text:
Who kissed Ash at the end of Pokémon Heroes?
At the end of the movie Pokémon Heroes, a girl comes up, gives Ash a piece of art, and kisses Ash. Now, given the context of said movie, it is either Latias taking the form of Bianca, or Bianca herself.
Is there any official, or at least general consensus about this scene? Is there any evidence to support either possibility?

I think it is best to start looking for the answer on the metaphysical level.
The writers' purpose made this scene ambiguous as to leave uncertainty in the viewers' mind, and spark their imaginations. This distinction is even brought up explicitly by the characters themselves as they reflect on the scene as they are leaving. It seems that the writers were successful in accomplishing exactly what they wanted to.
Now, all of that said, one could examine the entire context and find some evidence for both claims.
Evidence that it was Latias

The girl did not say anything, and of course Latias can't speak. Now, of course Bianca could have simply decided to stay silent, but it seems awkward that if she were to make such an emotional and romantic advance that she'd say nothing. Consider these small phrases that would be appropriate (and seem awkward without): Thank you., I'll never forget you., I love you., etc.
She says absolutely nothing, most likely because she can't.
Throughout the movie, Latias is the one who shows an interest in Ash. In fact there is no signs of any chemistry at all between Ash and Bianca. If it is Bianca that kisses him, then perhaps she does so because she secretly likes Ash, but is to scared to show it, but doesn't want him to leave without a sign of affection to remember her by? Even that is pushing it. Considering the absurdity of it being Bianca, we must logically say it was Latias.
Ash mainly saved Latias who was in the greatest distress, and not really Bianca. Therefore Latias has good reason to want to thank Ash, at least more so than Bianca.

Evidence that it was Bianca

The piece of art was Bianca's. If it had been Latias that gave it to Ash, she basically would have had to have stolen† it from Bianca, which might have made her mad; this seems out of character for Latias.
† Of course Latias could have gotten explicit permission from Bianca, but this wasn't shown, so to support this theory we must enter the realm of pure speculation.
Regardless of who owns the piece of art, we must consider who made it. Bianca is the artist, since Latias can't paint. Why did she make a portrait of Ash in the first place? While she could have done it just for Latias, this seems awkward. Most likely this drawing was motivated through Bianca's own good will; though out of romantic, or perhaps just friendly interest remains to be seen.
Bianca's hat, which throughout the film was the only visible characteristic available to distinguish the two, is seem at home, implying that since she isn't using it, she must not be out, and thus the girl we see is Bianca. Of course we can't say this for sure since the girl doesn't grab it on her way out either. Again, this was probably done on purpose by the writers.
This isn't really directly perceptible evidence, but many find it odd that there could be a romantic scene between a human and a Pokemon. This relationship, of course, is not meant to be developed.

Other Theories

It was Bianca trying to make them think she was Latias - Some speculate that Bianca purposely didn't wear her hat, nor speak, to make Ash think she was Latias. There is little reason to support this, other than perhaps Bianca was embarrassed to let him know how she felt, or the she wanted to thank him, but thought it would be more appropriate if they thought it was Latias expressing the gratitude.

Is there an official statement?
Official authorities have never clarified this up, and the only info Bulbapedia can offer is a restatement of what we already know:

...The conclusion of the film briefly sees her finishing a drawing. The drawing, which is of Ash and Pikachu, is given to Ash by either Bianca, who had left her hat on her easel, or Latias in the form of Bianca: which is the case is the subject of debate. When Ash received the sketch, the girl kissed him. Bianca is seen again in the credits drawing another sketch by the harbor.
-- Bianca (movie), Bulbapedia

Is there a general consensus?
I feel that in general most consider it to be Latias, simply because she showed interest in Ash throughout the film. A few polls have been conducted on a some forums, including:

Was it Bianca or Latias that kissed Ash in the 5th movie? - The PokéCommunity Forums

80.7% say Latias
19.3% say Bianca

Who Kissed Ash: Bianca or Latias? - Serebii.net Forums

81.82% say Latias
18.18% say Bianca

Neither poll is truly scientific, but both give a good idea of the general gist of the matter.
In conclusion, there is evidence to support either case, and in following with what the writers wanted we are able to make up our own mind. Sometimes the imagination is able to put something in a way that no story ever could.

"many find it odd that there could be a romantic scene between a human and a Pokemon" Chikorita kissed Ash all the time.

There is a 50/100 chance that it could be Latias and there is another 50 that it could be Bianca but let's get real here. Did Bianca ever give clues or teases toward Ash? Who was the main one around him the most? But then again Ash does give some care towards Bianca by saving her first when she was stringshotted and maybe he grew attached to her since Latias took the form of her so he feels the same way as he does towards Latias. To my conclusion I think that the publishers and director did this on purpose so we can CHOSE who we wanted it to be.

It is Bianca for sure. Her hat was still at home next to the painting that she took with her. She didn't take the hat and the girl that kissed ash did not wear a hat. She had a painting so she might want to confuse Ash and let him find out himself that it was Bianca kissing him.
She always acted like she didn't like him, but it seemed like that was just a cover because she did like him. Latias flew over his head about 2 minutes later and they were flying towards the city, so that means Latias had been gone for about a half day, so she isn't the one who kissed him.
It is Bianca for sure. She was probably just embarrassed to kiss him so she left her hat to confuse Ash

Another user tried to edit your post and say that Latias flies too fast to have been gone for half a day, making your last point invalid. I rejected the edit since we don't allow such things, but you might want to address that in your answer if it's true.

Hey we can all agree that there is a 50-50 chance of it being either of them, but I choose to believe that it was Latias who kissed Ash. All this evidence is very persuasive, but aren't we all forgetting that Bianca left for the market? Of course there is the chance that she hadn't left. So it still leaves the chance of it being either. It's true that Latias fly's over them after, but the girl, whoever she was, left them way before Ash, Misty (who was SUPER jealous), and Brock (who was EVEN MORE jealous) recovered from the shock, Ash got on the boat, and they sped away, Latias had plenty of time to circle back and say goodbye one last time.

It is more than likely Bianca. Like others have said Bianca did leave her hat behind in her room which is something the animators would not have shown if it wasn't important.
But another important bit of information is that the girl at the end is visibly tired after running to catch up to Ash which is something that Latias never showed previously when being chased.
Lastly the song before the kiss is called Canon (music) which is similar and pronounced the same as Bianca's Japanese name of Kanon (sound of flower).


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Why doesn't Sasuke use his Sharingan to learn Naruto's Rasengan?
In the hospital rooftop fight between Sasuke and Naruto, why didn't Sasuke use his Sharingan to learn Naruto's Rasengan? Is it because the Rasengan doesn't use any hand signs? (But Sasuke learns Rock Lee's moves with the Sharingan even if it doesn't rely on hand signs).

I think it's not about copying. Sasuke was trying to rely on chidori thinking that it is superior to Rasengan. And there's nothing to copy. It's just about maintaining a proper chakra balance and shape transformation.

And they are rival so, they won't use each others technique.

Sasuke's chakra affinity is Fire and Lightning.
In the anime, it is speculated by Kakashi that the best chakra affinity to combine the Rasengan with is Wind.
With this in mind, it was probably best for Sasuke to focus primarily on electric or fire based attacks, such as Chidori/Raikiri and Katon. He would be able to elevate these jutsus far more than he can with Rasengan.

but normal Rasengan is non-elemental. And Jiraiya can combine Rasengan with Fire. And Naruto can combine whatever element he have in fight against Kaguya.

@NamikazeSheena Jiraiya's Rasengan fused with fire only exists in the Naruto video game. Kakashi also stated that Rasengan was an incomplete move and no one has ever combined it with a chakra elemental before.

Also recall that Kakashi himself has failed to create a lightning based Rasengan, which led to the development of Chidori instead. It would take Sasuke lots of time and training to develop a lightning Rasengan, and there would be uncertainty of whether he can master it enough to outdo Chidori.

The Sharingan was mainly used for casting Genjutsu, following an opponent's moves, which could be the hand signs they make, and to imitate the opponent. Sasuke couldn't just "copy" the Rasengan, he would of had to master it too. And if you remember when Naruto was practicing to master the Rasengan he had to go through 3 hard steps. Which were with a water balloon, a rubber ball, and an air balloon.
As I stated earlier the Sharingan can imitate the hand signs of an opponent but the Rasengan did not require any hand signs so it would have been hard for Sasuke to "copy" it if he did not know what to do. Also to master the Rasengan the ninja requires extremely refined chakra control, something that very few ninja naturally possess. That's why the Rasengan is difficult to master. In order to help others gain the necessary chakra control, learning to use the Rasengan is broken into three steps:

Rotation - the user learns to spin their chakra in multiple directions at once. To help in this regard, users may be given a water balloon so that they can mark their progress by the churning water; this step is complete once the users is able to burst the balloon with their chakra. It is important for the user to know which direction their body naturally spins its chakra for this step.
Power - the user must increase the volume and density of chakra they output. To help in this regard, users may be given a rubber ball: there is no water inside to help them burst the exterior and the rubber shell is thicker than a balloon's.
Containment - the user must combine the first two steps into a contained sphere. To help in this regard, users may be given a balloon to help them visualize the intended shape; if the balloon is popped or otherwise moves, mastery is not yet achieved.

I'm not sure if Sasuke has refined chakra control, but if he didn't it would have been really hard to master it, like Naruto.
This is kind of of my opinion but I don't think Sasuke would of wanted to learn something that is hard and takes time to master. He would of wanted something quick but powerful, like the Chidori, to master like that he could get ready to kill Itachi.
Also an addition to your statement in your question Sasuke did not copy Lee's moves he just mimicked them. I know this because Lee uses Taijutsu, something that requires no hand signs nor chakra, and Kakashi one time stated that the Sharingan can NOT copy Taijutsu.
Sources:

Rasengan
Sharingan
Taijutsu

Mimicking a taijutsu counts as copying it, although not a perfect copy.

Plot-holes. I love Naruto but if there was ever a real Akatsuki, Kishi would be in it as a S-class plot hole creator. Anyway Sasuke could copy the Sasengan just as Kakashi did; plus he made Boruto learn it so that he can master shape manipulation at it's best. Before thinking why Sasuke didn't go to learn the Rasengan is due to:

Two contrasting teachers (Jiraiya - work hard type & Orochimaru - genius type)
Sasuke's god complex (thinking he's right in everything)
Sasuke intent from the beginning was to kill Itachi and Chidori is the best type for him with his speed and Sharingan.

But if we consider all this criteria and as Boruto learns from Sasuke, we might as well assume that as both has six paths power they (both Naruto and Sasuke) can use Rasengan and Chidori.
Assumption of course but it is plausible considering they have mastered yin/yang styles and five elemental natures.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How much can Makarov grow?
Makarov, master of fairy tail, has the power to turn into a giant. What size  can he accomplish? Is that the limit of his power or there's more to his skill?
An approximate size is also valid. No need to go into detail as apparently the exact size hasn't been confirmed.

So far he has shown to be able to turn into a size equal that of a dragon (Acnologia).

We never see his size limit, but he can grow himself to the size of Tenrou Island

Another angle from manga

Makarov size compared to a ship

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


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Visual novel profits and costs
How much money and time does making a VN usually cost? What's the profit it can usually generate? Is it profitable?
You can engage in any VN segment (indie games...) to answer my question as I know the topic is quite broad.

Hmmm I fear with how you formulated the question it is not answerable without doing a "discussion" aka only oppinion based answers possible. (even for indie games the prices/costs depend on the exact artists you hire, the number of CGs, ... .  In addition to that profit is depending on way too many things to consider that it is in essence pretty "random" if a novel generates one or not.).

An "standard" estimate of costs will be enough. In relation to the profits, I'm even happy with just knowing how that market does in general. I'd rather not limit the answer I might get by adding restrictions like "just for indie games", because my question is broader than that.

The problem is still though that it is different for each and every game. For example for a game I did I had to pay about 50 dollars per CG while for another 30 dollars as it depends solely on the artist you hire. The only thing you COULD do is asking what the usual price for (example) a 40 CG, 10 full body sprites (1 set of clothes, 3 expressions, 2 poses each) with 10k of text would be. But problem is still though that it depends on whom you hire so even the "usual" price could be seen as oppinion based and most stackexchange parts most of the time close such questions.

I considered advicing you to ask for a specific novel, but the problem with that is.....the producers most of the time wouldn't ever tell anyone their numbers so that is out too. Personally I know about how much costs I can expect for specific novels in the indie scene (due to how much artists I know want). But I fear the question itself is currently out of scope for stackexchange and better asked on a indie developer forum for example. Not sure though if linking you to one of those is allowed in comments (need to read up the rules atm first)

@Thomas Your comments are very helpful, just make an answer out of them. The fact that you even made a game makes you more than qualified to answer and this is the type of answer I was looking for about costs.

to add to @Thomas second comment the price can vary on the type of CG/Body Sprites you get made, in Canvas 2 CG and Body Sprites have animated lips, in Kamidori Alchemy Miester Serawi's breasts initially jiggle in her CG and Sprites at the start, in Hyperdimenstion Neptunia Mk.II  in some scenes the 2D body sprites were replaced with 3d models (which was later kept to all 2D in Re;Birth 2) and in Galaxy Angel (and from the screenshots i've seen of Muv-Luv) there are full 3D rendered Combat Scenes (and with Galaxy Angel i think some CG was still 3D pre-renders)

This question should be answerable, though there will be a large variance (larger than for, say, an episode of anime). Revenue should be easy to calculate based on sales figures. Production costs are less transparent, but I know they have been discussed in several places before. The example I can remember was in an interview with one of the producers about the VN Supipara, and the figures were somewhere in the range of 30-100 million yen, but I don't remember the source.

I've got a fair bit of experience in the indie VN developer scene.
From that I can say there is no general answer as the prices you have to pay and also the possible profit vary very greatly, thus I will try to give a detailed and restricted example there:
Costs
As a note here: The prices vary greatly depending on the artist in question. They can be as low as 50% of the amount I'm mentioning and up to 200% of it!
Graphics
One thing of note here: The prices will vary greatly for different styles the artists use. Thus if cell-shading, soft-shading or semi-realism is used.
        (semi-realism being most often the most expensive one and can have costs of up to +100% compared to the others).

BGs
        The price here most often depends on how complex the BG in question is and sometimes even what resolution it will be for.
        Usually you can count on 30-50 USD per BG.
CGs
        These have the greatest price range as I've seen artists take 30-250 USD here. Normally you have 1 simple BG included and 1-2 characters.
        You pay an additional amount per additional character on screen (either fixed amount like +30 USD or +50% total cost) and for each variation
        you want (most often between 10-20 USD). On average I daresay it is 50 USD per simple CG that you need to calc in.
Note: Most often the CG artist is also the sprite artist. Although the BG for the CG is often made by a BG artist. Additionally a title screen
              is often counted as a CG.
GUI
        The GUI adaptions often cost much and range from 50-400 USD depending on the artist and how much you want it to differ from the default of the engine you are using.
Sprites
        The prices here vary greatly with what you want: Thus how much is visible of the character (head only, hip up, or full body) and how many sets
        of clothes, poses and expressions you want.
        Usually I pay 50 dollars base for 1 full body sprite (including 1 set of clothes, 1-2 expressions and 1 pose). For each additional
        set of clothes I pay 10-15 USD and for each expression 2-10 USD and for each pose 10-15 USD.
Thus for 1 sprite with 2 sets of clothes, 4 expressions and 2 poses I usually pay: 106 USD

Sounds

Sound Effects
            Most of the time you can use free sound effects (even for commercial games). IF you need to have custom ones it most often costs
            around 10-30 USD.
Music
            Music varies greatly in terms of price and quality. Usually the componists have prices set for 1 minute tracks each.
            The ranges for this are between 30 USD and 150 USD. I myself am usually only talking with componists who want 30 USD per track.
Voice over
        This varies greatly and it didn't come up often so far for me. But from what I know this usually ends up in a payment per line spoken.
        For a relatively small intro I got a price estimate of about 400 USD (so its one of the biggest cost parts).

Editor / Writers
Editors and writers usually want to be paid on a per word base which can vary a bit. A normal price I dare say for editing is about 0,2 USD
            per word. Not sure about writers as I never had to hire one, but I would dare say its very probably the same or double the price.
Programmers
Here I have to say....I hope you only want easy "default" things out of the VN. Experience wise most "programmers" for VNs can't do
            really complex things (or don't want to do them). The prices here vary greatly and I've seen things from 20 USD for a minigame up to
            200 USD for a dating sim, ... .
As a note here also: Many VN engines have tutorials and also free examples for different genres of VNs that can be easily modified, so
            if you have time and are an easy learner you don't need to hire a programmer too often.
Profit
This varies greatly on how you want to publish your work. One example would be via kickstarter or similar crowd funding services. Here an average income is about 3000 USD for a VN (although one has to say some rare get WAY over 10K out of it while many others fail to even make 100 USD).
If you want to sell your VN on online sites the profit will probably be very small (except maybe Steam but I have no data on them). Most VNs have price ranges
    between 5 and 15 USD there and sell between 0 and 20 times. With the exception of studios who are widely known or have good luck. These have price ranges up to 25
    USD and often sell their product 100-150 times on a single online shop.
The costs for the engine you want to use I didn't put in, as there are many free engines around.

Then lets put things together:
Lets say you want to create a VN that has 10 CGs + 1 title, 3 tracks of music (1 title, 1 menu and 1 ingame music) and you have 3 sprites (full body, 2 sets of clothes, 4 expressions and 2 poses each). Furthermore you use 10 backgrounds. The VN has about 10k words and you hire an editor and a writer.  So the total cost would be:
BGs 500
CGs 550
Sprites 318
Music 90
Editor+Writer 400
-----------------
Total cost: 1858 USD

Under $2K sounds incredibly low.  What nation(s) have you in your experience tapped to get these kinds of market rates?  As a software developer in the states, these kinds of rates wouldn't fly.

The game he made is a < 2 hour one (10k words) that has 10 CGs, 10 backgrounds and 3 music tracks of 1 minute each. 2k doesnt seem incredibly cheap hehe

@echomateria:  When I first started out in the industry - straight out of college - I made about that for my first paycheck, and I wasn't producing anything at the level of a visual novel.  Mind, I'm not a CG developer, but a full-stack web engineer.  I would find it tough to believe that an entry-level dev can be capable of doing something like this in a short amount of time, so I would imagine that these are more seasoned developers doing this.  Again, since I live in the States and work as an engineer, these rates seem really low to me.

@Makoto I took there rates I know that ppl in the lemmasoft forums want. That is a forum for developers and indie artists, ... which is mainly for the renpy VN engine but at the same time also a general recruitment forum for VNs, rpgs, ... And as echo stated I made a minimal example: normally you have 5-10 music tracks and 15+ CGs with variations which sums things up to way over 2k. Anohter thing is the low reliability of ppl in the indie scene which also adds to the costs (when they 'disappear'). But that aside the costs are really WAY less than what a normal programmer wants for a few

hours of work. Don't ask me how those artists make a living out of that (no clue really. I only know the prices as I saw them time and again on the forums and also had to pay those rates time and again). Also worth of note there. The comment of mine about programmers above: That is mostly default 2-4hours work for a "real" programmer. Most "programmers" for VNs (from what I noticed) are not able to do complicated stuff or improvise, thus are not much more than a typical script kiddie in terms of programming knowledge (as harsh as it sounds).

To sum it all up: I have NOT a single clue how they make a living there (although all artists,... I know are doing it beside their normal job/college/highschool). The average prices for VNs are just....WAY lower than one who is used to a normal programmers prices would ever expect anything to be.

@Makoto I'm also a full stack web developer and I've dabbled with visual novel engines (Ren'Py). I think it's glorifying it to even call it "programming" at all; it's closer to desktop publishing with MS Word or building a web site with a CMS like Drupal. Making an engine is a substantial programming task, but making a simple VN with some of the existing engines is something I'd expect any computer literate person to be able to learn in a few weeks.

@Torisuda for most of the programmers you are right but there are exceptions that try to bring out the max of the engine (very rare though). Example: Some more or less successfully tried to create a 3d engine with renpy. But most of these programmers are as you are right not really anything a programmer would call a programmer (knowledge and heartwise)

This more into "Eroge" game, but mostly Eroge game is kinda like a visual novel but with extra content, H content. SO here they are. And it cost much more rather than an indie game development. Yamato Tamaki  is the one who made this explanation. He is not that popular. We can say, not that popular person rather than Ryukishi07 (higurashi, umineko vn ) . His works are mostly nukige and it's pretty short game.

Eroge industry veteran Yamato Tamaki had written a detailed eroge
    production cost breakdown on his site a while back. Yamato Tamaki had
    done a variety of jobs in the eroge industry for 10 years (mainly as a
    project planner and scenario writer), and this is info that he is
    giving based on his experience.
This list does not include costs from advertising or manufacturing,
    because he has never been involved in that area. Advertising refers
    stuff like handing out flyers, putting ads in magazines, providing
    articles to magazines, setting up the website, etc. Manufacturing
    costs refer to costs incurred in stuff such as producing the box,
    pressing the DVDs or CDs, copy protection, printing the game manual,
    etc.

People involved in the development staff

Director

Similar to a movie director, but in the eroge industry the director is
  usually also involved in one of the other jobs listed below.

Artist

Draws the original art

Scenario writer

Writes the story, many of them also double as a scripter

Programmer

Writes the program, many also double as a scripter

Scripter

Scripts the game according to how the program works, does the
  presentation too

CG Supervisor

Makes sure the art is consistent, does the finishing touches, works on
  the improving quality of the art, etc

CG colouring

Colours the CG art and makes small graphics such as buttons

Background artist

Makes the background art used for bust shots and sometimes also for
  event art

Composer

The team who arrange the compose the music inside the game

Sound Effects

Makes the sound effects, this part is usually done by the composer
  too.

Seiyuu

The one who Voiced the character in game ( but if the game is a
  non-voiced game , it would not listed on the team )

Sound director

Directs how each seiyuu should be speaking like and explains the
  intonations needed etc

Animator

Guys that do the anime parts or filming etc

Enshutsu ( cant find about this one )

The one who made the storyboards for the trailer movies or anime
  scenes

Debugger

Checks for bugs and QA etc

Production manager

Makes sure everything is going according to schedule, usually done by
  the director or producer
Production costs
There are two ways to calculate prices in the industry, one is where
  the price is calcuated on a per unit basis and another is by having
  the company stating the total amount required and calculating the
  total price from there.
It is believed in the industry that you get a cheaper price via the
  2nd method. That is because even if there is a sudden need to increase
  the amount required, the price usually does not change. The 2nd method
  is usually paid on a per project basis, so a small increase in the
  amount needed will not change the price. There are also instances
  where it is in the contract that additional fees are required if the
  amount needed increases, but it’s usually very vague in this area.
Event line art
8,000 ~ 15,000 yen or 50,000 ~ 80,000 yen per image
Event art refers to art that takes up the entire screen and is used to
  represent a certain scene. The cost on the left is for a normal
  artist, and the cost on the right is the cost when a popular artist is
  used.
Event CG colouring
10,000 ~ 30,000 yen per image
The price changes according to if the background has to be coloured,
  and also according to the colouring style used (such as anime style
  colouring), and if the shadows are already designated in the line art.
Bust shot line art
3,000 ~ 10,000 yen each
These are the images used to represent the characters in the normal
  parts of the game. Variations in the character expressions doesn’t
  change the cost, but different clothes and poses will count as
  different images.
Bust shot CG colouring
approximately 1/2 ~ 1/3 of the cost of colouring the Event CG
The colouring style will be done in the same style as the Event CG, so
  the cost of colouring the Event CG will directly affect the cost of
  the Bust shot colouring.
Bust shot backgrounds
15,000 ~ 50,000 yen each
These are the backgrounds used to depict where the characters are.
  All sorts of backgrounds from TV anime level to movie level of art.
Scenario
1,000 yen for every 1kb
The story. Basically 1 yen for every 1 byte of the scenario. Outline
  and background settings do not count.
Programming
150,000 ~ 2,500,000 yen
The computer program that’s needed to run everything on the PC.This is
  the cost for ADV games, the price can get higher if it’s stuff like
  Action games or Mahjong.
Scripting
150,000 ~ 300,000 yen per 1MB
Scripting refers to the scripting that’s done to present all the
  relevant materials (art, backgrounds, bgm, etc) in order as the
  scenario progresses. The 1MB refers to the size of the scenario.
BGM
10,000 ~ 50,000 yen each
Most of them have been 25,000 yen or below recently.
Song
100,000 ~ 1,000,000 yen each
Stuff like the theme song, insert song, ending song, image song etc.
  Using a famous singer can cost a ton.
Sound effects
1,000 ~ 5,000 yen each
It’s pretty tough for the sound effects guys because when they sell a
  sound effect to a company it tends to get used across all their games.
Movie
100,000 ~ 10,000,000 yen
The more sophisticated the movie, the more it costs. It can cost a
  fortune if there’s anime or stuff like that.
Animation
1,000,000 yen and above
For comparison, a 30 minute TV anime costs about 8,000,000 ~
  15,000,000 yen
Cut-in
This refers to small graphics such as items and stuff. It’s usually
  done within the company itself, but if it’s outsourced, it’ll cost
  several thousand yen each.
Voices
It’s hard to give a range for this because the costs are completely
  different depending on the person that is used.
Interface
100,000 ~ 200,000 yen
Basically the graphics and design for the GUI. This is also usually
  done in-house, but this is the average cost to do it if they
  outsource.
Debugger
5,000 ~ 10,000 yen per day
It’s usually done in-house with everybody doing it together, but they
  get part-time staff when there isn’t enough manpower.
Other fees that may occur:
Direction fees 100,000 ~ 300,000 yen per month
CG managing fees 100,000 ~ 300,000 yen per month
Project fee 300,000 yen and below
Event CG variations
During the same scene a character’s expressions may change or the
  character’s hand may move slightly. These variations can have
  additional charges depending on how big the change is compared to the
  total area of the image.
Additional charges will not apply if the change is smaller than
  approximately 1/3 of the total area. If the change is bigger than
  that, there will be an additional charge (approximately 1000 ~ 5000
  yen for event line art), and if there are many different variations of
  the same piece, the additional charges will keep increasing. Yamato
  Tamaki has personally seen a case where an image costed 15,000 yen for
  line art and 25,000 yen for colouring (total 40,000 yen), but because
  of the variations it became 250,000 yen in the end.
Royalties
There may be royalties given to the artist or scenario writer, usually
  between 0.5% to 3%. In many cases the royalties are only given on
  condition that the game manages to sell a certain number of copies.
Seiyuu also need to be paid when the voices recorded for the game are
  used in other applications such as when a game is ported to consoles,
  when a game and its sequel are packed together and sold in a set, or
  when there is a remake etc. The price is usually a percentage of the
  original cost for when the voices were originally recorded.
Art used for advertising
Art that is used in advertising materials such as posters, telephone
  cards, magazine spreads etc need to be done in a higher resolution
  than the game art so the prices are different.
Line art – 15,000 yen and above
Colouring – 25,000 ~ 80,000 yen
The prices can go crazy when using a popular artist for the line art.
  The highest that Yamato Tamaki has seen is where it cost 350,000 yen
  for a single piece. But popular artists on this level can make the
  game sell over 10,000 copies just with their name alone.
How many copies need to be sold to make a profit?
The distributors get approximately 40% ~ 60% of the selling price. How
  much the distributors get is usually determined by the power balance
  between the maker and the distributors, recently there have been
  distributors that provide funding to the maker for the game’s
  development, so in these cases, the distributors hold more power.
  Whereas the more stable game makers that constantly make games that
  sell consistently or when the maker has a famous artist, they can have
  more power than the distributors.
Also, when a game maker sells a game directly themselves, they do not
  have to go through the distributors so the distributors do not get a
  share of the money. A game maker that is able to get good sales from
  direct sales basically gets double the income as compared to going
  through a distributor.
For example, for a game that is 8800 yen, if the distributor takes
  50%, that means 4400 yen goes to the game maker. The distributor will
  then sell the game to stores at 6500 yen a copy, so the distributor
  really makes 2100 yen per copy. Then when it comes to the stores, the
  amount they make will change depending on how much they sell the game
  for. If they sell it a the fixed price of 8800 yen, they make 2300 yen
  per copy, if they sell it at 7200 yen, they make 700 yen per copy.
  **
  **On the game maker’s side, if they make 4,400 yen per copy, that means
  they get 44,000,000 yen when 10,000 copies are sold. If 3,000 copies
  are sold then they make 13,200,000 yen.
If the cost of production was 50,000,000 yen (including advertising
  and manufacturing), it means they will need to sell 11,400 copies
  before they can start seeing profits.
This means that in the case where they use a famous artist that is
  able to sell 10,000 copies of the game just by his name alone, it is
  possible to break even, even if it costs 40,000,000 yen to use his
  art. (Though it’s not a really good deal at that price)
So basically the big titles that manage to sell over 100,000 copies
  made 440,000,000 yen, but the game makers that can make sales on that
  level will probably be able to demand a bigger cut of the sales from
  the distributors so the amount that they actually get is probably
  higher. # (there are only 3 companies that have games that sold more
  than 100,000 copies in recent times)
(Just in case anybody is getting the wrong impression about sales
  numbers, getting 5000 copies sold in the eroge industry can be
  surprisingly hard for many companies, so many try to keep the
  break-even point lower than that)

According that, cost production that stated above is for AVERAGE game. The game is more like 10-30 hours to play with it. YOu can compare that with the big title that take alot of time to finish the game
Sources : https://forums.fuwanovel.net/topic/6437-visual-novels-budget/


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Romantic moments for Luffy (and other Straw Hats)
Do the Strat Hats actually have romantic moments? Oda sure doesn't focus on love but there should be some hints regardin Straw Hats that love someone, even if is shown briefly.
Usually this question would be very broad but One Piece usually lacks romance.
Sanji doesn't count. Don't talk about him cause it would have no end. He's just on the receiver end (for example you might say Nami likes him because of a certain scene...) unless you suggest there's someone more special to him than all the rest, then again shown somewhere in One Piece.

Actually there is a canon answer... from the Word of God himself... even if it doesn't help.
D: Doesn't anyone on Luffy's crew fall in love? Will there never be a romance among crew members? (Sanji is an exception in this case) I'm just wondering. from Naoko
O: Of course they're in love... WITH ADVENTURE! (good one)
http://www.japanator.com/eiichiro-oda-answers-fan-questions-in-sbs-7443.phtml

The only thing that Luffy loves is the sea. This anime teaches us to follow our dreams. There is no space for men-women kind of love.

Actually there are romantic moments too (another example would be Boa Hancock loving Luffy)

That was a comedy you cant actually called love. Because Boa likes luffy because he isnt interesting on her. Its not love, its a comedy thing

It is love. In her arc the old woman says she'sfallen i love. She blushes, tries to hold him... Love can have comedy and there are serious moments like her turning on the Navy for him, tending his wounds...


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What is the difference between Kabuto's sage mode and Naruto's sage mode?
So Kabuto and Naruto both can use nature energy to enhance themselves, in other words they can use sage mode but when Naruto uses it his eyes become like the eyes of a from. And when Kabuto uses it, HIS eyes become like the eyes of a snake.
So my question is-
What is the difference between those 2 sage modes? Why does one make a user resemble a frog and the other one makes him resemble a snake when both are using natural energy?

Please narrow down your question. Right now you have 5 questions in one question thread. This is not acceptable by our community. Please split it into 5 different question threads.

done! And sorry, I didnt know that :P

It is known that where you learn sage mode affects it. Naruto and Jiriya both learned from the toads, and because of how it was learned on Mount Myoboku, they took on Toad characteristics. Naruto mastered it though, and as such only had his eyes transform, but Jiraiya took on many traits, from warts to frog like hands. Kabuto learned Sage mode from the Snakes in Ryuchi Cave, and as such took on Snake characteristics. Jugo's clan, or at least Jugo himself, Absorbs it naturally, and his personal side effect was the darker personality as he lost control.
As for Hashirama, we do not know where he learned Senjutsu, but the theory is that he mastered the Slug variant, since that is the third of the triple deadlock animals. However, Mitsuki seems to be able to use sage mode without having learned it from somewhere. This makes it most likely that if you learn sage mode from the Snakes, Toads, or some other animal that can teach you, you take on their traits, and mastery limits those traits to the eyes. If you learn it on your own, thanks to genetics or something else, you take on a unique transformation, like Mitsuki and Jugo. The best evidence for that theory is the curse mark, which is Jugo's method, but every user who transforms using it transforms differently. Again, that is a theory that just seems to fit somewhat.
Unfortunately, that is just about all we really got on it. Kishimoto did not go into full depth of quite a few things, and Sage mode is one of them. If we are lucky, then the Boruto manga might explain Mitsuki's Sage mode, and that should fill in a lot of the gaps.

When Orochimaru made the curse mark, then when the mark is activated does the mark bearer use sage mode as well? As it is made off of Jugo's abilities..?

@MartianCactus All kinds of the cursed seal work by giving the user Senjutsu chakra. Jugo's body has enzymes that are able to naturally absorb senjutsu chakra. Orochimaru mixed them with his knowledge of Senjutsu chakra to create the cursed seals. When the user activates them, the enzymes activate, absorbing nature energy, but like Jugo, they transform the user if enough is absorbed. Too much nature energy always transforms the user, but the enzymes never go way too far to where it becomes permanent. There is a price to pay for that though, but thats another question.

what is the price to pay for that?

@MartianCactus  The biggest drawback is the fact that Orochimaru has some control over it, and I believe he can trigger it to attack its owner. As well, it's said to significantly drain stamina once released. This is on top of the fact that it alters the personality while active, which, while mostly undone when released, can theoretically go as far as Jugo's personality transformation.

what do you mean by "undone when released" ?

@MartianCactus as i said, the mental effects are mostly undone when the cursed seal is released. Jugo goes murderous when transformed, but is back to peace loving when not.


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Confused about Obito's ability
So Obito can transfer any of his body parts that are in contact with the enemy to the time-space of the Kamui and make it look like he cannot be touched.
But then in some of the fight scenes, for instance I remember when he was fighting Guy and Naruto, he was about to touch Naruto but guy kicked him from behind so he didn't solidify and let himself pass through Naruto and let Guy's kick pass through him. Well at that time, why did he even need to transport his hand too? Couldn't he just transport the part of his body that was about to be kicked by Guy and then touch Naruto?
Why did he transport his fingers using the Kamui too? It was completely unnecessary and he could have taken down Naruto if he didn't do that..

Obito/ Tobi's kamui is his mangekyo sharingan ability unlocked presumably when he saw Rin die. It is a space-time ninjutsu that allows him to transfer objects into his own pocket dimension, including parts of his own body. While Obito is transfering anything between regular space-time and his own space-time his object not being transfered is vunerable

Kamui is an all or nothing technique. So while its reasonable to think that he could activate it for parts of his body only, he cant actually do that.

However, this eye can utilise a unique variation of teleportation akin to intangibility. When activated, any part of the user's body that overlaps with another object is seamlessly warped to Kamui's dimension, making it appear as though the user can phase through solid objects

When intangibility is active, he is completely intangible. His body is still in the real dimension until it overlaps, but absolutely any overlap will send the overlapped portion to the Kamui dimension. He can't attack or be attacked at all, and can't deactivate it while overlapped with something (or he can and it causes serious harm to him, we never see it happen). No known techniques work around this. He has never been harmed by someone in the real dimension while its active. its only weakness is that his overlapped real body sits in the Kamui dimension, and is vulnerable as normal to any attacks from the Kamui dimension, though if his head is also not there, he can't see it.

Short answer: we don't know.
Long answer: unlike one of the other answers states, Obito does have the ability to transport just a part of himself.

As shown above, Obito was able to transport just a part of his torso to the kamui dimension, where Kakashi was able to attack it and cause damage.
So if he was able to do this, why didn't he?  As far as I can tell, we don't have an explanation.  Maybe he didn't have that fine of control over it before this point.  Maybe he just needed to do the transportation very quickly and he didn't have time to just transport part of him.  Maybe it's a plot hole.

Ahem, That was the overlapped section that naruto was punching. It was seamlessly teleported to the Kamui dimension because naruto's chakra arm is in the space it was occupying.  " When activated, any part of the user's body that overlaps with another object". He cant pick and choose which parts go, any and all contact does it for him while active.

For Obito's ability
wiki link
Here is the complete description on tobi
Tobi had displayed the ability to open up his top half entirely and use himself as a suit of sorts to encase someone in.
Follow this link to get details..
wiki link

oh sorry!! So Tobi is that masked hashirama clone? Oh...I meant Oboto..I edited the question!!

ok let me edit my answer

The last bit is about Zetsu and not Tobi, I would omit that from the answer


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How did Madara fake his death during his battle with Hashirama?
Did Madara use Izanagi or Izanami and if yes then how did he have two Rinnegans? If someone uses Izanagi their sharingan gets destroyed right? If he used Izanagi then he should have only one sharingan left and then that evolved into Rinnengan. How does he have two Rinnengans?

He used the Izanagi to cheat death... I think his Sharingans just evolved into the Rinnegan.

Spoiler alert for if you haven't finished the manga or anime

Madara used the Izanagi to cheat death (just like I said in the comment section). The second part that I said was wrong. When he was fighting Hashirama he bit off a part of his (Hashirama's) arm, then after his "death" he vomited up the piece of flesh and implanted it into his wounds, which let him activate the Rinnegan (in both eyes).

You should remember that Hashirama is Ashura's reincarnation and Madara is Indra's (Ashura and Indra are The Sage of Six Paths' children), which is the reason why he was able to awaken it (Rinnegan) in the first place.

The Rinnegan can typically be awakened by gaining Hagoromo's chakra either by reproducing it from combining the chakra of Hagoromo's sons, Indra and Asura, or by directly receiving chakra from Hagoromo himself.

Also,

Madara's Sharingan did not become Rinnegan until decades later, at the end of his natural lifespan; this also seemingly restored the eyesight lost from his use of Izanagi.

So he didn't awaken the it right away. (The other part of your question is also answered above).
Sources:

Naruto volume 71: I Love You Guys
Rinnegan

So, he could activate rinnegan in one of his eyes without sharingan?

@AnubhavGoel, I don't think you exacly need a Sharingan to activate a Rinnegan, you just need both chakras of Hagoromo's sons or his.

@AkiraMahisaseru so according to that logic even Naruto should have awakened the Rinnegan. Rinnegan can only be achieved if one possesses Sharingan.

@MilapJhumkhawala, good point. I forgot all about Naruto. I guess you do need the Sharingan...

@MilapJhumkhawala You are At least mostly right, but the one thing that throws this all off is the one and only comment on what power naruto got from the sage of six paths, Specifically given my Madara "so one obtained the Senjutsu of the six paths". So Naruto obtained a new Sage mode, Meaning it is possible he did not actually get six paths chakra, and the mark was simply a way to use Planetary Devistation at no cost.

He sealed the Izanagi in his eye before the battle meaning that if he died it would activate and bring him back, so in theory he could have used his old Sharingan before he gained the eternal mangekyo, after all we saw Danzo do that having a sharingan in his arm to sacrifice rather than the one he had in his head. So why can't madara have done the same.

Naruto Wiki

The Mangekyō Sharingan's usage and activity place a great strain on the user themselves, wearing at the user's body and causing deterioration to their vision until eventually over-usage leaves them blind.

As is case with Izanagi.
Izanagi in same way takes away ordinary mangekyo Sharingan.

Their vision can be restored by receiving the transplanted Mangekyō of an Uchiha with strong blood ties — ideally a sibling — thus awakening so-called Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. The Eternal Mangekyō merge the designs of the transplanter and the transplantee's original Mangekyō.
  Their Mangekyō-based abilities are made stronger and they ** no longer suffer any negative side-effects from the usage**. According to Madara, the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan is proof an Uchiha continues to seek something despite experiencing great losses.

So, Madara had eternal mangekyo Sharingan which he never after Izanagi.
Thus, he could have Rinnegan in both his eyes.

This answer doesn't really validate the statement of having two Rinnegan. It does not even state anything about Izanagi either. This particular extract is about the sight restoration after excess usage of the Sharingan, which leads to the deterioration of the eyes.


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A song in Boku no Hero Academia Season 3 Episode 45 from 10:50 to 11:55
There is a song in Boku no Hero Academia, season 3, episode 45, from 10:50 to 11:55 that doesn't appear anywhere else. Does anyone know the name of that song?

It appears to be included in the OST for Boku no Hero Academia 2, track 12: Tsune ni Top wo Nerau Mono (常にトップを狙う者). It seems to use the part starting at around 00:35.

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


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Is Souma Yukihara the 9th seat after defeating Akira Hayama?
I know that the first shokugeki between Souma and Eizan is not for 9th seat but for not Destroying Polar Star Dorm.
There is another shokugeki battle of Souma in Azami Administration Arc vs Akira Hayama.
On Chapter 190 - 191, Souma defeated Hayama. Does it reflect that yukihara now holds 9th seat of elite ten?

it's probably best that rather saying "On the previous manga" you say what chapter you are referring to as what would be the "previous manga" one year down the line?

Shokugeki rules elicit that the conditions of winning and losing should be set beforehand. Souma Passes if he wins, gets expelled if he loses. Hayama gets nothing if he wins/loses. Though he had a deal with Azami to be expelled.
So, No. Souma is NOT a member of Elite 10.

 In fact  in the next chapter he discusses that if he, Megumi and Aldini, grab the Elite 10 seats. They have a chance of reversing Center's expulsion.

As discussed in the related question,

Each side must lay out their "compensation", or something they must give up if they were to lose the challenge. Both sides must agree that the compensation of the duel equate with each other.

Source: Wiki: Shokugeki
This is established pretty early when Souma challenges Isshiki for his 7th seat earlier!


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Did L win against Light?
Did L win against Light? Let me elaborate:
After L's death in episode 25, we assume that Light won. But in episode 26, L leaves a message in his computer (which Light deletes in the same episode).

Also, at the end of the episode, we see that some data is being sent from L's personal computer.
So, my question is: did he know/confirm that Light was Kira and sent the case data to Near?

Note:By "winning", I mean that L defeated Light in their mind game/battle. L had confirmed that Light is Kira( but could not prove it in front of the whole world). He was able to see that Light would come to kill him in the future and confirmed that Light is Kira (when Light smiles at L's dying body). This is purely a theory based on the possibility that the transmitted data can indeed be the case data stating Light as Kira.

Obviously, when I say "the transmitted data can indeed be the case data stating Light as Kira.", I mean to say that L simply stated that ,according to his theory, Light is Kira.

What is your definition of winning? Set the win conditions for each one of them. Or that is opinion-based. IMHO

By "winning", I mean that L defeated Light in their mind game/battle. L had confirmed that Light is Kira( but could not prove it in front of the whole world). He was able to see that Light would come to kill him in the future and confirmed that Light is Kira (when Light smiles at L's dying body).

That whole is a part of my theory.

add the comment to the question body.

IMO this is a pretty poorly defined question. What is to "defeat" if death doesn't count? You definition of defeat isn't clear. Since L died wouldn't that count as a defeat already? If that does not suffice you must at least state what parameters count as a defeat. Otherwise this question is too broad and bordering on a close vote from me.

It really depends on what you call winning.

L had been suspicious, strongly suspicious and just a tad less strongly suspicious of Light being Kira throughout the entire anime (or, well: those potions wherein he was alive).
L, however, wanted to prove that Light was Kira with evidence that would suffice to try him guilty. Collecting enough evidence to win a court case was also the police task force’s goal. They never achieved that or they would have arrested (and subsequently tried) Light.

In games like the board game Cluedo (or Clue, if you’re on the other side of the pond), you can essentially win by guessing correctly. In crime fiction or real-world criminal investigations, you don’t win by guessing correctly, you only win by proving you’re correct. Thus, applying the rules of Cluedo, L won; but he himself wouldn’t have considered him winning due to thinking in criminal investigation terms.

Since you now clarified what you mean by winning:
L did not win the mind game. We was on a good track, but he was short of the goal. If Rem hadn’t taken action, it probably wouldn’t have been too long before L had proven to himself that Light is Kira, at which point he would have also told the world about it. However, he was stopped just short of proof.

By "winning", I mean that L defeated Light in their mind game/battle. L had proved to himself that Light is Kira but could not prove it in front of the whole world. He was able to see that Light would come to kill him in the future and confirmed that Light is Kira (when Light smiles at L's dying body).

That whole is a part of my theory.

@Lucifer- L would not have considered Light to be proven as Kira at any point in the anime.

So, was L sure that Light was Kira? If not,what is with that "Transmission" and that message in L's computer.

@Lucifer- As I have tried to write in now three different ways: Imho, L was not sure that Light was Kira. I don’t know what’s up with the transmitted message, though. And the thing in the PC could legitimately just be his notes.

@Jan The manga version of this scene is different: the message is just an automatic transmission signaling that L is dead, and no mention is made of any notes, and he is never sure that Light is Kira until the very moment of his death, when he sees Light's obnoxious smirk. Near and Mello basically have to restart the investigation from nothing after several years have passed. So I think you're correct that L did not win, and I would call the transmitted message just a plot contrivance by the anime to make it seem like L contributed something to Light's final downfall.

@Jan But if L lost/or wasn't sure that Light is Kira, then how did he know that he was going to die. He clearly said that "The fact that now you are reading this message means that i am no longer alive". Either he knew Kira's true identity, or I'm falling behind. He predicted that Kira would come to kill him which means that he knew Kira was among his teammates. And since his doubts were always aligned towards Light, I guess he was just trying to prove what he already knew. And then there is the "Transmission" message in L's personal computer, meaning that he was sending some important data.

@Lucifer- ‘The fact that you are reading this message means that I am no longer alive’ is easily explained: never during his lifetime would he or Watari ever give away the information contained within — it wouldn’t fit his style. Thus, if anybody ever read it, it means he is dead. Why he chose to write it that way? Well, he’s bound to die some day …

In the end L won because it was his successors who proved Light was Kira.  Kira being caught was the end goal, regardless of L being alive when it happened which is why from the beginning he said he had to prove he would risk his life.
He also told Soichiro that if he were to die, Light is probably Kira meaning he considered the possibility of dying and believed that Kira could be stopped.
L was considered to be slightly evil by the creator, I agree only in the sense that he was willing to do necessary evils, he was only bad in that Makeaveli way, by means to an end. If that meant dying so be it.
Remember he considered the murders to be atrocious and could not go unpunished.
Light had been punished and died before he could face trial, by the will of Ryuks Death Note.
Aside from personal beliefs, it was a draw. They both died from the hands of a shinigami because of the actions of people close to them.
Misa is the reason Rem chose to kill L, because she would have been executed or sent to prison. Near is the reason Ryuk chose to kill Light, because he would have been executed or sent to prison.
I love L so it is my own personal opinion that he won.

I believed that Light was smart and did have a running start but there was so many other factors, each character has their own flaws and the two opponents used this to their own advantage by the middle of the anime the two was basically on equal footing. L was happy to find somebody to interact with on the same intellectual level and this ended up leading to his death but not downfall. Near was given the information that L had gathered outta the mud and deduced that L died because of his respect for light. Light held others in contempt and it also led to his downfall because near was smart and had all of L’s previous work within his disposal, this is why Near didn’t find Light special. Near and Mello combined put them on equal footing as L because like mello L wasn’t afraid to take risks and put his life on the line but at the same time he was as calculated and articulate as Near if not more. In the end L won because he knew how’d it’d end and he didn’t want to kill the only true friend that he felt he had.

L knew the whole time that Light was Kira.  The problem was the proof.  Even when confronted with the 13 day rule, L knew he was backed into a corner, he knew that proving Light was Kira was a deathwish, that Light would not let this happen.  The staircase / roof scene confirms L contemplating his death, He KNOWS he is going to die, and will die when he tries to hash out the truth of the death note.  He tells light that they will soon part, and asks Light if he knows how boring that will be for LIGHT - because L was his greatest adversary.  When he died all the info was sent to near, about the death note, that Light was Kira, about the 2nd Kira, how everything works, and instructions to take Light down.  We don't get to know Near because after all he's just following L's plan the whole time.  And the whole time Near is cheating, he knows the outcome.  He's just watching the pieces fall into place because unlike how "L" had to contemplate all of his choices, Near never does - Near KNOWS and that's the huge difference and why some people hate Near, because he doesn't have to think.  But if you rewatch it - knowing that Near already knows everything and how it ends - and I think he used the death note to kill light and described his death far before the scene in which Light dies - because LIGHT would never be stupid enough to admit to being KIRA - he was compelled to do so by Near.  That was the plan the whole time.

Didn't Ryuk write Light's name in the Death Note? And did Near really write it in the last 6 minutes and 40 seconds?

Hold up. I don’t think we should think which of those two won, I think it’s who won. Many people might not like my theory, but I think both of them won and lost in a way. Let me explain why. L wanted nothing more than to catch and kill Kira/Light. It was his biggest wish. Now L won and lost. He completed the first part of finding Kira, because he knew that Light was Kira, just couldn’t prove it to others. The second part however, not so much. He died before he got to kill him, and Near had to finish off (I mean Ryuk in the end but well). So he got his wish, when Light died, but didn’t do it, because L died before he was able to. Therefore I think he won, but lost to Kira.
Now Light or Kira in the other hand. He wanted to become a god of the new world, and kill anyone who tried to stop him (originally criminals but later on innocents), but died trying to achieve it. He kind of stayed as some sort of a god even after he died, since he still had worshippers on Earth. And when Light became a shinigami (I believe the shinigami theory, cause it seems really possible and well proven), he became a GOD of death, he wanted to become a god of the new world, and he became a god of death, but died in the human world. For that I’d say he also won but lost. If he would remember his human life when being a shinigami, then he would have won, because he could just continue his killing as a shinigami, that’s not the case though. Therefore, I think L and Kira both won and lost to each other, both got what they wanted but suffered and died at the same time.

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


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Why wasn't Kaori Miyazono famous?
From the show's earlier episodes, it's easily evident that Kaori was a great violinist. Even one of the judges was shocked and wondered like "where had she been all this time and why isn't she famous?"
Why wasn't Kaori famous or known as a notable violinist? Even a popular violinist like Toshiya Miike knew about Kaori, as it's shown in the anime that he dislikes Kaori's playing style and disrespects her in front on Arima.

Perhaps she never performed well in competitions prior to the story. Afterall she puts a lot of burden to the accompanying pianist.

Yeah you are right probably, the anime has this flaw only that it didn't show anything about Kaori throughout the whole anime. Only in the last episode, they show everything about her including the lie and her childhood. I really wish the anime would have focused on her personal life too. @AyaseEri

We do not know Kaori's progress in her violin studies, and as I am not a violinist, I cannot comment on the difficulty of her repertoire (and thus, of the competitions in which she plays). However, there are two out-of-universe reasons for Kaori's lack of fame that come to mind.
Firstly, even classical music listeners might not follow competitions closely enough to recognise those who performed well in them. I mostly listen to classical music and I know the names of a number of big competitions, but I barely know the names of those who did well. Moreover, with the exception of certain "niche" interests — period instruments, transcriptions, some types of vocal performance — I am likely to end up listening to recordings and performances by better known, more "established" musicians whom I already know.
Note also that there are any number of decent musicians who play difficult repertoire but are not well-known outside of their local circles.
Secondly, it is made clear by episode 2 that Kaori does a poor job at following the score, which might prevent her from getting a following in the right circles.1 I might avoid someone whom I knew to consistently and flagrantly push an interpretation that clearly was not the composer's intention, and I am not the only one. My teachers would also be unhappy with me if I played like that, which in turn would inhibit my development and recognition.

When I speak of "following the score," I do not mean robotically playing it without thought. Rather, I mean that the production is intelligent and approximates what the composer might have expected. It is important that I "stick to the score" in my piano playing, but when I do so, I still have to make decisions and play thoughtfully.

But Toshiya Miike knew Kaori somehow, since he is kinda pissed about Kaori's playing style, and even disrespects her in front of Kousei. How come did he know about Kaori then?

@Jarvis: I'd make a distinction between being well-connected in the circles of your teacher or where you live (which IIRC should roughly describe how Miike relates to Kaori) and being famous in the sense of being recognised beyond that (or in the sense of having an excessively famous teacher and playing with big orchestras, etc.).

But still, I think the Anime (and Manga too hopefully, though I didn't read it) perform a poor job of portraying Kaori's personal life. All the 'things' about her were unraveled only in the last episode/chapter, which doesn't give satisfaction to the core.

@Jarvis: I'd agree; I would have liked to hear about how she interacted with her violin teacher(s), what with her playing style. (I wouldn't be surprised if her teacher overlooked the whole thing, but I'd have thought that someone would have confronted her about it sooner.) Well, in any case, I'm not quite sure if I'm happy with my answer, but at least I put down what occurred (and made sense) to me.

I agree with your answer for most of the part (that's why I accepted it). But I would love to see any OVA regarding this. Any ideas about any upcoming extra chapters/OVAs for Your Lie in April?

@Jarvis: I haven't been following the franchise too closely. (I ended up disliking its take on music too much, and feeling like the character development was incomplete.) I know there's a released OVA with the characters as kids though, and I think there was a movie that either recently came out or is going to be released soon.

Yeah, character development is surely lacked in the anime. The OVA does nothing but just adds to the feels. The only important thing it shows is how Kaori clicked that photograph and how Arima ended up in that photograph.

She says in the letter in the final episode that it was only when she learned of her illness that she started doing things so she would have no regrets. One of these things that are mentioned is that she started playing the violin how SHE wanted to so that people would remember her.

Because there are countless good musicians who are not famous.

Having not watched Your Lie in April, and being only vaguely aware of its plot, I believe this is a valid point. Eva Cassidy didn't become famous until two years after she'd already died, for example.


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Does Ichigo still have his powers after his battle with Yhwach?
The final chapter of the manga shows Ichigo leading a normal life but it's never really shown if he is still a Shinigami. Or is it the same as the time he used the Final Getsuga Tenshou in his fight with Aizen? Has Kubo talked about this somewhere, given how abrupt the ending was?

Yes, the 2 Novels following the manga's ending said that he regained the powers stolen by Yhwach.

Welcome to [anime.se]. Thanks for answering the question. Meanwhile, could you add the name of the 2 novels and explain a little more when Ichigo regained the powers (e.g. what page, the scene regarding this, etc). You can [edit] your answer to improve it! Also, consider taking a [tour] to understand more how this site works!

To add to that single line answers do tend to end up in the delete queue more often than they should. I'm flagging this as ok. But please try to keep a 3 sentence minimum. Decent answers shouldn't end up here. Especially if they are correct.


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Shisui's Suicide
I know that Danzo had taken Shisui's right eye already and was after him, but why did he have to commit suicide? I know this question may sound simple, but I don't get why Shisui couldn't have lived on and help stop the coup the Uchihas were planning...

"Self-sacrifice… a nameless shinobi who protects peace from within its shadow… That is the mark of a true shinobi."
-From Shisui to Itachi
Shisui gave his life and eyes in order to protect his home the village of Konoha, serving as an ANBU Black ops member. His Mangekyou Sharingan is one of the most powerful in all the Uchiha clan records that is why he thinks that his eyes can be used against Konohan whenever their clan initiate a coup d'etat.
Maybe Shisui can't live with the thought that he had to choose between the village and his clan.

Ah.... I see why.

Shisui was ambushed by Danzo, and ended up losing his right eye. This was a shock to him, because he served under Danzo as an ANBU Black Ops. He realized that there would soon be a coup d'etat from his own village, and he knew that his left eye would be a target from both Danzo and the Uchiha village.
Shisui did not want such a war between the Uchiha village and Konoha. He did not want internal destruction of his village, and he also did not want his village to perish. Thus understanding his eye as the most powerful tool, he knew everyone would go after him. So he believed it would be better to keep his left eye safe with Itachi, and commit suicide, so that no one would find his corpse, or go after him.


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How can Angels Spirits disobey her?
In Lucy's fight with Angel the Gemini transform into Lucy and it makes her spirits do whatever she says, but when Angels spirits learn about Lucy's love for spirits they start disobeying Angel how does that work? Shouldn't they be under the same I can't disobey my master rule?

The spirits are their own people. Loki (Loke) says this when he has a flashback to his previous owner. They share feelings with one another (Demonstrated when Loki and Aries are both hit; they tried to grab each others hands).
They are under the same "can't disobey my master" rules, however they can stand up for what's right (Loki did this with his former master, Karen Lilica). They can inhibit the wizard's ability to summon another spirit since they know that summoning 2 spirits at once is taxing on the user's magical abilities. This would be considered rebellion, the contract (still vague on the community) is a bond that states that a spirit is under the wizard's control until their key is broken. It never once was stated in the manga and anime series that the spirit can't rebel.

true but then why did Lucy's spirits still attack her when gemini  were impersonating her


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Why is Wendy considered young to join the fairy tail guild
I realize Wendy is young but it seems like Natsu Gray and Erza where younger than she is when they're in the flashbacks and they were in the guild at the time and Lisana was even younger since Mirigane was Erza's age, so why is everyone like "she's so young".

well considered FT have around 100 member, perhaps they are the only one who join them in such young age, so their reaction doesn't feel too strange

so like no one since the olden days has joined at such a young age??

probably, we know that Lucy, Gajeel, Juvia join FT when they were older. Probably most of the member are like that. Well normally you don't need to work till you got older, since guilds are also the place to get a job

Are you sure "Wendy is young" is mentioned for joining the guild? Afaik, its because she is young, but she is a powerful Dragon Slayer with "Healing Magic" which is incredibly rare. So more of a surprise thing. If she was "too young to join", Erza would never have invited her!

it seems like they are talking about joining but i suppose they could be saying she's so young to be so powerful but  its always seemed like they were saying she was young to be in a guild. but if they were talking about being a strong mage natsu gray and erza seemed much more powerful even when they were young so then the question simply shifts to why are they so suprized at a young powerful mage


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Does Goku possess super quick talking skill?
I know that he can move very quickly (and even instantly). That's why when freeza says there are 5 minutes left till the planet explodes it didn't bother me that those 5 minutes took 11 episodes. Because of their high speed they can move super quickly and many episodes were needed to show everything.
What I don't undestand is how they were able to give an enormous amount of speeches in those 5 minutes.

In the Dragonball series, in one of the tournaments, Krillin was fighting Master Roshi. They had a clash, which happened in an instant. No one saw what happened, so they acted the scene out in explaining in detail what happened. It included several attacks, and even a game of rock paper scissors. I don't know if its was in the manga or not, but it is solid evidence showing their speed. Even way back then, when large boulders were a challenge to deal with, they were still fast enough to, in an instant, play a game of rock paper scissors and know who won and lost, in the middle of throwing several attacks.
Later on in the series, we see higher speed fighting. Spectators see numerous shock waves filling their vision, each several meters apart. The fighters are attacking/defending in one place, then distance themselves and clash again dozens of meters apart numerous times in a very short period of time. This kind of speed is a higher leveled version of the Rock paper scissors earlier.
With such things as evidence, we can say it is very possible that they can talk at high speed when necessary. Sometimes, they do talk as they are clashing, though we only ever see that from their perspective, so we cant say for sure if they slowed down or not to talk. So while they at least somewhat can talk at a higher speed thanks to their insane speed and ability to comprehend everything while going at such speeds, they generally don't, and we don't have any solid evidence if they truly can.
But, there are other factors at play here. First off, Anime, even in the middle of canon fights, can and usually do throw in filler. They extend the fights to make the show go on longer, filling in more minutes with less story. There are numerous examples where people are exhausted in the middle of a fight, and yet later in the same fight that is still going on, they magically recovered, because of such filler. Some of that Frieza fight in the anime was filler, or canon scenes extended to fill more time.
Secondly, due to their vast speed, their clashes can be significantly faster than portrayed. Some times, they even count the seconds, and yet each time the count goes down can not only be greater than a second between them, but that time gap can even vary. When we are viewing the fights from the perspective of Goku, we cant possibly tell how much it has been slowed down for us to comprehend.
A third thing, specific to this case, Frieza held back, which caused the 5 minutes in the first place
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Frieza

In frustration, Frieza sends a Death Ball into the core of the planet, starting a chain reaction that would destroy Namek in five minutes (revealing immediately afterwards that he held back too much of his power for the Death Ball to be a complete success).

Its not unreasonable that his estimation was off by a few minutes due to his fear of being on the planet as it explodes, with an opponent he doesn't know he can win against. The wiki summary of the 5 minutes is also quite short, half the size of this answer, not a lot actually happened in those 5 minutes.


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Why does Kin'nee's personality change when the Jusenkyo curse is in effect?
In Ranma 1/2: "Jusenkyō kara Kita Koroshiya" ("The Killer from Jusenkyo"), Kin'nee, the Muscle-sword guy, turns into a young priest when doused with cold water - including totally changing his personality.
However, others like Ranma and Genma and Shampoo etc. don't change their personalities when transformed. Ranma doesn't, as far as I know, take on the personality of the girl he turns into - he remains the same person just with a different body.
Why, then, is it so different for Kin'nee? Not only does his personality change, he also has no recollection of what he just did.


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Why do ninjas run with their hands at the back?
Ninjas in Naruto run with their hands at the back,

which is very different from normal anime character running.

Why is that? Is it because of their too much running speed or the wind force that their arms tend to be at their backs? Don't they lose balance when they run like that? Is there any explanation for this?

Based on research...
...Ninjas frequently were portrayed running with The Airplane Arms.

Ninja are also frequently portrayed running this way (with the arms swept farther back, like the wings on an F-14 Tomcat), though they now tend to prefer the Ninja Run. Samurai also run in a similar manner, usually while keeping one hand grasped onto their katana. In a more (apparently) realistic series this may have something to do with the runner having a reduced profile and thus being harder to hit with ranged weaponry, but it's generally just the Rule Of Cool.

Emphasis by me.

Another theory:
Generally a ninja's goal is being stealthy so in a way, having non-swinging arms may may his/her profile sleeker/thinner and will lessen the chances of bumping on objects. The usual ninja run form on the feet area portray similarities to tip-toe position (though some run normally) further emphasizing stealth as the main objective.

Intended or not, something to consider is aerodynamics. WIth normal running, the arms swinging is for balance, and is otherwise optional. Naruto Ninja run fast, and even the lowest estimates are over 30+MPH (48kph) with high estimates in the 100s. in short bursts, elite ninja can vanish from right infront of you with the body flicker technique. At such speeds, especially when traveling for days like they do for missions, even a small boost in aerodynamic efficiency can be significant, and not punching the wind with every step helps when at any time you can be attacked.

The shortest and most sensible answer I could find is:

The standard Ninja Run is this:

Body tilted forward, low to the ground.
One forearm crooked in front of the body, apparently to block attacks (two fingers held in front of the mouth
  optional but prevalent).
The other arm behind the back, ready to pull out a bladed weapon.

Another speculative guess would be better aerodynamics. Also they move very quickly at times and it is said that swinging your arms make you tire faster and give you bad form, so it could be to save energy.

cant argue with Aerodynamics. Swinging your arms is mostly for balance for humans. (ever try swinging your arms with your legs when you walk, For me, i physically tilt when i do). the classic running arms is an easier way to swing them faster and when we run we tilt forward and so does the balance requirement (the fists barely if at all go behind the body during the run) Ninja not only run faster but are marathon runners (its days of running to reach another village) and may need to fight in the middle of that journey. In real life there may be no benefits, but this is anime after all.

Several reasons really that I can think of.

To reduce the profile, leaning forward the way they do and keeping the arms straight makes for a harder target to hit and lower to the ground so its more difficult to see moving from cover to cover, which is a Ninja's main objective; to move stealthily.

1.5 This also gives them the perfect posture to leap forward for whatever reason since most attacks from behind are hard to block compared to a forward attacks which will have a reasonable amount of time to see and intercept them.

An easier/quicker access to weapons, which are attached to the thighs and back.
Increased aerodynamics. Running at a fast speed like most Ninja do creates a lot of drag, the more aerodynamic the posture the better.  I can also think of several balance issues that come from running face first like that, the arms held behind the body fix these balance issues.
Can achieve a faster speed.  Technically...  With all the weight moving forward like that it acts like a lead weight on the front of a toy racecar. The force above and ahead of the main pivot of the legs increases the speed.  Inversely this makes things harder to control, but, given that Ninja are basically Jesus and can walk on water and vertical surfaces like walking on flat ground, it makes sense that they have amazing leg strength/balance and can stop on a dime relatively easily.
Improves correct sneaking posture.  Most Ninja are taught to be stealthy, but learning a toe heel posture that emphasizes stealth takes a lot of practice and is hard to maintain.  Leaning forward as they do while running forces the body into a toe heel posture.

5.5 This early academy training idea also has a good grounding on why most adult Ninja in later chapters use the "one hand behind and one hand forward with a hand sign" running style. They've already learned the correct posture to run and sneak with, now they can keep a hand forward, ready to cast the Jutsu they learned during their time as Genin, alongside their proper sneak/running posture.

When they keep their arms behind, they are streamlined.
They penetrate through air faster and air resistance is reduced, and hence it boosts their speed.
It also provides easy accessibility to weapons.

Actually, I once saw a bit about this in a Japanese TV show.  It comes from the way samurai used to run before meeting the English.  Samurai ran into battle using only their legs, keeping the upper body stable and in a ready stance.  The arms back thing was, I believe, an extension of this having to do with a belief that it cut down on air resistance.  (like using the same technique to run through water)  But one thing that happened when the English arrived is that each saw how the other ran and, as men will do, competed.  The Western style of running is harder to do with a weapon in hand but is more efficient and therefor faster.  The eastern style has no swinging of the arms, which allows larger weapons (swords) to be carried safely, but also requires the shift in weight to occur in the body rather than the arms, making it less efficient and slower.

Perhaps it's because the weapons they'd use to handle an ambush are drawn from their thighs and behind their backs. I'd think it would also give them a uniform running profile so that there is no 'best moment' to attack them. If you run with your arms swinging there will be moments when your hands are completely out of position. Especially if you have, say, a left thigh shuriken holster and a right shoulder sword draw then you will constantly be creating a moment where you can easily draw neither weapon due to arm swing. Thirdly it allows you to draw and throw weapons hidden in your sleeve without the delay of needing to swing your arm back.
I suppose it could also be an artifact of chakra assisted movement. A proper calisthenic running style might conflict with getting the best results from a run that relies more on sticking with chakra and explosively releasing it for a 'push' rather than the rounder motion of running based off pure athleticism. Perhaps it also helps their moment to moment balance by keeping their center of gravity near constant rather than allowing it to sway, that would theoretically allow for faster, tighter reactions and evasions.

It obviously doesn't ACTUALLY make you run faster.  If it did, you would see it in the Olympics.
Any additional aerodynamics isn't made up for by the loss of swinging momentum of the arms and the awkwardness that causes.
There is a reason people swing their arms when they walk/run, even though it uses significantly more energy to do so.
Indeed, I thought perhaps the reason you would see this run is that maybe it used less energy and helped for distance, but that is unlikely too, because it is probably more work to keep balance overall---and there are people who can basically run so long that what they have to stop for is sleep anyway.

I'm not sure if you are against the other answers or somewhat with them. Also, I don't think a comparison of ninjas and athletes is a good example.

The reason they do that is Aerodynamics.
Less air resistance, faster speed. Used a lot when designing jets, planes, cars. You want something to be faster, you either make it more powerful or have the resistance against it cut. Speed was important to ninjas so wearing tight clothes and running in an aerodynamic position would make them faster. That is in addition to obvious benefits that people have stated (a hand at the ready to draw a blade...etc).
Ever wonder about the shape of submarines or torpedoes? Its cause its hydrodynamic. Faster speed due to less resistance from the water. It works the same for air resistance. NASA used to have a great page on aerodynamics but obviously it is no longer available (can't even be crawled due to robots.txt for the site).

Because putting your hands behind your back while running makes you go faster. Because it's weighing you down in the back but your weighing yourself down in the front, So it's like your trying to keep your balance but the front has more weight than the back so when your running your also kind of leaning forward at the same time which makes you run faster giving you more speed. That's why ninja do this so they have more speed.

If you want a source see the video in youtube where a real ninja comment on ninja run. The name of the channel is asian boss.

The reasoning for this is most likely because it looks cool and fits what westerners thinks of when they think of ninjas. There may be some reasoning with weapons but I do not know of any. However it has nothing to do with aerodynamics, physics or speed.
Sprinters use their arms because it makes them faster. Leaning forward while running does not make one faster it actually slows you down because you are in front of your bodies natural center of balance.
It also does not aid in long distance running. Humans have evolved for bipedal movement because it is more energy saving and efficient way of moving because of the center of gravity and swinging of the arms while walking and running. This is why humans were able to prosper in our early developer because while other quadrupedal animals exhausted themselves while fleeing humans where able to run longer distance, though at a slower rate than other animals to tire them out.

A mixture of obscuring your profile and having you hands closer to the branches on your side, should you have to pivot/swing away without wasting chakra on a shadow clone or substitution jutsu. I think.


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Why is there an extreme amount of censoring in Jojo (Stardust Crusaders) on Crunchyroll?
There seems to be an extreme amount of censoring in Stardust Crusaders (black shadows, etc) compared to other anime or even the previous 2 seasons.
Examples:

Smoking
Cut body parts
Big wounds (eye stab, etc.)

I don't really understand. If perhaps the smoking thing is because Jojo is underage, Sanji smoked since "day 1" of One Piece (he was in his teens). The wounds I don't understand either, as some other anime don't censor large wounds (like Fate/Zero, which I watched while it was airing on TV).
Example of censorship in Stardust Crusaders:

Example of Jojo season 1 no censoring on huge wound:

I'm watching on Crunchyroll if it matters. Sometimes it's so bad I can't even tell what happened in the scene. Why is this? If there are any laws causing this, what laws and what do the laws say?

Something stinks about that and it's not the tobacco.

@Memor-X I have a vague guess what you mean, but I really can't pinpoint what is it.

Re: Fate/Zero - JoJo's gore is gorier than Fate/Zero's gore, by far. I can't think of anything in F/Z that is even as gory as your example image from JoJo part 1.

user11503's answer is exactly correct: the earlier parts of JoJo were just as bad when they aired on TV. Here's the TV version of OP's screenshot from JoJo part 1:

Not much better than Stardust Crusaders.
Here's what happened: sometimes, Crunchyroll only gets streaming rights to a show after the BDs have come out. This was the case for JoJo parts 1 and 2. In these cases, Crunchyroll will typically use the BD version rather than the TV version, since the BD version is almost invariably higher quality (Shaft notwithstanding). Of course, it so happens that the BD version also will be less censored.
This also happened, for example, with Madoka (no simulcast; when Crunchy got streaming rights, they used the BD version).
I think it is unlikely that most of the points mentioned in Toshinou Kyouko's answer are relevant in light of the fact that OP's assumption is false: Stardust Crusader is not, in fact, substantially more censored than parts 1 and 2. The smoking thing seems like it might be playing a role, though.

Edit: See @senshin's answer for the correct answer. This answer addresses the question assuming the version on Crunchyroll was the same as before. I will keep this here for general reasons as to why the series may have been censored on TV.
I don't have a definitive answer, but I can offer some guesses:

This season may have aired on TV earlier than usual so harsher censorship rules could have applied (I don't think this one is likely, but it's a possibility)
In the past few years censorship laws have been enforced more and more strictly. In July 2013 (before Stardust Crusaders) There was a big push for more self-censorship after a series of arrests in Core Magazine. Also broadcasters will send back episodes if they do not meet their expectations of censoring. These then have to be edited at short notice to be fit to broadcast.
With regards to smoking, The Japan Society of Smoking Control may have filed a complaint. They have been known to do so with other anime series, such as Nana Ref
Other groups may have complained about Jojo's content - In 2008 Jojo was under fire for having Dio reading the Qur'an and containing fighting scenes played out ontop of, and destroying, mosques. Ref - These scenes had to be redrawn.
The animators may have seen what way other shows were going and used them as a guideline for what to censor and what not to. It is true that Japan has been stricter on censorship over the last 10 years, and that the market is also moving towards a censored TV / Uncensored DVD setup.

I would imagine it's primarily broadcaster standards that dictate what Jojo can and cannot show. Stardust Crusaders was also on more Japanese TV networks than its prequel so it had more vendors to satisfactorily censor for.

Is there any hard facts? What time did season 1 air at, and what time does this season air at in Japan?

Unfortunately I couldn't find the airing times of the shows in Japan, and all the other points would be kept secret by the animation company

authors: ยาปลุกเซ็กส์


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Why do they tie their thumbs and don't use handcuffs?
I've seen lots of animes where a character is caught and interrogated by some authority. The captive is usually depicted sitting on the chair in the interrogation room. But instead of being handcuffed, their thumbs are tied with a zip tie.
Why? Is there a meaning? It's so weird! Is it common to use zip ties to restrain criminals in Japan?
I'm confused.
No this is not some kinky anime; I don't watch that stuff, it's an action based anime, more specifically, AICO incarnation or something like that.

Which episode was this?

ThumbCuffs used to be a big thing. I imagine you could 'recreate' the effect with zipties.

"A normal zip or cable tie is borrowed. A participant firmly cables the performers two thumbs together, making it impossible for the performer's hands to separate" (wonderwizards.com).
So my understanding is that by pinning the thumbs together, separating the hands becomes impossible and thus, minimal hand movements restrict leverage to pull on the rest of the bindings
https://www.wonderwizards.com/lesson/blacktie2018


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What's He Smokin'?

Something has been bothering me lately and I don't know how quite to put it.
I know Cromartie High School is known for its absurdist, non sequitur humor but does anyone know exactly what students at Cromartie smoke? Is it jello? I must find out.

Could this possibly be some sort of joke censorship?

Looks like he's smoking a Dragonquest Slime

As @JonLin mentioned, this seems to be just a nod or a joke about censorship with regards to smoking. There are a lot of examples stated here as to which anime and how they censor characters who originally smoke. In addition, in Cromartie High School specifically,

...in a satirical jab at anime censorship, the anime depicts the delinquents smoking CG blobs or some other kind of absurd thing instead. Like everything else, this is played for laughs as the blobs bounce when the smoker is talking, along with other physics defying feats. Smoke rises from them instead of the ends of the 'cigarettes'. (Source)

As a side note, Gray from Fairy Tail was also not shown smoking in the anime, even though he originally does in the manga.