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What is the significance of the title "Ro-Kyu-Bu!"?
In Ro-Kyu-Bu!, high school student Subaru begins teaching an elementary school girls' basketball team.

However, I can't seem to find any relationship between the syllables ro (ろ), kyu (きゅ), and bu (ぶ) with anything basketball- or coaching-related.
What is the origin of the name Ro-Kyu-Bu, and what does it mean?

Translated from the Japanese Wikipedia article for Ro-Kyu-Bu:

The title comes from "roukyuu" (籠球, the Japanese name for basketball)
  combined with "kyuubu" (休部, Japanese for a club whose activities have
  been suspended).

The Wikipedia article cites a Dengeki interview with Aoyama Sag, the original light novel's author. I've translated the relevant question below, with explanation in parentheses:

Dengeki: I wanted to ask about the title. Shigusawa-sensei (author of
  Kino no Tabi) wrote in a review, "Is it OK to just combine roukyuu and
  kyuubu?" But is this even a correct interpretation (of the title)?
Aoyama-sensei: It's just as Shigusawa-sensei said. He is 100% correct.

Just wondering, but in Japanese, do they refer to basketball club as 籠球部?　Nvm, I just recall that they usually call it バスケ部

@nhahtdh It could go either way. For a lot of sports, Japanese has a loan word (basuke or basuketto booru) as well as a Japanese word (roukyuu). For baseball there is beisubooru and yakyuu. I'm not fluent, but I'm under the impression that if you started a basketball club in Japan, you could use either word that you want and that would set precedent for that specific club's name. You can read some more info about these words at http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/6924/

The answer you linked to seems to only address half the question (why yakyuu is used to call baseball), but not why the others are usually referred to with loanwords. I do see the native (?) words for football (Shuukyuu shoujo) and tennis here and there, but when referring to a club, I don't remember seeing the native word. Again, I might be wrong, though. (Your point about use either word that you want also makes sense - since there is both Photobu and Shashinbu in Photokano)

@nhahtdh Googling 野球部 renders a good amount of results (both sites and images) for baseball clubs. Tbh this might be due to limited exposure (to both Japanese and sports) but the sport I've seen most often in its Japanese form is baseball.

When I do a search on Google, Japan does use 籠球部 to refer to basketball club, but バスケ部 is more common form (5 mil vs. ~700 k results)

@nhahtdh Please check out http://meta.japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/522/ - the numbers Google gives are not usable for showing which is more common

Thanks. In the case above, I guess it is not that convincing to use Google's result. But I'd say the estimate is still usable when the different is of 100 times or above.

@nhahtdh It is OK to use this method to see if a phrase/word is common, but you can't compare the totals to see which way is more popular because the numbers are extremely inaccurate.


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What happened to the rest of the Academy class?
In Naruto, when the academy classes are shown in the beginning, there are characters who appear who do not appear as genin later, as far as I can tell. The two characters in the second row on the right don't seem to show up later. What happens to these characters? Naruto is presented as one of the only characters to repeatedly fail, so are these characters who passed and then just never showed up again, or do they drop out of becoming ninjas?

Students graduating from the academy are given an additional test by their Jonin sensei. Kakashi mentioned during the bell test that only about 33% students pass this test, and those who fail are sent back to the Academy.

Among the other students in Naruto's class, some may have taken up a different profession after failing the Jonin test a few times, while others may have passed the test and taken up work as genins. Konoha does get a lot of genin mission requests, not just the plot relevant ones involving main characters.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Is Kamineko a jerk?
In the last episode of the anime, Sakaki apologizes to it for trying to pet it all the time without taking its feelings into account. After that dialogue, it walks up to Sakaki and seemingly allows her to move her hand toward its head as though to pet it, but suddenly then bites her without any warning.
It also gathered a small horde of cats in order to attack Sakaki and Chiyo, but that ploy was foiled by Maya, Sakaki's pet Iriomote Mountain Cat.
Is Kamineko really a jerk and a bully, or is there some deeper reason behind its biting?

Kamineko, 「噛み猫」 translates roughly as "Biting Cat", or "Evil Cat".
As far as I can tell, the only real role for Kamineko is the running gag, so I'm pretty sure he's just a jerk.
Perhaps he can sense Sakaki's allegies to cats and that's somehow a trigger, seeing as he seems to single her out from the other girls to bite.

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


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What was the first anime series to use digital production?
What was the first anime series to use digital production? How many years passed between the first use and the complete conversion to digital?
According to this interview to Toshihiko Arisako by ANN [04:42] Toei first used digital animation in 1998 for the fourth GeGeGe no Kikaro series, and "2000 was the year that most of our productions were produced digitally". Is this time frame valid for other studios or Toei was a precursor?

I can't find a source off-hand, but around 2000-2001, Fujifilms stopped making the cells that all the animation studios used and other manufacturers didn't have the same quality, so many studios switched to digital animation.

According to this:

In the 1990s, the Japanese began incorporating computers into the animation process. Some works such as Ghost in the Shell and Princess Mononoke mixed cel animation with computer-generated images. Towards the late 1990s, companies had began shifting towards drawing cels digitally instead of with paint. Fuji Films to boldly announce the halt of cel production for the animation industry prompting a mass scramble to import foreign cels and transfer more of the production line to digital.

Princess Mononoke was released in 1997, though animation production began in 1995. Ghost in the Shell was released in 1995. Based on that, digital production as a part of the general production began in or before 1995.
According to this, which may or may not be correct (I don't know how reliable the source is), Tobira o Akete was an early anime short to feature digital production, as was Bit Cupid (an anime series rather than a short), both of which were from 1995.
Also,

Production I.G., known for their world-famous Ghost in the Shell film and other prestige features (Patlabor 2, Jin Roh) produced the first two digital anime series that most anime fans can recognize by name: Love Hina (with Xebec) and FLCL (with Gainax)

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, released in 2001, was the first photorealistic computer animated feature film. Blood: The Last Vampire, which was from 2000, was fully digital, and, according to this, the first fully digital feature.
The first fully digital anime series was Bit the Cupid, which was created in 1995 by Satelight Inc. A description is on this page, but it is in Japanese. From what I can tell from the translation, Bit the Cupid was the first continuous CG animation in the world. It was made to look like it was modeled in 3D. Also, after being colored, the contour lines were taken off.
All in all, it's kind of difficult to determine exactly when things began, but from what I can find, digital production began in 1995 and the first fully digital feature was released 2000.

Thank you for your valid answer kuwaly: the question is about anime series, so Bit the Cupid could be the correct answer if other sources comes up: Satelight is credited as the anime studio behind that anime but ANN doesn't report it.

@chirale I didn't find Bit the Cupid before when I was looking, but I'll add some information about it now.

The Professional: Golgo 13 (1983), a popular manga in the 70s, had a CG helicopter sequence. I'm mostly unsure of the team who animated it, but I'm mostly surprised that it manifested quickly after the release of Tron (1982).
Production IG had it's first instances of CG in the 90s, but it appears that they were shown in the form of wireframes. I've heard of some talk that these wireframes were painted over in some cases.
I would probably mention that industry completely transitioned to digital within the early 21st century.

Welcome to Anime and Manga.SE! Your answer seems to answer the first part of the question, leaving, however, the second part unanswered (How many years passed between the first use and the complete conversion to digital?). Please consider editing you answer to make it more complete, as we prefer good and detailed answers, rather than one-liners. Happy answering~ :)

here's an example image you might like to include: http://operationrainfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Golgo-13-Title-610x344.png


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What game is Subaru playing with the girls?
In episode 5 of Ro-Kyu-Bu!, Subaru is trying to build teamwork by playing cards with the team members.
The first shot shown is of cards sequentially placed on the floor. There are some hearts missing.

Then, each player goes around in the circle (they all have one card left except one). In this case, they each passed on their turn, until a fight broke out, and one player was holding two cards: the 5 and 8 of hearts, and was accused of "holding up" the game.

What is this game they're playing (and is it American, Japanese, or otherwise)? And, how was the player with the 5 and 8 of hearts holding it up?

The card game is Sevens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevens_(card_game)
Basically the object of the game is to get rid of all your cards.
You can get rid of a card by putting it above a lower valued card of the same suit, or above a higher valued card.
To start, a seven must be played. The next person can then play another seven (creating a new row) or place an eight or a six on the existing seven. You must pass if you cannot do anything.
The "Holding up a game" that they're blaming one of the characters for, is when you decide to not play certain card(s) because you know you can block someone else off. For example, if he doesn't play the 5 or 8 of hearts, noone can play a four or lower, or a 9 or higher.
A common tactic is holding the lowest/highest of a suit that you have, because you don't need to put down any cards below/above that.
This video might be better for explaining
I've played it myself with relatives at home in Ireland, but I'm not sure where it originates.

Does this mean you are allowed to pass even if you have cards you can play?

In the vanilla game you aren't allowed, but there's a Japanese variant called Shichi Narabe where you're allowed pass up to three times regardless of it you can play a card or not

That's probably the variant they're playing, then. :)


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Why is Ana embarrassed by her surname?
In Ichigo Mashimaro, Ana is embarrassed by her surname "Coppola". It's implied that it has some meaning (or perhaps sounds like something) in Japanese, but I couldn't figure out what. What does Ana's name sound like, and why is it embarrassing to her?

According to the Japanese Wikipedia article for the series:

Because she has almost completely forgotten how to speak English, she has a complex about her last name "Coppola". When she changed schools, she hid her last name "Coppola" along with the fact that she
  couldn't speak English and could speak Japanese. However, she was
  quickly exposed by Itou and her friends.

So it seems like she's embarrassed because she has a foreign last name but can't speak English.
Also, on an English blog, someone asked the same question, and a Japanese viewer provided their insight via comments (comment #15, don't think there's a way to permalink it):

Kappore was a joke show in the Japanese feudal age. Coppola has a
  similar pronunciation to Kappore (especially in japanese’sound). now
  almost Japanese don’t know the meaning of Kappore, but we feel funny
  when we listen the word like kappore.

There don't seem to be many English resources on kappore, but you can also search on Youtube for some modern examples.
On the same blog's comments, another Japanese viewer comments (comment #17):

The reason why koppora sounds weird to the Japanese has something to
  do with the accents of the 19th century peasants in northeastern
  Japan. They used to pronounce “kon-na koto” as “koddara godo”,
  “chotto” as “chokkura”, “bikkuri” as “beggura” and so on, which is not
  considered very elegant among the white-collar class. And, the family
  name Coppola doesn’t sound like British but reminds us of Italian
  immigrants, which further highlights the awkwardness of Ana’s phony
  “British Style.” That’s probably why Miu always mentions “koppora”
  whenever Ana gets a bout of British chauvinism (as in drama CD’s) or
  her facade is wearing off.

So there are three different theories for you. Seems like even the Japanese aren't 100% why it sounds so funny.

There's a really no deeper meaning behind the name, beside that it sounds silly when you say it.
She is given the "nickname" 穴骨洞（あなこっほら, Anakohora, using the kanji for "hole" and "bone cave") by Miu, partially because it suits her proper Japanese personality (reflected by her polite and feminine use of Japanese). There's no deeper meaning behind this aside from the irony and that it just sounds funny when you say it in Japanese and associate it with kanji.
It's just like if there was someone named Will Power, Anita Man, or Joy Ryder in English.

This nickname only appears in the anime so I don't it is the reason. Other kanji with different meanings could have been chosen as well, and I don't think the chosen ones (穴骨洞) would be an extremely certain first guess.

I'm staying that ppl probably make fun of her name (perhaps at her last school, because kids can childish and immature) for how it sounds than the fact that she is a foreigner who can't speak English. The manga doesn't get into the details, but the anime does give an example.

The name is a (bad?) joke on her real name アナ・コッポラ, where there is only a small difference in dakuten on ho/po. This leads me to think that the other gives her the kanji name that sounds similar to her real name, to "remedy" the fact that she can't speak English while her name is foreign.


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In the first episode of Hataraku Maou-sama, what is the "Underworld" language based on?
In the first half of the first episode of Hataraku Maou-sama, we can hear conversation between Satan and Alsiel in "Underworld" language. Is the "Underworld" language based on a real language, or is it just plain gibberish?

sounds french to me, but that's just me. it's the sound of japanese actors trying to sound french as much like them trying to sound english. just a wild guess (that's why its just a comment) :P

According to this article (which cites from a 2ch thread), the language is is pretty simple:

The Entean language is basically letter substituted English, with vowel keeping their original position, while the consonants are reversed, so B=Z, C=Y, D=X, ... and vice versa.
   ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
-> AZYXEWVTISRLPNOMQKJHUGFDCB

For example:

人間 human → tupan
世界 world → foklx
魔王（芦屋による呼称） majesty → pasejhc

They say it with such enthusiasm, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSwnNy6MRa8

NICE! It fits perfectly at around 5 minutes in episode 1, where Satan and Alsiel just arrived at human world: Do you want to die? --> Xo cou fanh ho xie? and Calm down --> Yalp xofn

@corroded: There is no need for me to accept it right off the bat. It is correct answer, but I'll leave it here for a while to see if anyone wants to expand on it.

Based on this thread from MAL:
It seems that it IS gibberish. They just jumbled a lot of languages together  (English, French and German to name a few).
Here are some quotes from the thread (I am still not sure if they can be counted on as being 'facts'):

The way they threw random words of other actual languages into their made up language was
very funny, especially if you understand Japanese (how foreign words are
transliterated/pronounced in a syllabary language). - Usuzumiiro (1)
I kept trying to figure out what language they were speaking only to learn it was made up maouspeak... sneaky anime. - AOMINE (2)

I tracked these down by just going to page 1 of that thread then searching for the word "language". It seems the general consensus is it is gibberish and that it is a mixture of words. Still looking for the actual source for them all to say that though. (I am thinking it is on 4chan)

Can you quote some here? The thread is very long, and it doesn't just discuss about the language.

One interesting thing is that they do make sure names (Orba, Emilia) and Satan are familiar. And the phrase equivalent to "My lord" (used by Alsiel to refer to Maou) sounds the same in the cases they are used.


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How is Petit Eva: Evangelion@School related to Neon Genesis Evangelion?
I know that there is a manga and OVA called Petit Eva: Evangelion@School that has some relation to Neon Genesis Evangelion. I haven't seen it, though, and I was wondering if it is one of the alternate ending/retellings of the story of it is something else. If it isn't a retelling or alternate ending, what is it and how is it related to the main story of Neon Genesis Evangelion?

It's a parody, not related at all to the original story. It just uses the characters and very, very basic personalities.
Basically, it involves chibi (super-deformed) versions of each of the characters attending a school, including Unit-01, Shinji, Rei, Asuka, and others, with Misato as their teacher and Gendo as the principal. (Sachiel and Kaworu make appearances occasionally as well.) There is little to no voice acting (sans a few laughs and screams and whatnot), and it tells silly short stories about the students' antics. (For example, I believe the first episode involves Shinji sharing his sushi lunch with Eva Unit-01, who then shares a battery with Shinji, who eats it in order to not be rude.)

Petit Eva has a manga as well as a 3D OVA (the first episode of which I talked about above). More information can be found on the Evangelion Wiki.


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Are the members of Beck based on real life musicians?
It's fairly well-known among Beck fans that Chiba, the lead vocalist of Beck, is based on Zack De La Rocha from Rage Against the Machine. However, the other characters don't seem to be obviously based on anyone famous to me. Are the other band members also based on or inspired by any famous musicians?

Besides Chiba, I'm only aware of the bassist, Taira, resembling RCHP's bassist, Flea. They both often play shirtless on stage and share the bleached-blonde look.

Beck's bassist, Taira is the second member recruited by Ryusuke. Although he can sometimes seem uncaring or apathetic, he is actually the most mature of the band members and often offers helpful advice. He usually performs shirtless, much like the real-life person he is based on: Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. His main live bass is a white Music Man Stingray (a 1993-1996 model as identified from the type of bridge) with 3-band EQ and a trans bridge.

Flea is also known to use the Music Man Stingray.

The mangaka, Harold Sakuishi, is an RHCP fan and, according to WP, has claimed that Beck is partly inspired by the band. I don't know if this extends to other members of the band.

Harold Sakuishi himself has admitted that the band is inspired in part by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sakuishi admits that they are his favorite band; their music, specifically the song "Under the Bridge", helped him through a difficult time in his life. A one-shot manga also called Under the Bridge was written by Sakuishi and narrates his first meeting with the band. This influence is widely seen in Beck, not only in the band's musical style, but also in the fact that Taira heavily resembles a younger version of Flea, the Chili Peppers' own bassist, both in looks (he is mostly seen playing shirtless and has his hair bleached blonde, as Flea used to have his own) and in playing style.


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How many siblings does Tonnura have?
From chapter 7 we know that Tonnura and Duke are brothers:

The next chapter, though, implies that Duke may not be Tonnura's only sibling.

Has it been revealed how many other siblings Tonnura has? And do we know anything about them (in particular, are they all large talking cats like Tonnura)?

I don't know the manga at all so I have have no idea about an in-canon answer, but I do know that brethren doesn't always mean brothers in a literal sense. It can also just be members of the same group/nationality/etc. So he could mean it in that way.

@kuwaly While you are correct about the meaning of the term "brethren", it is clear in this context that they are using the term to refer to siblings. Here's another panel from chapter 8 which makes this more explicit: http://i.imgur.com/hPg1FZ9.png

Makes sense. I just wanted to make sure.

Tonnura is one of 7 siblings, but only 4 have been revealed as of volume 7 of the manga. They are:
Tonnura, the titular character (and elderest brother)

Duke, the younger brother

Charmy, the youngest sister

Donsuke, the youngest brother


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What is the specialty of Nokogiri?
Specialties of all other katanas are stated clearly in the show, but the specialty of Nokogiri (seen in the picture below) wasn't explained clearly and in detail. What is the unique specialty of the katana Nokogiri which was under the possession of Zanki Kiguchi?

According to the Katanagatari wiki, the Nokogiri doesn't have any poison but has the ability to cure the effects of the poison from the other swords:

A wooden sword that sharply contrasts its title as "King of Swords", it is in the possession of Zanki Kiguchi. Unlike the other Deviant Blades, it doesn't have any of the poison found in Kiki's blades. It is the purest blade with the ability to cure the effects of the poison the other swords have on their owners. A small floral mark and yellowish streak on the sword identifies it as Nokogiri.


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What is the 'thing' that is located under the Fairy Tail basement?
In Fairy Tail episode, when Master Makarov take Gildarts to appoint him as new Master, he show something to Gildarts, and I'm so interested in it. Anybody have information about that 'thing'?

Lumen Histoire is located in a secret underground room in Fairy Tail's original building. This secret is only known by Fairy Tail's Guild Master and is passed on to the new Master successively. Purehito showed it to Makarov when he became Master. Years later, Makarov showed it to Gildarts Clive when he told him that he wanted him to be next Master of Fairy Tail. According to Ivan Dreyar, Lumen Histoire is Fairy Tail's darkness, while according to Mavis Vermilion, it is Fairy Tail's light.
Wiki link

ah, so it's called Lumen Histoire, is there's anything else to know about this secret? or is it as far the story revealed to us?

As far as i know nothing more is revealed about it.

Originally it was said that Lumen Histoire is located in the basement. This has later (in chapter 4 been revealed, not to be a thing, but a weapon. A weapon related to the sealed body of the first master of Fairy tail, Mavis. Therefore, more than just Lumen Histoire, it is Mavis' sealed body that lies beneath Fairy Tail's original building.

Quote from the wiki:

Lumen Histoire is located in a secret underground room in Fairy Tail's original building. This secret is only known by Fairy Tail's Guild Master and is passed on to the new Master successively. Precht showed it to Makarov when he became Master. Years later, Makarov showed it to Gildarts Clive when he told him that he wanted him to be next Master of Fairy Tail. According to Ivan Dreyar, Lumen Histoire is Fairy Tail's darkness, while according to Mavis Vermilion, it is Fairy Tail's light.
Later, it is revealed that Lumen Histoire is in fact the body of Mavis Vermilion encased in a crystal. Makarov also calls it the "ultimate weapon" of Fairy Tail. source

User diras2010 commented through edit suggestion: "Remember that the Alias of Maven is "Fairy Strategist", and is stated in the manga that when she commanded the Fairy Tail on battlefield, the Guild was unbeatable, and when Acnologia attacked the Fairy Island, the spirit of Maven was the one who casted the "Fairy Shield" to save the Guild from complete destruction, so is suspected that releasing Maven from the Eternal Slumber of the Lumen Historie should be done as 'last resort' of an impending attack so powerful that the Guild members can't be able to contain or stop"

@diras2010 I think Mavis was sealed because of a curse that had happened to her, by using the incomplete version of Fairy Law (from the spoilers of FTZero going around). The new chapter should give us some more insights to this, but I don't know why they aren't being released despite the spoilers being out for days.

The Girl in the Crystal is the 406th chapter of Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail. This is where you can find the answer to the main question of this thread.
It was revealed on the second to the latest chapter that Lumen Histoire is Mavis Vermillion, frozen inside a crystal.

You should state which chapter this is so that future viewers can tell. Also, it's questionable whether this actually answers the question or if it should just be an edit on one of the answers.

here it is in Chapter 406: The girl in the crystal

 ..Mavis Vermillion


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What is the meaning of the number on the Buso Renkin medallion?
In Buso Renkin, the medallions each have a Roman numeral inscribed on them. Tokiko's is numbered XLIV (44), and Kazuki's is numbered LXX (70).

What do these numbers mean and why do these characters have these specific numbers?

The roman numeral represents the kakugane's serial number. There are only 100 Kakugane, from I (one) to C (one hundred). There are 29 known kakugane that are used (in Japan) in the series.
Kazuki's "LXX" kakugane is... special.

Exactly as the first answer, but there were three special Kakuganes, which were prototypes of black Kakuganes, but the three prototypes ended as a failure. The one that had to live with it lived by draining the life forces of everything around him. The black Kakugane's bearer's (also known as a Victor 1, 2 or 3 depending on his Kakugane) appearance also changes. His hair became of a glowing green, his skin turned into a burned red.


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Where did the term fan service came from?
I always hear fan service in manga reviews. I understand the term's meaning based on inference -to mean some sort of ecchi. But does anybody know where the term started?

i think it's more adhering to fan requests than just adding ecchi, after the credits of the Rebuild of Evangellion Misato says the next moviue will have added fan service and the innuendo is really just the same in the next movie, then again i'm not sure, i tend not to notice any sort of fan service or even read reviews


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Where do den den mushi come from?
Is it ever explained where the den den mushi come from?
We know there are all kind of den den mushi variating in colors as well in functions. But do they originate from a devil fruit user or are they just some random existing creature in the One piece universe ?

They are just your average little critter snail that got a reciever attached to them in order to be used as cellphones :P

@Robin what you call your average little snail, I don't see our snails running around with radio wave communication.

they just a usual snail that have the ability to communicate with each other using some kind of telepathy. Human add some kind of device that help them to transfer and receive signal from each other

@ShinobuOshino oy oy that exact fact they can use that does make them not normal :|

@Dimitrimx I mean it has nothing to do with devil fruit or anything. It's just 'regular' animal in One Piece world.

@Dimitrimx I don't remember if it ever explained in manga or anime but I think it mentioned on SBS

Den den mushi are kind of snails used for visual and audio communication. They are just another type of random creature existing in OPverse which uses telepathic abilities for communication within their own kind.
Source


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Who healed Obito?
I remember there was old man. But was it Madara? And shared his sharingan?
But Madara should have Rinnigan there, isn't it?
If that was Madara then why he was raised much younger later?

There must have been a pretty obvious answer if this got down voted, was there?

@MiharuDante I don't know where is it revealed that it was Madara so I can't say

Yes, the old man was Madara. His Rinnegan was already given away (to Nagato) by the time he found Obito.
Also, since Kabuto used Edo Tensei to revive he, he was revived with his body at his prime.

But he has two rinnegans?

@Heather: He had two Rinnegans, he gave away both, and implanted a replacement sharingan into one of his eyes. (which is what's seen when he rescues Obito)

And where did Madara get sharingans?

@Heather: He had an extra from somewhere, maybe from an older battle. It wasn't told where he got the replacement from.

Ah... Alike he wore a pair of eyes in the pocket... Just in case. May you point me when and why he gave rinnigans to Nagato?

@Heather if I recall right, he gave the Rinnegan to Nagato when he was a young child(don't remember the exact age), the reason is, I assume, that he already knew the details of the Tsuki no Me , thus his only chance to achieve it, it would've been gaining life by the Rinne Tensei(he had no power/liberty, plus he would've been dead)...so in this way, practically he started his whole plan


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What is Haruhi's power?
I don't read the LN so I don't really know what she really is. She seems to have great power. She can make things happen just by thinking about it. She even create a parallel world. And she seems very dangerous even when she's unconscious. So, what exactly is Haruhi? What is her power? Did they explain it on light novel?

From what I hear (can't stand the anime myself) she's basically God.

Yeah. She's a God that doesn't know she is God, so she cannot control her powers.

As described in Wikipedia, Haruhi possesses unconscious god-like abilities to change, destroy, and reshape reality to her desires.  In an interview, Tanigawa stated that the idea for the character came during a sleepless night at the beginning of the 21st century.
I think Koizumi also mentioned that Haruhi has a God-like power. I just don't remember what specific episode did he mention it. Along with Koizumi, Yuki and Mikuru revealed to Kyon that that was the reason why they were sent to earth, to watch over Haruhi since she is unaware of her God-like powers.

You're not meant to "know" what Haruhi's power is, but instead you're meant to draw your own conclusion about what Haruhi "is"; which is one of greatest charms of this show. Koizumi, Mikuru, and Yuki all have different conflicting views on Haruhi, and the viewer is meant to have one of their own; whether they can draw their own original view on Haruhi or side with God/TimeParadox/SuperHumanEvolution theories the show offers is up to the viewer themselves.


text:
Why are there censored/retracted art when there is no problem
In some episode shorts they retract some parts, while i can understand if they infringe on other ip they retract part of the title for a Dragon Quest Game however the anime is a collaborative work with Square Enix so it doesn't make sense as to why they would retract it
also, in the short where Motoharu is killing bugs they're blurred out but in the extra episode their not
so why are some stuff censored/retracted when there really isn't any reason for it

I think the Dragon Quest thing was just a joke, supposed to look like any other anime using a protected name or trademark the anime is not licensed to use (even if it wouldn't cause problems, like in this case).
And the bugs were blurred out to let the viewers imagine for themselves how scary or disgusting they are, only giving the basic shape, color and such. This is a commonly used scare tactic in horror games and movies (though not necessarily pixellation, but some other blurring technique).
(converted from comment with 3 points, since no other answers have been posted)

Yeah, the thing with blurring out things to emphasize how disgusting they are happens a lot. See, for example, this (hilarious) bit in FMP? Fumoffu!.

@senshin not available in my country.

Oh, that's a shame. It's basically the same idea as the blurred-out bugs thing in Nichibros, though - a character is shown receiving a disgusting package in the mail, and when it opens up, the insides are shown as a pixelated red mass. I just mentioned it to provide another example to support that part of your answer.


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Why do their eyes pop out?
If seen this in several series now. When your blowing on something really hard, your eyes come popping out. Is this some sort of symbolism?

symbol of suffocation???

@Jiraiya your eyes pop out when you suffocate o-o ?

lets put it in this way.........try choking yourself [try pressing your throat mildly with ur hands] and then observe the changes in your senses.......while you try to choke,your eyes would be the Ist sense you would observe to pop out

@Jiraiya guess it is ;o, never got choked before so had no clue :/. Then again, how the hell do you choke whilst blowing a whistle :/

well my friend that's a million dollar question!!!!!! only anime makers can explain that !!!!

This is a common trope, not specific to anime. It can be seen in a lot of western cartoons.
The increased air pressure, that is created when blowing very hard, creates a force pushing outwards from your breathing cavities and connected airways. Technically, mouth, nose, ears and eyes share the same complicated pathway, so you could blow your eyes out, if you try hard. The trope in question is just an exaggerated example of it.


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What's up with Sasazuka always getting sent to stand in the hallway?
There doesn't seem to be noticeable tension between the class teacher and student Sasazuka (dark haired boy in white shirt), but he gets sent to stand in the hallway far too often without apparent reason. Is there some backstory to that?

To my best knowledge, there is not any backstory to him in the original comic books.  He is getting sent to the hallway, I suppose, because the author finds it funny and hopes the readers will do so.

@Pteromys I guess you could post that as an answer.

Certainly.  As a side note, the author includes such jokes hard to understand especially later in the comic series.

The original comic books do not contain any backstory to his getting sent to the hallway (to my best knowledge).  Presumably, the author finds it funny for Sasazuka to be sent in the hallway for nothing, and hopes the readers will do so.


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Why did Cardinal block Yui from relating with players?
I just finished watching SAO, and I'm not sure if this is ever explained:
Yui is a program that supports the psychological health of the players. She states that, for some reason, Cardinal did not permit her to relate with the players, and was limited to observing them.
Why did Cardinal block Yui? Is this explained in the novel perhaps?
If Kayaba created SAO, I'd guess that he also made Cardinal and Yui. I doubt that he'd want to block his own creation from doing its job, so I guess that the fault is entirely Cardinal's.

I just searched for the part in the novels - It's the third part of the second novel. But I'm sorry to disappoint you, there's not much explained:
(Source: Baka-Tsuki)

"Although I am unaware of the complete details of what exactly happened as well, Cardinal handed down an unplanned order to me. A complete prohibition from interfering with all players[...]"
Asuna reacted reflexively; she guessed that "unplanned order" was due to the manipulation done by the only GM of SAO, Kayaba Akihiko.

I guess it was developed by many people who planned to add this feature but Kayaba just decided to disable her without letting the other developers know.

Yeah, of course, it couldn't have been created by one person only.

I don't think Kayaba worked on SAO alone. This is never explicitly stated. It's likely he had a large part in it, and created most of the core, and designed most of the elements of the game, but I can't see one guy creating everything alone.
Yui was possibly created by someone else who worked on the game (Or possibly even Cardinal). SAO was the first real VR Game, so the effects of being inside a VR world for long periods of time weren't really known. The Cardinal System was created with the intention of being self-managing, so that humans were never needed, to manage to game, or even to update/patch the game. A program to take care of a player's mental health (to possibly avoid law-suits?) was probably part of the plan for that.
Here's a link to a translation of a sort of "Q&A" that the author had with fans, and characters of the story, back in 2005 (when SAO was still a web-novel.)

Q. Did you know about Yui’s existence?
A. I didn’t spare it any attention at all, a great opportunity gone by.

From that, you can infer that Kayaba himself didn't create Yui.

She was there to support players and keep their psych in top condition. The moment the game kept people inside, Kayaba most likely forced her to stop for his "sick game of death".

After regaining her memories, she tells her in-game parents that she had become melancholic when the death game began, as she wasn't allowed to comfort players and was forced to continue monitoring their psychological parameters, but, after nearly 2 years of only seeing insanity, misery and anger, she finally noticed a couple that showed happiness and joy and wanted to be close to the two to experience their emotions, even though she was not allowed to interact with players.

But if Kayaba made the whole death game, why even bother on creating Yui in the first place, if he's not even going to use her?

@Omega Monitoring, seeing how the people their psych responds to this. Will people go mad or stay sane ? quiet allot of potential reasons.

But Kayaba gave her the ability to "simulate feelings" so that players would like her. Therefore Kayaba did pretend to use Yui to relate with players. Observing players was part of the job, yes, but she also had a feature to interact with people that was supposed to be used (otherwise why implement such feature?) - but Cardinal blocked her for some reason.

It's probable that Yui was created as part of beta testing, to watch over player health - that's the reason everyone was put into their "real" bodies (swapping genders, at minimum).  Kayaba certainly didn't do all the work himself, and his company would have included lawyers and doctors (especially the latter if this was the first dive game).  In real-world MMOs, developers have a multitude of tools to handle player issues, including finding them before they're reported (when possible) - like the audit program Yui mentions when Kirito logs into ALO.

Another option, are, even if all system are programmed by one or multiple persons, Yui are here as a part of Cardinal System, and The Seed. All the system are programmed not only for SAO, it's ready for creating more worlds (end of ALO words of Kayaba).
It's the same as the link between The Seed created games. These system are present on SAO too (probably), but, you cannot view it because there isn't more games, or, these system are explicit disabled.
Another option are, Cardinal disabled Yui itself, because Yui have GM privileges and can logout players if they're in too bad mod (something stupid in a game without logout button).

end of ALO words of Kayaba Are you quoting this from the novel? Or is it an interpretation of the purpose of The Seed?

On Anime series, when Kayaba gives The Seed to kirito, he tolds "this can create many different worlds" (I cannot view it now, it's as i remember).

This was my guess too (that such an AI would have those kinds of privileges), but you probably need to back it up.


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What part of garment is this?
Senketsu, Matoi Ryuuko's full-life-fiber uniform has this peculiar element on it that looks like an eyepatch:

The eye-like orange-red element on our right is a part of the scarf, but what is the black, grey-crossed eyepatch-like element on the opposite side?

Senketsu taking look me into the eyes to a whole new level ( couldnt help mysef :))

Judging from episode 24...

 When Senketsu transforms into Senketsu Kisaragi after absorbing everybody else's life fibers, we witness his right eye opening rather than becoming uncovered (gif). This suggests that Senketsu was, initially, "blind" in his right eye before receiving enough life fibers to fix that, or something, and hence, that the eyepatch-like element on Senketsu's right is probably in fact just Senketsu's eye scarred shut.

 It's not clear to me at this point how this relates to the notion that Senketsu is modeled after Matoi Isshin, given that Isshin wore an eyepatch over his right eye, but was probably not blind in that eye (judging from his face when he, as Souichirou, got out of the bodybag - screencap), unless whatever he did to change his appearance (plastic surgery perhaps?) blinded him.


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Does Dual Wield drain HP?
When Kirito fights The Gleam Eyes this is the first time he uses his Dual Wield ability which was the reason why he had a second sword commissioned by Liz, after he killed the boss his HP was quite low.
Before he uses it he's hesitant in using it, was this because Dual Wielding drains HP when active or was his hesitation more to do with the ability becoming more widely known?

It was clear that Kirito was keeping his dual-wield ability a complete secret. Nobody knew about it - not even Asuna. This was evidenced by the fact that Asuna questioned Kirito about why he isn't using Liz's sword and suggested that he was "hiding something" from her.
So Kirito hesitated because be knew that using his dual wield in front of everyone would blow that secret wide open. But he had no choice. It was do or die.

Getting back to the question, there is no evidence in the anime to suggest that dual wielding drains HP. But you could infer other drawbacks such as tying up both hands thus preventing the use of a shield.

That explains his hesitation but what about his HP, did it get that low because of he used Dual Wield?

He had already been fighting the level boss for some time before he went dual wield. So it should be reasonable to infer that he had been taking hits throughout the battle.

i wasn't sure because before he uses it he's looking at his HP before his hesitation is shown, i'm sure it was above 50% (maybe even 75%) and it was higher than Asuna's

I can check when I get home. I don't have access to my anime collection from work.

His HP was going down not because of the dual wield ability but because despite his speed while using it the boss was still able to hit him.  You can see this if you look closely at the Gleam Eyes fight in the anime.

In the novel, there is no mention about life stealing or something like that.
Here is all mentions about the Dual Blade skill

During the fight with the 74th floor Boss - The Gleam Eyes

With the sword in my right hand, I blocked the demon’s blade as it
  came down from a flame-like trajectory. Then, I reached behind my back
  with my left hand and grabbed the handle of the new sword. I drew it
  and struck in one smooth movement.
(...)
This time, I crossed my two swords and blocked it completely. As its
  stance became unbalanced, I decided to break free from my defending
  streak and launched a combo attack.
My right sword slashed horizontally towards the demon’s midsection.
My left sword followed immediately to cut vertically into its body.
(...)
Right, left, then right again. I swung my swords as if the nerves in
  my brain were going into overdrive.
(...)
This was the extra skill that I had been hiding, «Dual Blades», and
  the technique I was using was its high-class sword skill «Starburst
  Stream», a sixteen-hit combo attack.
(...)
Faster, faster. The rhythm of my swings already exceeded twice the
  normal speed, but it still felt slow to my heightened senses. I
  continued my attack at a pace that seemed to overtake even the
  system’s assistance.
(...)
Most of the ten-plus extra skills that had been found up until now,
  «Katana» included, had at least ten people who used each of them. The
  only exceptions were my «Dual Blades» and one other man’s extra skill.
  These two were most likely limited to only one person, so they should
  be called «Unique Skill».
(...)
Since then, I only trained it when there was nobody around. Even after
  I nearly mastered it, I rarely used it against monsters unless it was
  an emergency.

Fight agaist Heathcliff (in the stadium)

I twisted my body around right before reaching Heathcliff and swung
  the sword in my right hand upwards to the left. It was blocked by the
  cross-shaped shield and sent out a burst of sparks. But my attack was
  part of a two hit combo. Point one second after the first strike, my
  left sword slid in behind the shield. It was a Dual Blades dash-type
  skill «Double Circular».
(...)
I just managed to guard by crossing my two swords. The powerful impact
  rattled my entire body and sent me flying back by several meters.

After defeating the Skull Reaper, the last fight

Out of the ten unique skills, «Dual Blades» is given to the player
  with the fastest reaction speed(...)
(...)
I changed my attack pattern and activated «The Eclipse», the highest
  level Dual Blades skill. Like the tips of an enveloping corona, my
  swords sent twenty-seven consecutive attacks towards Kayaba—


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Was Mirajane born with Satan Soul?
Just wondering on this but, was Mirajane born with the certain Take Over ability Satan Soul and how did she learn to master it? Also was Elf-Man and Lisanna born with their abilities too? I was wondering this when I noticed that she can change into not one but two other different forms of Satan's Soul including...

Satan Soul Sitiri and Satan Soul Halphas as below.

I would like to know if this is revealed in any of the Anime's or Mangas
Answers are appreciated.

One needs to possess the Demon Factor to use Satan Soul. Mira said it herself:

It hasn't been explained if she already has it since birth or not.

Take Over would make sense as being genetic as Elf-Man couldn't control his, it would be weird to learn something in the middle of a job that you couldn't control, though i think Mirajane's family is born with one and learn the rest over time

@Memor-X Like I said, it's genetic for them, just like you born with music skill or athletic skill, they choose what the best for them. After all, some magic is hard to control if they don't have any experience. Elf-Man only can use part of his body when he take-over for the first time, while Mirajane already master it at her young age.

Does this mean that you can learn any type of magic?

@MiharuDante it is possible, some magic can learn by many people, like three Great Magic of Fairy Tail. As long as you are Fairy Tail member, you can learn it. Makarov can create fire although his signature Magic is enlarge his body to gigantic proportions.

@MiharuDante I've revise my whole answer, I haven't reach this chapter before

Whats the demon factor? Is it like a metaphor or like quite literally something you need to have Satans Soul or to use it?

@MiharuDante to answer that question, will spoil latest chapter, you sure you want an answer?

Nah, im alright. Just couldn't find it when I googled, that's all. : )

While I think that genetics may have helped, we can see that if you are one of the 10% who can naturally use magic, you can choose whatever you want, just like how Sho, Milliana, or Wally was able to choose their magic, and how Makarov was able to use multiple magics at once (Titan, Light...).  So I feel like no, Mira, Elfman, and Lisanna all chose Take Over magic.

I think Mirijane was born with it but not Elfman and Lisanna because in the anime they said that the people in Fairy tale helped them learn magic

Oh. Um, during a battle with Seilah she remembers a time when her, Elfman, and Lisanna were kids. Mirajane saved her town and defeated the demon at church, somehow, she managed to capture its power (her arm was a different form) and the town forced them to leave. Mirajane later bumps into Markarov in Fairytail and explains her takeover power and he convinces her to join the guild, and Elfman and Lisanna learn take over (beast and animal) so she won't feel lonely.

I heard that Mirajane beat a demon (Satan) and she get this power and Elfman and lisanna study this magic because Mira was lonely

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


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Why is being a Dragon Slayer a big deal?
Spoilers
During the story arc where Laxus is putting on his "entertainment" for the festival, it is revealed that...

 He is a Dragon Slayer

After this Natsu and others seem to be more worried about him.  Maybe it is just me, but it seemed similar to Goku going Super Saiyan or something.
Why does being a Dragon Slayer seem to make the situation worse?

@ton.yeung Unfortunately Netflix only had the first season.  It just seemed weird that everyone though of Laxus as being such a powerhouse, but after mentioning that everyone gets even more afraid of him.

@ton.yeung You went and made me all worried about it now :P  I think I would rather have an answer.  I'll likely forget by the time any more seasons are put on one of the services I use.

Before the Laxus's entertainment arc, it was unknown what type of magic he had. Normally all mages in fairy tail have a limit to how much magic they can use.
For eg- Capricorn helps Lucy to increase her magic stamina.
But the only exception to this rule are the dragon slayers who learnt their magic from dragons and gain their power by eating their element.
For eg- Natsu eats fire, Gazeel eats iron and Wendy eats air.
Now during the fight with Laxus, Natsu an Gazeel are unable to fight him as he is too overpowered. But they must be hoping that Laxus will eventually lose his magic stamina and then they can beat him. But then it was disclosed Laxus is a Lightening Dragon Slayer. That makes him completely invincible as he can gain his power by just eating his element and can battle continuously. And that would make the situation worse.

You are asking two questions. Number one is...

Why is being a Dragon Slayer a big deal?

And Number Two is...

Why does being a Dragon Slayer seem to make the situation worse?

Dragon Slayers are a unique type of people who utilize a form of Lost Magic, Dragon Slayer Magic. It was a big deal that Laxus was a dragon slayer because...

It is uncommon for someone to utilise a lost magic or to be a Dragon Slayer and for Natsu it could have been a perfect opportunity to ask if he had been raised by a dragon and if he knew where Igneel was.

Your other question however why does a dragon slayer seem to make a situation worse. I am going to answer this question based on the Fighting Festival Arc. I am not sure what you mean but ill tack a guess at this...
Dragon Slayers did not make the situation worse, they simply could not help due to Frieds Jutsu Shiki which prevented Natsu, Gajeel and The Master from participating in the carnival and freeing the girls who were turned to stone by Ever Green.

To the rest of the guild they probably didn't know Laxus knew dragon slaying magic and the only others who could combat his magic being behind Fried's barrier

On the other hand, Fairy Tale is notorious for the collateral damage they inflict when doing jobs, imagine the damage just Nasu causes by himself, then add Gajeel after he join and the damage will get worse, now add in the discovery that the entire time Laxus had dragon slaying magic, 3 dragon slayers in a guild who does more damage in the process of doing good, quite sure that will make collateral damage situation worse lol

I think you may have misunderstood the second part. Was asking more of "Why is Laxus being a dragon hunter make him scarier than he previously was." After all, he had already beaten both Natsu and Gajeel when they tanned up against him.  Somehow finding out he is a dragon slayer makes him more powerful?

I just took a shot at it anyway. I wasn't sure what the OP was referring to so just took a stab at giving him the best possible answer. Sorry for the confusion.

@DavidStarkey It doesn't make him powerful. but dragon slayer magic is lost magic. its weakness is unknown. and dragon slayer magic can grow infinitely just by eating your element. Now consider the situation where natsu an gazeel are hoping that laxus will drain all his magic power and then they can beat him, but laxus turns out to be dragon slayer himself with virtually limit less power. so that would make him look more powerful as his magic wont drain out completely ever.

@Sp0T that's a great explanation. You should make it an answer


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Is Monster available in 5.1 surround sound?
According to the Amazon page, the Japanese is stereo. Is this right? Is the English version have 5.1 available, like One Piece does?

No, the English version doesn't have a 5.1 Surround track. This is probably because the original Japanese was released as only Dolby Stereo and the wasn't a way to create a 5.1 mix from the source (I have no source to back up that claim), and the show is pretty long so it's unlikely there will be a rework of the audio unless there's significant interest.
I've also looked at the HK release of Monster and that is also Dolby Stereo.


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Is "Talk no Jutsu" actually a thing?
(Preface: I have not read or watched Naruto.)
In the context of a discussion of some other anime, there was a reference to a thing called the "Talk no Jutsu" in Naruto. Upon looking this thing up, I came across this wikia page, which describes the nature of this technique. This looks like a joke on its face (I mean, we make jokes about Touma doing this sort of thing in Index all the time), but the page was written with nothing to suggest that it was a joke, so I'm a bit confused. I checked out a couple other discussions on the internet and am still having difficulty figuring out whether or not they're joking.
So - is "Talk no Jutsu" actually a technique of Naruto's?

It's a joke, a glance at the home page of the Konoha Libraries site you provided says:

Remember, there's plenty of serious information banks on Naruto already. We will never be as big as any one of them so just have fun with your articles. Go nuts. Reference people from the forum or threads you love. Just remember to keep it in good spirits.

Talk no Jutsu refers to the ability of Naruto (and many main characters from many anime series) to talk the antagonists out of their evil ways, and "show them the light".

Aha. It really does behoove me to do a little more research, I suppose. Thanks for the answer!

The "LOOL!" at the end of the article seems to pretty clearly show that it's a joke, as well.

@BrianS Well, I don't know about that. Anime wikias are not exactly paragons of good encyclopedic style.

although it is a joke , no one can proof except for kishi that it isn't valid. and the way kishi is taking naruto now i think its just a matter of time that You get obliterated with the ultimate combined talk no jutsu of shinobi world.  :P

It is derived from teh fact that in the naruto universe, there are very few True villains in the series. Even Madara, Tobi, Pein, down to Zabuza are not Evil, they are misguided, trying to achieve a goal by any means, and may have supressed their true feelings on the subject. Madara wanted peace and founded the Leaf village on that fact. Then he found a way he truly believed was far better, The Infinite Tsukuyomi, and was willing to kill half the world for perfect happiness for the other half.

"Talk no Jutsu" is one of Naruto's abilities. It is not an actual Jutsu. It is basically a joke on how Naruto can talk people out of their evil ways and make them join his side.

You're not really adding anything new to this question.


text:
Is the manga Kingdom based on historical events?
Is the manga Kingdom based on historical events and/or entities?
and if so, how historically accurate is it?
and finally, if possible, where can I read about the history of China in these times (~245 B.C.)?

For your last question (which isn't really on topic for this site), you might like to consult this list of books.

I'm not sure why it isn't on topic. Mind to elaborate on that?

Well, I mean, it has nothing to do with anime/manga/etc. It's a perfectly legitimate reference request about Chinese history, but that's not really what this site is about.

Oh I understand. I realized just now that you were only refering to the last question and not the other two. Thanks for the link anyway.

Yes, most and maybe even all the events in Kingdom are based on historical events during the Warring States Period of ancient China (475-221 BCE). As for accurateness, of course there are some exaggerations and more spectacularity due to it being a manga/anime. But it tends to be pretty close to the historical facts we know of that time.
One of the most accurate fact list I could find can be seen on this forum.

we are making a thread on historical facts about characters and events in Kingdom. We will be comparing characters and events in the Kingdom manga with what was recorded in the history books(as much as we know). This thread will contain mainly information on characters, both real and fictitious, in Kingdom while we will (hopefully) make another thread on events. This will hopefully answer questions that you guys might have, bust some myths, and increase your overall interest in this manga. Since we are merely history enthusiasts and not a history professor or anything, do feel free to contribute and/or point out any mistakes here. I will be using the character's pinyin names as I am more familiar with them but their Japanese names will be there under the character's "Name" section for easy reference.

As for your last question, some basic information and history can be read on Wikipedia and there are also plenty of books out there as mentioned in the comments.
Funny side note: this manga will go down in history itself as well, as it is a world record holder recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for manga written by most people.

That is amazing! Thank you for all this information. I will certainly check those forums!

The link to the forum (http://forums.mangafox.me/threads/477476-The-Ultimate-Facts-Thread-on-Kingdom-Characters) is no longer working. Can you please update it? Thanks in advance!

@VXD Thanks for the heads up, it has been updated


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How is the height, weight and age of characters determined?
While reading a wiki article about an anime character I found that they have mentioned every details of a character, including the details of his weight, height, age and even the date of birth.
How can you say that the anime character was born on a particular date and currently has a particular weight. What determines all these details. Are these details provided by the creator of the character?

They are provided by the creators, often together with artworks of the characters. Fans like them, so these infos can be used to advertise for the anime.
Here is an example (from Free!):


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How do online Nerve Gear games handle player authentication?
So there is a virtual reality device, the Nerve Gear, popularly used for MMOs.
As far as I'm concerned, we never see SAO or Alfheim using any sort of login screen.
Now, it makes sense for SAO to lack a login screen, since you can't log out. But what about Alfheim? How do normal, sane games authenticate their players?

Do MMO Nerve Gear games use username/password credentials?

Is it implied anywhere in the series? If I recall correctly, Kirito would just put on his Nerve Gear and instantly enter Alfheim without any sort of password screen.

Maybe the device serves as the credential itself?

But if I steal your device, I could impersonate you in all games...
Besides, using a device ID is not secure at all. If I figure out your device's ID, I could hack mine to use such ID and then login as yourself.

Perhaps they do some complex biological scan on your body to create an unique ID...

That doesn't sound very reliable. Or healthy.

Actually, I'm pretty sure there was a login screen, at the very beginning of the series, when he says "Link start!", you see a login screen and him inputting a username and a password.

Yep, there was an account/password in the first episode.

I don't know if I should comment or create a new question on this, but why would you need credentials if the gear is supposed to know who you are? Isn't the Nerve Gear almost equivalent to the best biometric interface ever? Yes, I realize there is a login and password in canon, but technology wise, after your body has been registered, wouldn't/shouldn't the Nerve Gear interface to the game recognize you when you hook up again?

@SrJoven: The way software determines your identity, be it a by a login or some clever biological data, is called a credential. Also, the Nerve Gear is clearly flawed (the first version could kill people, and the second version can lower the pain limiters to the point it can cause physical damage), so we can't really assume it is as great as it seems.

@SrJoven: As for why using biometrics is flawed, consider being involved in some horrible accident: your biometrics could have been affected. Your general physical structure, your voice, or even your own mental status could have been modified. Now you can't login because your biometrics don't seem to match.

@Omega assuming all three: voice, mental status, physical structure have been altered, are you really you anymore? With the two factor identification, (who you are and what you know) it should be nearly impossible to login with someone else's creds. Nonetheless, SAO's mirror already knows what you look like. And ALO knows (knew) how you think, dream... This would be hard to spoof.

@SrJoven: Hence it is still flawed - like any authentication system. The way you look, or the way you think, all of that can change. Whether it means if "you are still you" is too subjective - but essentially, the being is the same, so they should be allowed to enter the game. Otherwise who could? XD

@Omega This should have been moved to chat. I doubt that gear that knows your body mechanics well enough to use them in battle is so flawed that it can be spoofed or prevent login for the same person. But hey, I guess it would have to adapt to the new person who stole your login and password, because all the biometrics doesn't matter, even though that's an integral part of the game. You would have a hard time spoofing voice though certainly accommodations can be made for disabilities.

@SrJoven exactly, that's why it is no better than using a simple login password.

Your question can pretty much be answered by watching episode 1 of Sword Art Online.
The Nerve Gear uses a username and password identification system as shown at 01:37 of episode 1.

But as you mentioned, this does not occur in Alfheim Online. This is where we can consider the Nerve Gear to be the authentication factor, being a device that stores the save data.

 We know it can save data Yui's data was saved to his Nerve Gear and was transferred to Alfheim Online as a result.

But if I steal your device, I could impersonate you in all games...

This would indeed be true, but doesn't the same count for login credentials? If you steal somebody's username and password, you can also impersonate that person in game. And don't forget, it's harder to steal physical objects all around the world than to steal some username and password from your home computer.

Alfheim Online have a login system, but you cannot see it because isn't commented at novel or anime. You can know it because Asuna have two accounts (She reveals it at the end of Mother rosario arc).

Extract from the light novel - Volume 3 Fairy Dance (ALfheim arc), p67-68

With that in mind, I put the NERvGear on my head and buckled the
  chin strap. With the frame in place and the goggles down, I closed my
  eyes.
Anxiety and excitement caused my heart to beat rapidly, as I tried to
  slow my racing heart beat, I said, “LINK START!”
The light passing through my closed eyelids suddenly disappeared.
  The transmission from my optic nerves was suddenly severed, and my
  eyes were enveloped by darkness.
[...]
At last, the final OK appeared, and the next instant brought me falling
  through the darkness into the colors of a rainbow, an illusion of the
  world. After passing through this series of rings, I had arrived in a
  different world.
-- Actually, it's still a little early to say that. Out of the darkness
  emerged an account registration interface. The main ALfheim Online
  LOGO gradually appeared, accompanied by a soft female voice.
Following the instructions given, I began creating my account and
  character. At chest height was a pale and shiny virtual keyboard and I
  entered a User ID and password as prompted. I had many years of
  experience before beginning SAO, so this process was of some
  familiarity to me. Since this is a downloadable MMO game, I would
  normally need to select the payment method, but I had bought this
  game and it came with a one month free trial.
Next I chose the nickname for my character. I didn’t put much thought
  into it, but entered the name «Kirito».

The ALfheim Arc in the anime doesn't show all the details.
Since Kazuto used the same login in both games - as you may know, ALfheim's database is a clone of SAO's one - he kept the same account.


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Why did Jiraiya have to die?
In Naruto, when Jiraiya fights Pain, he goes out of the barrier to confirm his suspicion about Pain (that all the 7 pains are dead) but he could have used a shadow clone instead. Shadow clones can transfer knowledge and experience (as told by Kakashi) and if Jiraiya had the chakra to maintain the barrier, swim when he is badly injured and then be alive just to write a message on the back of the toad (apparently I forgot the toad's name), he could have had the chakra to create a shadow clone. Why didn't he do so? [Why did he have die? I feel so sad about him :'( ]

incidentally i don't remember jiraiya using kage bunshin anywhere. he was master of infiltration and espionage tactics but he used advanced techniques like Toad Flatness Shadow Manipulation Technique and hiding in a toad technique.  was he able to use kage bunshin?

True. But no one knew Kakashi could create a Shadow clone until he did (in anime at least). Jiraiya was one of the legendary sannin, he was the sensei of 4th Hokage, he took on Itachi for a stalemate, plus knowledge of kage bunshin would only empower his  espionage techniques  (and I could go on) so I am not sure about saying Jiraiya being unable to use kage bunshin. I just know that he was weak against genjutsu.

@Sp0T jiraya could use shadow clones. That was shown when he was teaching nagato and group. He mentioned that since they were able to take his shadow clone out, they will be able to hold their own against enemies and that it is time for Jiraya to leave them.

it`s a similar to Team 7 Curse. .
an Apperentice always kill their teacher (Nagato - Jiraiya, Sasuke - Orochi, whathername tried to kill Tsunade)

Jiraiya once said: "In the ninja world, it's not how you live. Rather, it's how you die." So I think he applied this quote in his final seconds.
First, we can assume that he hadn't had enough chakra to escape from Pein (don't forget, he was stabbed a lot of times with Pein's chakra absorbing rods), so his last efforts were to send a message to Konoha.
Second, I'm quite sure he knew that this would boost Naruto, so practically Jiraiya sacrificed himself to make Naruto (maybe) the strongest shinobi in the world.
Third, maybe he even knew that his body could be resurrected or used by Nagato as a host body, so he didn't even try to escape. Rather, he realized the seal of his body.
So Kishi had some reasons why to "kill" Jiraiya, but in my opinion, he had to go to make the later story happen.

yap, it's an awesome quote :X

Sure, it is! :)

Another reason to why Jiraiya didn't use Kage Bunshin is because the nature of the jutsu itself. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu splits the chakra of the user equally. This is a risky move for him to perform considering that he is in the enemy territory, no backup and has no idea of the extend of Pain's powers. Suppose that after using Bunshin no Jutsu, Pain found not the Kage Bunshin, but the real him, he would be so screwed having to fight Pain with only half chakra. Having only half of his chakra would prevent him from using some of his jutsus.
Another possible reason is that there is a chakra link between the real and the Kage Bunshin as explained by Tobirama.
It is possible that at that time, Jiraiya has a feeling that the Pain he fought are all dead bodies and that there is someone controlling them remotely. He opted not to use Kage Bunshin for he was afraid that were he to use it, Pain would be able to detect his whereabouts based on the chakra link. Also note that other than the experience the chakra from the Kage Bunshin is also transferred back to the user.

Haha, Tobirama's face.


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What does SP means in Code Geass?
In the second season (R2), they mention this term SP many times but I don't know what it means. Always wondered it's meaning. Does someone know it?

Can you give an example of where "SP" is used? I can't seem to remember this term being used anywhere.

@senshin I believe it's used in episode 12 of R2, but no indication of what it means (at least from that episode).

At the beginning of episode 12 of R2, when Rollo is castigating Sayoko for doing a poor job as Lelouch's double, the following conversation occurs:

Rollo: それでもくノ一ですか。
Rollo: And you call yourself a ninja?
Sayoko: 正確にはＳＰです。篠崎流３７代目の―
Sayoko: To be precise, I'm an SP, the 37th of the Shinozaki line―

So what's an SP?
I don't think this is any sort of Code Geass-specific lingo. Given that it's an acronym, there's a lot of things it could stand for, but by far the most likely is security police (yes, Japanese has borrowed the phrase from English: セキュリティポリス sekyuriti porisu). The Japanese "security police" are sort of like the US's Secret Service - they're bodyguards for important people (cf. wikipedia).
Given that the Ashfords are (or at least were) an important family of nobles, it isn't too surprising that they might have a bodyguard on staff, especially given that they're harboring an exiled prince and princess.


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What is the significance of Rio Poneglyph?
Why is the Rio Poneglyph so important to Robin? In fact her only reason to go to the end of Grand Line is to find this Poneglyph.

It's important because it's said that it contains information about One Piece history including the Void Century.

The Rio Poneglyph (真の歴史の本文, literally translated as "True Text of History") is the message carried by all the poneglyphs along the Grand Line. It contains the true history of the One Piece world (including the "Void Century" of which research is forbidden). In order to find it, one must take all other passages from the other Poneglyphs with them on their travels, and it is only completed upon reaching the end of the world; in other words, the island Raftel. Gol D. Roger seemed to have accomplished this task, according to Rayleigh, though it is uncertain if the other members of the Roger Pirates (i.e. Shanks, Buggy) know the world's history.

Source: Poneglyph - The One Piece Wiki

Why is it important to Robin?

Nico Robin was born on the island of Ohara , and came from a family of archaeologists. Her mother, Nico Olvia, went out to sea to find the True History. But she along with the archaeologists of Ohara were killed by the World Government through a buster call.

Source: Nico Robin/History - The One Piece Wiki
So naturally, Robin became an archaeologist to finish the work started by her people and to know the true events of history, thus exposing the World Government.

Why is the Void Century important? Let's take a look at few events that occurred during the Void Century:

Birth of the World Government

800 years ago, at the end of the Void Century, the World Government was born and took political control of the entire world, uniting all countries and forming the Council of Kings. For the World Government, the events of the Void Century were better left unknown as information linked to it is considered far too dangerous.

The Great War

The most important event during the Void Century seems to be the Great War. It ended with the fall of Shandora [City of Gold]

Source for blockquotes: Void Century - The One Piece Wiki (emphasis added)

Wow! I just thought it was some kind of crazy hobby she had but it's roots are deep. Thanks a lot man! :D


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Why was Happy and Carla affected by Azuma's take over of Tenrou Islands magic?
When Azuma took over Tenrou Islands Magic and destroyed the tree he broke the divine protection that is usually granted to those who bear the Fairy Tail Emblem/Guild Mark and stole there magic and energy. So why did Carla and Happy's magic get drained by Azuma even though they did not bear the emblem?
If they do have an emblem could you please show me a picture as I cannot find one with them bearing the Fairy Tail Guild Mark.
Answers are appreciated. :)

While I never can't remember see Carla's guild mark, Happy have it behind his back, Picture below is from Galuna Island arc when Gray met Lyon on Curse Island, they (local villager) ask for Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy mark to prove it if they are Fairy Tail's Mage.

So if happy has it, it not weird that Carla also has it. But she usually wearing full clothes so maybe it's hidden behind her cloth

They do have the Guild mark as they were also able to see Mavis who said she can only be seen by those who has the emblem.
The guild mark is on their back.
Here are the pictures:

Im not sure about Happy though, because I only googled it, but it says that its from episode 11 of the anime.
But for Carla, I saw it from chapter 378, shown in Wendy's flashback.

ah yes, I don't remember this chapter, it's weird that Carla and Pantherlily wearing clothes while Happy is completely naked


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What does the symbol on Akatsuki's costume represent?
I'm referring to the red-colored, white-bordered cloud-shaped pattern which is present on the costume of all of the Akatsuki members. What is it called and what does it represent? Do they have a special meaning regarding the mission of Akatsuki or is it just plain-art with no real significance to it?

Akatsuki was formed by Yahiko, Konan and Nagato. They originally belonged to the Village Hidden in the Rain (Amegakure), who were war orphans. Their costume consisted of long dark cloaks with a red cloud, a red interior, and a chin-high collar. The Red cloud represents the rain of blood that fell in Amegakure during the wars and was seen as a symbol of justice by its original members.
Source.


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Who else besides Ichigo has a transformation bankai?
I know that in the Seireitei there are many different kinds of bankais and was wondering if Ichigo is the only one that full on transforms when he activates his bankai.

Yes, so far Ichigo is the only one that has a full-transform Bankai. With the list of currently known achieved Bankai we can conclude that there are no other Bankai that include a full transformation.
We do know there are some that partially transform such as Daiguren Hyōrinmaru, which causes wings and a tail to sprout. And so there are a few more Bankai that either overlap quite a piece of body or add parts such as with Daiguren Hyōrinmaru.
There is yet another known full body transformation. But it is not directly a Bankai, and it would be the Resurrección.

I found Sode no Shirayuki (袖白雪) / Hakka no Togame (白霞罸) to be worthy of being called a full-transformation Bankai.
Depending on argumentation, you could also classify the newly revealed Bankai of Zaraki Kenpachi as a full-transformation Bankai. Even though the specifics are unclear as of now, the artwork suggests it has a similar mechanism like Ichigo's and Rukia's Bankais.
Additionally, there are a few that partly transform the user, as mentioned in Dimitri's answer.


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What does the cry "kon" mean?
In the end of episode 9, Inari's assigned apprentice familiar Kon the two guardian foxes of Uka-sama start crying the sound "kon" and soon the other foxes around Inari shrine respond, gathering as blue magic fires on the road up the mountain.

Is this like dog's barking is transcribed as "woof" but in fox version? Or is it a name of some higher power they were calling?

For more information, see this documentary.

@senshin come on, I was trying to avoid phrasing the question like that!

It's how Japanese interpret phonetically the cries of foxes, the english equivalent to "woof". There's no special meaning in the title.


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What exactly is the Honnouji Academy?
I've been watching Kill La Kill.
So Honnouji Academy is an academy alright. Students go there.
But, why are entire families and neighbourhoods living in it? Is everyone in there a prisoner? What happens when a student is expelled?

First things first, some background. In Japan, some high schools have dormitories for students who would otherwise live far away. The living areas of Honnouji Academy is an extension of that, a hyperbolic version of that if you will. Keep in mind that everything in Kill-la-Kill is an exaggeration of real life and a parody of older anime.
Now, there's a reason for all this in the anime itself however, as revealed in later episodes. As to the students being prisoners, some spoilers:

 All the students there are originally going to be "cattle" for the life fibers. Life fibers require humans to operate without being connected to the original life fiber itself. We have to remember that Satsuki planned to rebel against her mother by training the academy's students to resist life fibers. She does this by making them wear one-star uniforms. As they get more resistant, more willpower to resist the life-fibers, they get promoted to two-stars and so on. Those who have no potential will not be permitted to wear the uniforms and it is likely that Satsuki would want to spare them from being involved in the her upcoming rebellion.

As for expulsion, expelled student are expelled normally in that, they are removed from the academy along with their family. Of course there are some exceptions. It's probable that the traitor in the first episode was killed so that Satsuki's plans would remain a secret as he stole an important piece of technology, but the traitor in episode 4 was spared because she would pose no threat as she has not stolen any of the uniform technology.
In other words, yes they are all pigs in human clothing, but not exactly, and when a student is expelled them and their family are kicked out unless they are a danger to Satsuki's plans.

Honnouji Academy is a school that rules over and entire city with the hands of an all powerful dictatorship.

Is everyone in there a prisoner?

You could call that, but they can get out anytime they want.

What happens when a student is expelled?

His/Her family goes to the lowest social class or be killed, it depends on the cause of expulsion.

I don't think we've seen any evidence that students who are expelled may be killed.

The student who stole the Goku uniform in the first episode.

@Wadapmerth: Because he was explicitly conspiring against the academy. He's bound to have a worse punishment than other normal students. Take for instance the girl that stole Matou's uniform - she was expelled at the end, but not killed. Also, in the same episode we see several students who didn't reach the class in time, so they were expelled. They weren't killed.

@Omega, just what I said "it depends on the cause of expulsion".
If a student has just a minor reason for expulsion: His/Her family goes to the lowest social class.
If a student fought or rebeled against the student council: Be killed.


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How was Kanbaru's contract made void?
I just finished episode 8 of the Bakemonogatari series, and I'm slightly confused about how Kanbaru was saved. If I'm not mistaken, Oshino states that there are two ways to save Kanbaru:

Cutting off her arm
Somehow making the contract with the rainy devil unachievable and void

Clearly the second option was taken, but I'm not sure how the appearance of Senjougahara and her subsequent actions made the contract void. It seems clear to me that the "voidness" of the contract stems from the fact that Kanbaru wasn't able to actually permanently kill Araragi. However, I'm not quite sure how doing so would violate the terms of her contract in light of Senjouhara's comment to the effect of "I would kill you if you killed Araragi". Is this simply because there are also some other "terms" to the contract (e.g. Kanbaru has to be alive) or is this perhaps because both her "conscious" (to be with Senjougahara) and "unconscious" (to kill Araragi) wishes have to be taken into account?

the rainy devil is afraid of Senjougahara :p

One way to explain this would be that it's impossible for the Rainy Devil (possessed Kanbaru) to kill Araragi, and so the contract is automatically impossible to complete. Had the Rainy Devil known that, it wouldn't've agreed with such condition. But because it seems too simple and there are many things hinting that this wasn't the deal breaker, here's another way to explain this:
The whole deal with the Rainy Devil is that it's a devious creature and will try to fulfill its owner's wish as deviously as possible. Remember how the first time Kanbaru wished to be faster than her classmates? Rainy Devil beat 'em up so they couldn't compete. Now guess what Kanbaru wished for concerning Senjougahara.
Because Kanbaru wished to be close friends with Hitagi and then suddenly Araragi appeared on the horizon, becoming Hitagi's boyfriend, the Rainy Devil decided that in order to gain Senjougahara's love (and let's not forget exactly how much Kanbaru prefers girls over boys), Araragi would have to be removed from the picture. By death, of course, because it's Rainy Devil.
So after Senjougahara waltzed in on Rainy Devil and Araragi's one-sided battle and explained that if Koyomi were to die, she'd never stop until Kanbaru, who caused all this, was dead, which would make Kanbaru's wish to become close friends with Senjougahara impossible to be fullfilled by killing Koyomi.

Rainy Devil doesn't grant wish deviously, it grants wishes with respect to the deepest desires of the person being possessed as hinted in this picture, and as mentioned here.

I'm sorry I couldn't get it. According to me, its against any normal human to have thoughts about killing someone else on the basis of athletic ranks or interaction with others.

To cheat or to engage in a physical violence is quite different than wishing death.

You mentioned that its natural to have those thoughts and I'm against it, also I was not able to get anything from your first comment. Its the human who's wishing but not acting, the actions are taken by the Rainy Devil.

After watching the episode, what I get is that there were 2 wishes:

Conscious one : Be with Senjougahara
Unconscious one : Kill Araragi

The plan was to make it such that the contract becomes void (meaning both of the wishes cannot be fulfilled). They did it by making sure that,

unconscious wish doesn't come true by letting  Araragi to be bitten by Shinobu Oshino. Shinobu sucks some of Araragi's blood, allowing him to make use of his vampire powers within a limited period of time. Her contribution barely helped him in subduing the Rainy Devil, but it was enough for him to survive for the entire ordeal before Senjougahara's intervention.
Senjougahara is involved in the act. After scolding Araragi for dealing with things without her knowledge, she confronts Kanbaru, telling her that she will not forgive anyone who would kill Araragi, making it impossible for the conscious wish too.


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How can Hermes and Riku talk?
I don't think they ever explain in the anime how Hermes (the motorcycle) and Riku (the dog) can talk.  There are plenty of talking robots, but they're clearly mechanical entities, while Hermes acts more like a person.  Also, electronic speech does not explain Riku.
Is it ever explained how Hermes and Riku have the power of speech, in the light novels or any other medium?

No, it is not explained.
The novels leave many of these up to the reader's interpretation. It is the same as Hideaki Anno leaving the meaning of the ending of Evangelion open (see Q#6) to the viewer's own thoughts, or in Code Geass, where a shot of the cart rider smiling (displaying some features of Lelouch) was cut out in order to make the ending more open.
Kino's Journey is in a fantasy world where science has taken some leaps and bounds in some directions (and became twisted), with some moments that poke your disbelief to see if its suspended or not (like the "Are you a Knife Merchant" moment with the slavers in [episode not remembered]).
It may be somewhat magical (and TVTropes indeed lists it as "magical realism") but not in the usual sense (no mages or spellcasting), with their larger-than-life characters (like when Shizu uses his sword to block bullets).
Some speculate that they do not talk at all, and that it all happens in Kino's mind (and she could indeed be crazy enough under the nogging). That is a possible interpretion. The series is one of self-discovery after all. Or the suggestion in the Land of Books (that Kino is in a VR simulation) is actually true.
I think there are similarities in the universe of Kino and the Petit Prince. Kino's is grittier, but the mixing of subtle fantasy and realism is there.

Just wanted to add that, in the novels, it's made clear that Hermes is really talking; Kino isn't imagining it. He teaches Kino how to drive and shift gears while they're escaping, and he has some notable conversations with other characters while Kino is elsewhere doing other story-related stuff. They just cut Hermes' conversations out of the anime for some reason.

@Azrael Haven't read the novels, thanks a lot.

In episode 11 Kino shows her backstory. (I'll try my best not to spoil but still try to answer your question.)
Basically, Kino was living in a corrupt country. A traveler came along and she made friends with him. In Kino's society, once a child turned the age of 12, they were given surgery on the brain to take out the "child" in them.  You could say they were brainwashed. The traveler explained to Kino how he thought this was wrong.
Kino didn't have a name at the time, so she was reffered to as "daughter", or "girl". The traveler's name was Kino. Female Kino told her brainwashed "parents" that she didn't want to go through with the surgery. He parents yelled at her and her father decided to kill her.
There was no rules against killing Female Kino, since she was believed to be her parents' property. He father dragged her out to the Male Kino, also known as the traveler, and scolded him for putting the thought in Female Kino's mind. As the father was about to murder Female Kino, Male Kino jumped in front of the knife and sacrificed himself.
Then, the motorbike started talking. Keep in mind the bike didn't talk until the traveler died. The bike had the same voice as the traveler. The bike then saved Female Kino from the corrupt society. He named Female Kino from "girl" to "Kino". The motorbike then told Kino to call him Hermes. So, basically, the bike is possessed by Male Kino.


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What's with this up-tilted head posture?
In Bakemonogatari, we see Araragi (and possibly some other characters) at quite a number of times in the series with his head tilted upwards, in what would in real life be a somewhat uncomfortable angle. While this in a number of cases could just be a result of the "camera" angle, it's clear at some points that it isn't (e.g. Senjougahara in the last episode, in this screenshot).

Is there any "meaning" to this posture, other than possibly it being an artistic idiosyncrasy?

It's known as the 'Shaft head tilt' as the animation studio "Shaft" are well known for including it in their shows:

Above are other shaft shows; Puella Magi Madoka Magica ,Arakawa Under the Bridge
, Nisekoi.
Anime director of Shaft since 2004, Akiyui Shinbo is responsible for this studio trait.
knowyourmeme - Shaft Head Tilt
The tilt is merely artistic, with no special meaning. Along with this, Shaft have other signature style traits such as large expansive empty rooms for dramatic effect and fast displaying text.

(who needs all that space to brush their teeth or have a bath?)
TVTropes Shaft Studio

I would absolutely LOVE to have that much space in my rooms! So great for letting your feeling of realism go.


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How did Izaya Orihara get Celty's head?
In the last episode of Durarara!! we see Izaya with Celty's head. How did he get the head?

lol of all people, you should know :D

Izaya traded Celty's head from Namie Yagiri for a favor. Namie works in Yagiri Pharmaceuticals where Celty's head was stored at that time. Namie had access to the storage room and didn't need the head that much, so she gave it to Izaya.
Also see this excerpt from a Durarara wiki:

At his apartment, Izaya meets with Namie once again. He comments on her situation, giving up all she had for her brother's love and having her company being bought out by Nebula. He agrees to help keep her in hiding in exchange for Celty's head.


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What happened in the last arc of spice and wolf season 2?
I have a couple of doubt about what happened in this arc.
In the anime, the merchant Eve decided to get revenge against the church by plotting something.
And that something should be: buying a lot of fur and then sailing somewhere in order to get big profit.
I actually don't get how the two things are related.
Also Lawrence at the end said she was going to commit a suicidal act, so this makes me wonder if she actually planned to use the money for something else.

I do love a good Spice & Wolf question! The short answers are:

Eve was not trying to hurt the Church. The only revenge she desired was against the deceased merchant who had once bought her, which was the reason she was so motivated to earn profits. Her goal was to become wealthier than he had ever been, in order to prove he'd only been able to buy her due to luck, and that he could never afford her under normal circumstances.
The suicidal act which Lawrence was referring to was her plan to buy up a large number of furs before everyone else, because it was purposely interfering with the expectations of the Church, and the Church isn't shy about killing people who defy their authority or otherwise become a nuisance.

Now for a bit of a longer explanation, specifically about the relationship between Eve's plan and the Church. While her plan wasn't a plot to get revenge against the Church, it might have seemed that way because she was determined to carry it out despite knowing it directly conflicted with the Church's plans. At the same time, the bishop of Lenos's unfair dismissal of Eve made the Church well-deserving of any negative impact her plans would have on them.
When the events are considered chronologically, it becomes clear that Eve didn't devise the plan to buy furs in order to seek revenge against the Church, since the way they wronged her in the first place was by abandoning her after she'd already shared this plan with them.
Basically, Eve wasn't interested in hurting the Church, but she also continued her plan in spite of the fact she would be hurting the Church. After this clarification has been made, your first question requires a new answer.

The Church is somehow hurt by Eve buying a lot of furs and then sailing away to make a big profit. How are these two things related?

For maximum clarity, I'll try to explain it with as much relevant background detail as possible.
Eve and the Church had been working together, smuggling salt into Lenos. Before this arrangement, the bishop of Lenos had been falling continually further into debt, until Eve approached him with the salt-smuggling plan. Since she's nobility within the kingdom of Winfiel, she also offered to put him in contact with a powerful archbishop there.
Eve did all the work in coming up with the plan, initiating the setup, then actually transporting the salt, and the Church paid her for its delivery. This arrangement was incredibly lucrative for the Church.
However, the Church was forced to cancel their annual northern campaign due to a falling out between them and the nation of Ploania, which is an area the campaign would have needed to pass through. Since the northern campaign's entire purpose had always been to display the Church's power, this cancellation brought the Church's authority into question and made the threat of an uprising more serious, so they started focusing entirely on strengthening their base of power and completely pulled out of salt-smuggling in the process.
This put Eve in a bad position, since she suddenly lost her sole source of income.
Meanwhile in the port town of Lenos, a freeze on all fur trading was put into effect.
(Note: The following section explains why a freeze was put on the fur trade, and why the Council of Fifty came to the decision that they did. If you fully understand this part already, feel free to skip it.)

The freeze on fur trading became necessary due to the northern campaign's cancellation. Lenos's craftsmen relied heavily on the northern campaign to sell their finished products, which would have normally flown off the shelves as souvenirs, since knights and mercenaries spent money quite freely. The cancellation of the campaign was an unthinkable economic blow to these craftsmen.
Since the campaign was not taking place, the town's economy would need to rely on merchants, who were not coming to the town to spend money as consumers, but rather quite the opposite. While knights and mercenaries are especially free with their coin, merchants are especially miserly. Their only purpose is to buy items they can resell for a worthwhile profit, so they have zero interest in buying clothing at retail prices.
Instead, the merchants would be interested in buying the furs themselves. As raw materials, they are cheap and can be easily sold for a good profit after transporting them elsewhere.
This is where the conflict arises.
With Lenos's craftsmen being unable to sell their products like usual, they'd also be unable to buy the vast quantities of fur like usual, which meant the merchants would have an opportunity to buy up the ridiculously large fur surplus that was suddenly available.
Additionally, the merchants could broker deals with the fur sellers, making arrangements to buy all their furs in the future as well. This would be pretty tempting to the sellers, since a merchant would be guaranteed to buy their furs every year, whereas the craftsmen of Lenos were now unreliable since the northern campaign might be cancelled again.
Thus, the Council of Fifty put a freeze on all fur trading, and convened to decide if the fur trade should be banned altogether, since that would guarantee the supply of furs would remain available to the local craftsmen.
The craftsmen of clothing in Lenos, along with the people who supply them their tools and wares, would be faced with complete ruin if the entire fur supply was bought out. At the same time, there was absolutely no guarantee that the clothing would sell even if fur sales were banned, and having money no longer coming into the town would devastate the economy of Lenos. Even if the craftsmen wanted to export the clothing, there were any number of other towns with superior clothing craftsmanship, so paying to ship it somewhere else would hardly be worth the trouble.

In the end, the compromise the Council of Fifty made was to restrict all fur-trading to cash-only transactions. By restricting fur trades to cash, they would be able to sell some of the furs while preventing the entire town's supply from being quickly bought out. After all, the larger a trading firm became, the more of its business took place on paper, in entries on ledgers, rather than with cash.
The Church heard of the decision well before it was going to be made public, and Eve found out through her contacts in the Church. She then approached the bishop of Lenos with a plan that would make both her and the Church a lot of money: Since the Church was sitting on a nearly unimaginable amount of cash from the tithes it collected, they could prepare to buy up all the furs in Lenos immediately after the Council of Fifty's decision was made public, while everyone else would still be scrambling to get cash together, and then they could move the furs downriver.
The bishop loved Eve's idea, except for the part where she was included in it. He found a trading company to partner with instead, and used that as an excuse to cut his ties with Eve, saying it would be more advantageous to deal with a trading company than with an individual merchant. It was a pretty harsh course of action, especially considering he owed a lot to her for the salt-smuggling opportunity. Although, the fact he owed her was exactly why he didn't want her around anymore, and got rid of her while he had a good opportunity.
However, Eve refused to let the deal she'd proposed get away from her. She started gathering up cash of her own, intending to buy a large number of furs and then transporting them downriver before anyone else had the chance, including the trading company the Church had partnered with. Whoever could get their furs downriver first would earn the best return on their investment, since people won't be willing to pay nearly as much for furs after they realize that the market is being flooded with them.
Eve's plan would infringe on a considerable portion of the Church's intended revenue, which is how it would hurt the Church.
Source: Spice & Wolf light novels (Volume 5).

Thank you, really clear. It seems some details are skipped in the anime, I guess the novel is worth reading.

@Lex: Glad it was helpful! I definitely recommend the novels, they're packed with intricate details that weren't possible to show in the anime. It really fleshes out the Spice & Wolf universe even more.