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Are there any Evangelion games out there in US or EU?
I really like Evangelion's anime and movies, and love the universe, but don't speak Japanese. I've tried to find video games on the universe, but the closest I found which made reference to Evangelion was Phantasy Star Portable on PSP, which have a plug suit and Longinus spear as bonus equipment...
Are there any games placed in the Evangelion universe that have been at least officially translated into English?
To add a little to the question, video game websites list these games (for current platforms):

PS3

Gekiatsu Pachige Damashii Max Evangelion (JAP only)

DS

CR Neon Genesis Evangelion : Angels Return (JAP)
Puchi Eva : Evangelion Game (JAP)

PSP

Evangelion : Jo (JAP)
Neon Genesis Evangelion : Battle Orchestra Portable (JAP)
Neon Genesis Evangelion : Girlfriend of Steel Special Version (JAP)
Neon Genesis Evangelion : Shinjitsu no Tsubasa (JAP/cancelled?)
Neon Genesis Evangelion : Tamashii no Kiseki (JAP)
Rebuild of Evangelion Sound Impact (PlayStation Store) (JAP/cancelled?)

None of those games have any official translation or has been localized to English. There is a fan-translated version of the first Girlfriend of Steel that was ported to Flash. I don't know how accurate it is or where you'd go to find it these days.
Along with the list that you have, there's a couple of more listed in this wiki Category, which isn't complete by a long shot.
Outside of official translations, you can look through faqs at places like Game Faqs which includes translations of the UI and game text. It's not nearly as convenient but it's really all there is.

What a shame for non japanese fan. Thanks you.


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From what anime are these pictures?
From this picture I was unable to identify from doing a Google image search, was this picture from an anime? I am wondering where this is from since I was watching a video clip and it didn't have the names of the animes that were compiled together. This one looks interesting though.

The only details I have is that she was looking at a guy waving his hair close by to a waterfall and that she hugged this guy in this photo here.

Could you split the 3rd image into a separate question. It doesn't appear to be from the same show as the first two.

Why do I need to create another question. To me it just makes me look like a spam user creating lots of questions.

It's not spam if they're legit questions. Unlike [so], we want more questions. And it's easier to answer if you split them. Since someone might know one, but not the other while someone else does.

@MiharuDante people in SE sites mostly won't really see that all the questions are from the same person. Bad questions are treated with  downvotes individually, If you want (most important have) 10 relevant unique questions, fire them away.

The first 2 images appear to be the main characters:

Mikasa Ackerman
Eren Yeager

from Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan).

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Is Charles the pilot of the seagull plane?
In Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta, ep 8: A seagull-crested aquamarine plane piloted by a ridiculously skilled person helps Kal-el. (screenshot)
We later learn that Levamme is coming to help them. (I have not seen the last episodes yet).
Is the pilot of that plane Charles, from The Princess and Pilot?
I think the light novels might shed some light on it, but my Japanese reading skills suck.

I haven't read the Koiuta light novels, but according to this guy on Chiebukuro and the Wikipedia article for Koiuta, there are strong indications that the pilot of the seagull plane is, in fact, Charles KARINO from The Princess and the Pilot. However, this is never made explicit. There is apparently a scene in the fourth volume where he and Kal-el have a conversation, but despite this, his name is never revealed.
The Koiuta light novels are complete (no further volumes are expected to be published), so this is probably as good an answer as you're going to get.

From the epilogue of the Tsuioku novel, the author would be shooting himself in the foot if he made clear that Charles has appeared later in the cronology. I think it serves two purposes: to make the people that know the first novel wonder and hope (as I did) and to avoid having to flesh out the character to the new audience. I asked the question mostly to confirm this suspicion. But seeing the level of influence Fana has, its hard to believe she wouldn't provide for Charles. Mostly, it was sweet of him to place him like that.

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


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Who is the character in this picture with Yotsuba and Totoro?
I am familiar with Yotsuba and Totoro, but who is the third character in this picture (the one in pink) ? What manga/anime is she from?
It comes from some desktop background site which sadly did not give any attributation to what is obviously fan art.

She's from Hare+Guu, or "The Jungle Was Always Sunny, Then Came Guu".

It was originally a serialized manga that was then adapted into a 26 episode anime TV series as well as several OVAs.
She's one of the main characters and her name is "Guu".

Here's some more information about the characters, and specifically, about Guu:

Guu's stomach is a world filled with buildings, hundred legged cats, and a nice young couple of lovers that have been trapped there for ages (but apparently don't mind their predicament). Other than Haré, no character seems to be aware of Guu's strange nature (or for that matter the bizarre circumstances surrounding everything else in the series). The weird events that occur because of her are only ever acknowledged by Haré. Everyone who is eaten by Guu, only to be spat out later (excluding Haré) dismisses what happened as "sleeping" (occasionally, dreaming about Guu's Stomach world). Haré even dismisses his first time in Guu's Stomach but is quickly proved wrong. There are other strange things Guu can do, which defy the laws of physics, logic, and reality, such as (but not limited to) teleport, time travel, warp reality, superhuman strength, elongate her body parts, breathe underwater, cause people to switch bodies, read minds, cause disco music to play suddenly, switch her face (from a cute face to a completely plain face), transform into a giant kaiju monster version of herself, and incite mental breakdowns in Haré, though the latter is more of a talent than an actual power. She apparently has more than one stomach and cares enough about the people and creatures she swallows to keep dangerous things away from the area she keeps her 'guests'. Despite all this, Guu actually cares for some of Hare's personal problems, and often gives him advice with profound sayings- a lot of her powers are used to make Hare learn a lesson. At the end of the manga, Guu leads Hare to her birthplace in a dream (and refuses to let him go further, saying it would be an one-way trip for him), and it's strongly implied that Guu's birthplace is somewhere between life and death, and that she's some kind of physical god. Guu disappears the next morning, releasing the people in her stomach (who turn up in a TV shows about missing people suddenly reappear) and erasing everybody's memories of her, except Hare's. Six years later, Hare spots Guu's smirk on his newborn daughter's face, and realizes she might be a reincarnation of Guu.

(lol she looks like a younger Nadia)


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Why was Kugo Ginjo kicked out of the Soul Society?
I remember that Kugo Ginjo used to be a Substitute Shinigami, but he got kicked out and lost his shinigami status. Why did this happen?

It may be my misunderstanding, but I think being "substitute" shinigami means that he was never really part of Soul Society.

@ytg See this question: http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/8667/what-does-it-mean-that-ichigo-and-ginjo-are-substitute-shinigami/8668#8668 (I had some friends who also had issues with this concept)

so they are not part of Soul Society, right?

It is not that Kūgo Ginjō got kicked out. He left on his own accord after feeling betrayed by the shinigami.

Some time ago, Kūgo became the first Substitute Shinigami and in recognition of that was given a Substitute Shinigami badge by Captain Jūshirō Ukitake. How he gained Shinigami powers is unknown, but according to Captain Suì-Fēng, he murdered many Shinigami in order to steal their power. At some point, Kūgo found out that his badge was a surveillance device used by Soul Society to observe him and limit his power. After that discovery, Kūgo thought he had been betrayed and disappeared without a trace. - Bleach wiki


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What is an ONA?
Searching through MAL and other anime sites, I found an unfamiliar type of anime. What is an "ONA"? Is it different from a OVA?

ONA and OVA are completely different in terms of their target markets.
An Original Net Animation (ONA) is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet(1) while an Original Video Animation (OVA) is an animated film or series made specially for release in home-video formats.(2)

The term ONA was first coined by the creators of Lingerie Fighter Papillon Rose and Anime News Network decided to adopt it for use in the encyclpedia since

There was no other word to describe this new format of anime.
We felt "ONA" was an original and appropriate denomination.(3)

Many ONAs are designed as side stories to an existing franchise, or are simply promotional vehicles. The ONA Hitotsubu ni Kawaranu Ai wo Komete, for instance, was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Morinaga Milk Caramel candy. HALO Legends tells several standalone stories in the universe of the HALO video game.(4)

Some examples of ONAs:

Eve no Jikan (before it was made into a movie)
Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Lite
Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo
There She Is!!
Kyousou Giga (the first one)
Hetalia Axis Powers

NOTE:
Just a different name for the same show, some of anime site name it web.
Sources:

(1) - Wikipedia: "Original net animation"
(2) - Wikipedia: "Original video animation"
(3) - Anime News Network: "Original Net Anime (ONA)"
(4) - anime.about.com: "ONA (Original Net Animation)"

Wasn't Azumanga Daioh originally a web episode after which the series started?

@user1306322 From wiki: Azumanga Web Daioh, a shorter original net animation made available for paid streaming on chara-ani.com beginning from December 28, 2000, then offered as a paid download for a limited time. So yes, it's an ONA before the TV series started.


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Why didn't Jiraiya use reverse summoning as a way to escape?
We know that animals can reverse summon humans who have a contract with them. So, my question is: why didn't Fukasaku reverse summon Jiraiya to Mount Myoboku while fighting Pain? If Jiraiya had enough time to write on Fukasaku's back then a reverse summon could be performed easily in that time. This would end up giving Jiraiya intel on pain and leaving the Sannin alive.
Why was reverse summoning not used to save Jiraiya? Are there any limitations on the technique that prevent its usage?

Related Question: Why did Jiraiya have to die?

Welcome to the site :) in chapter 382 we also see Jiraiya has already died at p3 in chapter 382 p 16 Gamakichi even says "Did he force himself back to life with willpower?" even pain says that his heart had stopped. So even if he managed to get away before the final attack, Jiraiya would have been dead already. There for he used his final life force to write the message instead of making a futile escape attempt. Besides that you can beter post this as comment then a answer once you reach enough reputation :)

Simply said he could have, and Fukasaku even recommended Jiraiya to do this. But Jiraiya decided not to since he already got too close to find out Pain's ability and identity. Also there would be no second chance in finding out his ability after this anymore, because Pain would be more careful afterwards.

When Jiraiya originally summoned the elder toad couple they also asked him why he was fighting1. A few chapters after, when Jiraiya already got gravely wounded2 and orders the elder couple to retreats he gives his reasoning for staying

1(chap 376 pag 3-5)
2(chap 381 pag 10-11)


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What does the symbol 油 on Jiraiya's headband mean?
Jiraiya is shown wearing a headband with 油【あぶら】 drawn onto it. I know that 油 is the symbol for abura, and that it means "oil".
But how is it related to him? Does it have anything to do with the fact that he is a sage from Mount Myoboku?

A toad in Kaguya Otsutsuki's story has a jewlery with that symbol written on it in Naruto Shippuden episode 461.

The kanji for Oil 油 【あぶら】(Abura) is the symbol of Myobokuzan. Jiraiya wearing it on his forehead protector represents his affiliation to it. The symbol probably comes from their special sacred oil, which allows people to feel natural energy more easily, and evaporates outside Myobokuzan's atmosphere.

Although I have noticed nobody else, other than the Great Toad Sage, sport that kanji. Maybe I did not observe closely.

In Japan, 蛤蟆の油（gama no abura）is a type of medicine effective in treating burns, cuts, and bruises.

@Krazer Interesting, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks.


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What did Light write before killing Shibuimaru Takuo?
So I decided to rewatch Death Note. In the first episode, there's a motorcyclist called Shibuimaru Takuo - Light's second victim. In the scene where he is about to kill him, according to my subtitles, he writes:

Shibuimaru Takuo: car accident

And we see this:

I don't know Japanese, but it seems to me that all the lines are the same, except for the two last ones.
Since that guy is just his second victim, what exactly happened in that scene? What do these lines say, and why did Light several of them, over and over?

Look very closely at each different character. All the lines are slightly different. This was when Light was testing out how to kill someone and which factors he can manipulate.

@krikara: Hm, sounds likely. But then, he tried to kill Takuo using different tests? Not sure if the Death Note multitasks that way lol. Can you tell what do these tests say?

Have you completed the entire series yet? While they might not explicitly say what each line means, they explain what he was doing here. I don't wanna spoil anything here if you haven't

@krikara: I did! I can't remember why did he write so much for his second victim.

@krikara: I got an answer saying that Light was testing all name combinations, but you're saying that he was testing what factors can be manipulated. I'm confused now :[

@Omega As both my answer and Senshin's show, in the combinations above, what changes is the different possible spellings of both name and surname. Notice how the last column is always the same (事故死), and is the one that refers to the cause of death (which is "accidental death").

From what I remember (although I don't know enough Japanese to confirm this), he was trying every possible different spelling for the name of the victim.
The Death Note wiki page on the first episode also states this as a fact (in the sixth paragraph in the synopsis.
Now, if you've already watched the series and are currently re-watching it, you're already familiarised with the rules. The one that is significant in this particular case is rule #2 (highlight by me):

This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

This means that Light was trying every possible spelling of the name, because at least one of them would match with the face pictured when he wrote the names. This also means that no collateral casualties would occur, as that particular person's face was being pictured in his mind.
If I'm correct on this, the first column are different spellings for Shibuimaru, the second for Takuo, and the third column refers to the death ("accidental death" (事故死) is what it says).
He did not have to try this out with his first victim because he got both his face and name from TV.
Long story short, he was trying to match a name for that face by going through every possible spelling.

Editing in some info from the below comments:
This does not appear to violate the rule on rendering the Death Note void if the user misspells a person's name more than 4 times, if one of the first four spellings was correct (which seems to be the case).

But isn't it another rule that when you misspell a person's name more than 4 times, the Death Note will no longer be effective? (Not to mention that if you misspell it on purpose, the writer die?)

Although I did not know that, yeah, it seems to be true. However, what is written seems to match what I said. Perhaps we are facing a plothole :)

A plot hole? In Death Note? Has hell frozen over?

The author of Death Note was pretty thorough with ensuring there weren't plot holes. This scene does not conflict with the "4 misspellings" rule: One of the first 4 spellings was correct.

@Azrael Imagine Light actually misspelling all of the first four names and then saying "Nah, this thing doesn't work. Time to throw it away"...

JNat's answer is correct. Just to add a bit of info:

The variants of "Shibuimaru" that he tries are:
渋井丸
渋伊丸

Note the differences in the middle character.
The variants of "Takuo" that he tries are:
拓男
拓夫
拓雄
卓男

I think we encounter another minor plot hole here (at least as shown in the anime) - Light stops writing after iterating over all 8 combinations of those names (the first of which, 渋井丸 拓男, turns out to be correct), when there are actually at least 2 more spellings of "Takuo" (卓夫 and 卓雄) that should've been possible.

Maybe his first one was correct, then the note was set in motion... is a possibility.

@Braiam Well yeah, it turns out that his first choice was actually correct. Thing is, he wouldn't know that until he actually saw the guy die, right? At least as shown in the anime, Light stopped writing before anything had happened that would suggest the guy was going to die.

He wrote down the man's name 8 times, the first of which was correct. The next 7 attempts were other guesses at the spelling of Takuo.
There is, however, a rule in the death note stating that if a person intentionally writes a name incorrectly four times, that person will die.
However, just like in "Death Note Onison", the intent to misspell is a key factor. In "Onison," L has Misa write his and his companions name's down four times. They do not die, however, because L knew Misa was illiterate, (at least in this version of Death Note) and she tried her best to spell the names correctly. Because she tried with intent to spell correctly, she did not die; Light Yagami did not die for the exact same reason.
Light Yagami has found the perfect murder weapon, and unknowing almost killed himself in the process of trying it out. Had Takuo's name been written incorrectly over 4 times first by Light, and then one of the next four spelling been correct, Light may have been killed first, then Takuo. Light would die since he got the spelling wrong 4 times in a row before getting it right. Takuo would die because Light still got it right once, and a name written in a Death Note can never be prevented.
Even though I have already stated that intent is required for the Death Note to be effective, evidence is only seen for this in "Onison," which was only a skit, and the word "intent" in the rule on the Death Note page describing that the person would die if it was written incorrectly four times.
Even though Light did truely intend to spell it correctly, he did know he would potentially misspell it as well. As we see in the Manga and the Series, the rules of the Death Note can be somewhat loose. If you figure out a particular rule by testing it, you can utilize it how Light did. However, we never see somebody incorrecly spell a name 4 times in a row to see what would happen to them, since Light got his very first guess right.
The truth is, nobody knows what would have happened had Light been wrong more than 4 times before getting it right, since we never see what the Death Note would do in a situation like that. How the Shinigami killings occur is a very interesting speculation, but impossible to comprehend.
Luckily Light did not intend to misspell the names, and he also spelled the very first one correct. This means that one of these factors prevented Light from dying, and continuing to utilize the power of the Death Note. Unlocking this secret could have cost Light his life, (if that sounds melodramatic, an early death) but his spelling abilities allowed him to almost rule the entire world.
skit
Boy handed death note and bored Shinigami encounter.
Boy: "What's that?"
Shinigami: "It's a Death Note. You just write a person you know's name in it."
Boy: "I can't spell yet."
Shinigami: "That's fine." smirks
Note: The previous skit at the end is based on the assumption that the result of writing a name 4 times consecutively with the intent of being correct will not prevent the death of the Death Note user. However, this is not proven in the series and is merely speciation at this point.
Credit: The line, "If that sounds melodramatic, an early death" is taken from the light novel "L Change The World," which features an alternative ending that L defeats Light.

authors: محمد الحمادي

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


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How is Reinforce's name supposed to be said?
In season 3 of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Hayate calls Reinforce "Rein", and near the end of season 2 she renames Dark Book to Reinforce. However, looking at the text, it looks like "re-in-force" rather than "rein-force".
So, I am wondering if "rein-force" is actually how Reinforce is supposed to be called or if it's supposed to be "re-in-force", which however sounds different due to it being said by the Japanese.

The character's name in Japanese is リインフォース riinfoosu, which is basically how the English word "reinforce" would be rendered into Japanese. So yes, the character's name is supposed to sound like the English word "reinforce" (ree-in-FOHRS, not rahyn-FOHRS). Presumably (though I'm not sure, hence my not posting an answer) the contraction would have been リイン riin, which is pronounced like the first two syllables of "reinforce" (ree-in).

Converting my comment into an answer, thanks to textual support from Dusk252's comment...
The character's name in Japanese is リインフォース riinfoosu, which is basically how the English word "reinforce" would be rendered into Japanese. So, if you were talking about Nanoha while speaking in English, you should pronounce the character's name like the English word "reinforce"; that is, "ree-in-FOHRS", not "RAHYN-fohrs" or anything else like that.
As seen in the topmost speech bubble in this excerpt from chapter 2 of Mahou Senki Lyrical Nanoha Force, Reinforce's name is abbreviated as リイン riin. Thus, you should pronounce the abbreviated form of her name as you would pronounce the correspondingly-abbreviated form of the English word "reinforce": as "ree-in".


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Is the version of Madoka Magica on Crunchyroll the DVD version?
The DVD version has various changes (animation improvements, etc). I don't believe Madoka was on Crunchyroll during airing, so is the stream from the DVD edition?

See below for some comparison screenshots from episode 2, at the beginning of the first scene on the school roof (the one where Homura comes and gives a mysterious warning to Madoka and Sayaka).
Judging from the railings surrounding the roof area and the floor tiles, Crunchyroll is using the Blu-Ray/DVD version of Madoka Magica. Not the TV version.

TV

Blu-Ray

Crunchyroll


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Why didn't Lelouch use the "obey me" order on everyone?
In the final episodes of Code Geass R2, Lelouch gave orders like "be my slave" or "obey me". This way, unlike when using the Geass, he can give them orders an unlimited number of times.

(Code Geass Wikia)
So why didn't he use these orders on everyone from the beginning? This way he could've given them orders whenever he wanted!

At the very beginning, right after he got his powers, Lelouch may not have been sure that it was possible to give such powerful orders. This is why, for example, Lelouch ordered a female student from the academy to engrave a cross-mark on a wall every day forever: to determine how long a geass would last. Presumably, he was performing similar experiments that weren't shown to the viewer.
In some cases, Lelouch could be morally conflicted about geassing people. In the last episode of R2, we see him wavering on whether or not to use a geass to command Nunnally to give him the FLEIJA control device. It's possible that he felt the same way about using his geass on other people as well. (Then again, that might just be a special thing for Nunnally.)
Recall now that people are able to reject a geass (at least temporarily) if it is in strong conflict with their morals. Guilford, for example, would probably have found the idea of obeying Zero to be utterly repugnant, and may have resisted the geass to a degree, which could have thrown a wrench in Lelouch's plans. This could be why Lelouch instead geassed Guilford to view him as if he were Cornelia - to circumvent that issue.
There are probably a few other reasons, too, which hopefully other people will be able to come up with in their answers.

Lelouch does confirm to C.C when she shows up after being killed at the start that he is experimenting with his Geass, he also did an experiment with a teacher when he found out that Kallen didn't fall under his command a second and third time, this confirms the first paragraph

Lelouch isn't exactly morally conflicted with his Geass since he was more than willing to enslave the Imperial Court, ordering Suzaku to live or using it on an noble's bodyguard, any hesitation would be more than likely that of him reserving it's use, his conflict to use it on Nunnally and to make Shirley forget about him and his despair when it was accidentally used it on Euphie was mainly because he loved all 3 of them, his own sister, the girl who fell for him and he reciprocated the feeling for and his first love

Third Paragraph is confirmed when Euphie was accidentally cast with the order to "Kill the Japanese", she resisted, as @senshin has said, Guilford being ordered to obey Zero would conflict not only with his nature but his loyalty to Cornelia which is as strong as it is because of his feelings towards her, Lelouch probably knew this and explains his order in episode 17 or R2, however, one would question why Schneizel was so willing to "Serve Zero" but it could just be that deep inside Schneizel wants to be controlled

the only other reason i can think of not worth of a separate answer would be just the famous "plot induced stupidity" but then again would the series really be enjoyable if Lelouch just went around ordering everyone to become his slave?

I like to think of them as purely moral choices, not at ALL for practicality.
In the beginning of R2, Kallen asked if she was geassed into obeying Zero, or something to that effect. Lelouch makes it clear that she followed under her own will, which presumably, he wanted for all of the Black Knights.
Note that he only ordered "Obey Me!!!" after the Black Knights betray him*, leaving him with no troops to command.
The others I see as lack of choices. For example, he didn't geass Suzaku the moment he realized he was working for the enemy (he could have very well said "Follow Zero" at that point on, and C.C. even chastises him for not doing it) but he only geasses him in a very precarious situation (when both of them were about to get killed).
*EDIT: Actually, there's another reason: (Lelouch thinks) NUNNALY's DEAD!. Remember he did everything for Nunnaly. With Nunnaly, Shirley, Rolo, and the Black knights gone, he has nothing left basically. So this point is pretty much a "Well, Fuck My Moral Compass", And does things more pragmatically.

Production-wise, it would probably be because of addition to drama. I think the production thought (and I believe us as well) would be boring to have Lelouch command "Obey me" everytime. And of course, to add limitation to the order, thus, adding an opening for conflicts in the stories. If the order "Obey me" will always be used, then Lelouch will mostly be invincible and that will prevent twists on the stories - which makes the anime more enjoyable.

I agree with the answer posed by Secret. But there's another addition/modification I would like to make to it.
His initial motives were in line to end Charles' Hegemony and he had people in support for it, that's how he gained the support of the Black Knights.
But after the incidents in the thought chamber when he stopped Charles and Marianne, he had made a different plan with Suzaku and CC. In order to execute this plan he required an army which he could gain neither by motivating them by his motives nor by the virtue of his emperor post(since he was a usurper). Hence the Geass.
In summary: He had a moral compass which he later compromised for the greater good (Instead of his morality being lost after Nunnaly's death)

I think the reason is much easier than what all you guys have just said. It is likely that the obey order could not be issued because all the other people not affected by geass would have started to suspect something weird going on and they would have investigated on geass. However, this conclusion cannot be possible if the order issued was like "from now onward obey me but never tell or make any reference to who is giving you orders".

user15181's answer was the best answer. His Geass wasn't yet powerful enough to do so as the Geass grow more powerful with each usage. Remember, that Lelouch thinks that other people aside from the ones he knows personally are mere pawns; he thinks that the world revolves around him and the people he wants to protect that's why he'll forsake an entire army just for Nunnally which he did both seasons. For him, who cares if all of my soldiers die, I must save Nunnally. Japan's freedom was just an excuse for him to create his ideal world. Another sign of his Narcism is thinking that he could take down Britannia even before he got Geass, and also the fact he was born royalty.
The clearest evidence why it's not because of his moral standards is when he made a gang at the alley act like animals for eternity just because he is sad. So that argument is refuted. The reason is that his Geass is still not yet in both of his eyes unlike after he defeated Charles. After he defeated Charles, his geass is in both of his eyes so he was able to simply say "follow me" by then to become emperor.
Notice how his commands become more complicated as the story progresses. But the most complicated was only "do this when this happens" before his Geass spread to both eyes. However, the whole dealing with Suzaku is something I can't relate to, I don't do bromance, ask Naruto instead.

The clearest evidence why it's not because of his moral standards is when he made a gang at the alley act like animals for eternity just because he is sad.

This doesn't necessary refute anything though. He was sad, and therefore his moral compass at that time was compromised.

You mean he would compromise his morals when he is sad but he would not compromise his morals when he is angry? He'll do it when he is sad but not when he is about to die, Nunnally is in danger, and needs to win a battle? s1 e13 He is willing to kill a whole boat load of alies but no, he wouldn't say "follow me" just because of morals. You're saying, just geassing people with "follow me" > killing people. Life time obedience > death. Remember, if he says "follow me" it's a normal life until he makes an order.

He does use it when he was about to die, that's why he geasses Suzaku to live. Note how he does NOT want to geass Suzaku at the start, and CC chastises him for it. It's only in a moment of desperation, 'when he is about to die' as you put it, that he does so.

"s1 e13 He is willing to kill a whole boat load of alies". yes. Note that I'm not saying what he does is moral, but it makes sense for his moral compass. His moral compass is one of ideological morality - he wants the Black Knights to fight for him/follow him because they believe in his idea, not because he geasses them to do it. Note how he does not geass the resistance fighters in the Suzaku rescue episode, and instead waits for the people who came back out of their own will, even though he 100% had the power to do so.

Lelouch's geass power increased over time. Perhaps it was not powerful enough make someone his full-time slave until his power got to full strength. Lelouch did experiments in the beginning to test the limitations and capabilities of his geass. Surely he must have wondered what would happen if he tried the command "obey me".


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What are the nationalities of the magic weapons?
It's obvious that the magic weapons that Nanoha and the rest wield have different nationalities, as Rising Heart speaks English, but Hayate's Knight's weapons don't.
I am wondering: what are the nationalities of the weapons based on?

There is no official answer to the reason for speaking a different language. But, the language is tied into the magic system that the device uses.
There are:

English for Mid-Childa devices
German for the Ancient-Belkan devices
Japanese for Unison devices

Unison devices are the devices that merge with their master to increase the combat capabilities, such as Reinforce and Agito. The devices that are up for the debate are the Modern-Belkan devices, such as Strada (Erio) using German, while Mach Caliber (Subaru) uses English.
My personal opinion would be that Modern-Belkan devices capable of transforming form would use German (Strada), while others do not (Mach Caliber).


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Has it been revealed what Jugo and Sugeitsu found in the lair?
I've been following quite closely but might have missed this. What is it that Jugo and Sugeitsu found in Oro's lair? See: http://www.mangareader.net/naruto/574/6.

Yes, it was revealed in the manga. The scroll is a Jutsu Scroll for Shiki Fuujin: Kai, the method to unseal the Dead Reaper Seal.
It was thanks to this that Orochimaru was able to revive the 4 previous Kages, whose souls were originally sealed within the Death God.


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Why there are no popular manga series based on light novels?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but, why are there no popular manga series based on light novels? I know that there are many anime based on light novels that are popular such as Sword Art Online, Oreimo, Monogatari Series, Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, or Kara no Kyoukai. But for some reason, there are no popular manga adaptations from light novels, whether the light novel has been adapted into an anime - like SAO manga, or Oreimo manga (I think these two manga are not as popular as the anime or any other manga) - or not.

How are you defining popular?

@kuwaly maybe like widely known and many people like it so the manga never on hiatus?

@student080705639 Popularity of a work does not have anything to do with hiatus. (Consider Hunter x Hunter.)

@kuwaly While popular might be subjective, I'm pretty sure the OP is referring to the manga receiving commercial success

Semi-counterexample: A Certain Scientific Railgun (popular manga) spun off from A Certain Magical Index (original light novel). They tell different stories, of course, but are very closely related, featuring many of the same characters, and even retelling the same events in some cases.

Man I sure botched my first answer. @senshin Most of the LN that have manga aren't translated, and only start to translate as they get an anime series.

Just speculating here, but maybe the publishers don't hype the manga versions as much because they're using the manga as a test to see if it's worth making an anime, and don't care as much if it succeeds.

I feel it should be noted that the Monogatari Series now has a manga.

After a decent amount of research, I have to retract my previous answer.
There are in fact a lot of series that started as Light Novels and achieved commercialized success. Some include Accel World, Zero no Tsukaima, Haruhi Suzumiya, and Shakugan no Shana.
Their order of progression was LN -> Manga -> Anime.
Then there are still LN today that have a manga, but no anime , such as Kagerou Project (although scheduled for Spring 2014).


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What is this manga about a student who doesn't want his diploma?
Does anyone know of this manga? I also tried to search with Google Image Search but nothing of relevance was found.

Possible duplicate of Where is this picture from? How do I use Reverse Image Search to find the source of an anime/manga image?

This panel is from Silver Spoon, chapter 92, page 13. Okawa is at a graduation ceremony and is refusing to accept the diploma, causing others to force him into taking it.

      Image credit: MangaReader


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Who was the first person Kazami killed?
After Chibiki stops Akazawa from killing Kazami, it's mentioned that Kazami had killed 2 people. The second was a girl who was in Sakakibara's arms before he stabs her through the throat and asks Sakakibara if he remembers her (almost like randomly killing someone to see if they were the Extra). But, who was the first?

The two people that Kazami killed were apparently named KANEKI Kyouko and MATSUI Aki. Here's a picture of them together:

Right after the above shot, Kyouko (left) falls to the floor, apparently stabbed in the back by Kazami. He then chased after Aki (right), which is why she was running when she bumped into Sakakibara. Here, we see Sakakibara coming across Kyouko's body:

Shortly thereafter, Aki runs into Sakakibara's arms.

Then, Kazami stabs her in the neck, raising his kill count to 2.


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Identify girl (brown hair, white dress, pink crisscross lace)
I saw someone using this as an avatar somewhere:

Is this character from any series, or is she just art?

This seems to be Hagiwara Yukiho from THE iDOLM@STER, which is originally a video game series with several anime and manga adaptations. The series is about the lives and careers of a number of fictional idols in Japan, mostly working with the fictional studio 765 Productions. Yukiho is a 16 year old girl (17 in more recent versions) who is one of the idols. She's known for her timid personality and fear of dogs and men, which she is able to overcome as an idol.
Here's a higher quality uncropped version of the same picture (click for full size):

I haven't yet tracked down the source of this image.

Yes. The girl who is afraid of dogs but can dig holes at super-human speeds.


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At the end of the manga "Sundome", what happens to Kurumi Sahana?
At the end of the manga, it was left unclear whether the main character had married Kurumi as she had blossomed into a woman, or whether he had married somebody else. Is that her, or did she die from her earlier illness?
I know it was meant to be left as "up to the reader", but I would like to reach a consensus.
Personally, I like to think it is Kurumi, but I could understand any naysayers.

I just have to ask this, why do you use the word Die in your question title but don't ask anything of the sort in the rest of the question...i haven't read the manga so i don't know if not being married is the equivalent to being killed

Well, I won't spoil it, but the last scene alludes to the main woman being sickly. Plus, the woman that is shown with the main character at the end seems to have different personality characteristics than Kurumi. But in the last panel, she is caught saying something that Kurumi would say. So.. there's the question just there.

By last scene, I mean the scene before last.

I think the translation should read "You are here". Implying not that Kurumi has passed away but that the woman was her and that he reminisces about how much she's changed since they first met and how depressing she used to be.

It is left up to the reader, but I think we can draw a conclusive answer from the hints given to us.
Theory #1: She doesn't die

The woman we see him with at the end could be Kurumi grown up. She is of the same build and may just have longer hair:
Even if it's not her, she could still be around - just not with the main character

Theory #2: She does die

Towards the end of the manga, she is very ill, more than we have seen in the previous chapters. There's also a lot of dialogue alluding to the fact that death may be near:

As you pointed out, the woman he is with at the end of the manga has a different personality from Kurumi, laughing at the Roman Club and the main character's request, as if she hadn't been around them in that time period:

The title of the manga, Sundome means stopping the moment before. This is significant as in the final few chapters, Kurumi admits to having a dream where she had sex with the main character - the one thing that the main character so desired, but was not allowed. It would be fitting if the manga 'stopped just before' they could do so.
When with the woman in the final chapters, the main characters says "You still exist", but, it sounds more like that character is remembering Kurumi as a fond memory. The orbs of light and the character's expression in the panel before the statement seem to indicate this.

Other information:

He is shown as becoming a resident doctor. He told Kurumi in earlier chapters that he would become one so that he could take care of her always. This doesn't indicate much either way about what happened, but it's interesting to take into consideration.

Anyway, there's no concrete proof either way, unless the mangaka reveals it. So everyone can believe what they want to believe :)

The evidence seems to lean towards her death. Well, that's how it seems to me.
May I just ask for your personal opinion??

I think she's probably dead, even though I don't want her to be :'(

Yeah I thought so too. :(

Since the ending means 'stopping the moment before', I'm gonna assume she died before she came when they were having sex at the end. Especially because when they're looking off into the sky and stuff you can't see her eyes and she appears quite lifeless, especially when he climaxes and he's grabbing her hand and she doesn't hold his firm back.

In the panels where we first see this woman, she asks if the main character want to try some stuff that her and him have never done before. He suggests a "golden shower" and she shoots him down saying it's gross. That right there is a good indicator that she isn't Kurumi. They've done a lot of different acts involving pee.
It's a sad moment reading through the ending and thinking she's alive, getting that feeling that everything worked out for the best, then rereading it moments later and realizing that woman isn't Kurumi...

What happened towards the last couple of episodes: there was a girl going to a house with two kids and a lady, I think it was the orphanage she was raised at.
She said she had sisters so it could be her twin sister, because when she was going into the house as the train was going by when the main characters stole the girl from the hospital, the train was going by.
She said "I smell Kurumi" which was the sick girl he broke out of the hospital so after they did what they did and then had sex later on down the line, the main character girl ends up dying and the girl with the mole in the long hair and the big boobs I didn't know nothing about the OB club her twin sister went to visit in.
They could have worked it out for her dying wish to marry the guy that she loves so he will always be happy and you know and she dies without him knowing then they end up getting married. That's why she has the ring on her finger and she doesn't remember anything about before the golden shower and other stuff, because remember she did say she lives in an orphanage with her kids brothers and sisters, he could have had a twin sister.

Does nobody remember the scene where the narration goes something like "Little did I know, that was the last summer that we would ever spend together." (not word-for-word)
This points to her death.. I was already prepared for heartbreak of that nature when I read that way back. I think the lights at the end are to symbolise him slipping into a dream; as was characteristic of him, to fulfil certain fantasies. This time, a dream in which the mystery girl is the still-living Kurumi and not some other boring full-breasted creep.
God I hate that ending. Great manga otherwise.

She has leukaemia which is Cancer and not AIDs... Also all of her symptoms also indicate that it is leukaemia. Not to mention that the doctors mentions it too. The disease Symptoms may include bleeding and bruising problems, feeling very tired, fever and an increased risk of infections. These symptoms occur due to a lack of normal blood cells. Having sex would kill her and in this case I am pretty sure that's what happen. Still really sad about the fact that the woman at the end isn't her.. ''You Still Exist'' means what you carved into my heart/body is still there. (explaining why he can't have a boner like a normal person anymore.)

Thanks for answering. It would be great if you could cite the chapter where the doctor mentioned that she has leukemia or something that suggests so.


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What is a more accurate translation of the title of Legend of the Galactic Heroes?
Several people have mentioned to me that the title of Legend of the Galactic Heroes is based on a rather "interesting" translation. What would be a more accurate translation of the original title (銀河英雄伝説 Ginga Eiyū Densetsu)? I've also heard that it is based on a German title, that was then translated to Japanese, and then to English - I don't know if that is true, though.

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu is a series of Japanese novels written by a Japanese person, and is not, to the best of my knowledge, materially based on any previously-existing work.

The 110-episode OVA series (which is probably what most viewers are familiar with) was given the alternate title "Heldensagen vom Kosmosinsel". I don't speak German, but various discussions on the internet suggest that "Heldensagen vom Kosmosinsel" is not valid German. A look at de.wiktionary.org suggests that "Kosmosinsel" is not even a word, or perhaps is a compound noun meaning "cosmos island" (which is not idiomatic for "galaxy"; that would be "Galaxie").
Given this, it looks like the producers of the OVA figured that it would look cool to have a faux-German title (in Gothic font, too!), ran "銀河英雄伝説" through Babelfish (or maybe through some dude who'd had a year of German at university), and got out "Heldensagen von Kosmosinsel". It's probably the case that the translation went Jap -> Ger (badly) and Jap -> Eng, rather than Ger -> Jap -> Eng.

I'm not sure why you've been hearing that that "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" is an "interesting" translation of 銀河英雄伝説 (ginga eiyuu densetsu), though. 銀河 ginga means "galaxy"; 英雄 eiyuu means "hero"; and 伝説 densetsu means "legend".
It's a bit contracted to omit particles, as titles often are, but the meaning is clear - this is a densetsu about the ginga eiyuus, i.e. a legend about galaxy heroes. Hence, Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

Note: in the comments, @Krazer correctly points out that an alternate parse of ginga eiyuu densetsu is as "eiyuu densetsu about the ginga", i.e. "Heroic Legends from the Galaxy". Now that I think about it, I'm not really sure which parse is actually better, in terms of the show.

If we draw from both sources we can infer that 銀河(Milky Way/Galaxy) 英雄伝説 (heroic [legendary] tales) can also potentially mean: "Heroic Tales/Legends from (the) Milky Way/Galaxy."

@Krazer Good catch. I've incorporated that into the answer.


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How does the hierarchy of the Elite 10 Council work?
Do these seat rankings indicate one's cooking level or skill? If so, which seat represents the best cook?
I was trying to figure out if Seat 1 > Seat 10 or vice versa, but I couldn't find anything nor remember which seat is better to have. It seems like Seat 1 is probably the best seat since Doujima and Saiha were portrayed to be the best cooks in Seats 1 and 2, but I just can't find anything explicitly saying Seat 1 is the best.

While it was never really clear which seat was considered the best, the latest chapter 47 confirms Seat 1 is the best as Seat 1 gets special recognition.


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What is the tune played when the Strawhats stand against the CP9 in Enies Lobby?
In Episode 274 (Answer Us, Robin! The Outcries of the Straw Hat Crew!!), the Strawhat Pirates assemble on the roof of the Court House. They then walk towards the Tower of Justice to join Luffy, and stand against the CP9 members, who are standing in the balcony of the Tower of Justice.
The tune played at the time sounds quite inspiring and feels great to hear. This tune runs from about 20:45 to 21:45 of the episode. Could someone please tell me the name of this tune?

@Krazer Thanks, I forgot to add the [tag:music] tag, and was about to edit the post.

There was a [music] tag? Color me surprised. ;)

It's "I'm Here With You, Too," the same as Track #23 from Sixth Movie's OST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov9LMCtTgqo


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What do Homura's runes in Rebellion say?
Well, if you saw the third Madoka movie, then you know that…

 Homura turns into a witch at some point of the movie.

Knowing that, I'm trying to decipher what her runes say:

Some runes are pretty obvious and others not so much:

This is the rune map that I use; it's from the wiki.

As far as I could get, this says something like:

H O M _ U
H O M _   LILLY

At least, that last part is pretty clear. Any suggestions about the meaning of this?

It's been confirmed by multiple sources (from the movie and game) that it says:

HOMU
LILLY
HOMULILLY

Which matches up with the PSP game:

Her witch form has appear in other media, before the third movie?

Yes, a PSP game.


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Has anyone seen this Penguin?
I came across this page while stumbling through the internet and would like to know what show this is from.

If you think that's weird, you'll faceplant at this GIF from the same show.

@Eric aaaaaand added to Crunchyroll queue.

The anime is Shirokuma Cafe, about animals and humans in a cafe run by a polar bear named Shirokuma (シロクマ); this penguin character is aptly named "Penguin".

This is "Penguin" from Shirokuma Cafe, episode 9.
Penguin has an obvious crush on a female penguin named "Penko,"Shirokuma usually tries to helps him prepare for encounters with her... but Penguin always seems to chicken out at the very last moment.


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What is the name of the show that involves a wish granting cat with a weakness to water?
I remember when I was a kid watched an anime about a wizard cat. I think he was yellow and fat and each episode he made wishes come true hmmm... maybe for a bunch of kids?
He also has a weakness, the water, he hated it and I remember in one episode he touched the water and felt really sick and start to bleed by one of his mustache hairs.
That's all I remember,oh well, and it was a really funny animation. Anyone knows?
==UPDATE==
I remember some other stuff too: He has a pointed hat, as a magician. Maybe black or blue, maybe has some stars? (I'm not so sure about that last point) and each time he started his magic, he dances and spins around with a lot of effects, kind of like any magical anime girl power.
I live in Chile, South America and it was not very popular between my friends (at least I've asked a few times and nobody remembers), but it must have been broadcasted in the '90.
And the last thing "I think" it was anime, I mean, I remember kind of anime drawing style and the ending with credits writing and song language unknown for me at that age.

When were you a kid? (It'll help narrow the list down.) @ton.yeung I think Doraemon is only afraid of robotic mice.

@ton.yeung It wasn't doraemon, but similar

@coleopterist I've added some more facts about that show

No magic. But how about this (not anime)?

@coleopterist hmmm, nope, I don't think so. Actually, maybe is not even a cat, but I remember him like that, yellow and the size like a fat cat. He could walk too

lol your description makes me think of the tv serie:  Sabrina the Teenage Witch (animated version) although the cat is black cant handle water, can use magic as he also teaches sabrina.

@Dimitrimx haha, yeah, close enough, but the anime I watched it was about 20 years ago, maybe a little bit more :P

well, maybe its just me but I have the feeling it was more of a cartoon then a anime. but if you say +-20 years ago it might be worthwhile to check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_anime_in_the_United_States    its all the anime released from 1960 till now in the united states.

At last I found it! Actually it was not a cat, but the rest of my description fits. The name is "Please! Psammea-don" (おねがい!サミアどん Onegai! Samia-don?)

It seems that it only was broadcast in Latin America, France, Quebec and the Arab World as noted by Wikipedia and it was also never released in English, so maybe that's the reason why nobody here knew this animation.
PS: I really loved the ending

From what you explain I just remember Rocky Rackat(Pokonyan) !
When I was a kid I watched it from TV and know it as Mio Mio! ^_^
This picture is that cat?

Hmmm, nope, sorry :/


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What is this manga with a female protagonist that changes genders and personalities based on the rings she wears?
I have been searching for a while now (about a month) and I am trying to find a manga that has a female protagonist who changes gender and appearance based on how many rings of power she is wearing. Her personality also changes depending on the amount of rings.
She is a wizard and the manga starts in a devil school in which she is trying to obtain another ring.

Sounds like PhD: Phantasy Degree.

@Krazer might want to post it as the answer

As @Krazer pointed out, your description matches that of the Korean manhwa series PhD: Phantasy Degree, wherein the female protagonist changes genders each time a ring is removed from her finger, as well as each ring having its own "personality."
From the link above:

A young, spunky, fearless girl named Sang is searching for the Demon School Hades. She runs into a group of misfit monsters who are all ditching classes from the same school. Sang convinces them to take her to the school ... and, since only monsters are allowed in, she 'monsterizes' herself by letting one of the misfits - a vampire - bite her. After the destruction of the Demon School Hades at the hands of the Madosa Guild in volume 3, she moves on to search for more of "Satan's Rings". She meets Chun-Lang, a young swordsman, who also has a Ring, and like Sang, can change genders.

Oh weird. Could have sworn I edited the description to say it was answered since I'm new and cant do it myself. :P

@Sara Because of the format of the site, we prefer if answers are separate from the questions. :)

Sorry, being new as I am it wouldn't let me post the answer as an answer. It stated to post it in the question or something because I'm to new to answer my own question. :/ it was weird. So my post was un-updated then? w.e it works :)


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Details about "Zettai Junpaku Mahou Shoujo"
I recently saw the OVA for Zettai Junpaku Mahou Shoujo on Youtube but couldn't find out anything else about it.
Is this an existing or preview teaser of some anime? Is there a manga series?
There are some details on myanimelist.net but it's just a review of the OVA.

Well if you managed to find the myanimelist page you should also have noticed that the review states

this anime is based of a doujin manga (im pretty sure its a doujin hentai manga but im not 100% percent sure) called mahou shoujo written by Raita its is currently about 10 volumes long and about 25-30 pages per volume. you wont find it on MAL because it was not written and published by a real writer (in other words because its a complete doujin). source

It pretty much states that this is a Full doujin written by raita, There is only a ova so far. The chances of it getting a real anime are considerd really low. The ova also did not go through a producer so is most likely home/fan made
If you wish to read the doujin the review provided many links to sources where to read.


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How did 'Rollover Jango' and 'Iron Fist Fullbody' become Ms. Hina's subordinates?
We all know that Iron Fist Fullbody was demoted after the incident at Baratie Restaurant, and Jango was a famous pirate with a bounty of 9,000,000 Beris.

So how did they manage to get into Grand Line under Ms. Hina?

I tried to find about it and it took me a while but I got it, it's an interesting story presented here. As a summery:

Jango wakes up, chased after by 'Usopp Police Squad'.
Takes a small boat, passed 'Captain Morgan', both asleep.
New island, marines searching for him.
Takes a disguise, enters a dancing contest.
Jango is the winner, Fullbody is first runner-up.
Island attacked by 'Caption Yurikaa' leading 'Tulip Pirates'.
Jango runs, Fullbody fights.
A girl is taken hostage, Fullbody is defeated.
Jango returns to save his 'Brother', both defeat those pirates.
Fullbody captures Jango, degree 'Death by Hanging', Fullbody objects.
Decision overturned, Fullbody got a demotion.
Both agree to be hypnotized, to forget about their friendship.
Hina appears, decision changes, they decide to follow her.
Both enlist into Marine HQ with 'Mop in hand'.

It is all explained in a Cover Arc named Jango's Dance Paradise, from chapter 126 to chapter 172.
Basically he meets up with Fullbody, compete in a dance competition, fight some pirates and become friends in the process. Fullbody refusing to arrest Jango he gets demoted but then they see Hina, fall in love with her then decide to enlist under her, Jango becoming a marine and Fullbody getting demoted from lieutenant to seaman recruit.
If you don't want to go check the chapter you can see them all here  One Piece Wiki


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In Kuroko no Basuke, are the characters ever compared to professional players?
So, in Kuroko no Basuke (or, The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays, as suits you), we see that the Generation of Miracles has some pretty wacky basketball superpowers. I'm no basketball expert, but it seems like if you took the five of them and transferred them into the real world (powers and all), they would beat most actual NBA teams. And the thing is, they're just 10th-graders. Sure, maybe they're the best 10th-graders (even the best high-schoolers) in Japan, but surely they can't be as good as professional players in the KnB universe, can they?
Which brings me to my question - does the manga ever talk about how good professional basketball players (NBA or otherwise) are as compared to the high-school players the story focuses on?

(The above comment by @satoda should be in response to @krikara's answer below, but somehow ended up here instead.)

Kuroko no Basuke (manga) never references any actual NBA pro by explicitly stating a name, but they have shown panels of professional basket ball players insinuating that they are from the NBA. The characters depicted don't actually resemble any specific pro, but rather a generic player - tall, built, and African-American.
It does seem like the Generation of Miracles could beat real life NBA teams, but the manga does indirectly explain how the Generation of Miracles will not prevail.
Take Kise's copying ability for example. He can only copy people's techniques that he is capable of executing, but because NBA players are so much bigger, faster, and better, his copying won't work.
Or in Midorima's case, he might have the insane accuracy as usual, but an NBA player can easily block his shot.
In the end, however, I don't think Kuroko no Basket will ever mention and compare with top NBA pros. There are certain things that are completely impossible, like Kuroko's phantom shot. It doesn't even theoretically work in real life because NBA plays man to man defense, where each member playing has to always follow their assigned opponent. You can't just misdirect someone following you and not see you shooting.
And don't even get me started on eagle vision...
UPDATE: In one of the latest chapters (242) that I haven't read yet, Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics is shown as the first NBA player in Kuroko. This is somewhat inaccurate though, as Ray Allen has been part of the Miami Heat for 2 years now.

Actually, they only did it once. When they compared Ray Allen to the SG of Rakuzan.

I thought I missed it at first, and was mad at myself because I am from Boston myself. Then I realized it happened in one of the most recent chapters that I didn't read yet.

they do mention shaq during the anime as well as tiger woods saying they influenced rule changes on there professions

Did they mention how good Shaq was in comparison to the highschool player, though?


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What's this anime with talking monsters?
This anime is like Pokemon or Digimon. It has various talking monsters, who are friends with some humans and travel around. One of the monsters is kind of a big wolf. There is also big rabbit which stands with two feet and is about the size of a human. Both of them can talk, and the wolf always says something like "I'm gonna eat you!" to the rabbit. I watched it in early 2000s or something around that time. Does anyone know this anime?

The show you are looking for is called "Monster Rancher".
The name of the wolf you are probably referring to is "Tiger" and the rabbit's name is "Hare".


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When does the Strawberry Panic novel occur relative to the manga?
I got both the manga and the novel of Strawberry Panic. While I was reading the back of the novel, I saw that it mentions that the characters are from the 3 schools in the area. One of the schools is the same one the manga is set in, St. Miator Girls' Academy.
So I am wondering, when does the novel occur relative to the manga?

The novel takes place at the same time as the manga does and covers the same content. However, the novel covers all of the story, whereas the manga stops about 2/3rds way through.
The manga also has characters from the 3 schools, but the primary characters in both mediums are from St. Miator's.
There may be a couple of characters that differ between the mediums, but they will be minor characters and the cast is mostly the same.


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Why can't Momoe Okonogi see Yuuko?
I had watched Tasogare Otome × Amnesia quite a while ago. It was never clear to me why Momoe Okonogi couldn't see Yuuko.
I take it that to see Yuuko you needed to

Believe in ghosts
Expect to see Yuuko

Clearly Okonogi believes in all paranormal things, and she is always talking about Yuuko. It is also later confirmed to her that Yuuko indeed exists and is around the club.
Why can't she see Yuuko?

As Yuuko explains, people see her how they believe she'll look, it could be that Okonogi  believes ghosts exist but can't be seen unless they're using a medium like with the doll Teiichi exorcised which would be backed up when the "evil spirit" disappeared.
Given that since Teiichi to her is a spirit medium she is probably expecting Yuuko to be invisible and use Teiichi to speak to everyone which would explain why she can't even hear her.


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What language are the spells/chants in?
In Brave 10, when a character goes to use a spell's incantation or uses a chant for a secret technique, the subtitles don't have any English words in it (I am referring to the home release by NISA, not fansubs). However, it does sound like they are saying something in Japanese. An example of this is in episode 2 when Hanzo Hattori goes to use Pure Flame Samadhi on Saizo.
I am wondering, what language are the spells/chants being said in? Or did they just throw random characters together?

Can you show some examples?

@eric edited my question to include an example, have been trying to find a screenshot but i find nothing on google or the wikia page, i'll update it again when i take a picture of the example but i'll be from my phone

Like this?

@Eric that's the scene but i don't remember seeing any English in the subtitles. i know there's another one with Saizo but i can't remember where exactly it is, all i know is that it was at night and i think it was for his "Secret Technique, Instant Light"

Yeah, it's a fansub, and that's not the right technique name. I was just going for the scene.

@Eric i'm getting the ability names from the wikia page so they probably are incorrect, Secret Technique, Instant Light (Ougi, Shunko) is the one where you see this light zigzags all over the place

What language is it?

That's Japanese. It's not ordinary contemporary Japanese, though, but rather Buddhist Japanese, which has some unusual qualities that make it rather unlike contemporary spoken Japanese.

Why isn't it translated?

Buddhist texts in Japanese are strange things. As the informed reader is aware, Buddhism originated in India, and as such, many of the foundational texts of Buddhism were originally written in Sanskrit. When Buddhism moved into China, those Sanskrit texts were translated into whatever the contemporary form of Classical Chinese was. Eventually, those texts made their way from China into Japan.
I'm glossing over a lot of details here to get to the important point: most Japanese Buddhist terminology was first introduced around the 6th century CE. Since these were loanwords from Chinese (many of which were in turn loans from Sanskrit), they used Sino-Japanese pronunciations (that is, on readings, and in particular, go-on readings). Buddhist terminology has changed relatively little since.
Modern Japanese consists primarily of 1.) native words (e.g. kun readings); 2.) non-Sinitic loanwords (e.g. borrowings from English); or 3.) Sinitic loanwords that postdate the 6th century (that is, the kan-on and tō-on readings). go-on vocabulary (like Buddhist words) are relatively scarce in the contemporary Japanese language, and the average speaker is unlikely to be particularly familiar with many go-on words.
Making things more difficult still is the fact that Japanese Buddhist texts are often straight-up Chinese texts simply being read in Japanese pronunciations, making it difficult for someone without training in reading Buddhist texts to understand what is being spoken.
So that's probably why it wasn't translated - it was too difficult for whoever was on hand. It's certainly possible to translate whatever was said (see below), but I guess it wasn't worth the trouble for the people at NISA. See also footnote4. Anyway, that's enough of that digression.

What is he actually saying?

If my ears are working today, what Hattori Hanzo says in episode 2 is:

オン ソンバ ニソンバ ウン バザラ ウン パッタ
on sonba nisonba un bazara un patta

Now, what does this mean? Heck if I know - I certainly don't know how to read Japanese Buddhist texts. Luckily, the internet has answers for us. This is apparently the mantra1 (in Japanese, shingon) for a being called 降三世明王 (Gouzanze Myouou; Skt. Trailokyavijaya)2, one of the five Wisdom Kings.
The Sanskrit equivalent of this chant appears to be:3

om sumbha nisumbha hum vajra hum phat4

I'm not going to attempt to translate this, because my Sanskrit is far too weak for that, but some of the relevant things to know are: Sumbha is an alternate name (or epithet or something like that) for Gouzanze Myouou, as is Vajrahumkara, here contracted to Vajra. Nisumbha is the name of the other asura that appears in stories detailing the exploits of Sumbha. "Om" is of course the sacred syllable Om. The rest I'm honestly not sure about, but I'm sure a better-educated person would be able to translate this.

Notes
* If you find this sort of thing interesting, take a look at the Buddhism proposal over at Area51! They need more committers!
1 Full text for the mantrams of the other Wisdom Kings here, I think.
2 See also this JAANUS article.
3 According to this guy and also the article on shingon on Japanese Wikipedia.
4 The astute reader will observe the startling similarity of the Sanskrit version of the mantra to the Japanese version, this despite Sanskrit and Japanese having no genetic relationship to one another. This is another reason why Buddhist mantras in particular are difficult to understand - they are often just plain Sanskrit processed through Chinese without translation and then readapted to fit Japanese phonology, and as such are often devoid of any actual Japanese words.


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What opening music was played at the beginning of the anime Kaiketsu Zorro?
One of my favorite animes used to be Kaiketsu Zorro, and I especially loved the opening music of the Portuguese version of the cartoon.
My question is, is the music custom made for the anime series, or does it exist outside the anime?
If it's an actual piece, what is its name/who is it by?

It looks like the OP of the Portuguese dub of Kaiketsu Zorro is the instrumental (i.e. no lyrics) version of the original Japanese OP.
The original Japanese OP was presumably made specifically for the series, seeing as it is titled "ZORRO" (cf. the ANN entry for Kaiketsu Zorro). The piece was sung by MASAAKI Endoh (probably better known for his involvement in JAM Project); composed and arranged by TOBISAWA Hiromoto, who also did the music for Kaiketsu Zorro; and featured lyrics by ARIMORI Satomi


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Is there any connection between the Genius Party movies?
Is there any connection between the seven short films that were included in Genius Party?

It seems there is no direct connection between any of the 7 Genius party movies, besides their high standard of quality and inspiration, as said by Rupert Bottenberg:

The seven short films making up GENIUS PARTY couldn’t be more diverse, linked only by a high standard of quality and inspiration. Atsuko Fukushima’s intro piece is a fantastic abstraction to soak up with the eyes. Masaaki Yuasa, of MIND GAME and CAT SOUP fame, brings his distinctive and deceptively simple graphic style and dream-state logic to the table with “Happy Machine,” his spin on a child’s earliest year. Shinji Kimura’s spookier “Deathtic 4,” meanwhile, seems to tap into the creepier corners of a child’s imagination and open up a toybox full of dark delights. Hideki Futamura’s “Limit Cycle” conjures up a vision of virtual reality, while Yuji Fukuyama’s "Doorbell" and "Baby Blue" by Shinichiro Watanabe use understated realism for very surreal purposes. And Shoji Kawamori, with “Shanghai Dragon,” takes the tropes and conventions of traditional anime out for very fun joyride. —Rupert Bottenberg

Source: Fantasia Festival's 2008 program (see p. 119)


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What MMOs influence Sword Art Online and Log Horizon?
I see that in SAO and LH, players can craft, buy houses, adhere to the holy trinity of MMO, etc. My first thought was that they might have WoW in Japan, but it doesn't seem to be as popular as it is in the U.S. There don't seem to be a lot of Western MMOs that allow you to buy property either. My second guess is that they might have been heavily influenced by Korean MMOs such as Ragnarok, but I have not played them and I wasn't sure.
So what MMOs could have influenced SAO and LH?

His main inspirations would be

Ultima Online
Ragnarok Online

Reki Kawahara was in the Manga Studies Club. He drew manga and illustrations during his time there. Kawahara would often head to the arcade with his fellow members to play fighting games . He also started playing online games in 1998, starting with Ultima Online. Kawahara also played Ragnarok Online, his most played game (although he stated World of Warcraft during Sakura-Con 2013)
He felt it would be more natural to write about net games.

For some more of his inspirations and why he decided to write you can read a brief biography about him

Hard to tell really - a lot of MMOs have custom housing, in depth crafting - cooking - random enjoyment, including a couple titles from NCSoft (well, in Aion, players have the ability to own houses and some form of [very annoying] crafting).
Though not a fantasy MMO - Eve online thrives on the idea that just about everything ( ships, fuels, space stations , some random commodies ) can be crafted. Just about every ship, gun, module, ammo , Nullsec POS, etc was made by somebody - somewhere - probably in some territory were thousands of ships were destroyed in a war between two alliances of player run corporations in which the wreckage ended up recycled into other crap etc etc etc.
In terms of fantasy MMOs, I don't think there was really any title that did it all with that much depth. I could be wrong though.

He did not try to recreate a certain title though. He only based it on some and tryd to I guess improve it.

In a Q&A session between the author Kawahara Reki and Heathcliff (Kayaba Akihiko) in 2005 (during the web novel period, to give some background of the characters), Kayaba Akihiko said that he "acquired a lot of inspiration from [Wizardry]".

Q. If I were to ask for you to mention one of the games you like best, which would it be?
A. If you mean aside from SAO, it would be Wizardry, a game from long ago. I acquired a lot of inspiration from it.

We can take this as the author indirectly borrowing Kayaba Akihiko's position as the man behind the design and development of Sword Art Online VRMMORPG to confirm the source of his inspiration.

I'm going to guess a bit on this one and say that Everquest should be thrown in the mix of potential influences.
Some parallels that fit with this are:

When Regan explains the World Fraction spell, and Shiroe reverse engineers the time line to coincide the beginning of its first use to the start of the open beta.  I don't recall if EQ had an open beta, but it did release in '99.  The screen show indicated '98, so this is plausible.
The most powerful guild in Akihabara is D.D.D. Their legendary exploits coincide with the early and buggy release of Kyrafrim after the defeat of Ventani.

Are there other events, probably.  I can't recall them off the top of my head.  Could those events coincide with other game changers from other MMO's?  Likely.  But EQ was my first.

Yeah, Touno Mamare (Log Horizon author) is on the record as having been a very serious player of Everquest 2, which is apparently where Log Horizon gets a lot of its mechanics from.

Jeez people are silly. SAO's writer says it himself, Wizardry inspired it.
Just check out Wizardry Online sometime. It's straight up an SAO MMO, with the possibility of perma-death.
The main character in the story is the only one who can dual wield, but never does *cough* Kirito *cough*. Minor crimes make you yellow for a short amount of time, while heavier crimes like PK-ing, or looting a player makes you red for like 24+ hours.
The game has a totally open PvP combat system that requires skill instead of good gear, cash, or level.

Please also include the references for your statement. Thank you. :-)

Wizardry Online is in 2012, while SAO has been written as early as 2002, and the first volume is published in 2009, so it might not be a good example here. It's true that he gained inspiration from Wizardry, but I don't know how much from the previous series.

SAO and LH are not based on any existing MMO. Depending on which MMORPG's you have played you will likely find certain aspects of the world to be incredibly consistent with it.
The grand-daddy of all MMORPG's as they play right now is Ultima Online (which I played during beta) as the crafting and "loss of experience upon death" both originated here, and it even predates EverQuest, as you could craft in previous Ultima games since at least Ultima 4 (magic spells), 6 and 7 (food). Likewise, player-owned housing originates in Ultima Online.
As far as Asian MMORPG's influence, LH's world is a bit more consistent with Final Fantasy XIV (and likely XI), while SAO is very consistent with Mabinogi. In game, marriage is something that was introduced in a Nexon game that predates Mabinogi (called NexusTK:Kingdom of the Winds, which is a game I also played during beta).
Dungeon Raids, as they are in SAO and LH, are shown as a type of instancing system which is fairly consistent with the advent of 3D modern MMORPG's, though based on the explicit references to roles (eg Tank) and menu driven combat with cooldown's, this might have its origins in EverQuest, but this is fairly consistent with FFXI/FFXIV at present.
The respawn rules, how monsters respawn in the same area, which is something that both Ultima Online and NexusTK did in 1998.
Guilds is a strange aspect. The original 2D MMORPG's never had guilds (it may have originated in Lineage) and it was just something people started doing, so later games actually introduced it as a game mechanic (and indeed the entire point of Guild Wars). Likewise, the PK elements were also something that existed originally in UO, but EverQuest was probably the first to see abuse of it, as in SAO.
Take for example the pets and mounts. In LH the pet griffon mount is also a flying mount that is available in Mabonogi. Likewise in SAO, Silica has a combat pet. Combat pets have been in MMORPG's for quite a while. However, virtual pets actually originated with Tamagotchi's, which actually die if you don't take care of them. So again depending on your point of view.
As for the races and classes, SAO was primarily humans, while SAO:Alfhiem is actually based on Lore from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" which is Shakespeare. The races in LH are the standard human-like characters from Tolkien (LOTR) with the were-animal races (which the current game out there that has these is TERA).
And to round this out, the "Fighter, Wizard, Thief, Cleric" type of roles originate in tabletop D&D games, but the way they are used (Tank, DPS, Healer) originates in Wizardry, which was more popular in Japan than it was in the West. Permadeath (SAO) also originates in Wizardry.
In respect to LH, since there is a specific reference to 1998.10.22 and the character in episode 14 specifically mentions 8 levels of magic which is also something that Ultima has. Like if you want to use the date as a piece of proof, that means the game in question would have been in open beta on or after 1998.10.22, which chronologically can only be EverQuest. I've personally played the EverQuest Beta in 1998.
In one of the most recent episodes of LH (you need to pay close attention) you'll also realize that they are partied with an NPC. Most MMORPG's don't let you adhoc have any NPC join, they either are temporary for a quest (escort missions), or summonable partners/pets.
So as you see, it depends on which games you've played. When I talked to friends about SAO, they can find individual aspects of it that they related to their MMORPG of choice. Over time (at least since WoW) most games have borrowed ideas from each other enough that they're all becoming exactly the same game. They're only differing by environment (Fantasy like SAO), race/monster names (many are derived from Tolkien/D&D) and cost to play.
So there is no one right answer, as no single game introduced everything seen in SAO and LH at launch. You can read comics/manga like 1/2 Prince or Yureka that also deal with virtual worlds and you'll see much of the same elements there as well.
The interesting moral question that comes up again in all of these stories based on MMORPG's is "are we losing our humanity" by when we treat AI's as tools.

No doubt that it is mainly influenced by Ragnarok Online.  Music, mood, atmosphere, character and art are very similar.  Even the naming and boss monsters.


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Why is Ryuunosuke Akasaka's hair so long?
Why is Ryuunosuke Akasaka's hair so long? It makes him look like a girl. Is there some explanation to that in the series besides this being a possible consequence of being a hikkikomori?
Also, Maid-chan (the AI created by him) has a similar appearance. Ryuunosuke said that he wants to turn her into a real person (sentient AI?) one day. I suspect this may be related.
Also! Ryuunosuke has gynophobia (he's so afraid of females). This might also be the reason (in a way).

I assume the person in the picture I put in is Ryunosuke Akasaka, because this is the person who came up on all of the google searches. I've never seen the show, so I'm not sure.

I would imagine his long hair is probably only to make him look like a  hikkomori and support his personality traits. Perhaps it was decided that long hair and an androgynous figure would lend itself well to a reserved character.
His maid is suspected to be based on an old classmate, perhaps a first love or childhood friend. So it appears that isn't related.

Personally, I wouldn't imagine his fear of women would be a factor in his hairstyle choice, There are many other characters in anime that have a fear of the opposite gender, but there's no obvious trend for those characters to have hair of the opposite gender's style.
Overall, I think his hair is long for no other reason than the original mangaka's design decision.

I guess hikikomori part makes most sense.

They probably just like having long hair. I mean... I'm a guy too and my hair is almost as long as his. I don't have long hair because of any fancy reason, I have it because I just like having long hair.


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What is this anime with the power to change garbage into a tree?
I think I watched it around the late 90s or early 2000s, and I think it's pretty popular. It's a shounen about male protagonist that can convert garbage into trees or leaves to make a weapon. Later he has the power to recycle his leaf into garbage and later turn it again into a leaf. There's also a man, I think an enemy of the protagonist's, that can change fabric into iron and become his weapon.
What is this anime?

The anime you're looking for is The Law of Ueki.


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What does "tsukkomi" mean?
Once, I read a manga with the following description:

A perverted President who likes girls, a tsukkomi Vice-President, an over-zealous Treasurer and a quiet, brooding Secretary. This unlikely quartet form Shirayuri Girls' High School's Student Council.

What does "tsukkomi" mean? Are there any examples of tsukkomi characters besides the one in the above-mentioned manga?

out of curiosity, what was the manga's name?

Seitokai No Himegoto

My dictionary says that it can mean the trope Straight Man, but I have no 100% confirmation that this is what your text is referring to.

There is one particular style of traditional Japanese comedy called manzai (漫才), which is a type of two-man act. One man is called the boke, who is the buffoon; the jokester; the funny guy. The boke will make jokes, many of which (to American audiences at least) are groan comedy. The other member of the pair is called the tsukkomi, and his job is to react to the boke's jokes (often critically), taking on a role very much like "the straight man" in Western comedic practice.
The usage of tsukkomi in the description you quoted is derived from this. It does not mean that the Vice President is literally the straight man of a comedy duo, but rather that the Vice President is sort of the uptight kind of guy who doesn't laugh at jokes and always shoots down other people's jokes. It's a sort of character archetype that translates only somewhat well into English as "straight man", so you will sometimes see it floating around untranslated.
The tsukkomi is a very common archetype in modern anime and related media (irritatingly common, if you ask me, especially in schlocky light novels). Well-known examples off the top of my head include:

Kyon from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (often playing off of Haruhi and sometimes Koizumi's boke)
Koyomi from the Monogatari series (playing off against most of the girls at some point or another)
Basically everybody in Gintama (against everybody else)
Chiaki from Nodame Cantabile (mostly against Nodame herself)

You can see more about this trope at the TVTropes entry Boke And Tsukkomi Routine.

"Tsukkomi" has multiple definitions. In its comedic sense, which is probably the only case where you may see it untranslated, it can mean one of two things:

The act of pointing out that something is ridiculous / very silly.
Usually this happens between two people, who in that case are referred to as the 'tsukkomi' (who does the tsukkomi) and the 'boke', who says or does something funny or strange (the act of which is also called a 'boke'). The tsukkomi then points out or otherwise reacts to the boke in some way, e.g. by hitting the boke with a fan in some old-style / anime manzai.
A 'self-tsukkomi' is also somewhat common. Here, a person says something silly (a 'boke') and then, after realizing their mistake, promptly corrects himself/herself. The most common version of this is the nori-tsukkomi, where a person agrees with a boke, only to add a tsukkomi right afterwards. For example,

Boke: "Could you give me access to your bank account? I need to borrow 5 bucks."
Tsukkomi (in a friendly tone): "Oh, sure, I use 2FA, let me just grab my phone..."
Tsukkomi (angrily): "... as if!"

It is also known as a 'tsukkomi' when someone points out something absurd, even if no actual 'boke' occurs. Such as:

A cloud falls from the sky, dropping in front of Tsukkomi.
Tsukkomi: "... oh come on, that's just not realistic."

The person who does the tsukkomi. This is often translated as 'the straight man'.


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Are the Jupiter Sisters real?
On the TWGOK wikia, it says that the Jupiter Sisters are named after Roman gods and goddesses. Are they really a group or something? Or did Wakaki-sensei just randomly select and choose a suitable character for them? Do their traits match those of the real gods/goddesses?
And also, is this picture based on a real place?

Mercury, Mars, Minerva, Diana, Apollo, and Vulcan are all Roman deities, yes. In particular, they are six of the twelve Consentes, the Roman counterparts of the twelve major Olympians of Greek myth. What's a little bit weird is that while there are six female Consentes, that set of six isn't the same as the set of six represented as the "Jupiter sisters" in TWGOK. Minerva and Diana are female in Roman legend, but the other four are male. (I suppose this is in keeping with the time-honored anime tradition of gender-bending.)
Some of the traits of the sisters described on the wiki page you linked are traits that were associated with the deities with which they share their name. For example, legendary Mars is the god of war, while TWGOK Mars is "adept at combat"; legendary Apollo cures illness in many legends, while TWGOK Apollo is "adept at healing spells"; etc.
The same wiki page you linked suggests that the picture you included in your question might be a reference to the caryatid statuary at the Erechtheion.


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Where does the idea of "Episode 0" originate from?
In the anime I've been watching lately, I see a lot of episode 0s popping up, which usually are published after the final episode and usually are not very comprehensible unless you have watched the series itself.
Where did this originate from and why do they do this?
Sample show:

If I had to take a guess, I would say episode 0 is almost like an adaptation of chapter 0. Chapter 0 was the oneshot (a single chapter of a story), and if the oneshot was successful, then the story turns into a manga, gets serialized and published as a series. Thus episode 0 would basically contain the contents of chapter 0.

@krikara that does sound some what logical

Based on a brief MAL search for "episode 0", it looks like most episode 0s are either pilots or prequels. In both cases, the numbering makes sense - prequels are in-show chronologically before episode 1, while pilots are real-world chronologically before episode 1.

Based on a google search for site:myanimelist.net "episode 0", we find the following episodes:

Candy Boy Episode 0 (a pilot, airing 6 months before Candy Boy)
Nichijou Episode 0 (a pilot, airing a month before Nichijou)
Haganai Episode 0 (a pilot, airing a few weeks before Haganai)
One Piece: Strong World Episode 0 (a prequel to One Piece: Strong World)
Koroshiya 1: Episode 0 (not sure about this one - Japanese Wikipedia says that it's about Ichi's past, so I guess it's a prequel?)
Hakuouki Hekketsuroku Episode 0 (a recap of the first season, and hence a sort of "prequel" to the second season, which aired a week later)
Ichigo Mashimaro Episode 0 (not sure about this one; it may be worth noting that it's called "Prologue" rather than "Episode 0" in Japanese)
UN-GO Episode 0 - Inga-ron (a prequel to UN-GO)
Also, Kyousougiga Episode 0 is a recap of the Kyousougiga ONAs, which are sort of pilot-y with respect to the Kyousougiga cour-length anime

There's a lot of prequels and pilots1 here. Prequel episodes typically occur chronologically before "episode 1" in terms of show timeline, while pilot episodes typically occur chronologically before "episode 1" in terms of the real world, and so it makes sense for either a pilot or a prequel to be numbered "episode 0".

1 By "pilot", I mean any short piece that airs before a longer anime, whether or not it's a pilot in the US television sense, so this label includes teasers, animation test runs, etc.

I don't know that many or most anime use the Episode 0 format, but a few exceptionally popular series will do whatever they can to continue making money. Extra DVD episodes with full box sets, Episode 0 prequels, theater-release movies are all ways anime series can continue to maintain fan interest after the series has finished on TV.
Other ways series keep or increase fan interest is licensing goods, radio shows, Drama CDs, live events and manga creator appearances.
Anime is a corporate product and corporations want to make money.


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What type of Devil Fruit did Sengoku eat?
What type of Devil Fruit did Fleet Admiral Sengoku eat? Zoan? Logia? Paramecia? Since it seems he can change his physical appearance, I assume he ate a Zoan fruit, but what type?

According to the wiki page of Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Daibutsu, it is a Mythical-Zoan type Devil fruit.

The Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Daibutsu is a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit that allows its user to transform into a Daibutsu (a giant Buddha statue) at will. "Hito" is Japanese for "human". The fruit's name was revealed in SBS Volume 60.[2] In the Viz Manga it is called the Human-Human Fruit Daibutsu Model. It was eaten by Sengoku, former Fleet Admiral of the Marines.

And the characteristics of such Mythical Zoan type fruits is explained here.

Mythical Zoan (「動物系」幻獣種 Zōn-kei Genjūshu?) fruits are an exceptionally rare and immensely powerful type of Zoan Devil Fruit and is said to be even rarer than Logia Devil Fruits. Unlike the other types of Zoan Devil Fruits, this type of fruit may be the only one considered impressive, owing to its rarity and the unique powers it bestows upon the user. They allow users to transform into mythological creatures (which may have special abilities that are comparable to Paramecia and Logia Devil Fruits), the sorts of which could be regarded as the subject of legends and the like. Only two canonical have been shown so far, belonging to Whitebeard's 1st division commander, Marco "The Phoenix"[6] and Sengoku with his Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Daibutsu, both of whom are considered extremely strong and immensely powerful individuals. One non-canonical is Pato with his Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Bake-danuki.

yes, he is ate Zoan type fruit. As mentioned on wiki, Oda sensei answer it him self. It is Hito Hito no Mi, Model "Daibutsu". It's a Mythical Zoan-type just like Marco.

Sengoku ate the "Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Daibutsu", a rarer-than-Logia Mythical Zoan-class Devil Fruit which allows him to turn into a gigantic Daibutsu, which is probably the reason for his nickname. Nearby Marines claim that they have never seen him use this power before the war.