text:
What's significant about a full moon on the fifteenth?
In Joshiraku, Marii enters the room dressed as a Yankee, proclaiming that she's gonna break a load of windows since it's a full moon. Tetora responds with:

What's the significance of the 15th and why would she break a load of windows?

The dialogue here goes:

で、窓硝子はどこだい？
So, where are the windows?
なぜ？
Why do you ask?
壊して回るんだよ。
I'm going to go around breaking them.
魔梨威さん、十五夜と十五の夜は違うから。
Marii, it might be a full moon night, but it's not the fifteenth.

The last quoted line is the one depicted in your screenshot. There's a difficult-to-capture joke in this sequence, which I will nonetheless try to capture below.
Here, 十五夜【じゅうごや】 (character-by-character "fifteen-night") is translated as "full moon night". It literally just means "full moon". This originated as a reference to the lunar calendar, but now is just an ordinary synonym for "full moon".
十五【じゅうご】の夜【よる】 (the same thing with the genitive particle の interposed) is translated as "the fifteenth". A more direct interpretation of this, however, would be "a night at the age of fifteen" (an age when people are prone to "Yankee" antics).1 The joke, then, originates from the fact that 十五の夜 (Juugo no Yoru) is also the name of an 80s song, the debut single of popular singer OZAKI Yutaka, and one that has great affection for the Yankee ideology/ethos. The song's chorus reads:

盗んだバイクで走り出す 行き先も解らぬまま
暗い夜の帳りの中へ
誰にも縛られたくないと 逃げ込んだこの夜に
自由になれた気がした 15の夜

Translated loosely as prose:

Riding the bike I stole, I dash off into the curtains of the dark night, knowing not where I'm headed. I don't want anyone to chain me down as I run off into the night, feeling free at last - the night of the fifteenth.

This is why Tetora's backdrop changes from a full moon (十五夜) to a guy riding a bike when she says 十五の夜.

Alternate possibility (and probably a more likely one): Marii's lines could be a reference to a different Ozaki Yutaka song: 卒業【そつぎょう】 (sotsugyou, "Graduation"; lyrics), which contains the following line:

夜の校舎 窓ガラス壊してまわった
I went around the school building, breaking all the windows.

Note also that Gankyou's line a few seconds later may be related:

つまらない大人にはなりたくないね。
I don't want to become a boring adult.

This is an almost-direct quotation of the penultimate line from the song ガラスのジェネレーション ("Glass Generation"), by SANO Motoharu, on his album "Heart Beat" (lyrics).

つまらない大人には　なりたくない
(same as above, but without the concluding interjectory particle ね)

Notes
For more information about Joshiraku obscurata, see vale's translation notes.
1 This is probably an elision of the construction 十五歳【じゅうごさい】の夜【よる】, and is literary or poetic in nature.

The song name "15の夜" is a rather literary way of saying "a night at 15 (years old)". Also, Marii's lines are probably a reference to Ozaki's song "卒業", in which he sings, "夜の校舎 窓ガラス壊してまわった", and Gankyou's line "つまらない大人にはなりたくない" is more likely a direct quote from Motoharu Sano's 1980 song "ガラスのジェネレーション".

@yibe Wow, thanks for the pointers. I've incorporated them into my answer. You sure know your music!


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Are anime more popular in terms of viewership and revenue than Western cartoons?
I was wondering if anime are more popular than Western cartoons - in terms of viewership and revenue - as I couldn't find any information on this.
I don't think there has been any significantly large survey on this. What about manga vs comics?

More popular in what respect? Viewership numbers? That number will be incredibly hard to compare due to piracy (I believe the piracy rate is much higher with anime, though I could be wrong on this).

I think it is safe to say anime is more popular. Asia's population > than the rest of the world and Anime is heavily part of Asian culture (more so than cartoons to the Western countries).

@krikara I don't think that it's safe to say that at all. Setting aside all the Marvel and DC stuff, kids titles such as Dora the Explorer are ridiculously popular everywhere including Asia where it is dubbed extensively. Then there's Tom & Jerry, Popeye, etc. Furthermore, even in Asia I don't believe the Indian subcontinent (~ 2 billion people) is really an anime market. I would lean towards Western animation myself.

@coleopterist Lots of children's anime air in India (dubbed in either English or Hindi). I've seen Pokemon, Yugioh, Crayon Shin-chan, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Sailor Moon there, and I'm sure there are others. It's not a huge market by any means (and it's definitely not as big as Western animation), but it's there.

No. Up until now Japanese anime have never been in the popular spotlight compared to works for Western animation. Anime can be described as a "pulpy" format, often cheaply made, heavily-formulated, low critical respect and scrutiny. Though what makes anime unique is it's meta-genre. There are a lot of ideas in it's story templates the that are not typically seen or are non-existent in Western media culture.
Animation in the West
A lot of Western animation companies, like Disney for an example, don't just treat their works as a product, but as a brand. The better their brand looks to consumers, the better marketability the company will have with related works and products (they spend a lot on PR, marketing, lawyers, focus groups, etc, to ensure this). There's a lot of oversight involved is western animation, in order to ensure a better quality product, which typically drives up the cost of production. Of course, this all to ensure that their product is a successful as possible, in order to make obscene amounts of cash.
Animation in the East
While there is a ever growing community of anime fans out there, who like anime for one reason or another (e.g., characters vs. story), but few people typically care about the specifics of anime. In anime, the stakeholders are more concerned about the overall final product than any given piece of it, the product hits the main selling points of the formula (e.g., fighting, boobs, robot, X-dere character, harem cast, etc.), it's good to go. With anime there's a general lack of oversight, which typically leads to low expectations of the audience and from them as well. However the pulpy aspect of Anime allows authors a much higher level of freedom as they are free to explored new ideas, as long as they meet the initial criteria of the stakeholders.
On Popular Culture
This pulpiness is the same as what webcomics (modern comic book heroes starred in this pulpy format) and indie games are to us in these modern times. There are tons of these all around, most of it is forgettable, but occasionally there's that polished gem that can really good interesting, funny, charming and/or inventive stuff (e.g. Azumanga Daioh, Serial Experiments Lain, Baccano!). There's a lot of opportunities to fail, learn, and innovate, but at the same time the barriers for entry are lower and turnover is usually higher compared to similar works of western animation.
Viewership and revenue are often a by-product of the popularity of a given brand. Just like really popular mainstream movies or games will always make a profit, no matter how good or bad it might be (e.g., the Call of Duty series, the new Transformers movies). Western animation has built a brand image and following through it's popularity, and in order to sustain it's overwhelming popularity, there's a lot of scrutiny from both the audience and stakeholder to maintain a certain image and status within popular culture. We don't typically see this with anime, so it gives us an idea that anime specifically is not really up there in the mainstream.
Nowadays we see a lot of people on TV and the Internet proclaiming themselves to be "geeks" openly (whether they are or not is another thing), so there's not a whole lot to be said about anime and the otaku subculture. One can say they are a gamer ("I'm a huge gamer") or a TV show/movie ("I'm a big Disney/Pixar/Spongebob/Avatar fan"), but there are very few people come out about anime. This leads us to believe that anime hasn't reach the tipping point where it can be considered acceptable, like the other forms of western animation.

I don't think no one will understand the hypocrisy in this, we talk about animes being comparatively less popular to American cartoons.
There is a very deep reason for that state of liking, this is because most of the viewers are from the western part of the world (except the anime producing country; Japan). In Asia, it doesn't go alike for both adults and kids. So, comparatively the viewership is high enough in most of the western countries.
This makes the judgment not fair and obviously, it goes in the favour of American cartoons even though there is a huge fanship for animes globally. An anime is a must-watch piece of art, people should go for it, but an American cartoon is given to you when you were kids. It's like some hit channels in most of the countries are highly likely to show American cartoons than many of the animes.

Welcome to [anime.se], a Q&A site about anime & manga. This might be a good start for a quality answer, but could you provide some references (e.g. surveys/research) to back up your answer? You can always [edit] your post to improve it. Meanwhile, consider taking a [tour] to understand how this site works, and enjoy~

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Why does "Shin Sekai Yori" portray a homosexual relationship?
In Shin Sekai Yori, there are kiss scenes between two men (Shun and Satoru, I think).
Are that scenes also described in the original novel? Why does it have these scenes since it is unusual for typical anime, and it isn't in the yaoi or shounen ai genres?

Just from reading the novel's wiki page, it seems their relationship is taken straight from the book.

I'm not convinced this is so unusual for typical anime. There are homosexual characters in Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Pokemon, Evangelion, and Yu Yu Hakusho, just to list some classics.

Note: There are homo (no offense intended) scenes for both genders in the anime, not just between boys.

I can think of quite a few anime that aren't yaoi or boys love (or yuri or bara for that matter) where homosexuality is depicted. Inari Kon Kon Koi Iroha, Mai Hime, Lovely Complex, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Fushigi Yuugi, etc. The difference is usually that yaoi and bl focus on the relationship, whereas with these others it's not the main point.

This behavior is straight from the novel and is described by the Minoshiro in episode 4.  The answer will be revealed through the course of the story, but a quick witted watcher and/or reader will have his/her answer at episode 5.

As the Minoshiro explains, necessity dictates that the human society on the brink of destruction must be reformed into a society of love, like the bonobos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo). It is assumed that the grafting of bonobo DNA into the human genome causes certain attributes to be transferred. One of the explained behaviors is the relieving of stress through sexual activities (as observed in episode 5, when captured, Saki and Satoru engage in such activities to reduce their axiety and fear).

Combining this information with real-world information can then be extrapolated as:

One of the other observed behaviors in the bonobo, is the bi-sexual nature, which is present in apes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals#Bonobo_and_other_apes). To form a society of love as the intention was, it can be assumed that the effect is already present in the human genome and may have been strengthened by the DNA grafting. Saki and Maria have a similar relationship.

So, why did they include these scenes?

That's the background of the humans and thus a critical part of the story.

I'm not sure about if the relationship between Satoru and Shun is in the original source material, but an anime/manga does not necessarily have to be a yaoi/shounen ai for it to have a gay couple in it. Yaoi and shonen ai have the relationship at the core of the story, making it a romance anime/manga, while Shinsekai Yori has this relationship in it to supplement the plot, rather than being the focus of the entire story.

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Why didn't/couldn't Kabuto bring Orochimaru back?
Kabuto had Orochimaru's DNA and a sacrifice, so why did he not use the Edo Tensei? Or couldn't he have used Anko, like Sasuke did?

Because Orochimaru was never dead. He was just sealed. Well, maybe "sealed" is not the right term. Every curse mark holds some a part of Orochimaru's chakra. And Sasuke reversed the cursed seal on Anko with the flesh from Kabuto to bring him back -

This is from chapter 593.
PS: Almost same thing happened when Sasuke fought Itachi.

We don't know if the Edo Tensei would work on the living. And is there a reason for Kabuto using this process to bring back his master?

The whole point of Edo Tensei is to bring back the dead. It's a reincarnation jutsu. And I didn't get the second question.

Actually we do know that Edo Tensei does not work on the living. Edo Tensei requires the souls of the one you are reincarnating, which is why people's souls sealed within the death god cannot be revived. Thus we take the extra step to assume you can't Edo Tensei living beings or other Edo Tensei'd people otherwise, this would have already been done to Madara and Tobi.

"Edo Tensei" translated literally stands for "Impure World Reincarnation". Reincarnation by definition means bringing back the soul of a dead person.

@Bibhas Sorry. I meant why didn't Kabuto bring back Orochimaru the same way Sasuke did?

@TAAPSogeking Nothing has been mentioned in the manga. You can guess. Maybe Kabuto didn't figure it out like Sasuke did, that Orochimaru could be revived. Or maybe kabuto didn't want to. Or maybe kabuto didn't know exactly how to do it.

Kabuto had Anko for a reason. He knew Orochimaru was inside her and he wanted to absorb his remaining chakra into himself. This is why he led Anko to the graveyard to ambush.

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What class of Devil Fruit does the Gomu Gomu no Mi come under?
Considering the three types of Devil Fruits that have been explained are:

Paramecia Type - where the user can get superhuman abilities and change their body parts into weapons, etc.
Zoan type - where the user can turn into a particular animal and inherit its abilities
Logia Type - where the user's body inherits a particular element and the body becomes like air which cannot be touched or damaged by non-Haki users.

So what exactly is the type of Gomu Gomu no Mi?
It cannot be Zoan or Logia. It's very close to a Paramecia but still doesn't have a logical explanation to be of Paramecia type. So is it some special type of Devil Fruit?

How do you know that it can't be a logia?  Maybe it's possible for logia to be based off of tangible elements too.

Gomu Gomu? The rubber one? That changes body parts? Also, wasn't it explicitly said several times that it was Paramecia?

Most of the answers on this post have been retconed and made obsolete/invalid. Now, the accepted answer is incorrect too.

From the wiki.

The Gomu Gomu no Mi is a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that enables the user's body to stretch like rubber, making the user a Rubber Human.

You further ask..

It's very close to a Paramecia but still doesn't have a logical explanation to be of Paramecia type!

Again from the wiki.

Paramecia is one of the three Devil Fruit types. These fruits give the users a power that can affect their body, manipulate the environment, or produce substances. In general, Paramecia Devil Fruits are fruits that give their users powers other than transforming into elements, like Logias, or transforming into animals, like Zoans.

I see the classifications as this:

Logia: Turns your body into some sort of energy
Zoan: Transforms you into an animal/legendary thing
Paramecia: THE REST

So is it Logia? NO. Is it Zoan? NO. Then it is a Paramecia.

oh and the wiki says it is a paramecia as iKlsR pointed out so yeah

Spoilers for a twist 1000+ chapters into the series

 First of all, it's not Gomu Gomu no Mi at all. It's actually the Hito Hito no Mi Model:Nika. The World Government has been trying to hide its existence for 800 years, thus they changed its name to Gomu Gomu no Mi, so everybody would think its related to rubber. From this point of view, it is a Paramecia type Devil Fruit.

 If we think about its original name, then it's a mythical Zoan type Devil Fruit.

Luffy is a special Paramecia like Katakuri, or he is a special Logia like Black Beard.
Reasons: for special Paramecia, Luffy is permanently rubber, Katakuri is permanently mochi, they both have abilities uncannily similar to a Logia and a Paramecia. Also, I'm pretty sure it was stated that gomu is a weaker version of mochi. The only reason Luffy won is because Luffy is in his prime and Katakuri isn't, and Luffy was more creative. But if that wasn't stated, gomu might actually be the superior version because he hasn't awakened gomu and still beat Katakuri.
Reasons: for special Logia like Black Beard, because rubber is a natural element but Luffy can't go intangible with it like Black Beard can't with yami, and gomu's awakening might be giving him the intangibility of rubber tree sap.
But also, if it is like that, it could still be a special Paramecia because Katakuri is, but maybe before his awakening, he was like tangible stretchy dough, but who knows.

It is mentioned on other websites then the wiki that it could be considered Logia. One of these examples is that Paramecia types can turn on and off, allowing changes of a person. The Gomu Gomu no Mi is a Devil Fruit which makes one like a rubber, permanently. You can not stop being rubber after congesting it. Meaning, it has traits of a Logia. It also comes along with the benefits that rubber has which is stretching, no blunt damage (without Haki), and no damage from electricity, and you could consider rubber an element.

Gomu Gomu no Mi is confirmed to be Paramecia by the author, discussions on any other forum (or wiki, for that matter) doesn't matter.

then we could say the same about buggy the clown , his ability is always active and can be sliced always then that means, he is logia too? NO still paramecia

It is the exact oposit. Logia can be turned on and off at will while Paramecia bring their own rules. E.g. Alvida can't turn off her Sube Sube no Mi either but Blackbeard can be fully human but (unlike every other Logia) not fully darkness.

At this point everyone knows that luffy actually has a human human devil fruit like chopper. The mythical type is that of someone who had a rubber body; much like chopper will always revert to his default mix between reindeer and human; not his original reindeer form. Meaning that no matter how much sea prism stone luffy is subjected to he will always retained the rubber quality(this is counter to Logia types). As we have seen during the Nami arc when they stretched his head out of the water (seriously how strong are his lung to get oxygen from such a small straw?), but we see the mochi fruit revert once water is applied.
I kind of wonder that if Garp didn’t train him to an extreme level that he would have transformed much sooner; like Marcos with the phoenix. Maybe garp even knew about the fake name and tried to mislead him the whole time?
I digress don quixote had a paramecia type because he could make strings out of anything and could produce an exact clone with strings but in the end all his strings could do to his own body was to hold his organs together while he healed. Could he have left his consciousness in one of his string clones? Maybe but he wouldn’t have conqueror's if he would dilute his ruler’s linage (I wonder if he had more of a scientific mind he could have connected his strings to strings to the fabric of the universe: string theory. He could have controlled reality itself).
Katakuri’s mochi powers are logia because his whole body turns is into mochi and doesn’t experience damage unless sea prism or Haki is applied. This is the first time we get to see a logia cover their ability in Haki.
The idea that mochi doesn’t come from nature is so dumb. It’s 100 percent a natural substance just like tree gum. We wouldn’t have in-organic rubbers if these things where never found in nature.

Luffy is a special paramecia that is half logia, half paramecia. The only reason that he is classified paramecia is due to one fact, rubber isn't a natural element.


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Which one of "Crows", "Crows Zero" and "Worst" takes place first?
I only watched Crows Zero and Crows Zero 2 (both are live-action) and I found there are the related manga Crows and Worst.
I want to know which of these manga takes place first, and what the chronological order of these three is.

As far as story progression goes (in chronological order), it is Crows Zero, Crows, Worst.
However, Crows was the first series that was published (1990-1998) and then Worst was the second to be published (2001-2013). Crows Zero began after Worst (2008-).
There are also other manga series too:

Crows Gaiden (1995-1998)
Sono Go no Crows (2001)
Crows Zero 2 (2012-)

Each different series follows a different set of characters.
Keep in mind that Crows and Worst are the main stories. The other series are all series based on the side characters of the main story.

The chronological order would be:

Crows Zero
Crows Zero 2
Crows (manga)
Crows Gaiden

Welcome to [anime.se]. How about Worst? And could you explain a little bit why Gaiden follows Crows chronologically?


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What does it mean by a manga series being licensed, how does it affect online readers, and how can I continue reading it?
A while back I was reading Bleach on an online reader and I finished the chapter I was on. When I came back to read the next chapter, it said

The series Bleach has been licensed, it is not available in [site name].

What does it mean by "licensed", and is there a way for a broke person like me to read the rest of Bleach? (Unfortunately, the library does not buy new ones anymore.)

This question appears to be off-topic because it is a request for illegal and licensed materials. Please consult the Help Center to learn what questions are on-topic on this site.

@MadaraUchiha, I've edited the question a little to make it sound less like "where do I illegally get manga", and more like a general question about the licensing terms.

@SingerOfTheFall: Accepted. I'm reopening the question. (Though next time, feel free to cast a reopen vote, and even flag if you feel necessary, those are the correct courses of actions =] )

The Bleach manga is being published in Weekly Shōnen Jump, which belongs to Shueisha Inc. - a major Japanese publisher.
In the case of MangaFox, Shueisha requested the removal of Bleach, Naruto and One Piece from the site (you can read more here), so I would assume something similar had happened to it as well. For the reference, the holder of the rights to publish Bleach in the USA belongs to Viz Media, which has also requested the removal of the series from some of the websites before.

Thank you for explaining that to me. I guess now I have to persuade one of the librarians to try and buy the new volumes. Sigh


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Why did Nano explode?
I was recommended My Ordinary Life by a friend and have watched the first episode.  Needless to say, I was confused and amazed.
Towards the beginning of the first episode, Nano trips into a guy and results in a rather large explosion.
I have a feeling trying to apply logic to this show is likely impossible, but is there any reason for the explosion?  Was it from tripping, the cherry blossom, or possibly the sandal falling off?
Note: I've only seen the first episode so far so (if there even are any) please refrain from spoilers.

Watch more episodes.  The context, if there is any to be had, will be revealed over time.

Nichijou's characters frequently have over-the-top reactions, this is just another one of those.
Here's a clip from later on that demonstrates my point (out of many) - http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UD95EI3zD8A (no plot spoilers, but don't watch it you want to watch everything chronologically)
Nano's explosion was a purely a manifestation of her fretting and embarrassment, She wasn't actually hurt too badly and appears uninjured in the next scene.

Dogs are evil :P

I think I'm gonna start watching the show thanks to all this.

It's amazing, you should :)

I can guess what happen by David's comment since I already watch this anime but since the video is blocked, care to explain what happen in that video?

@Darjeeling If I remember correctly, a dog bites Yuko's hand and her screams become a giant laser that blasts into space.


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Why the popularity of German?
Second to English, German seems to be the most popular foreign language in anime. You see it in titles, names, and even quite a few characters are of German descent.
For example, many characters in Shingeki no Kyojin appear to be German/have German names and there are a lot of German references. Elfen Lied is also German (translates to "elf/elvish song").
Is there a reason for this?

Don't forget the Quincy and Bount in Bleach.

My feeling is that Chinese is probably more common than German, at least in certain genres. However, this can be hard to distinguish as traditional Chinese and older forms of Japanese are really quite close.

Also Asuka from Evangelion.

Also, the Harlock family from Arcadia of my Youth.

Historically speaking, Germany and Japan have been on friendly terms since the 1930s (and even before), due to their shared militaristic ambitions just prior to the second world war (which led to their Axis Alliance).

After the Second World War, the economies of both nations experienced rapid recoveries; bilateral relations, now focused on economic issues, were soon re-established. Today, Japan and Germany are, respectively, the third and fourth largest economies in the world, and benefit greatly from many kinds of political, cultural, scientific and economic cooperation.

As a result, there is a lot of cross-cultural sharing, which is why you see a lot of German outside of just anime as well (for example, the Japanese word for part-time job (アルバイト) is based off the German word for work (arbeit).

Yet this seems to be a rather one-sided relationship (at least the cultural part), since there are IMHO very few (if any) Japanese influences in modern German culture (apart from the things exported to everywhere, like Mangas/Animes and stuff).

I dunno, apparently Europe's largest "Japantown" is in Germany, which probably means something

On a more serious note, you only need to borrow words from other languages if you don't already have the words in your own language (pre-existing or already borrowed from a different language), and Germany being surrounded by the rest of Europe probably had their vocabulary fairly well covered

While WWII is the best known part of Japan's history to non-Japanese people, I suspect that looking at the Meiji era would be the best bet in terms of understanding the cultural influences of western countries on Japan.

as i'm living in Duesseldorf/Germany, i can confirm, that Duesseldorf has the biggest japanese community outside Japan

From the perspective of someone from Japan, I suppose there are some reasons.
First, the saturation of English names. Because there are quite a lot of anime/manga contents in Japan, it is really hard to find a new nice English name for a new character. One handy solutions is to pick a German name.
Second, the ease of pronunciation. Because Japanese language has only 5 vowels: "あいうえお", some European names are a bit hard to hear and/or pronounce for Japanese-speakers, though most German names are not really hard to pronounce.
Finally, Japanese just love Germany. They (we) have learned many things  like constitutions, medicals and chemicals from Germany. They also love German products like BMW automobiles, artificial hearts, etc. and believe Germans are hard-working, honest and industrious. (Personally, I also rely on German middle-wares).
I guess past military relationships between Germany and Japan don't make Japanese love Germany, because Japanese regret WW2 and grieve what happened in Europe. Years ago, a Japanese comedian said black jokes which affirm the Axis on TV (of course, he was just joking). After that, he was heavily criticized and had to apologize in public.
Anyways today's era is wonderful because we all can talk about anime and manga here, isn't it. See you. ;)

A relation of Dyson products to Germany is new to me. Wikipedia says it's a British company. Vorwerk comes to my mind, but I don't know much about both companies.

Thank you for comments. As you say Dyson seems to be a British company. (Sorry, my bad.) I'm going to fix it.

This may supports your theory that an old affection for German ideas exists in Japan.
As a lawyer, I can add that the Japanese civil law is based on German law to a significant extent. During the late 19th century, Japanese officials planned to westernize. As a result, they established a strong scholarly exchange between the universities of Japan and Western Europe. After the first attempt to adopt a French inspired system in 1893, Japan enacted a civil code in 1898 in the German fashion. Just imagine, they voluntarily dropped core aspects of their legal tradition. This does not happen often in world history! I guess they were totally fascinated by German system... and probably by a lot of other things, too.

From a German POV:
Shortly after the opening to Japan in 1853, the Norddeutsche Bund, a group of several Northern German countries (including Luxembourg) that was the pre-organisation of the late German Empire tried to make friendship treaties with Japan like other Western states. Japan said no because the confederation was quite weak. They made a treaty with Prussia though and started to have a scientific exchange with it.
Seeing the Prussia and the German states fight in several wars and at the end becoming united made them think of the new Germany Empire as a militarily strong country and so, when they went to Europe and America to learn, they also went to Berlin. The university system, school system, a lot of teaching books for medicine and other sciences, the constitution in the year 1889 and, of course, the military was inspired by the Prusso-German system and advised by German-Jewish advisors.
In WW1, Germany and Japan fought on different sides because Germany tried to gain power in China. There were German war prisoners in Japan, but they were treated relatively well, which lead to some of them staying in Japan even after they were officially released (because in Germany, there was a financial crisis and a very political insecure situation at that time.)
Then WW2 came and they became friends again, and since then, Germany and Japan were more-or-less friends. A lot of German cities have Japanese partner cities, and since both countries had to build up their country, society, and economy again, there was a lot of economical exchange in the following decades. :)
I think it also has something to do with the mentality of the countries; both have a strong working ethos, a relatively strict social system that builds on politeness and certain aloofness. I suppose that these similarities paired with the exoticness of being Caucasian make the stereotypical German interesting and cool for the Japanese that write the manga. Not to forget that our language is just really badass and beautiful and awesome. ;)

German used to be the lingua franca among scholars in Japan, just like Latin has been in Europe.
So when you want to give things a scholarly vibe in the West, you use Latin and when you want to do this in Japan you use German.
But unlike with Latin, there's actually still people around that actually speak German, so you can have German characters in a modern settings without having to use time travel.

This is gonna require a citation on it.  I've never heard mention of anything to do with German dialect as a means of scholarly exercise in Japan.

@Makoto I think calling German Lingua Franca is going too far, but it was popular especially among medical students. Cf. Wikipedia 戦前の日本の教育では英語に次ぐ重要な外国語として見なされ(snip).

I have a German source in print called "Tokyo" by Otto Mann from 1982. I'd have to read it again to find the exact line, though.

In the old days Germany had al lot of fancy elite schools for the rich. This is might be the reason behind all of those rich school elite anime with Germans in them. In general I can only speak for myself and some other Germans. We love Japanese culture and this might also be the case for some Japanese Manga autors
this might be helpful
one of many sources


text:
Why do people tend to say the Kara no Kyoukai anime "does not exist"?
It's clear from the anime that it exists. Some of the characters from the main series are there. As close as I can tell, it's just a side series.
So why do hardcore Type-Moon fans say with resolve that Kara no Kyoukai is not a Type-Moon anime or that it does not exist to them?

Are you sure you aren't thinking of Tsukihime? I've never heard this about KnK

Possibly, I know that my friend and I were discussing it on G+ a while back. I could be wrong?

Maybe. It's the Tsukihime anime that is deemed to not exist, due to how it cuts out a lot of the best parts of the source material. Also, manfaces.

@MarkM just want to add that the Tsukihime Anime follows closely to the Arcuied Route, it does cut out a couple of parts but it's more faithful to the route than the Fate/Stay Night Anime following the Fate Route, people just say that the Tsukihime Anime doesn't exists because it's not considered cannon

Related, since this question was seemingly based on a false premise: Why is it said that the Tsukihime anime “does not exist”?. Googling about this, I didn't find any articles/reviews/forums/debates that mention this.

Kara no Kyoukai, like other Type-Moon series exist in as part of the same multi-verse. While not in  the same universe as Fate or Tsukihime, they exist as an alternate universe, like Fate/Extra and Fate/kaleid liner. The characters could in theory meet one another... if the circumstances are deemed right.
Canaan, however is not part of the this multiverse.

Why is Canaan related?

It's not... It's a Type Moon created work, but not a Nasuverse work.

Fate/Extra is where characters from Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night and Kara no Kyoukai all appear. So it's not so much a theory, it happened already. The whole backstory from Fate/Extra also suggests that all three are part of the same exact universe. Not sure why some people insist on calling it a multiverse and getting all defensive about this.

Believe it or not, it's actually as you assume. For an example Crimson Moon can't exist in the EXTRA-verse, so the events in Tsukihime cannot happen. Arcueid and Ryougi are just guest cameos in the character manifested inside the virtual world that is Moon Cell. They are not actually canon to the EXTRAverse. The Nasuverse is very convoluted, not unlike the Marvel multiverse.

Even if marginally, there is a case to be made that the Fate universe and Kara no Kyoukai's are the same. In Fate's Heaven's Feel path, Shiro is restored through Third Sorcery by binding his soul to a body "left by a famous puppet maker" who "was marked to be sealed [by the Mages Association] and ran away." The anime briefly shows Touko leaving the antique store where Rin and Sakura buy Shiro's new body (1:55).

I think you got the series wrong.
It isn't Kara no Kyoukai, but the Tsukihime anime that gets that treatment. It is a meme among type-moon fans.
The anime called Shingetsutan Tsukihime was a really bad adaptation of its source material, the type moon visual novel of Tsukihime.
The fans were unhappy with the adaptation. So they started acting like the anime doesn't exist. That's the origin of the meme.


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What is the in-universe reason for the name "Fairy Tail"?
In Fairy Tail, the guild is named "Fairy Tail". While there does seem to be a range of ethnicities within the names (Natsu vs. Lucy), it just seems like an odd misspelling of "fairy tale", which is a very specific thing that seems to be totally unrelated to the guild itself.
What is the in-universe reason given for that being the name of the guild, if there is a reason given?

From Makarov's history based on Wikia:

The guild was named 'Fairy Tail' as the eternal mystery behind whether fairies had tails or not, or if they even existed, was like an eternal adventure.

So I guess the guild's (Fairy Tail's) purpose is to have a great adventure as if they are solving the mysteries about fairies.

The guild's first master Mavis loved the idea of fairies and often wondered if they had tails. This is mentioned in Fairy Tail Zero.

Adding on to what other people that say about "Fairy Tail" means "endless adventures and mysteries", I also believe Mavis also meant the name was based of on Zera.
In Fairy Tail Zero, Mavis started to form a guild at the place (Magnolia) where Zera's dad and the Red Lizards guild have all been executed. Mavis wanted to help the village to fulfill Zera's dream, by starting a new guild with a name related to her. There was a scene where Mavis pointed out about Zera's hair looking like two tails and that Zera said that fairies would always be in Mavis' heart and where did Zera go? Right back into her heart, referring Zera as the fairy with tails.
Now that you might have thought about it, Zera might actually been the fairy Mavis has always been looking for.

My personal theory is that it represents Mavis's search for the faeries with Zera.
In one scene of Fairy Tail Zero, Zera and Mavis are talking, and Mavis points out that Zera's hair looks like tails. To also explain another idea about the faeries, when Zera "disappeared" and they hugged in the pond, it looked like there's a little ball of light -- a fairy. And when Zera disappeared and Mavis was crying, it looked like Zera turned into a group of faeries. When Warrod, Yuri, and Precht heard her voice, it looked like a faerie was flying past them.


text:
Is it common for a writer to write for more than one demographic?
CLAMP writes for more than one demographic of manga--Cardcaptor Sakura is shoujo while Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle is shounen and xxxHolic is seinen.
Masashi Kishimoto, the author of Naruto, however, has only written for Weekly Shōnen Jump, implying that he has only written shounen.
Is it common for writers/writing groups to do what CLAMP does and write for more than one demographic or is it more common for them to do what Masashi Kishimoto does?

It is common for an author to experiment with different genres, art, and media. But at the same time, it's also common that the same author uses different names for different demographics.
You should distinguish between the writer and the pen name he/she uses, and between individual authors and groups. CLAMP is a collective and they're changing its components periodically. On the other hand, Masashi Kishimoto is an individual author (that it doesn't mean that he hasn't any assistant).
Pseudonyms are common in this industry where we can have an individual author Sumomo Yumeka writing yaoi with this name, seinen manga using the pseudonym Mizu Sahara, and writing shoujo manga as Sahara Keita. Any pen name is clearly associated with a single demographic in this case, but the author herself actually write for different demographics. It is the same with Ken Akamatsu (shounen) aka Awa Mizuno (hentai doujinshi), so it seems that where publishing constraints are very different, authors can use a pen name to differentiate their works.
Collectives and circles like CLAMP seems to explore different genres/demographics more freely with the same name, probably because the authority is shared among the members and the collective nature of the name is clear to readers.

Assuming the mangaka is still licensed when their last work is finished, they would want to stay with the same magazine. If this magazine has a specific demographic (i.e, Shōnen Jump or LaLa), then their work would stay the same demographic.
So, more often than not, they stay the same demographic.

I'm not sure since I don't know much about this field, but I feel like "licensed" might be the incorrect word - maybe "contracted"?

@antlantiza I'm don't think there is much of a difference, but I mainly hear the 'licensed' in regards to intellectual work such as: "He licensed me to make a slogan for his new product." Where as 'contracted' seems more physical, as in, "I got contracted to install his new cabinet." This might be solely opinion based, though.

Ah, I was thinking of licensed like a driver's license - the government allows you to draw manga.


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Do the bodies Orochimaru inhabits change to look like him?
Orochimaru takes on host bodies to maintain eternal youth. At least one of the bodies that he has taken on looks similar to him. The eyes, in particular, are very similar to his, as well as the skin tone.
Do the host bodies change to be more similar to his body?
Original body:

Host body

After researching in some wikis in spanish
Orochimaru, Spanish Naruto Wikia
It is said that Orochimaru changes the host body to look similar to his original body. However he can't change the height of the new host.


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Truth behind the Stand Alone Complex—a copy of a copy?
After a while from watching GITS: S.A.C. 2nd GIG and according to the Stand Alone Complex as defined under different terms by the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard in the idea of the Stand Alone Complex is a copy of an original copy:

Simulation, Baudrillard claims, is the current stage of the simulacrum: all is composed of references with no referents, a hyperreality. Progressing historically from the Renaissance, in which the dominant simulacrum was in the form of the counterfeit—mostly people or objects appearing to stand for a real referent (for instance, royalty, nobility, holiness, etc.) that does not exist, in other words, in the spirit of pretense, in dissimulating others that a person or a thing does not really "have it"—to the Industrial Revolution, in which the dominant simulacrum is the product, the series, which can be propagated on an endless production line; and finally to current times, in which the dominant simulacrum is the model, which by its nature already stands for endless reproducibility, and is itself already reproduced.

Does this not make the concept of the Stand Alone Complex its own copy of a previous work?

wat...........?

I edited it to make a bit more sense @ShotgunNinja -- Leaving out my personal notes which did not really belong in there.

@Neko_Kun are you asking for about references the second order of simulacra in from the series?

Yes, maybe there are a few that I missed.

In the anime, it was stated that the Stand Alone Complex is the spawning of copies without an original. The concept was borrowed from Baudrillard and you can in fact argue that the popularity of Ghost in the Shell is overshadowing his work, and this would be an example of second-order simulacra.


text:
Are there any foreign seiyuu that have been credited for anime work?
In many anime, characters that are supposed to be foreign (particularly English or American), it's clear that the seiyuu are Japanese because of the heavy accents. For example, Chris from Itazura na Kiss is supposed to be English, but her English has a thick accent and comes about as naturally as Naoki's (who is a native Japanese character).
But sometimes the English appears to be natural, such as in the opening scene for Eden of the East, where both the security guards outside the White House and the policy officer who questions Akira, seem to have no accent at all. Unfortunately, I was not able to find out if these were voiced by actual English speakers or just very skilled Japanese seiyuu because they were very small roles.
Do anime production teams hire native English (or other languages) speakers?

Anime production teams tend to hire native speakers of other languages to voice non-Japanese characters.
To use your example of Eden of the East. there are a number of English-language voice actors who are used for when it is set in America. For example, David Whitaker played the black man in the apartment in episode 1. Policeman A was played by Gregory Pekar, who has actually appeared in other Japanese movies/shows such as Hana Yori Dango, as well as American movies such as Lost in Translation.
These seem to generally appear in small roles and/or roles where they only speak English, such as the policeman.

But don't forget that TK from Angel Beats (not a main character but also not just a background character who said one line in one episode) was played by Michael Rivas.

Ah. I haven't seen Angel Beats.


text:
Overlaps between Paradise Kiss & Nana?
At the end of some of the chapters of Nana, some characters from Ai Yazawa's other manga Paradise Kiss show up at 'Junko's Place' (the bonus section) and chat with some of the Nana cast.
Is there a similar section in Paradise Kiss? Are there any further overlaps between the two series?

In episode 6 of paradise kiss at 14:50 I think nana made an appearance

Paradise Kiss is actually set in the same universe as Gokinjo Monogatari, another work by Ai Yazawa. There are bonus sections in Paradise Kiss, but from what I can tell (at least from the first bonus section on chapter 10), it shares characters from Gokinjo Monogatari instead. According to Wikia, Paradise Kiss is actually the sequel to Gokinjo Monogatari.
Paradise Kiss and Nana were published by different companies, so it is likely that they are not allowed to have much cross-over between the two. As far as I can tell, there is no other cross-over between Paradise Kiss and Nana. The only example I can find of a possible cross-over (other than in the bonus sections), is from a random forum where a person mentions that a dress donated in Paradise Kiss is bought in Nana, but that hasn't been substantiated.


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Why do only people from the Uzumaki Clan get chosen as the Jinchuuriki for the Nine-Tails?
Up until now, only people from the Uzumaki clan were shown to host the Nine-Tails:

Mito Uzumaki
Kushina Uzumaki
Naruto Uzumaki

were all shown as the Jinchuuriki for the Nine-Tails.
Why can't people from other clans be hosts of the Nine-Tails?

Can you provide a reference to this? That people from other clans can't contain the nine tails within them?

All 3 jinchuriki's of nine tails are from Uzumaki clan.

Mito Uzumaki
Kushina Uzumaki
Naruto Uzumaki

Sure. That doesn't mean that people of other clans cannot contain it. Where have you seen that claims so?

I haven't seen any claims. But from what i saw, i am asking.

My point is that it is a bit of a jump from "so far, only people from the Uzumaki clan have been known to be the nine tails jinchuriki" to "only people from the Uzumaki clan can be the nine tails jinchuriki". That's why I am asking you to substantiate that with a source.

i am sure there are more than 3 generations of jinchuriki.

We all tend to forget that Minato Namikaze is a jinchuriki himself. Remember half of the kyubi is sealed in him. The first Namikaze clan member to become a jinchuruki.

The answer pretty much lies on the skills and abilities of the Uzumaki Clan.
1st: Members of this clan were very knowledgeable in the art of fūinjutsu, and were both respected, and feared worldwide because of their prodigious skill. Fūinjutsu are a type of jutsu that seal objects, living beings, chakra, along with a wide variety of other things within another object. Fūinjutsu can also be used to unseal objects either from within something or someone.
2nd: The Uzumaki Clan lives in Uzushiogakure. The people of Uzushiogakure were noted to have notoriously long lives, so it gained the epithet "The Village of Longevity". The clan's life force was the reason Kushina survived the extraction of her tailed beast, despite additionally just giving birth only moments before, though she was left severely weakened.
These two (as far as I know) are the reasons why they are a chosen to be jinchuriki.
And another thing, if you analyze the situation, as the parent or member of certain clan that possesses a Kyubi, it is more likely for them to give the Kyubi as an inheritance for the next generation (Ex: Kushina to Naruto: given also the fact that they have the required skill to do that)
Sources:

Uzumaki Clan
Uzushiogakure

The death reaper seal that was used to seal the nine tailed beast in Naruto was taught to Minato by Kushina

Yes. that's why Minato was chosen to marry Kushina because she was the jinchuriki. Of course, given his ability and theoretically the 'level of trust'. I know it's off topic but I think the attitude (Will of Fire) of Minato towards Konoha is undoubtedly unmatched.=D

Weren't the Uzumaki chosen to be the Nine tails Jinchuriki because of their special chakra i.e. the chains that both Kushina and Karin have been shown to use. Kushina used them to help Naruto win the tug of war with Kurama and Karin in the 4th Great Ninja War although I do not recall the exact situation.

As explained by Motoi in Chapter 493, Jinchuriki are usually chosen among the spouses, siblings or close relatives of the Kage (and not just in Konoha). This reduces the danger of the Jinchuriki betraying the village, and also serves to protect the Kage and display the Kage's power.
Mito and Kushina were primarily chosen because they were the wives of the First and Fourth Hokage respectively. Them belonging to the Uzumaki clan was also a factor in choosing them over others, for reasons well explained by Christian Mark in another answer. Naruto becoming the Jinchuriki was not pre-planned, it was a decision the Fourth Hokage took during the battle against Kyuubi.

If i remember correctely, Kushina was brought to Konoha so that she could be the jinchuriki, later she also mentioned that she was asked to marry Minato because she was the jinchuriki. So, Kushina was not choosen as the jinchuriki because she was the wife of Minato, rather it is the other way round. She was married to Minato because she was the jinchuriki.

I stand corrected regarding Kushina, she was indeed chosen due to belonging to the Uzumaki clan. However, she married Minato because they fell in love after Minato rescued her from the kidnappers or whoever they were, not because she was chosen to be the jinchuriki. I will edit the answer later on.

The Uzumaki Clan are the ONLY clan capable to holding down the Kyuubi No Kitsune because they have the proper techniques to bind the beast. The Uzumaki are best in fuinjutsu so their chakra and techniques are best when it comes to holding him down. Not only that, others would die becoming the Jinchuuriki.

Thats what the question is. Why!?

@MärmîkŠhâh he pretty much answers that question right ? They are the only ones that can make a seal that can hold him. And their bodys seems to accepted this weakend state of the 9 tails.

The reason only Uzumaki, is because the members of the Uzumaki Clan, such as Kushina, have a stronger life force and a longer lifespan, an example is that Mito Uzumaki survived since Konoha's Creation to the time of the Third Hokage.
It also explains why Kushina didn't die as soon as the Kyuubi was set free, due to this fact, Only Uzumaki were chosen to become the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki.
All Uzumaki have a great amount of Chakra reserves, and Additionally, have a large amount of experience in sealing techniques.

Because it was first put into an Uzumaki and it has been passed on from generation. It was first sealed into Mito Uzumaki, then Kushina Uzumaki, and during the Nine-Tails attack, Minato sealed the yang-half of the Nine-Tails into Naruto while sealing the yin-half in himself.
So right now, Minato and Naruto are both Jinchuriki's of the Nine-Tails and that also means that Minato is the only non-Uzumaki member with the Nine-Tails inside him since his last name is Namikaze.

The reason is none of the above.
Mito wasn't chosen to be a host. She sealed the nine tails in herself of her own accord when it was freed from Madara's control. This is the reason that she, an Uzumaki, was the first Jin of the 9 tails.
Kushina was chosen because even among the Uzumaki clan, her chakra was said to be special and unique.
In Naruto's case, Minato chose his son so that he could be a hero, also selfishly, so that he and Kushina could see him when it's needed.
Only one Uzumaki was ever chosen and that was Kushina.


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What is the text before the OP in Date a Live episode 9 talking about?
Before the openings in Date A Live, the narrator reads some epic-sounding text which is somewhat related to the content of the episode. In most cases it's been easy to understand, but the text from episode 9 is ambiguous. Here's the translation from Funimation's stream of the episode, this dialogue starts at 1:30:

"It" is something all things are given.
"It" can not be bought.
People often waste "it,"
hold "it" dear,
and chase after "it."
What... is "it"?

What is this "it" that she is talking about, and what does it have to do with the plot of the series?

Respect? Makes sense :P

I am not very confident about my Japanese to argue about the correctness of the translation. However, it is quite clear from the context of the episode that the riddle is referring to Time, and Time fits quite well to the first 3 lines of the riddle (where there is no confusion in translation).
This is the episode where the ability of Tokisaki Kurumi (時崎 狂三), the third Spirit, is revealed.

 And as shown in episode 9, Kurumi has the ability to manipulate time. She can summon herself from different time axes, and this is the reason why she can cheat death as shown in episode 8 to 10. Episode 9 and episode 10 display her angel's abilities: rewind time on an object, temporarily freeze time on an object, and instant movement. However, every time she uses the angel's ability, it consumes a bit of her life (time) as indicated by the clock face on her left eye. Therefore, it is necessary for her to consume time from other sources to refill hers, as explained in episode 9.

I'm not exactly a fan of that translation either, but I used it because it's the official one. It seems to take some liberties in the fourth and fifth lines. I do think this answer is probably correct, but I'll leave this open for a little while in case anyone else has a different hypothesis.

it's obviously  "life"
& it's related to the episode since AST members doesn't care to waste their own life to take the life out of spirits.

Hi @Origamiisbestgirl, welcome to Anime & Manga SE. As it stands, your answer reads more like a comment. Please [edit] it to support your answer with additional information. To know more about how our Q&A site works, please take the short [tour]. You can also read 'How do I write a good answer?' for some tips and guidelines.


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How can Enel reach the moon?
On the mini-series in Manga, Enel goes to the moon. It's a side story titled Enel's Great Space Operations. How can he reach the moon?

He goes to space where there is no air, how can he breathe?
It's a really long distance, the distance between earth and moon is 384,400 km (238,900 miles). And considering that One Piece takes place in the sixteenth century, the average speed of a ship at that time was less than 10 knot (18.52 kph/11.5 mph), it will take more than 2 years to reach the moon with a ship like that.
Can't he just use his power to reach the moon? (I don't know if lightning can go through space or not, maybe Kizaru can do it better?)

The problem I see is that you are using the logic of our history versus logic of One Piece.
In the 16th century, they did not have ships that could travel in the air nor in space for that matter.

According to the Wikia - Enel,

His mini-series suggests he does not need to breathe and can survive outside of the atmosphere. However, his electricity-based powers have no effect on certain substances such as rubber, making Luffy a formidable enemy, as he is immune to Enel's powers.

You're using the logic of our history vs One Piece. The ship they used was the Ark Maxim which is a flying ship, stuff that we did not have in the 16th century. Also, Enel used his electricity powers to power the ship itself so it's possible to say that the ship could possibly reach very high speeds in space, there's nothing to slow down the ship. All they would need is a powerful thrust force to move in space, which can most likely be done using the chemical vats on the ship.
As the Wikia - Ark Maxim states,

The Maxim is capable of flight, even in space. Enel's electrical energy is her main power supply, while two hundred Jet Dials are used as a backup power supply to keep the ark in the air for an hour if something were to happen to the Ark's mechanism. Enel used the gold from the Shandora ruins as a conductor for his electricity.

The Wikia states this about the vats

Enel can use Maxim to create massive lightning storms via a combination of chemical vats that produce storms clouds and his own lightning abilities. One of these thunderbolts is enough to burn down an entire village, and Enel can create a giant thundercloud that can destroy an entire island.

I don't believe he can reach the moon just by his own power, wouldn't that imply that he could fly or teleport with his lightning powers. He does use his powers as previously stated only to fly the Ark Maxim to the moon though.

First, I'm using our history because I have no idea how fast that ship is. And from what I saw on anime, that ship is slow. So if I want to estimate its speed, I compared Maxim with our history ship's speed. And second, on manga he can suddenly standing beside Sanji and attacked him, so I assumed he can move at the speed of lightning, why can't he move toward moon it self? Maybe there is a limit power or something?

Shinobu that's because the example your giving is moving on land... That's like saying the because he's super fast, the Flash, can run to the moon... I don't ever remember seeing him being capable of flight.

Ok, I think lightning can't goes up and I never see him flying either, thanks for clearing that up

Oh another thing to mention is that Enel can perhaps create a large thrust force using the chemical vats on the ship.  Though it's only speculation.. the wikia states "Enel can use Maxim to create massive lightning storms via a combination of chemical vats that produce storms clouds and his own lightning abilities."

maybe you can add it on your answer, also it will be better if you can give us a link on a wiki from your answer, because I still can't find it on wiki you mentioned above

It's the one piece wikia

We never see the ship running at its full speed as Enel was trying to get the golden bell or wanted the extra gold before leaving Skypiea. Therefore, we don't know its true speed, he also designed the ship showing a high level of intellect.

It has been theorized that the moon is within the planet's atmosphere. I believe I heard it from a YouTuber and don't know if it is plausible. It would have many problems with physics and such, but considering it is a manga and they got to the moon with balloons, it goes against logic either way.

I wanted to leave it as a comment but it said I couldn’t.

Most answers will be vague and without source. It is a topic surrounded by many theories and very little proof. Between Enel flying to the moon, to being able to breathe, to the existence of space pirates, Enels returning to the planet, the straw hats going to the moon, the skypians and the two other winged races coming from the moon, to being able to get there by balloon and probably more.

If there's no official answer, there's no problem with answers being a theory as long as it is backed up by some explanations and references. In fact, your "comment" can be considered a valid answer now ;)

The breath dials. They blow out air enough to keep it in the air on earth for a whole hour, that's a tremendous amount of force with which one can propel themselves in space where there are minimal drag forces, allowing for that force to make the ship go very very fast.
Considering how un-aerodynamic it is and how much metal is likely in it (almost an entire city of gold's worth), it would likely have around as much or more force than our spaceflights use to blast off into space. Also, considering that's a whole hour of constant use, it's quite possible it's more "fuel" that our spaceships have, thus allowing for the actual speed issue to be resolved.
As for the why he can't use lightning, lightning cannot travel through the vacuum of space due to a lack of any "medium" with which to flow through, like Enel does through the air, metal, or otherwise, since to varying degrees, they allow for a flow of electrons. However, it is difficult to expect electrons to flow through, what is to my knowledge, emptiness.
Assuming Enel isn't an exception in the no-air, no-food, etc. and that he intended to bring people with him, there must have either been a legitimate reason for not only him but also even him intending to bring Nami into space. Otherwise, it is just "plot armor" and they just don't want real-world logic to apply for some stuff.

as for how the 4 little android things got up there.... must be plot armor. fairly sure they only used little balloons, which would pop before reaching outer space, let alone have a way of getting to the moon any time soon.


text:
Why is Steins;Gate in the Beta Attractor Field?
As stated in the Wiki, the Steins;Gate world line is in

 the Beta attractor field. In the Beta attractor field, the final convergent point is World War 3.

However, they prevent

 WW3 by making sure the thesis will be destroyed.

The question is, if Steins Gate is in

 the Beta attractor field, wouldn't it lead to WW3? If WW3 doesn't happen, shouldn't Steins;Gate be in another attractor field?

The Steins;Gate World Line is not in the Beta Attractor Field.
While the final result of the Beta Attractor Field (World Lines 1% to 1.99%) convergence is WW3 which is fought over Makise Kurisu's time travel thesis, Steins;Gate (1.048596%) is the only exception because the thesis is destroyed (and thus time travel doesn't exist in that World Line).
At the beginning of the final chapter of the VN and episode 23 of the anime, Suzuha herself had told Okabe that the Steins;Gate World Line is not bounded by any attractor field.

It isn't in the Beta Attractor Field. It's being separated from any attractor field (maybe has its own, since there are few world lines too close to the Steins Gate and repeating its events, for example, 1.048599, the alternate story of Robotics;Notes from manga Legacy Revival, or the "R" line from the movie).
According to the official documentation for the world lines in Amadeus' Script, released after Steins;Gate 0, 1.048596 is in "Steins Gate" section. An interesting thing, that there is 1.049326 world line, which belongs to mysterious X Attractor Field.
Source: Imgur gallery of translated official documentation to all Steins;Gate VNs

If possible, cite relevant sources in your answer.

@W. Are here you are: https://m.imgur.com/gallery/R9MXNod

You can edit and include it in your answer and cite as to where it was found (chapter/volume/episode etc.). I'm not familiar with the terms used so I might change the meaning of your post :)

Although the Steins;Gate world line has a divergence number 1.048596, the Steins;Gate world line is between the 2 attractor fields - the alpha and the beta.
This allows it to not converge to either of the converging points of the alpha and beta attractor fields, in this case, Mayuri dying/SERN dystopia or WW3, and therefore the Steins;Gate world line can have a different future than either of them, i.e, a peaceful one.

They used thread as an example for world lines, all are slightly different.
Attractor Field Example:
http://steins-gate.wikia.com/wiki/Attractor_Field
But when thread frays and unravels strands can get separated, thus creating a divergent would line.


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Why do people's names change in Tower of God?
In Tower of God, people's names changed from one chapter to the next.
Example:

Jahad to Zahard
Lahel to Rachel

Why is that?

@user112825 My knowledge of Korean is... not much... but it looks like those are just differing romanizations for the same Korean word. Why do they differ from chapter to chapter? Probably different translators for each chapter (and/or the translators are forgetful, lazy, or incompetent).

Jahad to Zahard was understandable for me. Lahel to Rachel lost me for a moment though. In Kenichi, when they changed Ba (Sougetsu) to Ma (Sougetsu), I became a really confused into angry person.

Name changes could be for a few different reasons. Most of the time, however, the English spelling differs because two different translators just decide to spell it differently.
In Korean, there is no Z sound. There is only a J sound, so words with the J sound like Jahad might be translated into Zahard depending on the translator's interpretation. As for the additional R in the name, that is really up for interpretation as well because English soft A sounds can be spelled like that. In this case, Zahard and Jahad will produce the same sound in Korean despite the English spelling differences. The spelling difference was only due to translator interpretations.
As for the Lahel to Rachel, this is a somewhat different case. Lahel is actually how the name sounds phonetically (pronounced lie-yell). Rachel is the English conversion of the name. It is like how the name Steven is Etienne in French. Lahel in Korean translates to Rachel in English.


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What's the deal with Roronoa Zoro's eye after the timeskip?
I'm up to date in the One Piece anime but not in the manga, is there any information about Zoro's closed eye? Can't he open it because of his scar there, or maybe he is hiding his real power withholding his one eye closed? How did he get his scar? Maybe in a final training fight with Mihawk?
Is there any information about his scar on his eye?

Still, nothing has been revealed if Zoro has some special power in his eye due to which he's keeping it closed. All that's been shown till now is that the scar has greatly injured his eye due to which he cannot open it. The wiki says the same thing:

During and after the two-year timeskip, Zoro gains a new scar running down over his left eye, which is now implied to be critically injured as it is always closed.

Yet, Eichiiro sensei hasn't really revealed all of the Strawhat Crew's power, so we can't say anything. So for now, we have only this much information about his eye. Nothing has been shown on how he got it.

Yeah, wikis aren't always reliable.
But in my opinion the scar does not seem to run as deep to (anime-logically) wound the eye.
So until now we haven't gt the slightest idea what the author is hiding and yes, i also speculate it is a way of limiting his power and skills.

I assume that the scar was created by a sword. Swordsmen have swords which are just too sharp, so even a minute scratch could damage the eye!

where was it mentioned that the scar ' has greatly injured his eye due to which he cannot open it.'? as it haven't been mentioned anywhere in manga or anime wiki cannot be relied upon.

I totally missed that! Do you know which chapter or volume it belongs to?

The fact that Eiichiro hasnt revealed much it does mean the reason it's somewhat of importance!

@SK19 if you're referring to the screenshot of the manga panel, it's fake, a fanmade one

Gathering the info I could collect with my observation so far in One Piece anime:
Most of the famous swordsmen  have injuries on their eyes.
Ex: Admiral Ishou, Dark King Silver Rayleigh,
Perhaps It looks like it's considered as an ability of Swordsman to sense the things/people around. Zoro always thrived to learn this technique and succeeded too.
On the otherhand it looks like it's (Kenbunshoku Haki) considered an ultimate ability of swordsman to fight without using Sight sense. So losing sight might be A KEY to AWAKEN ultimate Swordsman powers.
Zoro might have intentionally cut his left eye to awake this ability.
Or he might be still training with his left eye closed. Might open when time comes.
But like other OP fans, I wish to see something special out this.

Admiral Ishou confirmed that he cut his own eyes, because he didn't want to see all evil out there though. It wasn't related to being a swordsman.

@PeterRaeves, I remember his statement but that could be one of the reasons for cutting his eyes.

Zoro hasn't shown a MASSIVE change in power after the time skip, at least not as much a Sanji, so he might have something powerful he is gonna use from his eye but it's most likely just a scar from training!


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Did something change for the final episode of Hana Yori Dango?
When watching the Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers) anime, it seemed like there was a distinctly different art style for the final episode (#51). Not remarkably different, but noticeable enough that it made me wonder if something had changed for the last episode... different direction, artists, etc.
Was anything ever said about the production of the series that indicated that something happened near the end that could have caused some kind of shakeup?

I can't answer your question with certainty. No, there doesn't seem to be anything off about writing, production, or art direction in the last episode:

The last 3 episodes were all written by the same person, 影山由美 (Yumi Kageyama).  影山由美 was in charge of series organization/composition and wrote more episodes than anyone else.
The producer, 山吉康夫, also produced episodes 3, 9, 15, 20, 26, 32, 37, 42, 46, and of course 51.
Art direction was performed by 馬越嘉彦 (Yoshihiko Umakoshi), who was actually in charge of character design for the whole show. He also provided art direction for episodes 1, 16, 25, 32, 43, and of course 51.

This is all from the Wikipedia page on the anime, which lists all the details by episode: 花より男子 アニメ TVシリーズ
Personal speculation:
I've seen the whole anime, have read the manga all the way through a couple of times, and watched two of the live actions (Japanese and Korean), I was really into Hana Yori Dango back in the day. I felt like the end of the anime was unexpected/unforeseen and that they just rushed an ending together.  The show did a pretty good job of following the manga ... right until those last few episodes/last episode.  My guess is they were told,

were cutting the show, end it.

so they did and things didn't turn out quite the same as usual.
According to HMV Online, the average rating for the TV show was 9.9%, max was 12.1%. I don't know much about TV ratings, but the Japanese TV Drama was never lower than 17% in season 1 and 19% in season 2 (same Wikipedia page).  To me, this looks like a cut due to ratings.

Well, same producer and art director as multiple previous episodes pretty much says it all, I think.  I'm marking this accepted unless some new unlikely evidence comes in.  For what it's worth, I'm with you...was very much into the series and then it felt like it drove off a cliff at the end...everything seemed to have been resolved very oddly and hastily...additionally episode 50 looked almost like it could be the ending, and then everyone was told "come back! people hate that ending, we have to make it happier!"  ありがとうございました


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Why did Kuroshitsuji II use new characters and plot?
The second anime of Kuroshitsuji, Kuroshitsuji II, featured brand new characters including main characters Alois Trancy and Claude Faustus. The main characters of the original series, Ciel Phantomhive and Sebastian Michaelis, are still involved in the main plot, but the show isn't exactly focused on them.
Alois and Claude don't seem to appear in the Kuroshitsuji manga.
Is there any official discussion of why the second season of the anime created completely new main characters and a completely new plot?

This is how Toboso explained the matter in her journal:

When the second season was announced on January 31st last winter, she received tremendous numbers of messages from the fans. The majority of the messages were criticisms against the absence of Ciel and Sebastian from the second season. "How dare you desert the fans, who have been waiting for the two?" "If you don't have affections for your characters, you don't deserve to be the author!" She and the producers had expected the bitter reactions because they intensionally hid Ciel and Sebastian from the announcement. In the first season, director Shinohara chose to bring the revenge of Ciel to an end and Toboso had approved it. The overwhelming enthusiasm of the fans had given the green light to the second season after that. Toboso asked the producers not to reset the finale of the first season. To meet two conflicting conditions: "We must not revive Ciel easily" versus "We want to show the two once again", she had been vigorously working on the scenario for half a year with other staff. In conclusion, they had created a new rival pair, Alois and Claude. With an intension of showing them "big" and dominant, Alois and Claude were placed in the main of the key illustrations and the trailer and Sakurai Takahiro and Mizuki Nana were assigned to them. Toboso said that the aim of the tricky announcement will be understood if you watch the series to the end.

Read more at http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=243708#FkjdSTxGYWPL8y1l.99


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Which animation style is used in Kingdom?
I've been watching Kingdom and Kingdom: Season 2 for a while now and I can't help but be a bit distracted by how differently it is animated compared to most anime these days.
Which animation style is used to achieve this more 3D-like feeling? And why did they pick this over the usual animation style?

The series uses CGI, notably a combination of 3d objects with 2d illustrations (more so in the Second season then in the first). This has been common practice in the industry for a while (both to improve quality and save on labor). Most production use cel shaders or rotoscoping the model to mask the disconnect between the two dimensions.
A notable examples with less distinctions in recent anime are Berserker from Fate/Zero:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7OYPb3fTP0
and the new Code Geass series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOYerOT_Wpc#t=48


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Do I have to watch Naruto before Naruto Shippuden?
I recently started watching Naruto (I'm only 51 episodes in), and I was wondering if I had to watch Naruto before watching Shippuden. Ninja-themed anime isn't really my favorite, but Shippuden really appealed to me for some reason, and so I started watching Naruto because it seemed natural to watch before Shippuden.
However, I have seen a few of the Naruto movies, and I've seen clips from Shippuden, and it seems like I could just skip Naruto and watch Shippuden because of the many flashbacks that they use.
I might just watch Naruto before Shippuden anyway, but I was just curious. Do I have to watch Naruto before Naruto Shippuden?

You don't really have to watch the first part of Naruto before the Shippuden part, but I strongly recommend you to watch it.
There are several reasons of why you should watch the first part (or at least read the manga):
- Character development:
You will start by following the characters since their first days in the academy, and you will start to watch them grow every episode, you will know their life, their personalities, love some, and hate some, you will understand them and how they feel toward each other, and witness every single piece of event that made them arrive to what they are in the Shipudden part.
- Grow in strength:
Starting by the first Naruto part will make you start by seeing the beginners ninja techniques, you will start by seeing that creating a clone is a huge achievement ! And after long episodes and long days of training/fighting, you will start to see the development of each ones techniques and feel the value of it even if it's still small, and that's the most important part in every anime: character development, precisely for this part: the growth in strength (physical and mental). By starting with Shippuden you will start already by large techniques, strong characters, big fights.. and that's not that cool as a start.
- The Story:
Of course if you skip a part of the anime, you will skip a part of the story, precisely the childhood of the famous characters (and it was the fun part of the story, since Shippuden is a part of war).
There are several other points that you can miss by skipping the first part, but as I said first, it's not that you can't watch Shippuden directly, it's that it's better for you to grow with the characters since their first days.
There are many people who wish to lose their Naruto-memory so they can watch it again, you still didn't watch it ! don't waste this chance : )

And the evolution of Sasuke's Sharingan, Naruto and the Kyuubi, Team 7 and so much more.

@rps, I think in Shippuden.

after Sasuke's and Naruto's fight the rest of the first part of Naruto seems to be just filler, there's probably only 3 arcs which from what i've seen have any sort of relevance to Shippuden, the arc with the girl who becomes a mermaid who is one of Orochimaru's experiments where we find out what happened between Anko and Orochimaru, the arc where Naruto joins Hinata's team to find that bug and the final Arc where Gara is targeted by those Weapon Hunters, though i've only seen just up the 3 Tails so i've no idea how much more the filler relates


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Is "Bakabon" written in English and translated to Japanese?
The The Genius Bakabon has jokes like (after Bakabon is mistaken for a bear by a nearsighted hunter)

Don't make that mistake again- I couldn't bear it.
  気をつけてくれないクマっちゃうな～～～と

And many many other puns, which I doubt work in Japanese.
There is also an entire plotline where if he makes a pun then his boss won't fire him- e.g. After an overly long lunch Bakabon says

Don't wring my neck we'll iron this out. (It's a laundry)
  ま　ま！　せんたく屋さん　しぼらないで　みずにながしっちょだい！

Plus,

I wish you could forgive me.

And when sprayed by the boss's wife's perfume

Whoa! you mist!

Is Bakabon written in English and translated to Japanese?

The first dialog seems to be a pun of 困っちゃう (komacchau, get into a trouble) with koma replaced with kuma (bear).

It's really not uncommon for anime which appear in English to have puns "translated" from Japanese.
One example that comes to mind is Persona (ペルソナ Perusona), which, when translated to English, ended up with the pun "Bear-sona!" said by the character Teddie (yes, like teddy bear), whose original Japanese name was Kuma (literally "bear" in Japanese), clearly not having such a pun.
Another rather complex example is this tongue twister, which is a very complex pun in both Japanese and English, using completely different bodies of text.
The studios which produced Tensai Bakabon were TMS Entertainment and Pierrot, both of which are rooted in Japan and produced the anime in Japanese. The original manga was written by Fujio Akatsuka (a native Japanese) and published in various Japanese shounen magazines by Kodansha and Shogakukan, both Japanese publishers.

This book- Genius Bakabon has no marking as far I can see of either of those studio. Only written by Fujio Akatsuka, translated by Zufelt and home page kodansha-intl.

@user2617804 The studios I listed are for the anime version. The manga was written by Fujio Akatsuka (who I think lived his entire life in Japan), and published by Kodansha and Shogakukan (both of which are Japanese).


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Who exactly is Benjamin Anderson in the Kill la Kill soundtrack?
I was listening to the Kill la Kill soundtrack which is amazing but I'm scratching my head over this particular artist who contributes vocals, Benjamin Anderson. I tried googling/wiki'ing and I found this Wikipedia article - But I don't think it's the same person...? There doesn't seem to be any mention of Kill la Kill on his website.
I would love to find out exactly who it is, just to be sure. I thought the vocals were amazing and would like to see if this person had any previous work?

Believe he only had a small role in kill la kill, only the suck my blood song. And all he did was some vocal text parts in between.

@Dimitrimx But he also did the vocals for "I want to know" and was credited for it. It's really nice.

Then as off now those are his only works within anime. He does have a some other songs. But hey, you already know that. As those are listed on the wiki ^^

@Dimitrimx You mean the url I posted...? I can't tell if it's the same guy though. The OST isn't listed on there.

Its the same guy. Wikipedia gets filled in by the community. And no community member has edited his profile since: 16:33, 13 November 2013 JustAGal. So in the end, you pretty much answered your own question. With your own question.

@Dimitrimx How do you know that the Benjamin Anderson in the Wikipedia article is the same one that sung for KLK?

@senshin. Go listen to some of his works. You will hear. Thats how i confirmed it

@Dimitrimx Sure, that works. If you've listened to some of the works by the Benjamin Anderson on Wikipedia and determined that they sound similar enough to the Benjamin Anderson on the KLK soundtrack to claim that they're the same person, that'd make for a fine answer.

The Wikipedia article you linked to is NOT the same Benjamin Anderson who worked on the Kill la Kill soundtrack. They were born in different countries, in different years, and have absolutely nothing else in common.
The correct Benjamin Anderson was born in London, UK and currently resides in Japan.

Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.anderson.121
Fandalism profile: http://fandalism.com/benefactor
ReverbNation profile: http://www.reverbnation.com/musician/benjaminanderson

As it mentions on his profile, he is the singer and songwriter for CODE.

CODE Blog: http://www.reverbnation.com/page_object/page_object_blogs/artist_2894523

December 11, 2013 entry:

Recently Easy T (Jun Tatami) and I (Benjamin Anderson under the moniker 'mpi' have been writing lyrics and providing vocals for tracks on the Kill La Kill original soundtrack CD being released on christmas day this year! The tracks are 'Suck your blood' and 'I want to know'. Check them out on release! 最近僕 (Benjamin Anderson)とEasy T (Jun Tatatmi)はキルラキルのアニメのサウンドトラックCDの為にボーカルと歌詞を作ってあげた。 Suck your bloodとI want to knowは ２５日１２月２０１３年　リリース！ 我々の仮名はmpiです！ 皆さんチェックして楽しんで下さい！ 宜しくお願いします！

Keep in mind that they did not contribute any music, only lyrics and vocals.
You also asked about other vocal work he's done, so here are pages for his main band, CODE:

CODE Homepage: http://code2010est.jimdo.com
CODE @ReverbNation: http://www.reverbnation.com/odeinc

And here are his personal pages at other sites, using various aliases:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/barracudacocacola/videos
ReverbNation: http://www.reverbnation.com/steviebarracuda
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/dj-phoney

He also did keyboards for a group called "Split Works" in 2006:
http://www.discogs.com/Split-Works-Wide-Open/release/4735590
Additionally, you can find all the comments he's made on YouTube videos here:
https://plus.google.com/104914344750776651199/posts
In Kill la Kill, he was the singer for "I want to know", and he provided vocals for "Suck your blood" along with Jun Tatami. The comments shown in the above link make it clear which vocals are his: the segment of "Suck your blood" which played during episode 10 (starting at 21:37) was entirely sung by Jun Tatami.

On a side note, I should point out that "Jun Tatami" (the bassist and backup vocalist for CODE) is not the name listed on the credits as the second vocalist for "Suck your blood". Instead, the infamously anonymous vocalist "mpi" was listed.
Taking that into consideration, and comparing Jun Tatami's voice to mpi's, it's clear that they're the same person.
This is the vocalist for "Call your name" and "The Reluctant Heroes" from Attack on Titan, and "friends" and "Hill Of Sorrow" from Guilty Crown.

I hope that's enough information for you to be able to keep enjoying the vocals of Benjamin Anderson. His YouTube channel in particular seems to have quite a lot of music on it.


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How much is Guyver Manga Video Collection worth?
I'm trying to locate this series on the internet to put a price tag on them. I am pretty sure I have the full series of The Guyver animated manga episodes on VHS.
I'm not expecting to be sitting on a gold mine but I was wondering if this series is rare to find on VHS in mint condition especially the full series together. Here is a couple of pictures of the series. If anyone knows more about this series I would love to know because I hope to sell them on.
To point the question to a definitive answer, I'm really wanting to know the value of these videos.

I’m voting to close this question because monetary appreciation questions are off-topic. The price can fluctuate based on its demand & supply and also time.

Here's an eBay auction that is selling the entire series on VHS with the items listed as "Good" condition. Description:

Good: An item that has been used but is good condition. May have minor damage to jewel case or item cover, including scuffs, cracks, or scratches. The cover art and liner notes are included for a CD. VHS or DVD box is included. Video game instructions are included. No skipping on the CD or DVD, when played. No fuzzy or snowy frames on VHS tape, when played.

It's currently listed with a starting bid of £27.00.
Here's another eBay auction selling the entire set that's listed as "Like New", with this description:

Like New: An item that looks like it has just been taken out of its shrink wrap. No visible wear, and the item is flawless and intact.

It's currently listed with a starting bid of £25.00
There's a couple of other sellers selling an incomplete set for around $31 or £18.44 so it seems the going price is around the $40 to $45 USD range. Single VHS episodes seem to be asking for more than the entire collection (per VHS tape).

Although on that auction i can see that none of them have the full collection (all 12)

@NathanTaylor hmm, based on the picture in the second auction, it looks like they have all 12 (just not in order).

Ah right you are... thats not very much for a very collectable item I guess I'll be best off finding someone whos really interested in them


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How can Nami's punches hurt Luffy so much?
In One Piece anime, there are many instances where Nami has beaten Luffy to a horrible state,

Episode #
Screenshot

Episode 215

Episode 316

Episode 572

and maybe many more.
How is she able to do it? Does she know how to use Haki?

Here's another answer, also on SBS

D: Blows shouldn't hurt Luffy, so why does he get bruises and swelling when Nami and the others beat the crap out of him?! Tell me!!! P.N. Zororin Love
O: When the crew beats up on each other, it's always in admonishment with a strong sense of purpose, which is why it works so well!! It works on his spirit!! I bet Nami is thinking, "It's his spirit that hurts deep down!!" ...right? I guess not.

So Nami and others didn't punch Luffy physically, but they hurt his spirit, and with doing so, his body also get hurts

right? I guess not.

I think Oda doesn't really want to give any logical answer here

It's most likely some kind of "Fist of Love" like when Luffy's crew met Garp for the first time. Garp suddenly punch Luffy, and he's not using Haki, base on this SBS question

D: In Volume 45 when Garp punched Luffy, why did it work? Was it Haki after all? Or was it "Love"? P.N. Mori-san
O: It is "Love" in this case.

then how would you explain this incident in episode 158 when Luffy was beaten by Sanji on Skypiea for requesting a different gondola?

I give another answer here, I think both reason are the same, and Love Punch basically also hurt Luffy's spirit, but since it's only my opinion I leave it to you to choose what's the best answer

@AbhilashK the point is, none of them know how to use haki at that time, maybe some of them gain haki power after timeskip but before that, not even luffy has it. (luffy had it but he can't control it)

It's a combination of cartoonish silliness and the fact that Luffy's really not defending against them.

sources to back this up....

In manga chapter 1058, we can see Nami is using Conqueror Haki while punishing Luffy.

I think that Luffy's Devil Fruit is full of imagination. Whatever he imagines, he can do it, because the Sun God Nika DF's ability is the most ridiculous power in One Piece.
So, what I am telling is that if Luffy wants to imagine that Garp and Nami's fist hurts, so it hurts Luffy. And in the next panel in chapter 1058, Luffy imagines Nami using Conqueror Haki, so that's why she can even use Conqueror Haki even though Jimbei mentioned that's a king's Haki.


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How can there be two separate bodies with the same souls?
In chapter 671 of Naruto, "Naruto and the Sage of Six Paths...!!", The Sage of Six paths told Naruto that he was the reincarnation of Ashura and Sasuke was the reincarnation of Indra. But then, he also mentioned that the previous reincarnations were Hashirama and Madara.
Because Indra's soul is inside Sasuke, and now that Madara is alive, whose soul does he have? Is there something that I've missed?

From what I understand, Indra and Ashura were transmigrated into Madara and Hashirama respectively during their lifetime. After both Madara and Hashirama died, their souls/chakra started looking for other hosts. We can say so because of what the Sage said,

Now that Indra's transmigration is over...

Now that the new hosts are Sasuke and Naruto respectively, Indra need not be present in Madara (since he has come back to life). Madara had already attained the chakra of The Sage of the Six Paths before he died, and since he was brought back to life using the Edo Tensei, he retained the chakra of The Sage of the Six Paths.

Also from the other things that were said in the chapter,

It is safe to consider that the souls of Indra and Ashura were not controlling the host, rather used it as a container and helping the host. So we can say that both the souls of the host and Indra/Ashura existed in the same body. After the death of the host, the soul/chakra of Indra/Ashura moved on to find another host.
Now that Madara is back to life, he has his own soul in him and lacks the soul of Indra as that is present within Sasuke.
So basically, Madara's soul is his own.

Yes, it isn't their "soul" which is reincarnated, it's their chakra.
As for how it splits between the two, it wasn't stated (and I doubt it will). Madara's current power is the power of the Sage of Six Paths, not Indra's or Ashura's alone.

It says in the anime, that Madara, having stolen the first Hokage's cells, and gaining both chakras, he's more like The Sage of Six Paths than the two sons.


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Why does Ace's tattoo on his right arm say "ASCE"?

Why does Ace's right arm have "ASCE" written with the "S" crossed over?

It's obviously a reference to Sabo that had died. We have seen a crossed S twice in the series. Once on the letter Sabo wrote to his brothers at departure and once on Sabo's jolly roger. The bones could be seen as the cross over the S, although tbh I find that last one unlikely as Ace never saw Sabo's jolly roger. He never knew what it looked like.

http://anime.answers.wikia.com/wiki/Why_is_Ace's_tattoo_spelt_ASCE

It's Sabo's Jolly Roger.

Ace had another tattoo on his upper left bicep that spells "ASCE" vertically. The "S" crossed out is a tribute to Sabo as that's his jolly roger.

(Source: Portgas D. Ace on One Piece Wiki)

It could also be a reference to the letter Ace and Luffy got from Sabo when he sailed out. Sabo himself signed it with "Sabo" and then a cross over a capital S, saying he is out of the "ASL"-crew. While we can all agree that it is tribute to Sabo, I don't see why Ace would specifically refer to Sabo's jolly roger as he never actually saw that flag. So he wouldn't have been able to know what Sabo's flagged had looked like. https://i.sstatic.net/Dhl6e.jpg

The "A" stands for "Ace"
The "S (with a cross over it)" stands for "Sabo"
The "C" stands for "Crybaby" A.K.A Luffy
The "E" stands for "Edward Newgate" A.K.A. "Whitebeard"

Dressrosa Arc spoiler:

The reason for the cross over the "S" is because "Sabo" was thought to be dead by everyone.

Any canon sources to back this up?

I haven't heard of this being an acronym before. AFAIK it's just his name with Sabo's jolly roger added.

"C stands for crybaby?" I'm curious, where did you read that?

This cannot possibly be true because Ace had the tattoo before he met boarded Whitebeard's ship, as seen in the anime, episode 461

The S is a tribute to Sabo. For a cover, once Oda drew Ace, Sabo, and Luffy in their late teens, if the ship incident had never happened, and Ace's tattoo read ACE.

I'm answering this because, while the other answers are compelling, I don't see any sources being used here definitively connecting the tattoo with the answer. My answer is basically the same as the others: The crossed out S is a reference to Sabo.
Ace has a conversation with Thatch that confirms the S is a reference to Sabo. From the second volume of the light novel Ace's Story, chapter 5, page 155:

"By the way, Ace... what's with that joke of a tattoo you've got?"
[...]
"The X through the S is the symbol of my late brother. That's all."

This seems to indicate that there is an X through the S because it is Sabo's symbol, rather than because Sabo died. Though the reason Ace has the symbol is because Sabo died, as a little homage (Rowan and Kenneth's answers showcase where the symbol is used in a couple of places, and their answers are correct, so check them out). This seems to be confirmed on the what-if cover image of Chapter 596, where Sabo is still alive and Ace does not have the S (as Qiri mentions in their answer, and as is mentioned on the wiki). See below:

Ace has the S crossed out because it is a tribute to Sabo.


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What's up with this Araragi and Nadeko scene in Tsubasa Cat, Part 1 (episode 11)?
In episode 11 of Bakemonogatari (Tsubasa Cat, Part 1), after exchanging Kanbaru's washed swimsuit, making some Nobita jokes and talking about Shinobu, Araragi suddenly tries to, from the looks of it, touch Nadeko's hair, but she steps back a bit just enough to stay out of his reach.

After trying that a few more times, things end up with Araragi lifting Nadeko's skirt, while she just looks moderately surprised. The overall mood of this scene is confusing more than anything.

Then this frame is shown, possibly hinting on the answer to this awkward situation.

(click for full resolution)
I don't understand this scene. Can someone explain what's going on through both of their minds?

Koyomi's thought processes are elucidated upon in the light novel.1
The events of this scene are ordered slightly differently in the light novel versus the anime. What happens in the light novel is that immediately after Nadeko hands Kanbaru's swimsuit to Koyomi (08:09 on the BD), their conversation comes to a halt. Then, the events you're talking about occur. It would probably be more instructive to just see the ensuing text rather than have me describe it.2 Keep in mind that Koyomi is the narrator here. Editorial inclusions in square brackets.

I reached my hand out to touch Sengoku's bangs.
"...oh?" [Koyomi]
I missed.
My hand swept through the air. Sengoku quickly moved her head to the side, dodging my hand. So then, you know, I reached for her bangs again, but she took a step away from me, thus evading my follow-on.
"W...what?" [Nadeko]
"Uh, well..." [Koyomi]
Does it really bother you that much?
Her movements were surprisingly quick - nothing like what you'd expect from a quiet girl like her. You'd think that the bangs would interfere with her vision when they fell in front of her eyes, but she didn't seem to care.
"Hm." [Koyomi]
Well, let's try this.
I quickly extended my other hand and lightly lifted the hem of her dress. Given the way she reacted to me trying to touch her bangs, I was expecting her to respond like a little girl whose skirt had been flipped. Hence that little experiment.
But Sengoku didn't react to that at all. She looked at me a little curiously and tilted her head to one side.
It struck me yesterday, too, but....
She's way too innocent for a middle schooler.
She's worried about all the wrong things.3

My best interpretation of what's going on here is that Koyomi is just messing with Nadeko, trying to get a rise out of her. At first, he goes for her bangs, and Nadeko recoils. Koyomi decides to take it one step further and lifts the hem of her dress, expecting a bigger reaction out of her - but she doesn't seem to care. From Koyomi's point of view, this is all backwards - why would she be more bothered by someone touching her hair than by someone lifting her skirt? Hence his comment at the end of this bit - she's worried about all the wrong things.
It will probably be helpful to also look at this from Nadeko's point of view, particularly in light of Otorimonogatari. As we learn, Nadeko really hates it when people touch her bangs - she's very self-conscious about her hair, hence that hat she often wears. The skirt-lifting, though, probably doesn't bother her, seeing as the person doing the lifting is Koyomi - and by this point, she's long since fallen in love with Koyomi.

1 Bakemonogatari chapter 5 [book 2], section 002. (i.e. 化物語（下） 第五話（つばさキャット） ００２)
2 Translation my own; any falsities in it are my fault.
3 This is, I think, a better rendering of the line that appears on the sign in your last image.