahara states (later in the same chapter), that it is "nearly impossible" to kill Aizen while

 he is merged with Hogyoku. WHen Ichigo loses his powers, you can see Aizen getting up, ready to finish Ichigo off. At that moment, neither of them knows about what Urahara has done, and Ichigo is surprised and shocked by the fact that his opponent is still alive after his (Ichigo's) most powerful technique. After that, Hogyoku finally rejects Aizen, and Urahara's seal activates, basically saving powerless Ichigo.

So I'd say Ichigo had to use it because he saw it as the only way of truly defeating Aizen.

Ichigo was already wiping the floor with him. They weren't even on the same dimension of power. I can relate to the question as well.

So it was yet another miscalculation on Ichigo's part then?


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Why do people keep seeing Hachikuji?
After stopping not wanting to go home, Araragi Koyomi and Hanekawa Tsubasa keep seeing Hachikuji on the streets. Why does this still keep happening? I thought Hachikuji can only be seen by a person who doesn't want to go home.
Do the effects of the first encounter continue indefinitely, or is this the result of Hachikuji leveling up in the ghost ranks?

As you stated, Hachikuji had one "level UP" as Ghost.
This means she is no more a "Snail", but moreover a "Wandering Spirit".
This means she can generally be seen by anyone having the eyes to see.
Also she no more haunts people not wanting to return home, but strolls about.

In Onimonogatari:

 It is revealed that Hachikuji's "promotion" was a "lie". As the darkness began pursuing her when she accompanied Araragi home, in direct contradiction of the nature of the mayoiushi, it is clear that she continued to possess it in some fashion--and immediately before that, when he offered to take her out to eat, she notes that he would seem "like those parents who order enough food for themselves and their late daughter", implying that to the best of her knowledge she remains invisible to the general populace.
 In Hanekawa's case, every time she encountered Hachikuji, her living situation had not improved, so she simply retained the desire not to go home.
 As for why Araragi can see her, Ononoki cites it as proving that he retained some level of vampirism, implying that it is generally the case that vampires can see ghosts. (Naturally, this would also explain why Shinobu can see her.)
 It would be reasonable to assume that Ononoki also has some special capacity to see ghosts as an onmyouji's shikigami (and one created for such a purpose, no less), and Gaen may just perceive her through her powers of clairvoyance.

This does present one complication, namely that in Owarimonogatari (Ougi Dark arc):

 Araragi could see her after having fully regained his humanity.
 However, having been at this point forcibly extracted from Hell after passing on, it stands to reason that she no longer had the properties of her prior existence as a mayoiushi, and was instead some other type of ghost--the cause of her existence as a ghost no longer being the circumstances of her death. It's possible either that she could be seen unconditionally, or that Araragi was uniquely able to see her because he personally brought her back.
 Although Gaen states that the darkness would swallow her if she did not become a god or return to Hell, this may be because such a type of ghost should not exist to begin with, or rather that it defies the nature of the human soul to return from the afterlife while still dead. Failing that, she may have embellished things somewhat.


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Why doesn't Ichigo protect himself from Aizen's power?
On the way to Karakura town, Ichigo is informed by Unohana that he is the only one with a chance of defeating Aizen, as he alone hasn't seen his Shikai.
Ichigo..apparently does nothing about this. He doesn't blindfold himself or protect his eyes in any way that would be obvious to an anime viewer. Aizen could presumably just activate his weapon and negate Ichigo's only advantage at a whim.
Does Ichigo do anything to protect him from Aizen's illusions? If not, why does Ichigo charge Aizen without any regard for protecting himself from his game-ending ability, despite being warned about it minutes earlier?

It would probably be hard for him to fight blindfolded.

@kuwaly No doubt about that, but the others are blindfolded, deafened, desensitized and toyed with by Aizen.

Bleach has its share of rather blatant and gaping plot holes, but here are two logical reasons to this question from my perspective:

First Ichigo obliviously plans to finish off Aizen in a one hit kill as he feels that it would be his best chance of winning and goes on with it. He first attempts this in (Refer chapter 388) when Aizen is busy fighting Shinji and the others Ichigo tears into the world with his thoughts racing to cut him down stating that's the only way to defeat him without seeing Aizen's shikai. The initial attack to his blindspot is blocked with kido as Aizen is well aware of being targeted at the back of the neck and Ichigo reveals that he made a split second bad decision without thinking it through.
In fact it momentarily appears to have paid off where he manages to land a slash through Aizen's neck just as Aizen is escaping from Yamamoto Genryusai's last attack (end of which he lost his arm). Refer manga chapter 397 where this happens and initially the timing and execution of the attack seems exemplary, only being undone by Aizen's new found powers after merging with the hogyoku. It could be summarized that Ichigo relied on his one hit kill plan way too much and in the thick of things did not device a plan B in case it failed.
As to why Aizen did not attempt to lure Ichigo into illusion with his Kyoka Suigetsu's release can be attributed to various factors, but primarily

Aizen wanted to be defeated. Aizen's inner (perhaps suicidal) tendency to find a person who could comprehensively defeat him which Ichigo attributes to Aizen's loneliness caused by his incredible power where he was unable to find someone equally powerful as himself. Refer manga chapter 422 where Ichigo discusses with Urahara how he felt Aizen's loneliness on coming to contact with him when Ichigo was fighting on the same level as Aizen.
Another aspect like mentioned in the previous answer is Aizen's visible arrogant and megalomaniac like tendency shortly displayed after he fuses with the hoguoku. He feels that none of the Shinigami or Vizards are a visible threat and in many cases does not even bother to dodge enemy attacks during the battle like in the instance where he fends off Kisuke and Yoroichi.

It might be because of Ichigo's burning emotions towards Aizen that he doesn't think that through or maybe the author just decided not to add that in. Or maybe Aizen didn't want to show Ichigo his Shikai because he felt he was strong enough to defeat Ichigo without it.


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What does Elfen Lied mean?
Wikipedia says the title of Elfen Lied was taken from a German poem.
But that poem seems to be a simple (not to mention a bit confusing) children's poem . Reading the poem, I'm not sure why it would inspire anyone to write a story about killer children.
What does the poem have to do with the anime / manga?

Well, in the same Elfenlied (Elf Song) article it says:

A sung version of "Elfenlied" appears in the manga. Also, the term "Silpelit" is used in the series to describe a category of Diclonius, which refers to an evolved subspecies of humans to which the main character belongs.

The "Silpelit" is part of the poem:

And he thinks that the nightingale
      must have called him by name from the valley,
      or Silpelit might have sent for him.

Additionally, this song is taught to Nyu by the manga-only protagonist Nozomi.

You might want to mention that 'Elfen Lied' is German (the title, not the anime of course).

Still not clear what the German poem has to do with the anime. They have nothing in common (theme or story wise).

@ShantnuTiwari Outside of what's listed, the poem has nothing to do with the anime. The anime just uses the poem as inspiration and in the manga, it was read to Nyu.