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What's the difference between Father, Van Hohenheim, and the main Homunculi?
After rewatching most of FMA: Brotherhood, I'm a bit confused.
In Episode 40, Van Hohenheim explained that he's a humanoid form of the Philosopher's Stone. What difference does it make from the main Homunculi (Pride, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, and the others) who use it only as an energy source?
For example, Wrath was a regular human being before he got the Stone, compared to Hohenheim who is the Stone itself. What are they different in?
Also, is Father the same? Since he was a Homunculus too (or whatever, I'm not even sure...), but he got the same "reward" in Xerxes as Hohenheim.
So, what's the difference between Father, Van Hohenheim, and the Homunculi?

Warning: Unmarked spoilers follow.
It seems there are four different components you're addressing here, so I'll make the differences for each one clear.
Van Hohenheim

Van Hohenheim, also known as slave #23, was a citizen of Xerxes and a regular human being who was employed by King Xerxes' alchemist. This alchemist was an experimenter, and managed to create a being, the Dwarf in the Flask, as a result of alchemy.
The Dwarf gave the slave a name, Van Hohenheim, before allying with him in order to turn the citizens of Xerxes into a philosopher's stone. Once this was successful, Hohenheim, as a human, had over 500,000 souls within his blood, giving him great power. So, while he is a real human being, he is also a philosopher's stone.
Homunculus (in the Flask)

Homunculus, better known as Dwarf in the Flask, was created by the King's alchemist (as briefly mentioned above). This alchemist (who is not named) was experimenting with the Gate, and brought forth some of the essence of "God" to create the Dwarf in the Flask, the first true homunculus. He has no physical form, and can only reside within the glass flask he was created in.
Father

Father is the result of mixing the Dwarf with the Xerxes transmutation circle: The Dwarf in the Flask used some of the power from the resulting Xerxes transmutation to give himself a false human body (based on Hohenheim's). As Hohenheim states, Father started out as nothing more than the same Dwarf, contained inside a human "flask" (rather than a glass one).
As you see in the series, he later evolves quite substantially; he is the one who swallows God, and becomes the ultimate being. However, he is not a real human; he remains a homunculus (a manufactured human).
The Homunculi

The homunculi are beings (false humans) created from Father's blood, which is essentially a philosopher's stone in liquid form. Gluttony, Envy, Lust, Sloth, and Pride are all created by manufacturing the human bodies in which they reside, and fueling their bodies with souls from Father's philosopher's stone.
Greed (at least, the second one) and Wrath are both already human, and have souls put into them. In fact, Hohenheim and Greed-Ling do not differ in their abilities, essentially. They both have life extended by their philosopher's stones, and both have true, human bodies. Wrath is no different, except that he only has one soul within his stone, and so cannot regenerate, and also gets older with time.
Summary
Van Hohenheim, a human, unknowingly assisted Homunculus (the Dwarf in the Flask), in using the population of Xerxes to fill his own body with thousands of souls, while giving The Dwarf the false human body we see as Father. Father later uses his stone's powers to create the homunculi, the seven sins that we see. Greed-Ling and Wrath are just like Hohenheim, just having their own weaknesses.

How could Father create so many Philosopher Stones if he himself is only one Stone? Are those which are in the Homunculis, the one that was gave for Kimbley etc. also Stones? Or are they some weaker but similar stuff?

@ZoltánSchmidt He only used part of his stone. Father and Hohenheim both possessed 536,329 souls after the incident, and Father just split some of those off for each sin. It's not known how many went into each, but I'd guess around 10,000 or so (even Wrath, whose souls just killed each other until one remained). The stones created by Lab 5, which went to Kimblee and others, were not involved in the sins.

Hohenheim was a human once; he was originally a slave in Xerxes and as per slaves was never taught how to read or write. However, he met the "Dwarf in the Flask" who taught him Alchemy and tricked the rulers of Xerxes to create a Philosopher's Stone. Since Dwarf couldn't leave his flask he had Hohenheim act in his stead and the two were the center point of the nation-wide array.
Hohenheim was turned into a living stone while Dwarf was able to get a body similar to Hohenheim's (Hohenheim however describes it as a "Leather Bag" that Dwarf can't live outside of just like his flask).
The Homunculi Dwarf AKA Father created are born from his Stone and one of the 7 deadly sins to not only carry out his will but to make him different from humans (In the end Hohenheim confirms this by asking if Dwarf though by extracting the 7 sins would that make him any less human), the personalities of the Homunculi themes from these sins however most were just experiments like Gluttony being an attempt to create a Gate, Wrath being the first human to be infused with the Stone (later we see it happen with Greed) and I think Pride was an attempt to create a new body and I think Envy was an entirely different form of life.
The Homunculi are different as they were creates of the stone inside Dwarf's body, the different between Wrath and Hohenheim who were both human is that Wrath (and to an extent Greed 2) is still in a way human. Hohenheim however no longer was human when he became the stone, Dwarf and Hohenheim are different as Hohenheim is a Stone, Drawf just as a Stone inside his "Leather Bag".
All of this is just what I've picked up on watching the series so it may be speculation in some places.

Just a little note: Hohenheim is still human, no doubt. He had kids, which only a true human can.

I think it should be noted that Van Hohenheim was at the center of the transmutation circle, so in my theory he became a philosopher stone that's based on a human body with one dominant soul, whereas Greed-Ling and Wrath had their stones injected into them, which is similar but kinda a cheap knock off of Van Hohenheim.
I think it's also worth noting that maybe not all homunculi have equal souls since each one has different powers. Take Envy for example. He can absorb more and more humans and add to his soul count. It could be said that he might need to constantly add souls over and over again because his transformations use up a lot of souls.
I also have another little, unrelated theory: what if Ed and Al have larger souls than normal human beings? Like what if when Van Hohenheim reproduces it's like filtering a portion of the souls into a single being? Then Ed would have an abnormally large soul for a human being, and when Al was born he would have a larger soul than a human but not as big a soul as Ed's. Because of their larger souls, they age at different rates than other people. Since Ed ages slower than Al, he would be shorter than his younger brother because he's aging slower,

 so when he gets impaled and uses his own soul as a philosophers stone, he shortens his life span so he ages quicker and grows taller by the end of the anime.

Hohenheim, formally known as Slave 23, was the assistant to an alchemist living in Xerxses. His blood was used to create the Dwarf in the Flask and thus they already had a natural bond. The Dwarf in the Flask was in fact so thankful for being given life that he actually gave Van Hohenheim his name. The Dwarf told Hohenheim alchemical secrets and eventually Xerxses alchemist taught Hohenheim the art of alchemy. Over time the two became friends but this was not to last. The Dwarf in the Flask convinced the king of Xerxses that by creating the Nationwide Transmutation Circle (NWT) he would become immortal. However the Dwarf in the Flask ensured that he and Hohenheim would be the ones to become immortal.
Before I continue you need to understand something: As most of us know, in the FMABH universe a Philosopher's Stone is created using human souls. Though it isn't exactly specified it is hinted that it takes hundreds of human souls to create even a single 'false stone' such as the one used by the Ice Alchemist (in the first episode of FMABH) or the first one used by Kimbly in Isval. These stones are no larger then the size of a pebble and contain immense power to the point that they are capable of giving power to the Homunculi.
Now the purpose of the NWT is to sacrifice everyone over an extended area, such as Amestris or Xerxses, in order to make a Philosopher Stone. Now we do some math. As I said it is hinted that it takes hundreds to create a stone. Now lets just say that it takes three hundred for the sake of this equation.
p-people
s-stone
300p=1s
Now Amestris has a hefty population of fifty million at the time of FMABH. So lets do that math.
50,000,000/300=166,667 (rounded up)
Now since this was used on both Hohenheim and the Dwarf in the Flask that means it needs to be divided by two.
166,667/2=83,334 (rounded up)
That means that if it really was split equally, Hohenheim and the Dwarf in the Flask (now referred to as Father) both have eighty three thousand three hundred and thirty four Philosopher Stone's inside of them.
Father spared Hohenheim due to the fact that he saw Hohenheim as a good friend. The two parted ways for obvious reasons and went on there ways. Let it be noted that neither are human at this point. Even Hohenheim is now a living breath Philosopher Stone meaning he is not a human.
Now in regards to Wrath (King Bradley) he was a human. However when given the Philosopher Stone he became kind of a Homunculi.
Think of it this way. True Homunculi=Robot while Wrath=Cyborg. Both are similar but obviously are different such as Wrath's aging.
That should answer all of your questions except the last one which cannot be answered. It actually says in the anime that Hohenheim and Father each have half of the souls Xerxses and this is where it gets confusing. While Father spent the next hundreds of years making Homunculi, using his powers, and ruling a nation Hohenheim made a family. This honestly even confuses me since it seems that in the battle between Hohenheim and Father that Father would've won easily. Also how is it that when in the tunnels below Risenbol that Pride is capable of nearly defeating Father? These things make little sense to me but I have a small theory.
Father create Hohenheim's body as a 'gift' since the two were 'friends'. However I don't see somebody as evil as Father giving Hohenheim a fair trade. I believe that Father kept more souls and the anime simply doesn't explain that for some reason. This would also explain how Hohenheim is capable of talking to and coordinating with the souls within his body since he would have less souls. So basically I don't believe they are the same since I believe that Father has like eighty percent of the souls instead of splitting them fifty/fifty with Hohenheim.
I hope this helped!

Actually, Hohenheim should have been far more powerful than Father, because he never spent much more than required to extend his lifespan - he ate and drank and lived a human life, conserving his stones. On top of this, he had talked and made peace with all of his souls. Father on the other hand used up his stone in so many ways, for homunculi and their experiments, including perhaps as a source for alchemy in Amestris.

Father most likely got more powerful because he kept making more Philosopher's Stones over the years with his experiments while Hohenheim had obviously no interest in that.


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How does the hierarchical rank system in Amestris armed forces work?
A lot of ranks are mentioned in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist (such as Colonel Mustang, Major Alex Louis Armstrong, etc.) but I've never known, what do these mean compared to themselves.
Can I find a descending order of all the character who's appearing in Fullmetal Alchemist (both in 2003 and 2009 series) with an order according to the rank in the army?

This is compiled/arranged from here and here.

Fuehrer General

Bradley
Grumman (Chapter 108)

General

Roy Mustang - Flame Alchemist (epilogue)

Lieutenant General

Grumman
Raven
Gardner

Major General

Olivier Mira Armstrong
Hakuro

Brigadier General

Basque Grand - Iron-Blood Alchemist
Roy Mustang - Flame Alchemist (ep. 45 2003 anime, chapter 108)
Maes Hughes (posthumous)
Clemin
Edison
Fessler

Colonel

Roy Mustang - Flame Alchemist
Frank Archer
Henry Douglas

Lieutenant Colonel

Alex Louis Armstrong - Strong Arm Alchemist (2003 anime)
Solf J. Kimblee - Crimson Alchemist/Red Lotus Alchemist (2003 anime)
Maes Hughes
Roy Mustang - Flame Alchemist (2003 anime)

Major (automatic rank given to a State Alchemist)

Alex Louis Armstrong - Strong Arm Alchemist
Giolio Comanche - Silver Alchemist
Edward Elric - Fullmetal Alchemist
Solf J. Kimblee - Crimson Alchemist/Red Lotus Alchemist
Tim Marcoh - Crystal Alchemist
Isaac McDougal - Freezing Alchemist
Shou Tucker - Sewing-Life Alchemist
Miles
Maes Hughes (before ep. 13 2003 anime)
Roy Mustang (during war in Ishval)

Captain

Juliet Douglas
Fokker
Buccaneer
Vato Falman (Chapter 108)
Maes Hughes (during the war in Ishval)

First Lieutenant

Riza Hawkeye
Yoki

Second Lieutenant

Maria Ross
Jean Havoc
Heymans Breda
Vato Falman (Chapter 65)
Henschel
Rebecca Catalina
Darius
Heinkel
Jerso
Zampano
Riza Hawkeye (at Eastern Headquarters)

Warrant Officer

Vato Falman
Riza Hawkeye (after the war)

Sergeant Major

Kain Fuery

Sergeant

Denny Brosh

Corporal (no named characters)
Lance Corporal (no named characters)
Private

Sheska

Military Police (no named characters)

At the end of the 2003 anime, the rank of Fuhrer was removed, and in the Viz Manga version, the title used was President instead of Fuhrer.

please add the "Fuehrer General" (King Bradley)

Sorry, I misread the question and thought it was only asking for State Alchemists. Will fix now.

As noted in chapter 59 (and probably in a couple other places) State Alchemists have a rank equivalent to Major, but that seems to be unrelated (to some extent) to their actual authority in the military (given Mustang's comment about only having the authority of a captain in the same chapter).

If you look at the second link, it says, "During the Ishval Civil War however, State Alchemists were not given the authority of a Major unless they earned it as a regular soldier would."

This link is to the same wiki but to a page with all the ranks and people of those ranks including outside the state alchemists, it is noted that State Alchemists are an equivalent rank to Major, also the highest rank (Führer) is at the top.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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When did Itachi plant his crow inside Naruto?
We all know that Itachi had the left eye of Shisui which had the Kotoamatsukami. This was planted as the eye of one the crows of Itachi and the crow was planted inside Naruto, to counter Sasuke's Mangekyō, if ever, he turned against the village.
My question is, when did Itachi plant his crow inside Naruto and how did he do that?! Did he inject it inside Naruto, or planted it using Genjutsu, or something like that?

Itachi stores the crow inside Naruto in chapter 403, during the Itachi Pursuit arc.
Itachi used a shadow clone to talk to Naruto, who wasn't willing to listen. As such, Itachi was forced to use a Genjutsu in order to make him listen.
He uses a Genjutsu as a distraction:

And then the crow is stored (physically, I think) inside of Naruto:

This is corroborated by this Naruto Wiki page.

Itachi gave Shisui's eye to Naruto during the Itachi Pursuit arc. This eye was stuffed in the form of a crow, when Naruto was under Itachi's genjutsu.
See below image from Chapter 403, when Naruto is sitting in his room and having a flashback about his encounter with Itachi.

Background
Eight Konoha shinobi went on a mission to find, and if possible capture, Itachi, since they hoped it would give some clues to Sasuke's whereabouts. At the same time, Sasuke with his Team Taka started moving to Itachi's hideout because he wanted to kill Itachi. Itachi knew his end was near, and it was part of his plan to die at Sasuke's hands.
Before he died, he wanted to talk to Naruto, presumably because he was still worried about what Sasuke would do after his death. He sent a shadow clone to talk to Naruto. This clone encountered one of the thousands of shadow clones that Naruto previously created to search for Sasuke.
Naruto was angered on seeing Itachi and unwilling to listen to anything Itachi had to say, so Itachi was forced to cast a genjutsu to make him listen. On hearing Naruto's determination to save Sasuke at all costs, Itachi decided to give him Shisui's eye, which would help him in case he had to take Sasuke back by force.

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

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


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Do both Kamui Sharingans share one dimension?
Since Kakashi has the left eye of Obito, and Obito has his right eye intact, after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, they both gain the ability of Kamui in their eyes.
Using Kamui, both are able to teleport things to the other dimension, though Obito does it far more easily than Kakashi, initially. My question is, since they are the same pair of eyes, which once belonged to a single person, do they share the same dimension?
Say, Obito captures someone and keeps them in the other dimension, can Kakashi bring them back, as they may share the same other dimension?

The Kamui's alternate dimension is one and the same for both Kakashi and Obito. This has been seen a number of times during their fight in the 4th Ninja War.

Kakashi teleported Gedo Mazo's neck using Kamui, only for Obito to promptly bring it back using his Kamui
Kakashi got a clue to Tobi's identity because a kunai he teleported left a scratch on Tobi's mask who had teleported himself at the same time to avoid Naruto's Rasengan.
Kakashi then teleports Naruto's Rasengan so that it can hit Tobi in the alternate dimension where he just teleported his arm.

However, the first clue to this fact was given much earlier when Tobi came to talk to Naruto. Kakashi tried to use Kamui on him, only for Tobi to remark, "Don't bother with that Kakashi. It won't work on me."

I am sure there are a few more examples from that battle, but it is too tiring to look for and list them all. The above list should give you a good idea why they are connected.

IKR, even my answer took me almost an hour to find the episode.:)

Yes, they are somewhat connected. As you can see in these pages in Naruto Manga Episode 597:

Then they realized that he is Uchiha Obito when they prove that their eyes (from Kakashi and The Masked Man that time) are really connected.

Actually the answer is still yes. My answer is just one proof. What do you really want other than that?

This answer certainly doesn't deserve a down vote. Sure, he used 'eyes' instead of 'dimensions', but it is quite clear what he wants to say. Moreoever, "eyes are connected" is only meaningful if it means "their alternate dimension is connected".


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What song is playing when Eren cries in episode 2?
What is the name of the song about 13:00 into episode 2, when Eren is crying? I've searched in many places but I can't find it.

The video isn't available here (blocked in this country). Could you confirm that this plays about 14 minutes into episode 2?

@LoganM oh, sorry! is the minute 13:00 into episode 2, when Eren is crying in the ship.

I don't believe this song is on the first OST. I'll double-check and check the second OST as well, but it may not be a released song.

@SebastiánMolina You should now be able to upvote Eric's answer. :)

@Happy yes! I'll do it now. :D

"Shingeki no kyojin capi..." This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Pony Canyon, Inc..

Disregard my comment on the OP; this song is on the first OST. It is called Kyojin Shinkou (track 9, also titled as "凸】♀】♂】←巨人"), and the part you asked about starts around 0:50 into the song.
Unfortunately, I cannot find a YouTube video or any other legal source of the track, and the OST itself is very expensive.

YES! I found the song on Youtube, maybe my country don't have so many problems with the copyrights. Thank you so much!


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Are the scenes in the opening theme content from later episodes?
The episode 629 of One Piece is out with a new opening theme. The opening shows scenes from dressrosa arc ( which I have read in manga ) which will be covered in the future episodes ( in the range of 30-40 future episodes ).
Are these episodes have already been produced and scenes cut from these episodes are used in the opening or are these short scenes are made just for the opening theme?
If future episodes are produced before hand then roughly how many episodes are produced in advance?

i don't think anyone can really answer this. It depends on the animation company! Good question though!
This is not a case with One Piece only. You'd see this in many other anime's too. For example naruto or even fairy tail. They normally add scenes from future episodes in the present openings. That's what i believe after seeing so much anime :P

I think this also is a bit dependant on the producer. If also seen plenty of anime that also showed future events in openings. and never continued, or came to that point in time .

Typically the OP and ED are handled separately (sometimes by different studio). The studio/team that created the OP/ED are usually credited.
The animated content in the OP and ED are usually done exclusively for their respective themes. Sometimes you'll notice stylistic differences between the animated content of the OP/ED and that of the actual show.
When anime is localized sometimes the licensor doesn't have access tp (or chooses not to pay for) the original creditless OP/ED themes so they remix the opening and add their own soundtracks to it. Sometimes to better fit their target audience (in regards to the language) and probably at same time not have to pay to license the songs and/or edited to fit within their broadcasting lot (i.e. more commercial time).


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What effect does Kairoseki's have on Haki?
When a Devil Fruit user is locked with Kairoseki, is there any affect on his Haki abilities.
Like in episode 627, couldn't luffy use Conqueror's Haki when he was in the cage made of Kairoseki?

Kairoseki has no effect on haki. Rayleigh could use Haki while being chained in the auction house ( during the sabaody archipelago arc).Also haki is inborn quality in every living thing in one piece world as said by Rayleigh. And kairoseki only affects devil fruit users. Non devil fruit users are not affected by kairoseki. So they can use haki however they like still being chained.

But was rayleigh shackled with kairoseki, as far as I know rayleigh doesn't have a devil fruit power so he probably went for a frail old man and doesn't had kairoseki shackles.

@Wouter as far as I remember I think the giant with him did say something regarding the chain. Also, later Rayleigh explained that all living thing had haki ability so kairoseki might not affect. Kairoseki is mentioned as hardest substance and property to subdue devil fruit powers. Its effect on haki isn't mentioned.

am i correct in assuming that rayleigh didn't have devil fruit powers?

Yes. Rayleigh doesn't have any devil fruit power. He swam through calm belt to reach amazon lily. If he had any devil fruit power then he couldn't have swam through the grand line.

Kairouseki does seems to prevent Haki to be used. Rayleigh was only able to use it because he was the vice Pirate King and has a training level beyond the conceivable in the manga storyline so far, a level Luffy is currently struggling to achieve. But everytime any other haki-enabled user was arrested with Kairouseki, their Haki skills wore off. Happened specially with Luffy, as we can see in chapter 936 where he uses Haoshoku Haki instantly after being freed of the Kairouseki handcuffs. There is in fact no canon saying anything about this, but the storyline evidence is verifiable by exclusion

It wasn't really explained. We still don't know about the full extent of Haki or Kairōseki. Plus episode 627 is a filler so I wouldn't take what happens in there seriously, it is not canon. The anime is notorious for contradicting itself. Oda might explain Haki and Kairōseki more in the manga later on.

As i see it, the Kairoseki (sea stone was a translation i once memorized) makes the devil-fruit user physically weak, unable to move. And as you know, Luffy's ability is pretty much physical in any aspect, meaning when he feels weakened in his body, he also starts to feel helpless in his mind (until emotions tend to make him go berserk). Apparently that's just enough to make him lose his inner cool and not be able to use haki as he wished to.
Just my 2 cents...

According to Smoker, Kairoseki works to incapacitate devil fruit eaters because it gives off the same wavelength as the sea. In addition, Shanks used Haoshoku no Haki on the sea monster that took his arm while swimming. That means Haki is unaffected by the sea's wavelength and therefore unaffected by Kairoseki.
There are many situations where Luffy could use Haoshoku no Haki and chooses not to, especially on Whole Cake Island. So I think it is fair to assume he cannot use it in every situation. Because we cannot yet know exactly what situations he can use it in, we should look at the situations in which he does and compare. Everytime Luffy uses his Haoshoku no Haki, he is in one of two states: either in a totally desperate situation or in perfect health while calm and collected. In episode 627, however, he is not in a totally desperate situation (although Chopper is being beaten, he is not in danger of dying) and Luffy is not perfectly calm and collected.
It may be fair, then, to assume Luffy could not use his Haoshoku no Haki in this particular instance.


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What does the phrase "he's pulling an Amaterasu-sama on us" mean?
Who is that Amaterasu character they're referring to in episode 6?

"He always goes straight to his room when he comes home. He's pulling an Amaterasu-sama on us."

They are probably referring to the Japanese goddess of the Sun. What action he's trying to convey, I'm unsure of.

Going straight below the horizon? I don't get the metaphor.

This is probably a reference to one of the most famous episodes involving Amaterasu, the sun deity of Shinto myth.
In the beginning, the world (or maybe just Japan) was created by Izanagi and Izanami. As a byproduct of this, the three sibling gods Amaterasu, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi came into being (the latter two having domain over the seas and the moon, respectively).
Amaterasu and Susanoo had a long-standing rivalry/conflict. As part of this, one day, Susanoo threw a flayed (i.e. skinless) horse at Amaterasu and performed some other crude acts. Amaterasu, very angered by this, entered the Ama-no-Iwato, a cave. There she remained for a very long time. During this time, it is said that the sun did not rise, and this was widely considered to be a bad thing.

As such, the character being referred to in your quote is displaying Amaterasu-like-behavior - holing himself up in some secluded place, just like Amaterasu did when Susanoo angered her.
Addendum: this is a very well-known tale in Japan, and probably would have been about as obvious to Japanese viewers as a well-known Biblical parable would have been to American audiences (or something like that).

He's indeed referring to the Japanese goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu. He's referring to the story of the sun goddess and the "Heavenly Rock" (Ama no Iwato).

literally means "The cave of the sun god" or "heavenly rock cave". In Japanese mythology, Susanoo, the Japanese god of the seas, was the one who drove Amaterasu into Ame-no-Iwato. This caused the sun to hide for a long period of time.
In order to get Amaterasu out of the cave the other gods threw a party outside. When she heard the noise she got curious and peeked but got blinded by the mirror Yata no Kagami and so she thought they were celebrating the arrival of an even greater and brighter goddess than herself. Though in reality it was her own mirror image. Then Tajikarao forced the cave to open up the rest and the world was bathed in light once again. As Amaterasu stepped out of the cave a holy seal was applied to it so that she couldn't go back into hiding.

Additionally, Tatsuo Saeki says to Makoto right after: You know how she hid in the "Ama no Iwato"?


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Is the FMA: Brotherhood movie considered canon?
I've been watching the FMA: Brotherhood Movie (Sacred Star of Milos), and from what I've read/what I can tell, it's set partway through the show. Is it considered canon, or is it more like the Naruto movies, where it is entirely separate from the storyline?

It's original and not based on the manga, if that's what you're asking.

The script itself was not written by Hiromu Arakawa (nor did she have any staff involvement at all), and she has not endorsed it as part of canon (though she has said that she "[looked] forward to it"). Additionally, it was written after the main series had concluded, and intentionally placed in the timeline so that it would not interfere with the canon story.

Was it difficult to create a story that didn't mess up the plot-line of the show, since the show was already over?
Since the film happened in a country that the characters had never gone to and didn't go back to for the rest of the series, it was difficult to conclude it in a way that didn't affect the rest of the existing story. But, having it in such a locale let us concentrate on the story without worrying about the affects on the rest of the series. Also, I had to be careful with how much Al fell for Julia because it could seriously affect what happens in the future.
Why did you put the story where you did in the timeline?
At this time, Ed has come to the realization that he was certain Al's body existed somewhere, and he was ready to jump on the next train to wherever he could go to make that happen. So, in that time period, it was the best time for them to travel to another location if they could find a clue to the recovery of their bodies.
  — Source: AnimeNewsNetwork Q&A with director Kazuya Murata

Among fans, I've never found any that regard this movie as canon. As it was not the original creator's intent, nor created by her, it really has no reason to exist in canon (except that it's written in a way that doesn't interfere with canon).
Given all this, I think we can safely say that Sacred Star of Milos is not officially part of the Fullmetal Alchemist canon.


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How do the storylines of the Fate series connect?
I know that there are a lot of different types of media in the Fate series (tv, movie, light novel, video game, etc.), but I've never been able to figure out how interconnected they all are. I know that Fate/Zero (tv series) acts as a prequel to Fate/Stay Night (tv series), and I assume that the manga or visual novels with the same names share the same storylines, but beyond that, I have a hard time figuring out how they all connect.

Fate/Zero is the prequel to Fate/Stay Night, taking place 10 years before the latter. It originally consisted of 4 light novels written by Gen Urobuchi with the story set by Kinoko Nasu, who wrote the original visual novel. The former revolves around Kiritsugu Emiya and his involvement in the 4th Holy Grail War. The latter revolves around Emiya Shirou and his involvement with the 5th Holy Grail War.
Fate/Hollow Ataraxia is considered the sequel to Fate/Stay Night, taking place 6 months later. It's really half story-canon and half fandisk.
Fate/Extra takes places a long time after Fate/Stay Night, but in a parallel universe. It pushes some fun concepts and new servants and is for the most part considered a canonical part of the Nasuverse.
This so-called "Nasuverse" is a term used to describe the Type-Moon universe that Nasu Kinoku the main series writer, and Takeuchi Takeshi, the main series character designer, have created.
Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya started out as more of a gag-dojin manga serialized in Comp-Ace. It tells the "what-if" story of what would happen if Illya became a magical girl and had to capture Servants as cards. This series is not considered canon.
The Carnival Phantasm anime series was adapted from a gag-dojin manga called Take-Moon, published in Type-Moon Ace magazine and authored and illustrated by Eri Takenashi, who did Kannagi. It mostly revolves around inside jokes about Type-Moon and characters from other Type-Moon series, who end up meeting each other in the same universe for one reason or another. While this series is not considered canon, certain references are made to their respective canonical series.
Fate/Strange Fake is a short fan-made non-canon light novel written by Ryougo Narita, the writer of Baccano! It was was first released online as an April Fools' Day joke with no illustrations, but was later inserted into Vol. 2 of the Type-Moon Magazine. The story is set in Snowfield, a small town in California (north of Las Vegas, Nevada), ten years after Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, during an incomplete copy (with no Saber-class servant) of the 3rd Holy Grail War, supposedly initiated by the US Government.
Fate/Apocrypha was originally intended to be an online game, but the plans fell through. It later became a light novel series written by Yuichiro Higashide and illustrated by Ototsugu Konoe, with 3 volumes released at Comiket. The story is set in a parallel world (to the main Fate universe) in which the Grail was removed from Fuyuki City after the Third War, so the events of Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero never occurred. The story focuses on the clash between the two opposing factions, Red and Black, with each summoning 7 Servants of their own, and the Grail itself summoning special Ruler-class servant as a mediator of this Holy Grail War. Whether or not it's canon has not yet been determined.
Fate/Prototype is a reimagined version of Nasu Kinoko's original draft of Fate/Stay Night, which Nasu wrote during high school but which was eventually vastly overhauled to be a visual novel to be more suitable to target audiences. Much of the lore stayed the same, but the system of the Grail War differed. Though certain character archetypes and concepts (i.e., Gilgamesh, Avenger) stayed the same, the main character Ayaka Sajyou and her Servant are gender-swapped compared to the visual novel series. Though never officially stated, this series is probably non-canon.

There's also Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV), which I believe is an alternate ending for Fate/Stay Night from the original game.

Fate, UBW, and HF are less so alt endings but parallel routes tied to each main heroine. Technically they all happen, but at the same type didn't. Which is the true route? Only Zelretch would know for sure...


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Do Shanks or Buggy know the location of the One Piece?
Both Shanks and Buggy were apprentices on Gol D. Roger's ships. I had this doubt that whether they know the location of One Piece, shouldn't they know considering they were on the ship?

As stated on the wiki

Aside from the Roger Pirates and Whitebeard, before their death, no one actually knows where the great treasure is. source

This would mean both Shanks and Buggy would know the location of the One Piece. According to the information the most likely also know what the one piece is  Sort of a spoiler

Given the recurring theme of treasure being something of great personal value (for example Luffy's hat), One Piece may simply be an item that Gol D. Roger valued. In Buggy's flashback to his days as a member of the Roger Pirates, he discussed with Shanks the meaning of a treasure, and he found that all the crew shared the same views regarding personal value  Vol. 3 Chapter 19 (p. 8)

As to the location they described

It is said that it was hidden somewhere deep in the Grand Line, presumably in the last island, Raftel, by its deceased owner, the Pirate King Gol D. Roger

If this is true, then we can rule out the One Piece being a mountain of gold. If it was, Buggy would go all crazy about it.

I know that Shanks and Buggy can't use the Voice of All Things but they were rookies on Gol. D Roger's ship which means that they travelled around with him, possibly even to Raftel and they could have found the One Piece together. But that begs the questions of "did Gol. D Roger go to Raftel and find the One Piece before Shanks and Buggy joined their crew?" which means that if Whitebeard doesn't want to title of King of Pirates, then everyone is basically helping Luffy obtain it with the help of Rayleigh and Whitebeard since they know about Raftel and One Piece...

Only Gol D. Roger and Rayleigh are the ones who know about the One Piece.  Do you remember the scene when Roger had a chit chat with Whitebeard?  He offered to give information about One Piece to Whitebeard, but he rejected it, because he doesn't want the One Piece. Also, when Usopp asked Rayleigh about the location of One Piece, he said he knew.

The question is not whether Rayleigh or WhiteBeard knew. Its asking if Shanks and Buggy, the apprentices on the ship, knew anything.

we don't know what exactly is one piece. odachi said it is some tangible thing. gol d roger is the only other person to use voice of all thins aside from luffy. although it hasn't been shown till now, maybe to reach and find one piece, the ability to hear voice of all things is required. shanks and buggy don't have this ability so they don't know what and where is one piece and are searching in new world.


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Are the Homunculi abilities based on the sins?
I understand Gluttony's ability of being able to ingest anything being related to the title Gluttony. I was wondering about the other Homunculi's abilities (from FMA:B, not FMA) and whether they have any relation to the sins or to any biblical story relating to the sins.

No, this isn't generally the case.

Greed (both pre- and post-"death") has the ability to modify the carbon in his body to be rock-hard. This is not reflected in the fourth circle of Dante's Inferno nor in the Bible as far as I can tell.
Pride has the power of the shadows and of omnipresence. As far as I know, pride is generally represented Biblically as a giant, so there's little correlation here.

Wrath and Sloth could potentially be connected.

Wrath has the all-seeing eye. Though there is nothing about this in Dante's Inferno, this could be a reference to the potentially wrathful statement in the Bible, "an eye for an eye". However, I'd consider this a bit of a stretch.
Lust has the ability to make longer fingernails. I suppose this could be seen as a use of her beauty to kill others, but again, a bit of a stretch. She also seems to have no correlation to the second circle of the Inferno.
Sloth possesses great power and skill, and yet wastes it; this isn't really his ability per se, but he does use it in a slothful manner.

I believe, though, that Gluttony and Envy are the only ones who share a strong-ish connection.

Gluttony, as you mentioned, wants to (and is able to) eat essentially infinitely.
Envy has the ability to appear however he likes; as his jealousy later reveals, his envy of humans causes him to use his ability to take the human form.

It's worth noting that most of the homunculi have some form of their story connected to their sin. Wrath, for example, loses his arms, as in Dante's Inferno; Lust's death by fire and wind is also a reference to how the lustful are killed in the second circle; and in the Bible, it states that "the slothful will be put to forced labor." A few of the sins have some aspect of their appearance related to their sin as well.
However, despite all this, it does not seem that most of their abilities relate to their sins, or the stories that accompany them.
  Disclaimer: I am not an expert on the Bible or Christianity.

I think they are, though it's not always clear how. I can find strong or weak reasons to link the abilities of all the homunculi to their sins except for Wrath.
Let's start with my favorite, Pride : Pride is considered to be the worst of the sins; Tommaso D'Aquino, one of most important, if not the most important, Christian philosophers who had actually categorized all the vices and virtues of human being, stated that "pride is the worst of the sins, because it meanders through the good actions".
The fact is that the other sins are clearly recognized as bad, and one who is a sinner is clearly doing bad things. However, pride doesn't work this way: the more you act in a good way, the more pride tries to tempt and pervert you.
The symbolism here is about light and shadows of the homunculus: light is the good, and shadows are the true form of Pride: so, he can actually exist and be harmful only if there is light ( = good). The more there is light, the more he gets strong. If there is no light, if one has no good, has nothing to be proud of, pride as sin can do nothing; likewise to this, Pride is totally helpless if there's no light surrounding him. He is just a little child.

Greed : I am not sure about this, but I think it could be true. Before dying he says that he tried to gain women, power and money to fulfill the hollow, the emptiness inside him, but all what he really wanted was sincere friendship.
How does this resemble us? Greed is that vice that happens when you, human being with the same human nature as everyone else, deny your real needs (of God, of friendship, etc, but the essence is: of NON material, of spiritual goods) and compulsively deceive yourself seeking for material, fleeting, pseudo goods: power, money and sex.
Greed's power was similar to this: he wanted, at the end, just to be human, to be loved and to befriend (spiritual goods); but he acted greedily, surrounding himself with material goods that prevented him from fulfilling his true and hidden good desire: a material perfect shield that was in fact what rendered him as non human, as homunculus, as sinner.
(False material goods = deceive yourself protecting you from accepting the truth, the fact that you need spiritual goods = sex power money = perfect shield).

Gluttony and Envy are very clear : Gluttony eats everything while Envy, who desire the other's goods, can become whatever he wants. Still, it is important to notice that the tradition of the 7 deadly sins states that Envy is NOT primarily the desire to be what the others are; it is, instead, the pain for what other people have of good, linked with the thought "if I have none of those things, neither I nor them can have them, so I will destroy the others good". And at the end of his life, Envy decided not to leave his life, his body, his entire being to Ed, Mustang, etc (they could have killed him or done everything). He decided instead to commit suicide: "You will never have my life; if I can't have it anymore, I will destroy it; I won't give you the possibility to decide what to do with me" (I don't know if this was his reasoning but it's a perfectly envious behavior).

Lust : well, long nails remind me of feline elegance which is linked to luxury, and she can kill at distance while actually staying elegant, beautiful, calm and so on. Maybe there are also some more perverted links, like penetration (of sexual activities and of the nails in others bodies).

Sloth : as said by the other user, in the Bible is said that "the slothful will be put to forced labor." Sloth is the sin that prevents you from doing the good despite your abilities to do it. So it is best represented by someone who is really strong, but that doesn't use this strength to his complete power.

And at the end comes Wrath : it has really put me in difficulty. I am not sure I have understood his power and the link between it and the wrath... anyway I'll try: Wrath, Rage, Vengeance means that you have to persecute, kill what causes your anger. And what can help you more to do this than the abilities to find everywhere your enemy, to not lose his position, to seek, reach and destroy him to assuage your wrath? (He has the perfect eye)
I hope this was helpful :)

This answer is really interesting and very knowledgeable.

Their abilities are not related to anything biblical, but to the concept of the sin.

Gluttony's power is eating things. Fairly simple.
Sloth is immensely strong and fast, but he does almost nothing with it. Thus showing the "waste of potential" of sloth. It also correlates to simply powering through obstacles and opponents instead of using skill.
Envy has the power of shapeshifting. Envy (the emotion) is wanting what someone else has, and Envy can become someone else.
Lust's power is to extend her fingernails into blades. This is the odd one out, actually. Lust inspires lust in others, but her own lust is bloodlust, which her blade-fingers help with.
Greed's power is to harden his body into a shield. Greed does not just try to acquire more things, but also wants to keep what he has. His shield keeps his life and his Philosopher's Stone safe.
Wrath's power is the ultimate eye, which lets him see and predict enemies' movements and tells him the ideal move to make. This is a rather "intellectual" power, but he's Wrath, not rage. His is a cold and calculating fury, and his power lets him quickly and easily destroy his foes and cause maximum damage.
Pride's shadow power is not related to pride in general, but it is within context of the story. Father's original form was a shadowy black ball in a flash which had an eye and a mouth and limited shapeshifting. Pride's shadow form resembles this form taken to an extreme and made into a weapon. Thus showing Father's arrogance and pride in himself, as his greatest creation resembles himself.

There is no use adding an answer that is less accurate than the accepted one. Furthermore, you totally miss the biblical aspect the OP was interested in, because they are indeed more or less related to Bible.

However your perspective is still rather interesting.

I think Wrath has the eye power because in order to hate so many people constantly you need to be aware of why you hate them. Naive people (blind) usually get along with everybody. Wrath has the eye that allows him to see people's motives and movements. If you can constantly see everything you will begin to distrust people and hate them as you can always see the traits that piss you off. Wrath saw everything in a person. Their ugliest traits, annoying behaviour and flaws. The message of this is that everyone has their good side and even the people you hate must be considred from an unbiased perspective and not with a prying eye.


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What animals are represented by the members of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing?
In the ending credits of the second season of Strike Witches, it shows that each member of the 501st has a coat of arms which an image of the animal they represent when they use their magic.
Some are easy to tell while for others I'm not 100% sure (apart from 2), half are cats and half are dogs, the 2 odd ones are a rabbit and what I think is supposed to be a tanuki.
I am wondering, what animals the 501st JFW members represent.

Commanding Officer
Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke - Gray Wolf
Commanding Officer in battle
Sakamoto Mio - Doberman
Members
Gertrud Barkhorn - German Pointer
Erica Hartmann - Dachshund
Perrine H. Clostermann - Chartreux
Francesca Lucchini - Black panther
Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen - Black Fox
Charlotte E. Yeager - White Rabbit
Sanya V. Litvyak - Black cat
Lynette Bishop - Scottish Fold
Miyafuji Yoshika - Mameshiba


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How did the characters learn alchemy?
How did the characters gain their power to perform alchemy in FMA:Brotherhood? Is it genetic, or is it something that can be learned? After all, not everyone in the series can use alchemy.

Are you referring to Brotherhood or the original anime? (Or perhaps the manga?)

In the context of the manga/Brotherhood, it seems that it's dependent on the existence of one's gate, but I don't think they address the issue of whether anyone has a gate of their own (unless they give it up) or if only certain people can do alchemy.

@Eric I'm referring to Brotherhood, but does it have different explanation between those two? I haven't watch the original anime

@student080705639 There are some small differences. Nothing major, but worth distinguishing.

Alchemy is just like most skills; the process of learning it is arduous, and some people will naturally be better than others.

From a young age, Edward and Alphonse Elric were exposed to alchemy, especially as their father had been a brilliant alchemist and left a gargantuan collection of books behind for the kids to read. This, however, was in addition to their already curious minds and their—especially Ed's—prodigal level of skill.
Following this, Edward (and later Alphonse, upon recovering lost memories) witnessed the realm beyond the Gate of Truth, wherein he absorbed a large amount of further knowledge about alchemy. He also underwent training from one of the most intelligent, brutal, and experienced trainers known to the universe: Izumi Curtis.
Basically, Ed and Al were able to receive knowledge, training, experience, and an exposure to the infinite reaches of alchemy, prior to the main storyline.
And you can contrast this further with the "normal" alchemists (that is, those who don't work for the military); the fact that we only hear of a couple who do not work for the military is a testament to how unsuccessful people have been at achieving a high level of skill with it. Keep in mind that alchemy involves the makeup of the entire world; from rock to air to water to human flesh, everything is composed differently, and specializing in more than one of these is a challenge at best. (Think of someone like Mustang who knows the basics of alchemy as well as flame alchemy, or Shou Tucker, who specialized in biochemical alchemy.)
In some very rare cases, alchemy can be inbred. In the case of the Dwarf in the Flask, he was more-or-less created from alchemical knowledge, and thus understood it very well.
But none of this means that alchemy is limited to only certain people. As I paraphrased above, some people are naturally more talented at some things: Some are better at creative tasks, some better at math, history, and so on. In the universe of Fullmetal Alchemist, alchemy is just another one of these skills that requires thousands of hours of work to fine-tune.
In the 2003 anime (outside of Brotherhood), the silver pocket watch given to State Alchemists can amplify their power; however, a knowledge of alchemy is required to use it (and of course, to become a State Alchemist).
So, how do characters learn alchemy? They learn it through hard work, perseverance, experience (rough or otherwise), and never giving up (and a little bit of luck never hurts). As you might notice, these are all the traits that a typical shounen hero (such as Ed) possesses.

dam, just beat me to it

@Memor-X No worries, you actually covered something I didn't really touch on. No problem with having two answers up. :)

It should also be noted in the west, they were in a totalitarian dictatorship and the army was actively recruiting people good at Alchemy. Which could contribute to the number of alchemists within the army than outside of it.  Also there definitely were great alchemists outside of the army namely Izumi Curtis and Berthold Hawkeye.  Also the fact there are other alchemists outside of the military is one the primary reasons the state created laws (rather than military rules of conduct) pertaining to alchemy.

In the original series, it's explained that everyone is born with a smaller Gate, connected to the Main Gate, which is then used to access the energy supplied from our world required to perform alchemy. As the person gets older, the connection gets weaker, which is why Dante uses a baby when she wants to call the Gate.
In Brotherhood, everyone is born with the ability to use alchemy; however, how it was taught to the populace is different.

In Amestris, it's said a man came from the East to teach the people how to use the energy from tectonic shifts and manipulation of matter toward scientifically practical ends. However, the method was flawed and because that man was Father/Dwarf it allowed him the ability to shut down everyone's ability to use alchemy.
In Xing, it's said that a doctor came from the West to teach the people about alkahestry which focused on using the energy in the Earth called the Dragon's Pulse; the Doctor was  Van Hohenheim.

A Gate, however is created within those who have preformed Human Transmutation, as Father/Dwarf required a number of Gates in order to achieve his plan to become God and the only people who could do this was those who had at one stage performed Human Transmutation.
The actual ability to perform alchemy seems to be something that can be exchanged at least to God as at the end of Brotherhood, Ed gives up his ability to perform alchemy to God, in order to bring Al back to life. God gladly accepts this as a fair price, and congratulates Ed for being the first person to figure out what Equivalent Exchange is.


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Why is Suigintou's title "Mercury Lamp?"
Looking on the Rozen Maiden Wikia for the Rozen Maidens, I notice they all have titles

Suigintou = Mercury Lamp
Shinku = Pure Ruby
Hinaichigo = Small Berry
Suiseiseki = Jade Stone
Souseiseki = Lapislazuli Stone
Barasuishou = Rose Crystal
Kirakishou = Snow Crystal
Kanaria = Canary Bird

i get most of them are either a trait they have (Hinaichigo is small, Barasuishou attacks with crystals) or their primary color scheme (Kirakishou is white like snow, Kanaria is yellow like the general depiction of a canary).
But I don't understand why Suigintou has the title of Mercury Lamp. From my understanding, Suigintou's color scheme is black (2013 anime) or purple (2004 anime) while Mercury as the metal is silver, while I don't think the planet is black or purple. Nor do I get how Lamp fits.
So how does Suigintou's title match with her?

Mercury-vapor lamps are a thing (in Japanese, called suigintou, though with different kanji than the Rozen Maiden character). That said, mercury-vapor lamps look blue-green to me, not purple.

@senshin i did a google search for Mercury Lamp and saw them but i didn't know in japan they were called suigintou

I think it refers to the metal mercury (水銀)　which is silver as Suigintou's hair.
It is fragile, it breaks easily (think of thermometer) and when it breaks it is very poisonous. Just like her. She's not bad, just a bit unfortunate and later became evil and poisonous.
It's hard to guess why the kanji for lamp is there though, but during the victorian era, there were lamps with mercury glass reflectors, so it would emit more light


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What happened with Akane in the manga? Did something like this happen in the novel?
I've just read the tenth chapter of manga, Kämpfer (got it before I got 9 and 8).
I'm a bit confused by the ending there and wikipedia didn't help much there.
I'm putting up spoiler tags as the important parts of the question below are directly related to the endings of the manga / novel:
Manga:

 After destroying the statue, Akane suddenly disappeared. Why did that happen (I found the bit explanation before quite confusing but it sounded so as if Akane was created by the moderator?)?

Novels:

 Additionally this gets to the second part of my question. Is there something similar there in the novels? As from what I remember, he got together with Akane there. So is it different there for her to whatever happens to her in the manga?

I can't make tags. The Manga is "Kämpfer". But you are right though. I forgot to put it into the question after not being able to set it in tag

@tyhja tnx for teh edit!

the [tag:retag] tag is there if the tag you're looking to add does not exist and you don't have the rep to create it.

ah tnx looked for something like that but didnt see it^^


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Why is it expensive to create realistic faces in the anime industry?
Like Gantz for example has characters with realistic faces instead of big eyes and hair colors but to use to this can be expensive so why is it cheaper to use anime and manga faces that lack realistic features like characters with no visible lips?

Do you have a bit more than anecdotal evidence that says this is more expensive?

@Makoto no but I know that we don't see realistic features mainstream in the anime industry doesnt that explain why realistic features are not common?

Not necessarily.  Any other rationale could explain it, but I doubt that it's strictly financially motivated.  For example, given that it was rotoscoped, what would be your take on Aku no Hana?  Are the facial features in that not realistic?

@Makoto what about Gantz do you think the anime was expensive to make because of the realistic features?

Before I googled "gantz anime" I thought the art was very realistic, but in the end, I don't think that much ("Subete ga F ni naru" has similar art), so I can only guess: it depends on the target audience and the genre, and if it's based on manga, then it tries to follow the manga's art style.

Like ton.yeung said, more detail takes more time and thus costs more money. In theory you could make an anime with every single frame having the same level of detail as a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, but it would be prohibitively expensive; it took Leonardo years to finish a single painting, and you would need a whole team of Leonardos churning out thousands of them in a limited timeframe.
That said, I doubt that it was significantly more expensive to animate Gantz than, say, K-On. The question seems to presuppose that cost is the only thing keeping anime from having more realistic facial art, but I believe it's more about artistry and style. The experience that Gantz was trying to create was drastically different from the experience that K-On was trying to create.

The K-On characters are lacking some facial detail compared to the Gantz characters (in line with well-known rules of cuteness that, yes, seriously, have been studied and derived by anthropologists). Gantz uses smaller eyes, chunkier bodies, and a more subdued color palette; this makes it seem more realistic. However, we can see that both of them are lacking a lot of detail compared with, say, the work of American comics artist Alex Ross.

(I should note that Ross is primarily a cover artist, because of the time it takes him to produce works of such high detail. To create an animated feature at Ross's level of detail would be untenable.)
Also, shows like K-On and Clannad often have very detailed clothes, backgrounds, and other objects. Look at the instruments in K-On.

Look at the detail in the background of this random screenshot from Clannad.

So I don't think the difference in style is primarily about cost. It's about artistry. K-On was well enough funded to make its art look like Gantz had the creators wanted to; but that art style didn't fit with the goals and aesthetic sense of the series. It's the same reason Bugs Bunny looks like this:

and not like this:

While the typical anime art style may have originally been created as cost-saving measure, that seems to be no longer the case. It is recognized as a unique style on its own and appreciated by many people on that basis, the same as the highly unnatural Cubism and Mannerism (which produced what seems to be the first known forerunner of the Shaft head tilt).

Anime also always lacks visibility of lips on characters often showing only a simple line ,again is this done for the same reasons?

@user18661 Yes. It's part of the art style. KyoAni had more than enough money to give their characters Gantz-like lips had they wanted to; they didn't.

Why is it anime characters are always depicted with a line on their mouths when you can't see their lips?

@user18661 As I said in my earlier comment, it's part of the art style. If you want to know why it's part of the art style, I suggest asking a new question as the answer will not fit in comments.

Isnt always supposed to be because they want keep it at cheaper budget to have no lips depicted?

@user18661 I don't think it has anything to do with budget or cost. That was the entire argument I made in this answer. Please let me know why that wasn't clear; I will make edits to clarify.


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Where does the character from this poster come from?
My fiance picked this poster up today because it looked cute, we aren't sure were this is from and wanted to know if anyone could tell us where this is from.

Cropping and reverse image search give links mentioning vocaloids on the first page (and Hatsune Miku on the second page / in the links on the first).

after cropping and auto tone/color, it says snow miku as @Maroon mentioned

This is the Snow Miku 2015 Snow Bell Ver. design for Snow Miku, a Hatsune Miku variant made to promote the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido.
Every year there is a new design from piapro (a division of Crypton Future Media dedicated to promoting crowd-sourced content), decided by fans on their NicoNico Live Broadcast. The theme for 2015 was 'Plant Life in Winter', and the winning design is designed by Taran (たらん). The rabbit character is called Rabbit Yukine with variant outfit design by Hayuki (羽雪).


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Why do the resurrected bodies disappear in the impure world resurrection jutsu?
Some of the resurrected people like Sai's brother were freed from the jutsu although Kabuto told Tobi that the resurrected people can't be killed. This is a pic of a conversation between Kabuto and Tobi.

Similarly, Sasori also disappeared after telling Kankuro to use his puppet parents.

How can the souls be freed from the bodies even if the user who resurrected them did not release them? And why didn't this happen when the third hokage was fighting his predecessors during the chunin exams?

The souls can be freed from the Impure World Reincarnation if they are given closure. Experiencing a emotional change allows them to break out of the jutsu and the soul can ascend.
Orochimaru stated that Hashirama Senju could break the summoning jutsu if he wanted. I'm not sure why he chose not to during the fight with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

During the fight between Orochimaru and Sarutobi Hiruzen (Third Hokage), Orochimaru has yet to perfect the jutsu, thus he was unable to revive the first and the second hokage perfectly, that is, they weren't revived in their prime. Because they weren't in their prime, they weren't able to release themselves from the jutsu.

He was not killed, but his soul was freed. the Impure World Reincarnation Summons the souls to a body and binds them to the world of the living. Hence, they can not be killed by normal means. However, the Control is not perfect, and can be dialed up and down, as shown when Kabuto removes all emotion from the Third Raikage. He left most with their regular personalities for psychological warfare, but forced the bodies on autopilot to kill. It could however be broken by someone strong enough, Like Madara did and Hashirama could do the 2nd time he was summoned (note the first time he was significantly weaker and his personality was suppressed). If their Personality is intact, they can also break it by experiencing emotional closure Which is what happened to Sais brother. Its the same principal as a restless soul finding peace and moving on, the new found peace/closure of the Summoned breaks the binding and the soul is free to ascend back to the land of the dead.


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Is Erza's samurai costume considered an armor?
That famous costume where her hair is tied in a very long huge pony tail and she has only bandages on her torso and this baggy red hakama pants with a katana.
Is that an armor? If so, what's the name?

It does not have a name, because it is not an armour. It is just fabric after all. As Ikaruga mentions, there is no magic coming from Erza's outfit.

There really is no name for the armor, some people call it the Japanese Cloth armor but the fact is that it is not really armor. It is a completely offensive requip in which she puts all of her power into her sword for attacks. On the wiki page for her battle against Azuma it states:

Erza decides that in order to defeat him, she has to collect all of her Magic into a single offensive attack without wasting any on defensive power. She requips into her Japanese-like clothes, previously used in her battle against Ikaruga in, stating that she has no need for armor and only her sword.

On her wiki page you can see that the requip in question is not listed.
For a complete listing of her armors you can find that here: Armors


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Did Ryu have an affair or was it Maki?
Did Ryu have the affair and that's why Maki wrote "Liar" to Ryu? Or did Ryu's friend make that up?

It wasn't clear to me either. Best way to find out would be asking a Japanese speaker who could look it up in forums.


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Identification of the background music played in episode 2 and 3 of Beyblade Season 1 English dubbed version
I'm trying to find out the name or any identification of the background music played at:

01:05 in Episode 2 of Beyblade Season 1 (English dub) from original series. It's played during the battle between Kai and Tyson.
05:57 in Episode 3 of the aforesaid season. The music plays during the conversation between Tyson and Kenny after a friendly battle between Tyson and Max.

I did search on web but most of the time the results I get are either the Beyblade songs with lyrics, or links to Japanese ones, but I can't figure out the one needed.

Please note that you are referring to the English dubbed localization. Being a dubbed localization, the license might not include rights to the music and other scores. If you compare the dub to the original, you'll notice these differences. It's possible that these miscellaneous tracks were never included in the English Soundtrack.

AFAIK, the soundtrack for the English Dub is as such.
For example, others like you have tried to ask and received a similar reply.
The music for dubs seems like quite a collaboration from both Nelvana and the Japanese side, as referenced from this thread:

Actually - aside from guitars/bass - there's only 1 piece where I used live instruments- and that was cello. The rest is all electronic acoustic.
Beyblade was a really unique situation, because once Corus/Nelvana sorted out the initial details, I was working directly with the Japanese for the entire process and I'd literally just update Nelvana with what was happening every few weeks or so.
The director was very specific about instrument choices (you'll notice there's very little synthesizer/electronica) and it's mainly traditional orchestra/acoustic instruments. I worked with a translator on the Japan side at D-rights and all the music requests/revisions and so on were through them. The schedule was so tight that they were animating an episode as I was composing it and then they'd edit video to score on many occasions. Very interesting!

It shows that it is definitely different from the original Japanese version, although it was for Metal Fight instead of the original Beyblade series, I suspect it is the same treatment.
You might try your luck trying to contact the guy who did it.
As for why you are looking into it, I am not sure. However, if you just want to listen to it, there is some guy who did some sort of compilation:
https://youtu.be/w_7460ppe2c
https://youtu.be/6fu-ONlAn64
https://youtu.be/UfB7IbP_uyE
And he credits Martin Kujac in his FAQ.
This is probably not sufficient as an answer, but also, it was too much to put into the comments.
I do not think that you will find your answer anywhere, and this question is probably not answerable, unless you contact Nelvana or the creator of said BGMs, as they are unnamed and uncatalogued.

Can you quote some relevant content from the threads? I can't tell where it says that it's a collab from both sides.

As requested, updated


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Is the heart a weak point of a Logia user?
That Monet could be killed By Caesar Clown by stabbing its heart looks a bit awkward to me.
I mean, when Monet was cut by Zoro she didn't look to be prepared to properly activate its logia power to receive the cut and she still was able to survive and regenerate, so it's safe to assume that he can instinctively react, or that even if she got damage on her brain, she was still able to avoid it by converting into it's logia element, and it's sure worse to have your brain splitted in two than having your heart stabbed.
Maybe Law's powers made her unable to use her logia powers, but it's clear that any cut part that is under Law's power still can react to its owners will as shown with Kinemon's legs.
Then maybe it's that Logia users cannot convert their heart to their logia element, so that would be a weak point they have.
I'm asking about the possibility of logia users not being able to convert their heart into their element, so it would be another weak point they would have apart from being attacked with haki. I mean, they could also be killed, for example, by stabbing them with a sword where their heart would be, no need of haki to do that. I'm giving those facts as a support for this possibility, so I'd like your opinion if that's really a fact, a possibility, or there's something that makes the possibility I'm telling impossible.

Are you asking a question about something or asking for feedback on a theory?

Concerning Monet, she was too terrified by Zoro's killing intent to properly defend herself. When she was cut, you could see her struggling to move in an attempt to put herself back together. She can't and is shivering with a scared and confused expression on her face. Logia powers activate on a mental level, much like Paramecia and Zoan, however Logias rely on their subconscious to activate the power in the even of danger. It's why they can still touch things, when not using it. There are cases when a human can be paralyzed with fear, as was the case of Monet.

Now, for Law, that's actually pretty simple. Law's power creates a field into which he can manipulate all matter as he pleases. So while inside the field, Law had separated the hearts from the user and enclosed them in their own space. It's why they seem to be frozen in ice, which is how the effect is shown.

Monet did use her logia to survive; she saw the blade and reacted. Zoro explicitly did not use Haki which is why she could survive this. The don't show much of her logia change to give the momentary impression that he used Haki and killed her.
When Ceasar stabbed her heart, she could not have sensed the blade until it penetrated. For other characters, they might have noticed via Observation Haki.
While it is possible to imagine the logia users cleverly hid their hearts when using their powers, at this point no evidence supports this. At least three pieces of evidence weakly contradict it.  Light normally wouldn't be able to carry something with mass with it (but this barely behaves like light). Anything logia like fire, lava, ice, etc. would have to give the heart immunity to the element so they could not just have a normal human heart.  Lastly, several Paramecia (I know not logia) users strongly imply that their hearts are effected by the devil fruit.  This shows that if there were something to do with logia hearts it would be restricted to logia users (which seems unlikely).

Maybe it's a plothole, or maybe Law covered the heart in something that prevented it from transforming, but technically speaking shouldn't Smoker have been able to transform his heart into smoke and reassemble himself? Yet, he didn't do that either.

Btw it is already confirmed that the heart is changed. It was explained by Rob Lucci that if Luffy's heart was not made of rubber, he would have died from using gear 2.

@peterraeves i think we meant to assume it is the result of Law's powers as you suggest.  I think it is trapped in that small room. Oh and yeah Luffy,  Buggy, invisible guy, and proably many others  all need their hearts to be effective for their powers to work


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How many episodes of Naruto are there?
I have been watching Naruto online, and there are no episodes available to watch after 301, even though I know there is a big war on that episode. Are there any more Naruto episodes? People have been saying there is an episode 700, but is that all manga?

There is Naruto 220 episode and Naruto Shippuden is still airing has more that 400 episode. The manga ended at chapter 700 and after that till now there are 700+10 manga know as Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage

Do you know any websites I can find all the episodes on?

anime-planet but i am not sure you will get to watch all episode ,they may charge you , they may not ,but most of the episode are free to watch.

And here are some site that stream anime

@mirroroftruth you might consider adding that as an actual answer. I think it addresses everything pretty clearly.

@Narutorules I think you're looking for English dubbed episodes. As far as I know, English dubbed versions are not available after episode 300. It's time you have to switch to English subbed episodes.

220 episodes for Naruto original series, 500 episodes for Naruto shippuden series and 5 Boruto: Naruto next generation

There are 220 episodes in Naruto original anime series, which has been completed. Then Naruto Shippuden, which has 500 episodes in total. The series finished airing on the 23rd of March, 2017.
You can stream and watch anime from anime-planet or some other anime streaming sites. Some of them may charge you, some of them may not. Best way to watch Shippuden is on Crunchy Roll.
There are 700 manga chapters and an extra 10 chapters in the Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet manga, which is set several years ahead of the final chapter (volume 72) of Naruto.
With the conclusion of Naruto, we now have its spin-off/sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. This is currently airing on Crunchy Roll and is 18 canon episodes in as I am writing this. Also the manga is available to read for all the purists.

well nowhere near 700 episodes is a bit exaggerated. I mean there are in total 639 episodes of naruto. 220 naruto + 419 naruto shippuden

For a question with ~60k views, I found this to be surprisingly un-updated. Community bumped it up in my feed and I decided to answer.
Naruto the Anime, as it is defined includes 2 series, 11 movies and over a dozen OVAs. The full list is available here List of Animated Naruto Media
The first Naruto anime adaptation premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo October 3, 2002, and ran for 220 episodes until its conclusion on February 8, 2007. It led to a first timeskip of two years. 3 movies were also released with the original Anime.
Naruto: Shippuden is the sequel to the original Naruto anime and covers the Naruto manga from volume 28 on. The TV adaptation of Naruto: Shippuden debuted in Japan on February 15, 2007, on TV Tokyo, and concluded on March 23, 2017. The series ran for a total of 500 Episodes. There were another 8 movies accompanying the series, the last of which set stage for Naruto's son's solo series, Boruto:The Next Generations which is currently airing. (5 Episodes and counting).
Thus, there is no Episode 700 since the Original run and Shippuden are seperate series. Total episode count of Naruto finished at 720 Episodes. Boruto is not considered to be of the same continuity because Kishimato is no longer writing the series but is more of a supervisor.

You must be following the Naruto Shippuden English Dub Episodes. At the moment, the English Dub episodes are lagging far behind the Japanese episodes as far as the anime is concerned. Like @mirroroftruth said, the Manga is the latest episode.
But in English Dub, the latest is episode 301 and more are coming up. The next one is expected to be aired on July 11th. So you'll have to be patient.
As for Japanese, the latest one aired yet is episode 418.

Now that the Shippuden has finally ended, I can say for certain that...
Original Naruto series has 220 episodes.
Naruto Shippuden has exactly 500 episodes.
Not to mention like 40% of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden is fillers.

authors: Антон Чепрасов


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Is the location of "A Bridge to the Starry Skies - Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi" a real place?
One of the strong points of A Bridge to the Starry Skies - Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi is the location. The countryside town, with all that pure air, water and greenery really sets the mood and works as a contrast with the Tokyo grown protagonist.

Shibuya? Is it something to eat? - Ui, ep 7

Is it a real place? Or was it inspired in some real world location? Bonus points for google maps link.

I've never seen Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi, but I was able to find a blogpost by somebody who seems to have found the model-location for the countryside part of the show: Hida-Takayama, Gifu.
If you want to explore the area, here's a Street View from just outside the Hida-Ichinomiya station (the one whose signboard is shown below), and here's a Street View from on the red bridge (also shown below).
Here's a couple of the comparison shots from that blogpost:

For the dedicated anime pilgrim, anime-tourism.com may be of particular interest - it includes a list of locations for quite a few anime, including Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi. And not only do you get the locations, you get a map with pins for all the sites you should visit! The pins are, in order:

Hida-Ichinomiya Station
Miyanaka School, old building (now demolished)
Kanzaemon Inn
Bridge on the way to school
Bus stop
Hida-Ichinomiya Minashi shrine
Liquor store (?)
Bagpipe Cafe
Nakabashi / central bridge
In front of the pickler's


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What's the name of the music played during the final battle of Tokyo Ghoul √A episode 9?
What is the name of the music playing from 20.00 to the end of the episode in Tokyo Ghoul √A episode 9?

Four more days.

You may go and search the OST CD on amazon.co.jp. For some music CDs, they allow users to listen to the first few seconds of each track.

That song's name is Das zweite Kapitel (disc #1, track #26).

Welcome to the site, you might want to add some more detail to your answer. In this case, at least a link to a Youtube video might be helpful for example.

@mivilar Yes, but a YouTube video also often gets taken down real quick. I would suggest linking to a website like amazon or vgmdb where they list the album's information. :)


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What happened to Kim Soon-Lee?
How come after chapter 1.5 there is no mention of Kim-Soon-Lee and the operation to catch the Murim killer? Is this due to it being a bonus/filler chapter or has it not yet been covered?

That chapter is actually chapter 9.5, part of an extra in volume one. the extra chapter are probably considered a side story of the original storyline.

Chapter 19.5 is the 2nd part of this story, it's in volume 3.

She appears later in the main story again, not just in the two side story chapters.


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What is the song from Naruto Shippuden episode 48 - Bonds at 3:10?
This song is common in many episodes and even appears several times in one episode. It's kind of a sad music with male vocals and instrumentals such as some kind of flute or something similar. It's from episode 48 titled "Bonds" of Naruto Shippuden and starts close to 3:10.

You may want to check it out on amazon.co.jp or youtube.com for the OST CDs

it's this song here
Naruto Shippuden OST 1 - Track 28 - Shippuu Kumikyoku ( Hurricane Suite )
the singing starts at 0:40

well, than mark my answer as correct answer, please :)
So everyone can see that this is answered :)


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What's the name of the background music which starts at 37:31 in episode 1 of Fate/stay night UBW (2014)?
In episode 1, the music starts at around 37:31 or so according to my timestamps, during the fight between Shirou and Lancer inside the main house, right after Shirou blocks the lance and gets cut, and a second before Lancer says 'Hoh'.
I searched entire OST, but seemed to have missed it anyway.

It's likely to be "Face to Face", the 5th song from the OST.


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What is the song Muse performs on the rooftop of A-rise's school?
What is the song Muse performs on the rooftop of A-rise's school?
It was to qualify for the idol tournament, I think, and they wore blue dresses.

The song they perform in season 2 episode 3 on top of A-RISE's school is "Yume no Tobira".


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What is the soundtrack playing in One Piece when god Usopp is held up by the giant?
I've been searching since I first heard it before the time-skip.
I believe it was also played before the news coo delivers the paper
to chopper in bird island.
I quit searching and now heard it again in the last chapter. So I'd like to know what soundtrack is being played.

The theme is Fuyu ni Saku, Kiseki no Sakura. It is played when the giant picked up god Usopp.

thank you a million times :D
thank you thank you thnak you

no problem bro im here to help :)


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How do Otonashi and Kanade remember Iwasawa's last song in their next life?
In the final scene of Angel Beats!, we see what we know is Otonashi pass by Kanade. Kanade is humming Iwasawa's last song 'My Song', which she wrote in the afterlife.
How did both Otonashi and Kanade remember this song? If they disappeared in the afterlife, their souls/spirits would have passed on, so how do they remember it?
I assumed that when they are 'reborn' in their next life, they would have no memory of the afterlife or previous life. I guess this isn't the case.

I feel that this just proves that they do retain certain memories gained in the afterlife. Maybe the most prominent memories just stick with you.

There could be a few explanations but I don't think it goes that deep. The idea for the anime did imply that their souls kind of ended up in that world temporarily and then, they left eventually. It's the same soul of the same person. There's no telling how do our memories actually act.
There is a hell lot of stuff up there in your subconscious but you are not aware of it. You only remember what is in your conscious part of brain. The rest of subconscious is vast and still there but only in a dormant form. You don't really know what it is. It is depicted in dreams and some abnormalities.
It's quite possible that the memories keep accumulating in one's subconscious as he goes through life.

Have you ever had a tune stuck in your head but you have no idea where it came from? The tune just came to you like you have known that little tune for your whole life? I think that's what the author was going for.
I also think the song itself could be etched into their soul, because they may not remember anything but maybe their soul remembers the strong feelings?
These are just the ideas I made up when I saw the ending...

I agree with the fact that it might not be as deep as having the song etched in their soul but it could be that one of them heard something that triggered that memory of the song and not where it came from and when otunashi heard it it triggered an aha moment along with the memory of kinade and that's why they both remember that song.


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Kyoukai no Rinne background music
I'm searching for the music of an anime.
The anime is "Kyoukai no Rinne".
The background music comes from episode 1 from 12:15 to 12:32.

Welcome to the Anime and Manga SE. What exactly are you trying to ask here?

I assume that you're looking for the title of the background music?

The soundtrack for Kyoukai no Rinne isn't even scheduled for release yet. Try again in a few months.

It's Track 02 Ningen... Mitai na ~Rinne no Theme from the Kyoukai no RINNE original sound track.

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What is a Marduk?
When Mononobe Yuu fights Hecatoncher, Yggdrasil tells him he needs to give up more memories because he has an "Incomplete Marduk".
In mithology, Marduk is the Babylonian god that fought Tiamat.
Also wikipedia erroneously names Yuu's cannon as Marduk. The cannon's name is Babel.

Marduk is the name of the anti-Dragon weapon that Mononobe Yuu uses. It can turn into 3 different cannons (as seen so far): Megido (against Hecatoncheir), Babel (against Leviathan), Noah (against Hresvelgr). It's not known if they are all the weapons of Marduk or not. (From ja.Wiki: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%8A%83%E7%9A%87%E7%84%A1%E5%B0%BD%E3%81%AE%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%95%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB#.E9.81.BA.E5.A4.B1.E5.85.B5.E5.99.A8.EF.BC.88.E3.83.AD.E3.82.B9.E3.83.88.E3.82.A6.E3.82.A8.E3.83.9D.E3.83.B3.EF.BC.89)

In Juuou Mujin no Fafnir, Yuu contracts with the oldest Dragon Yggdrasil. This allows him to get blueprints for weapons from an ancient lost civilization. If you look carefully, all of the weapons are names of Mesopotamian myth, especially with Babylon. If you know Babel, it was attributed to the Mesopotamian god Marduk (not Babel, but associated with a similar structure Etemenanki).
So essentially, Marduk is a huge weapon and Babel is its main cannon which stops Leviathan. As nhahtdh pointed out in the comment, Megiddo and Noah are the other cannons. So to complete the whole weapon Marduk, he needs to give up more memories. In essence, you can think of Marduk as a huge battleship and Babel as one of its cannons.
For Tower of Babel allusions: Tower of Babel - Wikipedia

Not sure what you are talking about in this part If you know Babel, it was attributed to the Mesopotamian god Marduk (not Babel, but associated with a similar structure Etemenanki). Babel can refer to Tower of Babel or Babylon city, and I don't know which one you are referring to.

According to Juuou Mujin no Fafnir article on Japanese Wikipedia (I find the Japanese articles on recent anime rather detailed, compared to the equivalent article in English):

Marduk
As the trump card in the fight against Dragon, it's an anti-Dragon weapon used by Mononobe Yuu from time to time. Among the weapon blueprints obtained from Yggdrasil, its main armament is impossible to be reproduced by the current scientific technology [..]  Being technology of previous civilization once existed in the far past, none of those blueprints still remains in the modern time.
Although the original Marduk is huge weapon consists of many types of batteries1, it's not possible to completely materialize the whole weapon with the power of D. However, it can be used in battle by materializing the only the minimal necessary part of the battery.
To date, the batteries featured so far are the special cannon Megiddo (Boundary-Scorching Blue Flame) which annihilated Hecatoncheir, the main cannon Babel (Sky-Blocking Tower) which annihilated Leviathan, the twin gun Noah (Equinox-Lasting Ark) which annihilated Hresvelgr. [...] It's currently not known whether these three cannon makes up the whole of Marduk or not.

1 Meaning a fortified emplacement for heavy guns. Translated from 砲台.
Translated from article version dated 2015-05-03. Some text removed due to conflict with knowledge from other source, or not related to the question being asked.
As stated in the Wikipedia article, Marduk is the name of the whole weapon, which Yuu only materialize parts of during the fights against Dragons. Megiddo, Babel and Noah are the names of the cannons on Marduk.

I tried my best to translate the article, but I'm sure there are mistranslation here and there. I also didn't translate 念式 in 念式連装砲, since I have no idea what it means. Feel free to fix the translation.

So the Marduk is a heavy weapons platform, and Yuu only materalizes its component parts?

@Mindwin: Marduk is like a big weapon consisting of many cannons, as far as what I understand from the Wikipedia article, and Yuu only materialized the cannons so far. Imprfectluck's answer gives a good analogy: a battleship and its cannons.

And by season XXIV it becomes a humongous mecha vs Kaiju anime. Yuu's Marduk mecha is powered by a dark matter reactor with all the D girls inside.


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How much of the normal process of doing alchemy can be circumvented by seeing Truth?
I saw someone on the internet wonder if Ed and Al are capable of doing flame alchemy because they have seen Truth. This bothered me, since this would negate the idea that flame alchemy was difficult to learn and that via destroying Hawkeye's tattoo, it would be possible to avert the existence of another flame alchemist (vol. 14).
Someone suggested that it's possible from an omake where Ed finds Roy's lost gloves, puts them on, and creates an explosion. (Click to see images.)
However, this is an omake so I doubt it can be taken completely seriously, and moreover, Ed does not seem to have any of the technique Roy has honed. Yet at least with flame alchemy, where manipulation of gas concentrations is necessary (vol. 1), technique and precision seem to be crucial. Given this, I would normally expect to be what Ed describes as a "rebound".
Does seeing truth indeed allow alchemists to circumvent the normal learning process, provided that they at least have a rough idea of what materials are involved and the arrays needed, if they are lacking in the specific techniques that would normally be indicated by the ability to use an array? (The latter bit is necessary; otherwise, there's no reason why Ed and Al don't learn for three years how the philosopher's stone is created.)
Of the four alchemists who have seen Truth in FMA, all of them seem to only have gained the ability to perform alchemy without an array, and if I'm not mistaken, we only ever see them perform transmutations that they can be presumed to have already known beforehand. We do see Ed use Scar's deconstruction technique once, but unlike with flame alchemy, there's no question of needing the correct combination of materials or precise "technique" here.
I am looking for answers based on the manga.

The post I was referring to is here. The OP's comments in the post tags hit on my reservations about their conclusion, to some extent, but it still bothers me.

It seems to me that there isn't a single range of knowledge the alchemists who have seen Truth gain. Most get the generic "alchemy without drawing circles" but it appears Roy was different. His gloves have the circle drawn on them but he has knowledge of how to control fire instead.

@Hakase: true, but Roy also gains that: he is reliant on having an array in the final battle and using knowledge he already had except for the moment when he transmutes a wall to protect against Father without an array.

From my understanding, all that seeing Truth does is allow one to create an Alchemy Array with their own body (as opposed to drawing it). it should be noted that in the 2003 Anime1 that even though Ed could have been doing circle free Alchemy from the moment after he and Al tried to being their mother back he still used circles. his first discovery that he didn't need them was when Gracia was giving birth and his second attempt was during the State Alchemist Exams
Mustang knows all the finer details of his alchemy because he had to learn it all from himself just from the Tattoo Riza has on her back which was placed there by her father, and further simplified it to be a smaller circle

Flame Alchemy is the brainchild of the master alchemist Berthold Hawkeye, who had spent several years perfecting it before his death from illness in 1905. Believing it to be the greatest and most powerful form of alchemy possible, Hawkeye refused to pass on the knowledge to Roy, who was his apprentice at the time, and instead entrusted the secrets of his search for knowledge to his young daughter Riza - tattooing the perfected array onto her back as the only physical record of its existence. The full array appears to consist of a circle corralling an inverted hexagram made up of a large air triangle and a large earth triangle, both splitting into identical pairs as they intersect, with a fire triangle at the center, pointing upward toward a flame. Below the hexagram is an image of a salamander. Outside the circle is a pair of entwined basilisks and the text of the "Libera Me" responsory repeated multiple times. After Roy gains Riza's trust and takes the Flame Alchemy knowledge for himself, he modifies the symbol somewhat for his gloves (removing the text and the basilisks in favor of a simplified circle).

Source: Roy Mustang - Flame Alchemy (4th Paragraph)
while the Omake being canon can be questioned, logically Ed could just as well do the exact same with Mustang's gloves as they are a simplified form but he wont have the finer control that Mustang has and will most like just cause very big explosions...or blow himself up.
Outside from using the gloves, Ed would still need to know the kind of Array to use to subconsciously alter his internal array and the procedure needed to utilize it. as for understanding the Array Ed has demonstrated in Lab 5 that he is quite knowledgeable (understanding the one to create the philosophers stone and altering it to be more efficient) which one can assume the ability to understand array's he's never seen before comes from the knowledge he gained from The Gate and Truth (as knowledge on Homunculi would have came from books he already read, after learning about Winry's parents Ed says he read about them in a book), as such looking at Berthold Hawkeye's array he may in fact be able to understand it quicker than Mustang. though at it's current state with the important aspects for it having been destroyed by Riza's request Ed would probably need to study in order to figure out what is needed to complete it

1: Brotherhood skips a lot of Ed's early years but i do remember events from the 2003 anime being the same as the manga (ie, Bald, Nina being chimeratized and killed by Scar, Barry the Chopper) so it stand to reason that up until Yuswel it is more or less the same

Keep in mind that Ed describes the process of being thrown through the gate as something like, "All alchemical knowledge in the world being forced into my mind."

@キルア but it's not all of it, according to the wikia it's proportionate to what they give up as the toll, Ed may have seen everything but what he takes isn't as much as what Al has

That's correct, but my point is simply that I don't think it's shown or told anywhere that the only knowledge they get is how to do alchemy without a circle.

@キルア true, that part is more of an assumption on my part because most  people who see Truth must already know a fair bit before they try Human Transmutation and the only thing i remember that would indicate extra knowledge from The Gate and Truth is Ed understanding of arrays he's never seen before (as explained above the one in Lab 5). i can't remember if Ed says weather he's seen the array before but i do remember Tucker being impressed by Ed's altering of the original array

@Memor-X: for what it's worth, the toll is so symbolic in nature that I'm not sure if it's possible to extrapolate from that. As for the rest, it seems mostly in line with my memory, but I'll see if I come up with anything more substantial.

Pretty much just the formation of a physical array or circle in the preforming of alchemy. For an alchemist unfortunate enough to meet Truth, they can use their body as the circle by placing their hands together, forming a ring from their heart through their arms and back. Otherwise nothing else. Edward and Izumi did seem to imply - during the time they were discussing Al's memory of meeting the truth - that meeting Truth, is literally seeing the "truth" or the knowledge of the entire universe, i.e. the supreme truth or all knowledge. And that depending on the toll paid - body part lost - the violator alchemist sees differing amounts of the "truth". They suggested that because Al paid his entire body he must have seen nearly all of the "truth" or at least far more that his brother or Izumi did. But I don't think they go into that any further or even mention it again. (This is just an opinion but it might even be a dropped plot line or something the author cut out later). But As far as I know the only thing that is bypassed is the need to draw or make a physical circle.


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Was Natsu trying to imitate someone?
Fairy Tail and Yankee-kun to Megane-chan have a cross over titled Fairy Megane, and there's one scene when Natsu wore a glasses from Adachi.

Was he trying to imitate someone? If he did, who was that?

He was probably trying to parody a Yakuza or a gang member. I've read both series and don't remember coming across such a character.

i have edited the question a bit, hopefully this helps now

the bit where Natsu says are you here to get burned wearing the glasses is just imitating a yakuza or a gangster because he is wearing the sunglasses and the glasses symbolizes yakuza or gangsters in a way. if you search up yazuka or gangster in google images, you will find that out of the ones that wear sunglasses, they mostly wear glasses that is the same or similar (big lenses) to the glasses Natsu is wearing in the image.
for example

or here, an anime one

EDIT:
because the other manga was flunk punk rumble, the whole fairy tail guild (in that manga were being punks and acting tough. and yakuza was one of the typical tough guys in that sense.
please excuse my poor English but yeah, hope this helps.