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What are these designs based on?
I've noticed a recurring design in anime, manga, and other Japanese art and I'm wondering where it comes from. It's basically a jet-like machine or creature with a pointed head, tufted "ears", long neck, and sharp wings attached to a back-heavy body. Here's some examples:
The Gekko from Eureka Seven:

Latias/Latios from Pokémon:

Chiara Toscana's weapon/vehicle from Shakugan no Shana:

Are these simply coincidences or is it a design trope, similar to something like mecha? Is there more history behind this shape? If you know of any other examples, I'd love to know about them.

Birds, they're all based on birds... as are all planes. All designs are unrelated, any resemblances are probably coincidental.

I don't really understand the close votes. This doesn't seem any more opinion-based than Why do some characters have broken lines for mouths?. @ʞɹɐzǝɹ's comment seems like it could be expanded into a reasonable answer with sources. Can anyone who close-voted explain why they think this is primarily opinion-based?

I don't think this has much to do with anime even, it's just how nature and then people designed flying things. It's more of an aerodynamics question and would fit better on Physics.SE than here. The examples only happen to be from anime, but other cartoons and fantasy artworks have the same creatures. The significance of these similarities is kind of a stretch.

@Hakase I would consider the design and concepts behind anime/manga to be valid topics of discussion (same would apply to tv and movies). A lot of real life concepts are reflected in anime. This is a question on design aesthetics, not technical specifications.

@Hakase I see your point. I agree that this question has a lot of failure modes. An answer which goes deep into the aerodynamics of flight is too tangential to anime, and examples of similar designs certainly appear widely outside of anime. (Example). But I do think there could be a reasonable answer based on the design aesthetic, as ʞɹɐzǝɹ says. From the wording of the question, the OP seems to be asking about artistic considerations, not science.

Okay-okay, I take back my vote. Let's see what happens.

I agree that these are clearly based on birds; the anime-related aspect would be why do designers consider this to be what birds look like (feather tufts on the sides of the head, long neck). If you asked a classroom of American kindergarteners to draw you a bird, I don't think this is the common design that you'd get from them. This seems along the lines of why Japanese dragons have eel-like bodies and long whiskers whereas Western dragons look more like dinosaurs in build

The design is reminiscent of the XB-70A, a Mach 3-capable jet developed in the 60's. It has small foreplanes near the front of the aircraft that look like ears. I've also noticed that Japan Airlines uses a red-crowned crane in their logo: I thought a crane or similar type of bird might have served as a basis. The design seems a bit too distinct to simply be "based on birds" or "based on jets" especially considering the ears, which appear on neither.

As @ʞɹɐzǝɹ and @seijitsu mentioned in the comments, these designs appear to be based on birds. Specifically, the long neck and football-shaped body look like a crane or goose.

The red-crowned crane has a significant place in Japanese and Chinese culture. It figures in the fairy tale Tsuru no Ongaeshi. As txteclipse mentioned in the comments, Japan Airlines even uses the red-crowned crane as its logo; the Wikipedia article says this symbol was chosen by an American branding expert due to the positive image of the crane in Japanese culture and mythology. Given that, it makes sense that Japanese artists would think of using the crane as a basis for imaginary creatures or flying vehicles.
The crane-like design is also unusual in real world aircraft. As you can see from the first image of the goose, the goose's and crane's wings angle forwards; this is replicated in the OP's first image of the Gekko from Eureka 7. Real-world aircraft tend to have a more straight, cylindrical body and wings which angle backwards:

These differences give aircraft based on the crane design a unique, fantastical appearance.
I couldn't track down any species of crane or goose which has tufted "ears" like the Gekko or Latios. Some geese do have tufted feathers, but they seem to be always on the back of the head. However, some bird species, such as the the great horned owl and the juvenile of the house finch, do have such tufted "ear" feathers:

When it comes to designing a fictional creature or aircraft, a design based on the crane's head is a little bit boring to look at. The tufted head feathers also come from real-life birds, but they add visual interest to the head area, without seeming too ridiculous or over-the-top like the head adornments of certain bird species.


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Who is the guy that Shirou passes in the Clock Tower that he mentions he recognizes?

In the Epilogue episode of UBW, who is the guy that Shirou passes in the Clock Tower that he mentions he recognizes? Is his appearance significant in anyway? Like Luvia's or Waver's appearance (as El-Melloi II)?

the only other person he could be is Mikiya Kokutou but while Kokutou has a better reason for being at the Clock Tower (to see his sister if she went her seperate ways with Touko), kinda similar to Shirou in tersm of putting himself in harms way even when not fully understanding what he is up agains and has the same kind of hair as Twice along with classes, Kokutou's eyes are blue and with the current image it appears they are brown

It seems to be Twice H. Pieceman or someone that looks like him at least.

As for why they decided to show him... I'm not sure, but...
It would seem that he and Shiro (or rather EMIYA) shares some common viewpoints about war (orphaned by conflict), but ultimatly came to different conclusions on what to do.

Man, Nasu's sense for naming white people sure is something. "Waver Velvet"; "Bazett Fraga McRemitz"; whatever the heck Sola-Ui's full name is; and now "Twice H. Pieceman". (Some dude on reddit suggested that this was, for whatever reason, Tohno Shiki, but this Pieceman fellow seems like a much closer match.)

@senshin True, but I can't help but think that Twice is actually a pretty decent sounding name.  I kind of wish I had a friend named Twice.

@senshin Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri. I think that one takes the cake.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How humans became titans?
I'm currently only watching the anime. I hardly read the manga but I'm very curious as to how humans become titans. Is it by some kind of drug similar to the one Eren was injected with by his father?

Try to ask single question at time and for how humans became titan ,there are some question related to it , you might get answer but with spoiler and about Anne's try to ask those question separately

Also you could try to change a little bit the question in general, because you are saying "Attack On Titan - Female Titan" but you are interested about how any human became a titan. Maybe it could be like "How humans became titans?"

I edited your question so that it only asks the first real question you asked.

This contains major unmarked spoilers if you've only watched the anime, as will the linked questions.

In Eren's case, it's through a particular serum that his father injected into him just after the fall of Shiganshina, shown in chapter 71 of the manga. This serum was stolen from the true royal family by Eren's father, and is used to allow the subject to turn into a titan. As well as Eren, Rod Reiss is also shown as being able to transform after he has some of the serum:

"...he himself scrounges the fluid off the floor[...]. After ingesting it, he turns into a gigantic Titan considered by Levi and Armin to be bigger than the Colossal Titan."
 Rod Reiss on the SnK Wiki

Certain humans that are also 'titan shifters' seem to have this ability inherently, or at the very least, it hasn't been covered as to where they gained it - this includes the likes of Annie, Reiner and Bertholt.
Additionally, if a titan shifter is eaten, a titan with a human inside will gain the ability to shift between two forms. This is evident in the case of Ymir, discussed in this question.

I think you might want to cut off the second part of your answer.

@nhahtdh Thanks for the notice, I wouldn't have seen the edit for a while if not

Titan shifters are still titans, just in their human form, so they don't really turn into titans anymore, they just morph. As far as I remember, the serum is the only way to turn humans into titans.

Ow and when you (or Rod Reiss) say eat, you mean more accurately "Bite through his spine. It's enough just to ingest his spinal fluid". I love that quote and you also read more about this here. Not that I actually read the blog post, but it seemed interesting and relevant.

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


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Are there any anime/manga award ceremonies outside of Japan?
Anime is now consumed internationally at a large scale, and there are many non-Japanese companies that make their living off of this audience.
Because of this, I've been wondering - are there any anime or manga award ceremonies (for the shows themselves OR for anime-related companies, Western or not) that are based outside of Japan?
* looking for examples rather than an exhaustive list
** anime-specific (I know there are general animation awards that can be won by anime)
*** of a reasonable scale (i.e. a formal event)

Seeing as Korea also makes anime, it seems like there would be.

Well, after searching the web for a while, the largest one I was able to find is the American Anime Awards, which was only hosted once on the New York comic-con in 2007. Aside from this, I was unable to find any full-scaled events. However, you might be able to find smaller awards or contests in different countries, for example I came upon this contest which is a part of Dutch animecon.

I know there are general animation awards that can be won by anime

I think this is the main reason why you will not find any full-scale awards outside of Japan (Japan is a special case, obviously). However lot of major film festivals will most likely have awards for "best animated film" (or something similar), where anime entries will be able to compete -  for example, you will often see anime in the list of Academy Award for Best Animated Feature nominees.


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What is this time machine gag referencing?
I just recently started watching Gintama and am beginning to love it!
I just want to know if the joke is referring to another anime. Also, if there is any reason at all on why it must be a vending machine.

I believe this is the first time he did it.
The reason this particular joke catches my interest is because it kept on reoccurring. The second reason is because time travelling anime like Steins;Gate is awesome. Even though it might not be the same.
I just had to ask this question after the third time they used this joke on the 10th episode, though it was not Gintoki and the alien character wants to enter a car's boot/trunk.

This running gag in the Gintama anime is actually from Doraemon. They are referencing to how the entrance to a time machine is available at a hole similar to a drawer, which is exactly where the time machine is in the Doraemon anime. Here is list of the other parodies present in Gintama.  LIST

The drawer entrance to the time machine.

Wow, totally overlooked that. And thanks for the list! Man, I don't watch a lot of animes, I must had missed a lot of jokes.


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In Saekano episode 0, what is the context of this censored word?
So the censored word is around 16 minutes, during the scene where the girls are drunk from eating liquor-filled chocolate and tie Tomoya up to play a prank on him, Tomoya says

What have you done?!
  The **O won't be...

I'm not sure what was censored with "**O".

It's likely referring to the BPO, the (Japanese) Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization:

A non-profit, non-governmental organization that serves to improve the quality of broadcasting and promote higher ethical standards while ensuring freedom of speech and expression.
BPO deals with complaints and ethical issues by conducting investigations into problematic programs and giving recommendations and/or opinions to either all broadcasters or to the particular broadcaster concerned.

This is one of many meta jokes from this episode.


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Does this non-human have any significance?
In episode 10 of the anime monster musume no iru nichijou, this non-human girl appears here:

and here:

She then appears again very briefly in episode 11:

No other mention is made of this character, but the presence she's had has been too great for this to be a mere coincidence. Who is it?

The anime? Which anime? Maybe most people can tell by the screencaps but you should still include the title in the body or question title somewhere, perhaps for search purposes or to get someone's attention better.

@SultanofSwing Well, I was hoping the question tags would do that job, but by all means I'll make it more explicit

The character in the pictures you've posted is Polt.
In this Wikipedia link, she's listed under the supporting characters of the manga Monster Musume.

Polt is a kobold. She is the leader of the local gym,
  the "Sports Club Kobold", and seems to be rather hyperactive.
  Sport is her life (any and all sports, including fishing) and she
  strives to provide the best possible experience for her customers. She
  is depicted as a fur-clad humanoid with tail and ears like a dog—she
  even wears a leather collar—but with a more flat, human-like face. She
  usually wear shorts, T-shirt and track shoes. Polt seems to be trusted
  to a higher degree than other liminals: she has her own business and
  is allowed to go out on her own. When Draco and Lilith
  are placed on parole for being out without host family supervision,
  Polt is placed in charge of them.

The Wikia link for Polt gives detailed information about the character. Her appearance is described as:

While her species is a Kobold, a Germanic sprite that can take many
  forms, she appears as an almost human woman with a wolfen face,
  including a muzzle instead of a nose, and a wolf's tail and ears. Her
  body, in accordance with her occupation, is very athletic; having
  muscular arms and legs and a trim abdomen. Her breasts are of average
  size, in comparison to other characters more prodigious breast sizes.
  In her debut, she wears a midriff revealing black shirt with the
  sports club's name on it and an unzipped track coat on top; jean hot
  pants; thigh straps and wristbands; a dog collar and athletic
  sneakers.

This is the link for the Google Image Search for Polt.

As has already been mentioned, she is a Kobold named Polt and has rights most other extra-species people don't, such as being allowed to go wherever whenever without an escort.
In the manga version, she is a frequent supporting character, owning and running an extra-species gym where the girls are trial customers, as well as Kobold Stadium which is an Olympic scale establishment. She is a complete fitness nut who is always trying to figure out how to make her gym useable by all extra-species body types and frequently "volunteering" to coach people she thinks could use more exercise... whether they asked for it or not.


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What episode does this particular scene with a Takoyaki "song" occur?
I'm looking for the scene where Luffy, Usopp and Chopper (maybe someone else too, I don't remember) are singing 'Ta-ko-ya-ki, Tak-ko-ya-ki" and so on, and so on.
I thought it was around the time Hachi was kidnapped by the Flying Fish Riders but Google doesn't give me any relevant results. I do remember that there was another scene about Takoyaki, back in Going Merry times, but I don't know anything more specific about that part.
If someone would be able to tell me what episode this scene is from I would be so happy :-)
Thanks in advance!

Episode 145 has them eating takoyaki but I don't remember if they can't it

Just had a look at episodes 145 and 390, the two times I know they ate takoyaki - neither one has them singing about it.

@Ananisapta Thank you for the effort :) I'll look a bit around myself over the weekend but I don't have much time atm.. I'm sure they sing about it sometime in the show because a friend of mine and me sing it from time to time because it was funny xD

@Gravinco - It's quite frustrating - I've found several different scenes where Luffy is singing, but not once about takoyaki.

@Ananisapta I know right.. I had the same problem, Google doesn't give me the response I want and I haven't been able to check episodes anymore :-/

Wasn't he singing in the forest in skypiea?

Out of curiosity. Why hasn't anyone added a music tag to the question?

@RichardThomas feel free to do so yourself nest time, if you feel that the tag is relevant to the question

@Jens Indeed he was singing there but it was a completely different song. I believe it was about islands in the north, south, .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckAlXg-2T5I

I think you are referring to this short gag in Episode 386 when Luffy & Co. decide to save Hatchan so that they can get free Takoyaki.

That's a short version of what I was looking for but it'll do :) thanks a lot!


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Was the "Cake Song" released in a soundtrack?
I have 3 Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Rebellion Story soundtracks. they are,

OP Single - Colorful
ED Single - Kimi no Gin no Niwa
Original Soundtrack

I believed this was all there was and while waiting for an appointment i searched though all 3 looking to see if i could find the Cake Song that the Puella Magi sing at the beginning of the movie (when the Nightmare is changed into a cake for Bebe to eat).
i thought i might find it as just before i listened to wo ist die Kase? from Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Beginning Story & The Eternal Story Original Soundtrack, Track 7. if i remember correctly this is the song/chant that's in the background when Sayaka and Madoka enter a labyrinth before Mami saves them, and it only goes for about 40-45 seconds (track file on my iPod/iPhone says 50 seconds however there's a block of silence at the end).
But after listening to all the songs in The Rebellion Story soundtracks i couldn't find the Cake Song. However i admit i didn't listen to the entirety of every song, rather the first couple of second then i skip about a couple of minutes to listen to another couple of seconds.
So i am wondering if the Cake Song was officially released on a soundtrack, if so which one?

Cake Song from Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: Rebellion has not been officially released as part of any soundtrack for the anime. Fortunately, there are many sites to download the mp3 for free.


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Who exactly is Selim Bradley?
I am currently watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I have a question regarding the identity of the homunculus inside Selim Bradley.
Is he Pride? Or is he another homunculus?
In episode 42, when Van Hohenheim met Pride in an underground passage in Liore, he said that Pride shouldn't have been able to reside outside a spherical body.
This confuses me as to how Selim Bradley can be Pride. Am I missing something here?

Which Full Metal Alchemist are you talking about? 2003 or FMAB 2008?

my question is regarding FMAB 2008

When approximately was this comment by Van Hohenheim? (For instance, was this possibly when he was in Lior?)

@Maroon: I think it's when he went down the underground transmutation circle for the first time. He met Pride for the first time down there, and immediately reminded of the homuculus in the flask in the past, since they have similar characteristics.

@nhahtdh yes exactly.

Potential spoilers for the manga and Brotherhood continuities. I'm being conservative with spoiler markdown, since I can't tell how much you've watched.
We first get a crucial bit of information after Hawkeye interacts with Selim (ep. 37, vol. 18):

 Selim is indeed Pride. Hawkeye gets suspicious about Selim while talking to Mrs. Bradley and then is confronted by him. Hawkeye later passes on a message to Roy stating that he is a homunculus (vol. 19, can't locate the exact episode number).

Later, the information is confirmed after Edward and the others return to Central (ep. 46-49, vol. 21-23).

 Edward, his brother, his father, and some people who joined him while he was at Briggs fight Selim, who they notice is a homunculus. It is clearly shown that he is Pride: I believe he makes some comment about this, and even if he does not, it is clear from the eye pattern his attack comprises of that he is the same homunculus Van Hohenheim confronted while in Lior (ep. 42, vol. 19).

So this leaves your question:

In episode 42, when Van Hohenheim met Pride in an underground passage in Liore, he said that Pride shouldn't have been able to reside outside a spherical body.

He was referring to Pride being restricted to a specific part of the underground tunnels:

 I assumed that it referred to only the parts of the tunnel that circle Amestris, and the restriction only applied to Pride's real form (not his human container).

It also appears that he was referring to where Pride's shadows could move (at least when he was outside of Central), not where Pride's "container" or body could be:

 After all, Pride is Selim Bradley, and Selim Bradley has a relatively normal-looking life on the surface of Central, where he is probably moving within the borders of the underground tunnels.

Selime Bradley is Pride. he is the first Homunculi created by father in Father's image.  he can travel anywhere with in the nation. the transmutational circle acts as a secondary shell


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What phenomenon are at play such that the "Big Four" are limited to four and not a growing list?
I've heard a list of anime referred to as "The Big Four":

Dragon Ball Z
Naruto/Naruto Shippuuden
One Piece
Bleach

What phenomenon are at play that there aren't more than 4 anime like these?
I think the criteria to get into The Big Four are along these lines:

based on manga
long running anime (hundreds of episodes)
longer or concurrently running manga
possibly currently running anime (they got their name when Bleach was still airing, so 3/4 were running for a while)

I've seen other shounen series pass 100 episodes, and there are certainly other fan favorites.  There are also really long-running series geared towards children.  However, it seems that most anime nowadays is 12 episodes, and maybe a followup season of another 12 episodes.  I can't help but think that these phenomena are related.

If one were to ask most Americans where they first heard of those four anime, I can assure you that manga would not be in the top 3. Toonami would be, though.

In India it is mostly Big 3. Dragonball Z not being included in that.

As said by a user on Reddit:

The term was made to refer to those three manga because for a few
   years (~2004-2009/10) they were absolute juggernauts in sales and
   popularity rankings. The term "big three" stuck despite Bleach's
   popularity falling off (starting in ~2008) and Naruto losing a bit of
   ground over the last few years (largely in the Ninja War arc) as well.

You can find an article on The Big Three over here, because as Senshin puts it in his answer, the concept of The Big 3 is much more popular than that of The Big 4. To be honest, I hadn't even heard of that term before reading this question.
As per the article

Many fans agree that a title serialized in monthly installments could not due to a lower publication frequency, which encourages less fan discussion from week to week. It has been suggested that a Big 3 title could come from Weekly Shounen Magazine, which is Weekly Shounen Jump's closest rival. In this case, the most often cited candidate tends to be Fairy Tail.
  Some fans have pointed out that other Big 3's have existed in the past. In the early 90s, the Big 3 was said to have been Dragon Ball, Slam Dunk, and Yuu Yuu Hakusho. This era is thought of by many people as the Golden Age of Weekly Shounen Jump, when its circulation was at its peak. A few fans have said that One Piece, Rurouni Kenshin, and Hunter x Hunter were the Big 3 of the late 90s. Most people admit though that no other three titles have dominated for as long as the current Big 3.

If you check out the List of best-selling manga, it'll be pretty obvious why Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto form a part of The Big Four. As for Bleach, the manga had started off pretty strong and the sales were pretty high during the 2001-2010 period.

Currently, the Big 3 are One Piece, Naruto and Bleach and have been since 2004.

This proves that it's mainly the manga which dominates in deciding which series is a "Big One" because Bleach started airing in 2004 and was by no means a long anime. However, a long running anime and a well received one always gives the manga sales a boost and hence is indirectly a factor in deciding which series belongs to the list. However, it's definitely not the main factor. Atleast not for the current Big 3/4.

What phenomenon are at play that there aren't more than 4 anime like these?

I found a perfect reply to this question here:

For me, the big three always seemed to represent the rising popularity of manga. As each series got underway and gained momentum, so did the manga scene itself. These three shounen manga appeal to a specific audience - in my opinion - specially new readers. The manga are relics of a time long past; an era long forgotten. I don't think anything can replace any of these manga, just like how nobody really compares the big three to Dragon Ball Z. I don't actually think there is significance in these two manga ending, they've been long overdue as their quality has dropped significantly. The only thing to take away from this is how prevalent and awesome One Piece is. One Piece feels like it's still in its prime.
  I assume new readers will still start with Naruto or Bleach or One Piece, they still exist. No matter what new shounen appears, it'll hardly attract as much attention as these three. Otherwise, there would've been a shounen of similar caliber, considering how many years have passed. Some people thought Fairy Tail was a contending shounen, but readers know how that went.
  The only interesting part of all this is the fact that there exists an older generation who still follow manga and have more developed tastes, which has prompted a significant rise in seinen popularity over the years - in my opinion.

What I have to add on to this is:
I feel it's unlikely for the list of Big Three or the Big Four to expand or be replaced in the near future. The only thing that's really stopping that is the existence of a long running manga which dominates in sales and appeals to a good age variety. Most of the top yearly manga sales is dominated by those manga (except of the Big Three) which have received an anime adaption in the near past (case in point: 2015 Manga Sales, 2014 Manga Sales, 2013 Manga Sales and so on).  Most of those manga are short ones which are destined to end in the near future.

I've heard a list of anime referred to as "The Big Four":

The first thing to be aware of is this: the idea of the "Big Four" is localized to the English-speaking / Western (possibly just North American?) fanbase. There is not an equivalent notion in Japan. This strongly suggests that an explanation for the "Big Four" must involve an understanding of the habits of English-speaking fans.

What phenomenon are at play that there aren't more than 4 anime like these?

I tentatively am inclined to attribute this idea to the fact that the current crop of teenagers and young adults who are the primary inhabitants of English-language anime discussion websites grew up watching these four shows (in, say, the late '90s and early '00s). All four of these shows had a number of properties that were instrumental to their having broad popularity among the demographic in question. In particular:

they were dubbed in English
they were extensively aired on readily-available television channels (especially Toonami)
they were not "kid's shows" in the same way that something like Pokemon or Digimon is
they had multiple hundreds of episodes

The only other show that comes to mind with these properties is Sailor Moon, and for simple demographic reasons, it's unlikely that fans of the "Big Four" would be fans of Sailor Moon, and vice versa.
So why is this list unchanging? Well, I expect that the list will change in a few years, when more older viewers phase out of online discussion sites and more younger viewers phase in. (This is a simple consequence of the demographics of anime discussion on the internet - older people get lives and stop watching/discussing anime, and new youngfolk with nothing better to do figure out how to internet and start posting about things in their stead.)
These younger viewers will likely have less exposure to Dragon Ball Z (and perhaps Bleach as well) and more exposure to the newest show that has all those properties: Fairy Tail. Perhaps there will be a "New Big Three" in 2020, consisting of Fairy Tail, Naruto, and One Piece.

However, it seems that most anime nowadays is 12 episodes, and maybe a followup season of another episodes.

This was already the case by the time One Piece started airing in 1999 (and even earlier than that), roughly speaking. Forever-running shows like the "Big Four" have long been in the minority. You, the English-speaking viewer, likely just didn't notice this during your younger days when you watched the "Big Four" on television, since these shorter, one-to-two cour shows were less likely to be dubbed and shown on television (and if they were, they probably wouldn't be shown during cartoon primetime).

I should add that I am more aware of the idea of the "Big Three" (those four minus Dragon Ball Z) being a thing in the zeitgeist; and indeed, I suspect this is probably because Dragon Ball Z finished up a long time ago, and hence is not in vogue with the current crop of people who discuss anime online. (Whereas: Naruto and One Piece are still running, and Bleach ended only relatively recently.)

Random832 also points out in a comment that one article from 2012 claims that the "Big Three" consists of Bleach, Naruto, and Inuyasha. This brings to mind an important point: there is no "official" notion of a "Big Three" in anime - I'm not aware of any industry sources that use the term. The "Big n" is what the internet makes of it; no more, no less.

Naruto ended, and it is bleach which is still running

@SamIam I'm talking about the respective anime here, for which the opposite is true.

Speaking of the list changing, here is an article dated 2012 that matter-of-factly claims "the big three are Bleach, Naruto and InuYasha."

@SamIam Naruto ended? I think its still running in anime. They even have chance to adapt Naruto gaiden in anime.


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What's the name of the song and artist in Freezing Vibration episode 4 at about 9minutes in?
In Freezing Vibration episode 4 a girl with headphones fights another girl to a tune that has muffled singing and a piano playing. It occurs about 9minutes into the episode.
Can anyone tell me the name of the artist and the song?

Since the first OST for Freezing Vibration won't be out until Jan 29, 2014 (vgmdb page), you might not have an answer until then.

The girl is Charles Bonaparte and the song is called: Vent Debout - Masaru Yokoyama
The song is found on Freezing Vibration OST volume 2 track 17. As found on wikipedia page
And the actual song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtbKHkvK_Oo
It is first heard in freezing vibration episode 4, when Charles debut's her combat skills in the fighting form that she calls "Typhon Tempest".

Do you have some more details to go along with this. Like why you think it is this series, maybe a short excerpt of the wiki, and if you do so, why not include a link to the wiki as well


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What is the meaning of "deculture?"
Throughout the various Macross series the word "deculture" is used, like in the sign off, "see you next deculture" and in the Nyan Nyan song:

"Nyan Nyan, Nyan Nyan, Ni hao Nyan, gorgeous, delicious, deculture!"

How is it used? What is its history? Where did it come from? (both in and out of universe)

"Deculture" (pronounced de-kult-cha) is a Zentradei expression of shock and surprise. In the early days of the Zentradi/human conflict it was a negative term used often by the Zentradis to denote their shock and disgust at the human-only concepts of culture, music, love and sex. For instance, in the movie Macross: Do You Remember Love? Zentradis reacted with a surprised and disgusted "Yak Deculture!" when they saw a kiss for the first time.

However, since the war ended and Zentradis became assimilated into human culture the meaning of the word started to shift. Zentradis have come to love those very things they used to see as alien and deplorable, so the word "deculture" started to get a more positive connotation of pleasant surprise that is commonly used by non-Zentradis as well. For instance in the series Macross Frontier (set 47 years after the events of Do You Remember Love?) Ranka Lee sings the theme song for the Nyan Cafe:

Haochii rai rai, Meikuunyan, Nyan-nyan, nyan-nyan Nihao-nyan, Gojyasu! Derishasu! Deculture!!!! (Good Eats, come, come, Pretty Girls too! meow meow meow meow Hello meow Gorgeous! Delicious! Deculture!)

The tone of the song and usage makes it clear that it now means something along the lines of "Awesome!" or "No way!"

Here is an summary of the definition from the Macrosspedia. I've also been trying to find an electronic copy of the book that came with Do You Remember Love, but I can't seem to find it. I'll have to look a little harder.
Basically it is a word from the Zentradi/Meltrandi language that is used to convey a feeling of shock to someone. In the book that I mentioned above it transaltes "De Culcha" as "Stupid Thing". Then it goes on farther to say that "De" is "No" and "Culcha" is "Wonderful Thing". So in English we might say "What the Heck". It also says that it has since by the Human/Zentradi culture in a positive context and is often spoken as a meme in popular culture


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How much do mangaka profit from anime or merchandise sales?
People always say they buy stuff of a certain series to support a certain mangaka. Now it made me wonder how much actually goes to the mangaka himself. Do mangaka usually work for a publishing company like jump for example or do they work independent selling their copies to the company?
I assume for every Tankobon copy that is sold, the managaka gets a big share, because it is made by himself, but how does this work for other merchandise like anime, toys, tshirts, games or maybe even events? These things are made independently from the original mangaka by a different company, so does he still get a percentage in every sale of every article sold or how does this work?

This is very dependant per mangaka. And all tough there is a thriving independent market for manga, it is rarely a solo effort. Hence most of the mangaka start off as either an assistant, or manage to get a contract at a well known publisher. Now, as for how much they earn, lets take Eiichiro Oda as an example. He has been estimated to earn around 2 billion Yen($~24 million) based on royalties alone.
Now how is this amount built up?
Contract and Royalties
Most mangakas don't earn an hourly wage. Instead, they have a contract based employment with partial sales (royalties) agreement. This means that a mangaka makes XX amount of pages per month for a set price. For a starting mangaka, this is around 500$ for 20-40 pages. On top of this, they still earn their royalties, which is around 10-15% per tankobon. These tankobons sell around $5 each which would make ~$0.50 a tankobon. Given that it takes around 5 hours for a page, we can say that an average starting mangaka earn about 5$ an hour.
This brings me to the pretty well known fact that mangakas tend to have a second job. As for a starting mangaka, it is not sufficient to pay the bills.
Series becomes an anime
Lets say the given manga became a success, and became well known enough to create a anime. This would mean that our mangaka gets roughly ~$660 per episode. So a standard 1 cour anime would earn just under $8000. But they do not get royalties for the DVD/BD sales. The royalties for these go to the sponsors and publishing companies. Most of the time the mangaka does not even have a say in the production of the anime, and the anime is only made to promote the original series and earn the publishers/sponsors money.
Character goods
Now another profit factor for most mangakas is the sales of character related goods and products. Most of the time, this is also covered in the same contract as mentioned above, meaning that the mangaka also earns 10-15% of the remaining anime retail, as most of these products tend to be a lot more expensive.

Character goods earns around 8.5 times more then sales of movies, DVD's and VHS combined based on the American market in 2009

TL;DR
It is estimated that a mangaka earns about 10% royalties over their product sales, excluding DVD/VHS/Movies/BD. Leading to  ~$0.50 per tankobon and ~$0.05 - $20 for product sales such as figurines, key chains etc,etc.
Which, for successful mangakas, can turn up as high as 2 Billion yen (1.29 Billion tankobon royalties, 749 million character good royalties).
Sources: crunchyroll, AnimeNewsNetwork, Yahoo Answers, several Wikipedia pages.

Great answer, thanks! Additionally I'm wondering what happens when Oda for example passes away. Do the royalties pass on to his family or do they go to the company? Because I can imagine One Piece to be popular even long after his death.

@PeterRaeves This really depends on what kind of royalties agreement they make. The What if I die clause is as far as I remember Optional just like the What if the company burns down you might want to look through the royalties wiki  or invention home's most common list or potentially ask a question on law.stackexchange

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


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Song played on "Parasyte The Maxim" Episode 6 at time 16min30s
I'm looking forward the name of the song played in the 6 episode at 16min30s.
It's when Migi explains that She has to sleep for 4 hours as She has healed him.
This song appears regularily in the episodes, and it is not in the OST (or I didn't find it).

The song you are looking for is the Migi Theme by Ken Arai
You can listen to it here
This song does not seem to be included in the currently released OST


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How did Alphonse recover his pre-gate memories?
In FMA: Brotherhood, Alphonse recover the memories he lost after going through the Gate, by having Martel's blood spattered over his own blood seal (the one that binds his soul to his armor), and is, henceworth, able to use the knowledge inherent to it, such as using alchemy without transmutation circles.
Is there a reason for which blood should have been splattered over his seal for him to recover his memories?
Or was it only coincidence/traumatic?

I think the spell seal was pretty badly done by Edward. who was a noob in alchemy at the time, and as a result Al's soul was poorly tied to the armor suit. Spilling some more blood likely helped "complete" the seal in the important parts where there was not enough blood. I may be totally wrong, but that's what it looked like to me.

I can't see why that should trigger such a response. First of all, the blood on his seal belonged to Ed, and had an intent of binding Al's soul information. ... To me, Martel's blood has no such info.

I don't think that the owner of the blood matters. It's the intent of the spell and the shape of the alchemy signature that's important. Ed knew what he wanted when he cast that spell, but he wasn't skilled enough to draw a perfect seal with his finger.

It was probably a coincidence as AL had his memories taken from him due the shock of the event. Also, I cannot think of any better way the manga writer would have him bring his memories back.

I don't understand your comment. Yes, Al had his memories taken due to shock, but how does that make it a coincidence?

Where is it stated due to shock? I believe there's some confusion here with the word shock. He got his memories back because he paid a visit to the "inner door/god/truth" which was triggered by his shock with Martel's death. His meeting with truth is what returned his memories.  This is also what's stated by the wikia.

@UsamaArshad's point is that Al's memories were taken by shock, not returned by it. Even though I'm inclined to agree with him in this point, if he is correct, I believe the mangaka made quite a loose decision here. Still, that's only my opinion.

Doesn't anyone else think it has more to do with the fact that Martel's body was infused with a snake with the help of a philosopher's stone? Meaning, the key ingredient isn't just blood.

At second (and third) glance(s), @Mazyod's comment actually makes sense. I mean... if not for triggering the return of Al's memory, what use did Martel, a man-snake chimer had in the series? Kinda random encounter, if you watch it intently.

Personally, I think it's just the blood splatter itself that "jogged his memory" so to speak in a similar way as to how the blood splattered from the transmuted body Al's soul failed to latch onto.
Usually selective amnesia like Al's memory of everything involving the trauma itself can be brought back into one's conscious memories using a trigger which is usually something similar to something happening in the lost memory in the first place (I.e. saying an otherwise insignificant word in the right context that would explicitly be tied to that 1 memory or catching a smell similar to the environment that the event took place)
In this case, the trigger that would affect Al and tie his mind only to that incident is the death that HE experienced when his soul had been so violently and near immediately rejected from the body. (Which I'm pretty sure would be the trauma which caused his mind to suppress the whole memory in the first place. Who wouldn't be traumatized by actually dying?)
Also, the reason it happened when it splashed on his seal and not say...any other time they might have been fighting and gotten blood on his armor is because he can't feel it. The blood seal is a direct link to his soul, is the only thing grounding him to earth. Since his rejection occurred in a different body he's no longer attached to, it would stand to reason that such a trigger could only be felt directly by his soul or the body he harbors. The blood seal acts as that direct touch to his soul. And this is because blood is ones 'life fluid' and often thought to hold the soul and its direct energy within it (like our unique DNA and Mei's explanation of the dragon's pulse flowing in our bodies). But Al's seal is made with Edward's blood, not his own.
As such the defining reason it even managed to latch onto Al's specific soul and hold it so well and for so long is because their souls were mixed during the transmutation as Ed explains later. In brotherhood this is even easier to see with the brief flashback to Al inside the body they made when it bleeds out rather similarly under an outstretched hand.
That's my take on it anyways.

A decent answer. But please, try using line breaks so your text is easier to read.

Thanks. I have a bad habit of forgetting those. I'm going back to fix it a bit now.

Looks better now. :)

I think thats as good an answer as it will get, considering there are no canon references. Your answer explains it all, and concisely so.

The blood acted like a charge and amped up the signal of the seal binding him in the armor and his body by the gate this is the only thing that makes since

The "signal"? There is no electric current running through the seal, if that's what you're suggesting. The blood and the metal are physically bound. It would also help if you cited some kind of background where you originated this idea from, since nothing in the series seems to suggest this.


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What was that thing Edward and Alphonse created when they attempted human transmutation?
I just completed the FMA:B anime (been meaning to do this) and I'm still confused as to what they actually created. Originally, they thought it was their mother but then Edward realized that it actually wasn't their mother that they transmuted.
We then find out that Alphonse was able to see Edward from that thing's perspective. Was that thing a failed homunculus they created? And why was Alphonse able to see everything from its perspective?

According to FMA Wiki,

In the manga, it is determined that resurrective Human Transmutation is impossible because a soul that has left the mortal coil has passed on into the afterlife and can never be called back by human means. The attempt will cause a rebound due to both the inherent lack of any particular substance able to match a human soul in value and the fact that the initiated transmutation is reaching for an unattainable goal. Of the known attempted Human Transmutations, the rebound has been the "taking" of parts of the initiator's body out of the living world and into the void of the flow.

In the original FMA anime (not FMAB), however,

In the anime, the results of resurrective Human Transmutation are different. The anime declares that it is possible to bring dead humans back into the living world, but upon being revived, they generally become inhuman Homunculi with the physical appearance and memories of the humans they used to be. Using the Philosopher's Stone or a human life as the material to recall the soul, it is possible to bring back a human as a complete human. Al also implies that it may be possible to complete a preexisting homunculus. If this is done,which it theoretically could be with a Philosopher's stone,(allowing one to survive creating a homunculus and to attach a soul to it) it is unknown if the now complete homunculus will be a full human thus able to perform alchemy, age, and die easily, or not.

In the FMA anime,

In the first anime series, the remains of the failed human transmutation that was Trisha takes on a larger role. After the brothers rush away from the scene looking for help, the deformed, living mass that was created manages to crawl away. Patiently waiting not far from the house is Dante, who feeds it the Red Stones necessary to give it a human form. The Homunculus Sloth is thus created, taking the appearance of Trisha Elric.

In volume 11 of the manga,

In vol. 11, Hohenheim speaks to Pinako about the remains, asking if anything of it looked like Trisha, such as hair or eye color. Edward, who was eavesdropping around the corner, freezes and looks horrified as he listens. The next day, after Hohenheim has left, Edward asks Pinako to show him where she buried the remains and help him uncover them. The excavation seems to cause Edward great pain, as he frequently pauses to regain his breath or vomit between digging. When they unearth the remains, Edward discovers that it wasn't their mother that they had "resurrected" that night, as the hair color and bone structure differed from Trisha's.

So, the conclusion is that they created nothing but some organs that represent a human, in a vague humanely shape, but without the presence of any soul. This thing that they created died soon after in the absence of a soul.
In the 2003 anime, FMA, which is not entirely canon, this vague human shape has a future impact as it is recreated into a homunculus by feeding it a philosopher stone.
But, in the canon manga and FMAB anime (2009), no such events happen and the thing is buried.

what does it mean entirely canon?

A year and a half late, but the "thing" they made was a partial male homunculus, with the soul of Alphonse. That's why Alphonse was able to see from its POV. Immediately after, Edward yanked the soul out and put it into the armor, seemingly sub-consciously.

They created nothing. From fma.wikia.com

As per FMA: Brotherhood or FMA manga, Human Transmutation is
  impossible because a soul that has left the mortal coil has passed on
  into the afterlife and can never be called back by human means. The
  attempt will cause a rebound due to the inherent lack of any
  particular substance able to match a human soul in value and the fact
  that the initiated transmutation is trying to reach an unattainable goal.

So they've created nothing and it has nothing to do with homunculus.
But in FMA 2003 anime, it's different :

The anime declares that it is possible to bring dead humans back into
  the living world, but after bringing them back to life, they generally become
  inhuman (Homunculi - with the physical appearance and memories of the
  humans they used to be). Using the Philosopher's Stone or a human life
  as the material to recall the souls, it is possible to bring back a
  human as a complete human. Al also explained that it may be possible to
  complete a preexisting homunculus. Theoretically, it
  could be done using a Philosopher's stone,(allowing one to
  survive creating a homunculus and to attatch a soul to it). However, it is
  unknown if the 'completed' homunculus will become a 'full' human - whether or not it would be able
  to perform alchemy, age, and/or die easily.


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Is there any biographical information available about Yoshihisa Tagami creator of Grey?
In the late 1980's early 90's Viz media published Grey by Yoshihisa Tagami as well as another work of his, Horobi. Grey was later made into an anime and according to this site, he worked on some other manga and anime, but I have not been able to find any detailed information or interviews about the artist in English (or otherwise). I would like to find out if Tagami is still active in the manga universe.

Here's all the information you can find on the internet about Yoshihisa Tagami:

Birthday: 09-12-1958 (DD-MM-YY) Source
Hometown: Komoro, Nagano, Japan Source

Born in 1958, Tagami first achieved manga success in the early 1980s with Karuizawa Syndrome for Big Comic Spirits. What followed was an extremely prolific decade, with nearly 20 titles released over a 10-year span. Of these, GREY (1985), Horobi (1987) and Frontier Line (1987) would all eventually be translated and released in the U.S. Beyond manga, Tegami did character designs for Super High Speed Galvion (1984) and promotional artwork for the Famicom game Ikari (1986). While both GREY and Horobi got slick, squarebound books in English from Viz in the late ’80s (the former was even included a foreward by Harlan Ellison), Tagami has long since slipped from the lexicon of modern fans.Source

This excerpt seems to imply that he has lost his fandom in the recent times and may have left the manga/anime industry. His publications and active part as a staff in the production of any anime indicate that he has not been active in the anime/manga industry for atleast 10 years.
Appearance:Source

You can find find two other pictures of him: First one on Zimmerit, and the second one on Skynet
List of published manga (in alphabetical order):

4 Spirits Plus 2
Black Jack Alive
Frontier Line
Grey
Horobi
Karuizawa Syndrome
Kaseki no Kioku
Under Ground


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Why is One Punch Man considered a parody anime?
I checked the synopsis here and I was wondering about the genre of parody.

I’ve completed the season of One Punch Man and there was no parody of anything in the animé. The only parody animé I’ve experienced before is Gintama and the parody is altogether at another level! Whereas, One Punch Man had relatively none. Am I missing something or is it an error?

Because it is based off and makes fun of the superhero stereotypes?

I think what is wrong with that is that it's more satire than parody. It doesn't directly mock a particular anime or superhero, rather it mocks the concept as a whole, and therefore would be satire.

TL;DR: One Punch Man is not a parody of a single manga, it is a parody of the whole shonen genre. It makes fun of its codes and therefore can be seen as a parody.

To help understand it, I will compare One Punch Man to Dragon Ball. I will use the anime for comparison, but it is pretty much the same for the manga. This can and should be applied to many shonen series and not only Dragon Ball. Its use is only intended as an example.
Fights
In One Punch Man, the fights are over at the moment Saitama punches an enemy (except the final fight). The moment where the fight is going on is very brief. In Dragon Ball, the fights can last a lot of episodes. As an example, the famous fight between Frieza and Goku took 10 episodes (see How much broadcast time did it take for planet Namek to blow up)
Reason to fight
Saitama fights because he just wants to be a Super Hero. Being a hero is considered a hobby for him. On the other hand, Goku fights because he wants to save his friends and the Earth, while Vegeta fights to become the strongest fighter ever, Gohan wants to save the Earth so he can study peacefully, and so on. One Punch Man is deconstructing the shonen hero goals: by reading/watching it, you have the feeling that anybody can be a hero, it's not that hard. This is going even deeper as C-Class heroes are quite casual people.
Training
As mentionned in this post, compared to the power he acquired, Saitama's training is just ridiculous, and it is even more so if you compare it to the training in other anime.
The hero itself
Saitama is not badass. While this can be viewed as primarily opinion based, there are some elements that can help us to understand that he was not intended as a charismatic character. Even though every enemy and character are well drawn, Saitama is drawn in a quite basic style and leads us to the feeling that Saitama is out of universe. A good example is the transformation of Boros, which is quite similar to Dragon Ball's evolutions (this is not even my final form). While the transformation itself is very well drawn, Saitama's reaction is quite out of universe
And so on...
There are a lot other things that could be mentioned, such as the fact that we see the hero doing casual things (groceries, eating in restaurant alone, ...).

One-punch Man basically takes tropes relating to the shonen genre (and not only, the parody can easily be extended to western media) and makes fun of them by showing them in a very skewed way either by blowing them out of proportions (killing everything with a single punch, superhero organization, area of city completely devoid of people because of danger), by ridiculously downplaying them (Saitama's training, Class C heroes) or straight by mocking them (Class C heroes  gathering together to fight the sea king only to be squashed in a few seconds).

Saitama's simplistic appearance is a throwback to the original webcomic, where he always looks like an unremarkable person.  That was the central feature of his design and backstory: just some generic, unassuming, normal chump who achieves overwhelming power, and through rather generic and normal means.  In your particular image, the use is homage to one of the iconic moments in the webcomic.  The anime is based off the manga, where the "serious mode" Saitama originates. He is chiseled, well-drawn, emotionally tense.  The webcomic style is used to underscore his ennui and simplicity.

Note that early Dragon Ball is a parody.

As others said it pokes fun at the action/fighting style anime (and potentially a few others). It even parodies some specific characters from those kind of anime.
For example:

Lord Boros: Based off of Broly from Dragonball Z, a character whose fans think he is the epitome of power.
Garou: Could be several characters but I find him to actually be based off of Doomsday from Superman. I say Doomsday because Garou was initially a monster and could not be killed. He just kept coming back more upgraded, just like Doomsday.
Vaccine Man: Parody of Piccolo and Baikinman
Ancient King: Godzilla
Bang: Zeno Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter
Carnage Kabuto Rage Form: Eva Unit 1 from Evangelion
Great Philosopher: Father from Full Metal Alchemist
Lightning Max: Mix of Straight Cougar from Scry-ed and some Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter
Metal Bat: Potentially a combo of Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara from Yu Yu Hakusho

And there are many more. Just re-watch the series and take note of each character. It's amazing how many characters there are parodies of from their personalities to their resemblance and everything in between.

I would assume, that, the concept itself, of a character that would immediately vanquish any foe, no matter how tall, strong, heavy, experienced, etc, with just one punch, would obviously be intended as the ultimate parody, in itself.
My only real question would be: when the OPM video game is released, does OPM simply throw the punch, or, is there a fourteen button sequence that needs to be learned?

Another thing to consider would be when someone is talking about their backstory or how powerful they are. In Shonen, characters seem to drone on about themselves and OPM tends to get bored of it and interrupts them to get to the point of their interaction. He has the attitude of "shut up and let's get to it" because he'd rather just get it over with and go on with his day.


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What is gap moe?
I often hear the word gap moe, but I do not know what it means. So what does the word gap moe mean?

Let's look at the meaning of the words separately.
A quick google search tells us that a gap is a space or interval; a break in continuity. It can also mean to be a difference. Here is a post that addresses what moe is. If I were to describe it myself, it is the feeling you get when you see someone/something so cute you just want to hug them and take them home.
Combining the two, gap moe is that irresistible feeling you get when there is a difference in the way someone/something acts and/or looks. When that character acts/looks out of character.
This article gives a more technical definition:

described as "a contradiction in exhibited characteristics that people find cutely attractive"

Further supported by this article:(Found this link on Henry Zhang's post. Thanks dude!)

refer to a contradiction in exhibited characteristics that people find cutely attactive in the opposite sex

Here is a discussion on MyAnimeList supporting this definition:

is when a character does something completely contradictory to what their usual habits/personality/character/appearence dictates.
AnimeSukiUser said
Yup, for the gap effect to work, you have to see the person in a completely different light that you never expect.

Pictures speak louder than words. So here are a few examples:

This is Tohsaka Rin from the Fate series, and a tsundere. Tsunderes are probably the most common example of gap moe. To put it simply, tsunderes are characters who act all tsun around the one they love. Then they suddenly act all dere. If you feel moe when a tsundere starts acting all deredere, THAT is gap moe.
Speaking of tsunderes...

In Love Live!, Nishikino Maki is probably the most mature among the first years. However, she still believes in Santa! That gap between being mature and believing in something a child (and child at heart) would only believe, if you feel moe about that, THAT is gap moe.
The linked discussion gives a few more examples:

A tomboy showing off feministic characteristics (Ex: Tsugumi from Nisekoi)
A tough guy who is actually a pacifist (Ex: Cromartie High School)
A stubborn perfectionist who finally admits defeat (Ex: Sasuke from Naruto)
A character that almost always dresses flashy but decides to dress normal (Kuroneko from Oreimo)

So tldr; Gap moe is that moe feeling you experience when a character acts and/or looks in a way that contradicts the way they usually do.

Nice answer! I also think one of the reasons gap works is because making someone act out of character makes them more multifaceted and helps to flesh them out into someone perhaps more relatable and/or interesting than someone whose behavior never changes or is totally predictable.

Another reason gap moe is used is because it allows the reader/viewer to see the character as more than just a one dimensional figure, as in reality it is entirely possible for people to be caught off guard by people who act differently than expected.
The contradiction, when handled properly, makes perfect sense as the story progresses because while it does SEEM contradictory, it makes sense in hindsight when the given character's story and personality is explored further.
This is because there is something behind that seemingly contradictory action performed that strikes an interest - which is to say a story. It is through this story that we are able to learn more.
Thus, gap moe is basically a product of a "hook, line, and sinker" that was executed to not only make a character attractive, but provides the writer a method of delving deeper into that character (as the reader/viewer's attention is piqued and thus is unlikely to quickly reject the writer's attempt at fleshing out the character).
Gap moe doesn't have to be all about what lies underneath, but as an interesting fact about that character.
Humans tend to think logically one way or another (which is why we are able to answer some questions without thinking too much or with little thought such as "what's your name", "what city are you from", "what's your favorite color', et cetera) and tend to try and find answers (some more than others) because it is the pursuit of finding the answer that interests us - and depending on the story, the end result is just as fascinating.
TL;DR Gap moe is a way of the author saying "here's something interesting about this character that is going to be fleshed out later on" or "here's an interesting fact" which generates interest as it makes the character more realistic.

To put it very simple, is commonly said when a character that is serious, or intimidant, or even ugly, does someone that is adorable or kind, and that makes them cute/moe, because its not something you expected from that character, both because their personality and appearance.
Actually, its currently more used for male characters.


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The real world location of Akiba Dome
Where is the Akiba Dome that is mentioned in  Love Live! School Idol the Movie? At first since it says Akiba, I thought it would be in Akiba, Japan. But then, considering Ootonokizaka High's location (near Akiba), it doesn't make sense that they would go there on plane. Later on the Statue of Liberty was shown, so the Akiba Dome should be somewhere in New York, right? But where exactly in New York is that, because when I Googled, there is no such a thing such as Akiba Dome.
If it is actually a fictional place, what real world place is it modeled after? I guess the Madison Square Garden, just a guess though.

Ok, after re-watching it, at 6:28 of the movie,

 Umi: Why are we going overseas in the first place? If it's a concert, can't we just do it in Japan?
 Kotori: Remember what my mom said? A TV station over here wanted to do a report on school idols, so they gave Otonizaka High the offer.

So basically, they are in US for the TV station's offer and not for the third Love Live.
As for the location of Tokyo Dome, this site suggests that Akiba Dome is actually a reference to Tokyo Dome. The title in the site says
【劇場版ラブライブ】秋葉ドームはやっぱ東京ドームじゃね！？こことかモロじゃん！【僕光】(21:00)
The first sentence if translated into English means
[Love Live the Movie] Akiba Dome is Tokyo Dome, right?
Considering that the site is in Japanese (high probability of owned and maintained by Japanese community), and that they suggest that Akiba Dome is Tokyo Dome means that Akiba Dome doesn't actually exists in the real world.

IMHO, the director didn't do a great job with it as at the first part of the movie they are talking about the Third Love Live taking place at Akiba Dome and then suddenly having the girls go to other country without even explaining where they are going, thus causing the whole confusion.


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What is the name of the song that plays at ~7:25 in Episode 18 of Try?
I've listened through the OST for Gundam Build Fighters Try (ala YouTube), to find this particular song sequence. However, none of the tracks have this bgm, nor seem like an original of the bgm. Does someone know what other bgm track this could be from?
It's in Episode 18, and starts at around 7:25 (Just after Sekai breaks out of an energy net).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcyas4ux6ho

You don't need to include the series title in the title of your question. You just need to make a more descriptive one.

No series name? Then you'd need to enter the post to see the full name right?

The tag is intended be the main differentiator. Currently we're having a discussion in our meta about how to handle manga of different continuities and spinoffs.

Jumped the Gun(dam) here. Show finished Airing 4/2015, and looked for OST around then. OST was released in Dec-2014. However in 2015, a Second OST was released. Found the track: "New Dimension Overlord Flow".
Interesting that the 2nd OST isn't listed on Gundam Wikia.


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What is the (historical) significance of the name Kazamatsuri?
In the manga Sengoku Youko (same author of Hoshi no Samidare) a character is asked by Hisahide Matsunaga if he's considered changing his last name to Kazamatsuri, and there's a couple historical easter eggs lurking about. I don't know if there's any (additional) significance to this last name.

Because Hisahide in the manga is rather whimsical and has some perception of the flow of time, I feel there's something more lurking about.

There is no historical significance in the names.
The names such as Enra, Kazamatsuri, and Arabuki are references to his older work, in this case Sanjin Sadou and his "Monster Town" oneshot series (see his Mizukami Satoshi Tanpenshuu compilation). Some mechanics are reused, such as the Fairy Eye. In the latter oneshot series, there are the Raidou and Kazamatsuri clans, who have passed down their magic swords and stuff to modern times with the two families taking care of the town's various demons and their hijinx.
All this probably implies that Sengoku Youko is in the same continuity with Sanjin Sadou and the oneshot series.


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How did Eren lose his memories?
We all know by now that Eren

 has the Coordinate power, which means that he should possess memories of everything (origin of titans and such).

How does he not remember everything until much later on?

Historically, the memory inheritance power of Coordinate would only work for the bloodline of the Reiss royal family.

Nevertheless, it seems that only the Reiss bloodline can activate this ability from the beginning, since Uri and Frieda Reiss showed signs of being aware of that knowledge immediately after obtaining the Coordinate, while Eren was only able to see some vague memories of Frieda after years of having received it.

One of the characteristics of the Coordinate is that its effects are linked to bloodlines.
The memory manipulation didn't work on several bloodlines that were not among the common people in the walls,

(...) it is known that at least the Ackerman bloodline, the Asian clan, and the noble families are immune to this mental manipulation due to not sharing a common bloodline with the majority race within the walls.

So by not being a Reiss by birth, the coordinate is more or less dormant on Eren.
Source: http://attackontitan.wikia.com/wiki/Coordinate

Yes. Even though he is not of royal blood and doesn't remember about the coordinate, but shouldn't he still remember memories from his father as the attack titan at the very least?
For example, Ymir ― even though she was still a teenager at the time and might not (or might, I might be wrong on this) have sufficient knowledge on the actual happenings of Marley and Eldian affairs and plus being a mindless titan for 60 years ― seems very aware of the current situation and Reiner and Bertholt's mission after eating Marcel. So, it's still not clear why Eren doesn't remember anything.

please reply here if you get answers to this, eren technically must remember grisha's and eren kruger's memories atleast and all of the previous attack titans. it may be because of the dominant influence of the coordinate but since armin is about to be the collosal, will that mean, it will solve everything for the people inside the walls?

The powers of the Coordinate can be fully awoken by a member of the royal bloodline (the Reiss family).
Eren is not part of that bloodline. Plus in the anime he is still new to all this and thus not used to the titan power.
Explained in the Manga, the members of the Reiss family who were passed on the Coordinate power immediately knew "all the answers" and all the history before the walls.
Interestingly enough however, after someone obtained this "God ability", he/she always refused to discuss it. The reason still remains unknown, but I believe it to be one of the most dramatic points of the series.

It's because his father made him forget (with the shot).

Please expand your answer with sufficient references. One liner answer is not acceptable here.

No, the shot was meant to turn him into a titan.


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Which parts of Dragon Ball GT do not follow the original Dragon Ball story?
I watched Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z growing up. I read the mangas. I am familiar with the stories. I've read in wikis and articles that the GT story doesn't originate from or follow the original Dragon Ball story.
I didn't watch GT but recently I watched the final episode. There, Goku, at the end, makes the rounds and visits many characters from his childhood, before disappearing into the dragon.
Just from that episode, everything seemed like it was a continuation of the previous series and based off the original stories.
So how does it not follow the original Dragon Ball series? What is different? Are there aspects that contradict the original work?

To my knowledge all of GT isn't cannon because it wasn't written by or adapted from any of Akira Toriyama's previous works while Dragon Ball Super is.

@Memor-X even long before super, GT was consitered NON canon by many, and the issues and low quality of parts of the story did nothing but promote that idea. It had its ups, but it had a lot of downs and inconsistencies, especially in relation to powerlevels.

@Ryan. But the final episode was a tearjerker no?

Dragon Ball GT actually is a direct sequel to Dragon Ball Z; it takes place several years after Dragon Ball Z ends. It was not based on a manga by Akira Toriyama. It was an original story created by the anime studio. As far as I know (I never finished watching it), it was completely compatible with the story of Dragon Ball Z.
Recently, Toriyama worked with Toei on the movies Battle of the Gods and Resurrection F, which as far as I know take place between the end of Dragon Ball Z's final battle with Kid Buu and its ending where Goku goes off to train Uub. These movies, like all the movies, are considered non-canon by fans, but Toriyama later adapted these movie stories into a new manga, Dragon Ball Super.
Since (a) GT was awful, and (b) Dragon Ball Super takes place after Dragon Ball Z but before GT and somewhat contradicts GT (e.g. Mai, Shu, and Emperor Pilaf are elderly in the first episode of Dragon Ball GT, while they're children in Dragon Ball Super after a bad wish on the Dragon Balls; also, there are characters like Beerus and Whis that I believe are nowhere to be found in GT, and new powers that are never seen or mentioned in GT, like the Super Saiyan God Form), most fans treat GT as non-canon. GT does actually follow the original Dragon Ball Z storyline, but it isn't compatible with Dragon Ball Super, and Dragon Ball Super is considered more authoritative since it was written by Toriyama himself.

In my opinion, GT is Non-Canon, but is a direct continuation of DB and DBZ. It has all the characters from the two shows, all its transformations and all the previous dragon ball's wishes had been made (the shadow dragons list them off). One of the previous answers said that GT contradicts the original Dragon Ball, but I've watched GT twice now and can say that it does not. GT Krillin even reminds Goku of their race to find Muten Roshi's rock (and its outcome), an event that was so specific, even the slightest change in the story would erase this from ever happening.
Also, Super was not written by Toriyama, the manga is written by Toytarou and the anime writers only get some notes from Toriyama about basic plot points, they are allowed to make up most of the story. In other words, the manga is like his kid that's actually the mailman's and the anime is like the child that comes from his donated sperm that he's never met.
Both shows are separate timelines, one where Beerus woke up and one where he didn't, it also has the difference of the shadow dragon concept.
So that's my opinion, an educated one though.

The previous answer is completely wrong. Dragon Ball GT is NOT a "direct sequel" to Dragon Ball Z. While it does take place several years after the ending of DBZ, Toriyama himself stated that it was nothing more than a side-story. It's basically a "what if". It is not compatible with DBZ. In fact, it constantly contradicts both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. DBGT nullified itself. It's not considered canon because A). Toriyama had little involvement beyond some character concepts. It was Toei's baby. And B). Toriyama is making Super, which is his official continuation of Dragon Ball, and it's already introduced so much content that contradicts GT. Toriyama wrote the story for both Battle of the Gods and Resurrection F. He didn't just adapt it into a new manga, it was his baby. Unlike GT, which Toriyama flat out stated that it was nothing more than a side-story, and that DB Super is his sequel to DBZ.
As far as the deviations to DB and DBZ, there are simply too many to name. As was previously mentioned, it even went so far as to negate itself. Watch Dragon Ball, then watch GT and you'll figure it out. It's not that hard to pick out.


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What does the note from chapter 14 say?
Here's the note from the last chapter:

Utter this incantation!
  If you don't, you won't be able to see mermaids.
↓
Mermaid, mermaid
  I beg of you
  Make my love come true
  For me, [do something with] blood and flesh
(end of incantation)

(I know nothing about this manga. The last line of the incantation has an implied verb; one would need context in order to determine what verb should go there.)

Oh, so it's the usual spell, man that just indicates that it'll go on forever! I seriously thought the slit mouth woman (ironic because that's another popular Japanese Urban Legend) had written down her new founding about the mermaids since she found out that they become aggressive and attack out of jealousy when a GiRl whose love is actually requinted chants the incantation. Instead the notebook will be passed on forever! (×__× ; )

@Imōto if this answer has helped you, please accept it by pressing the checkmark button.


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How did Kirito find out Zekken's secret?
What did Kirito whisper during his fight with Zekken before which he was  defeated? In episode 20, Asuna asked Zekken (Yuuki) about this and she replied that Kirito had "figured out [her] secret".
What was the secret?

Note that the question is about why, despite thinking he's strong, Yuuki didn't "hire" Kirito, rather than what their exchange in the duel was about.

In episode 19, Asuna reports that Leafa thought that Kirito had had an exchange with Zekken during their fight. Kirito then tells Asuna about what happened:

Kirito: Um, something was bothering me.
Asuna: What?
Kirito: I asked, "You're totally living in this world, aren't you?" Zekken answered with a wordless smile and a charge skill at incredibly speed. That speed was beyond the limits.
Asuna: "Totally living in this world"? Do you mean they're a really heavy user?
Kirito: No. I wasn't referring to a single VRMMO. I felt like Zekken was a product of the full-dive environment itself.
Asuna: What does that mean?
Kirito: I don't want to give you any preconceived notions. I want you to feel the rest for yourself.

(Text from Crunchyroll subtitles.) Thus, that she is "totally living in this world" must be the "secret" that Yuuki is referring to; we do not hear of Kirito having any major interactions with Yuuki at any point prior to their duel. Furthermore, Kirito's intuition is correct. Spoilers for the rest of the arc:

 In episode 22, Kirito states his guess that Yuuki is a Medicuboid user and directs Asuna to the only hospital in Japan using the device.
 We then learn that Yuuki is an AIDS patient. She has been using the Medicuboid machine experimentally to alleviate the suffering caused by her health problems. Beyond providing pain relief and alleviating sensory impairments, the Medicuboid can also immerse the user in a virtual reality environment, such as that of the video games being played in the SAO universe.

I don't remember the exact quotes, but this should be the gist of the answer. I can try to put in more details later after taking a look at the relevant episodes.

That's what I thought too, but through out the episode or even the entire arc, we don't know what Kirito had exactly said. Can you affirm this with some evidence ?

I seem to remember Kirito's key insight here being that not only had Yuuki been full-diving for a long time, but that she had to have been full-diving longer than him, which meant that she couldn't have been an SAO survivor. And then from there, he worked out what her actual situation was.

@senshin: thanks. I don't recall anything more specific than an observation from Kirito (reported by Lisbeth) that Zekken wasn't an SAO survivor, and moreover, that his dual-wield skill ought to have gone to her had she been in the game. But I also only know the anime, and it's not a franchise that I've followed too seriously.

@Haider: found the relevant dialogue.

Well, the dialogue does give an idea about what Kirito would have said relating to her secret.


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Is the setting of D.N.Angel based on a real world location, and if so, which one?
Some anime and movies feature and are shown with real world locations.
For example, this post gives some of the real world locations involved in anime such as 5 Centimeters Per Second (Shinjuku and Tanegashima) and Kiki's Delivery Service (Visby, a town on the Swedish island of Gotland).
I was wondering: where does D.N.Angel take place? Is it based on a real world location?

oops ill edit wrong link posted :P thanks for notifying me

The real world location for the events in the anime D.N. Angel was based on "Azumano District in Tokyo"
According to this Post about Dark Mousy:

Dark Mousy was the greatest phantom thief. Last appeared 14 years ago, disappeared suddenly, and then now he's out wreaking havoc around the Azumano District of Tokyo as he did for centuries. Nobody knows where he's from, nobody knows who he really is, and nobody knows what his real purpose is behind stealing all the artwork from various museums. Dark is some what immortal since 14 years ago. He was intiated in a ritual with Daisuke Niwa 14 years ago to become immortal. The bad part of the ritual was Dark would be in a coma state inside Daisuke's body till he turned 14. Dark's rabbit, Wizu, watched over Daisuke till he was able to transform into Dark. Dark is Daisuke half the time, to protect him and vice versa.
Likes: Ramen, Flying
  Dislikes: People who don't know how to shut up, Pets
Home
A small cozy apartment near the shores of Azumano.

When you search about "Azumano clock tower"
Clock tower is in the first episode.
Spoiler

(Remember the first episode where dark returns after 40 years and steals the bird symbol on the clock tower)

You would see google search results about D.N. Angel FanFics (Fan Fictions)
You'll notice that most of these talk about the Azumano District in Tokyo (or sometimes Azumano City)
Here's an example, although this is more like a retelling of D.N. Angel instead of a Fan Fiction
Also a comment on This Post about D.N. Angel also states that:

The location of where D.N. Angel takes place is hard to figure out,
  but it is revealed in the last episode, on a box (that was as late as
  I noticed it); if you translated the small bit of Kanji and Hiragana
  written on the side of it, it came out to be "Azumano District
  Reception", meaning that the town or area that the anime took place in
  would be Azumano.


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Code Geass: Lelouch of the rebellion dvd version differences
I am wanting to buy season 1 and 2 of code geass on DVD because its a great show and I have never bought anime before so I was definitely not expecting to find like a million dvd's for this 1 show that had 50 episodes total. I am going through ebay and amazon and am finding a combination of volumes and complete series however it seems that even some of them that have the complete series are different. Some of them have the marking (2011) and some have the marking (Anime Legends) and they have different cover art although they all say the complete first season 3-6 discs episodes 1-26. Is there any real difference when it comes to two dvds that say they are the entire first season with both English and Japanese or is the cover art the only difference?

To my knowledge there shouldn't be too much difference. Japanese originating DVDs will have less-episode per disk but this apparently means the video footage wont be as compressed (though have never had a compassion to confirm this)
When looking on eBay you should be careful of bootlegs where the seller just gets downloaded episodes, burns them to disk, whips up a quick DVD Menu and cover and tries and sells it as legit. This post in Madman's Entainment Knowledge Base can help you sort out the bootlegs from the real ones

There has been a recent increase in these DVD sets being spotted and these are most certainly not real products but rather an illegal bootleg copy, usually imported from South East Asian countries and contain extremely bad subtitles and are of low quality. Easy signs to tell if they are real or not include:

Region 0 or All

Very low disc count for entire series - eg. 26 episodes on 3 DVDs
Anything with the company logos 'Anime Cartoon', 'AniDVD', AV, 'Manga Cartoon' and other companies with similar names usually linked to crime syndicates as well.
A web based email address printed on the DVD cover such as addresses ending with @yahoo.com or mail2000.com.tw etc

Should you come across any of these products do not purchase them and if you feel this isn't right report it to the authorities or to piracy@madman.com.au, please include the store's name and if possible get details of the distributor, the closer we get to the source of the problem, the eaiser it is for us to stop the flow. The Pirate Anime FAQ site also has a lot more useful information regarding these illegal bootleg DVDs as well as other knock off anime merchandise and how you can avoid them. Alternatively you can also report it to the newly setup Anti-piracy task force. Remember the more reports that are reported the more likely something will be done about this problem. Piracy hurts the industry and you can help by spreading the word and reporting these illegitimate practices.

Some of my own tips would be

By from official distributors like Madman or RightStuf depending on where you live
if you need to buy from ebay check out the sellers past feedback and look out for any claiming pirated products
pay with Paypal because then if you get a bootleg you can go through paypal to get your money back. if you go though ebay this process is made a bit easier
generally Amazon sells legit products as i havn't gotten bootlegs from there once so if you can buy from them then do so
the average count for episodes per disk is 6-7 in Australia for regular DVDs, i've seen up to 9 episodes on one BluRay (which was Katanagatari from the US), 3 disks for 24 episodes should only work if they are BluRay
Covers can be different depending on their release, first release of Black Cat in Australia had 4 episode/disk in 6 volumes, the second release included all 6 disks in one cover and the cover was that of the reversible one from Volume 1. also Limited Editions may have a different cover. when in doubt google it or post the image up on an anime forum or chat room to get clarification

a cover wont have characters that appear in a different media, my mum one got a complete collection of Fullmetal Alchemist but on the cover of one of them had a couple of characters from the video game

after you buy and receive the anime if you didn't get it from an official distributor you can generally tell right away if the anime was downloaded

if there are subs they wont be in comic sans MS
they wont have any tv network watermarks
they will have the appropriate copyright information and company slash animations before the menu appears (ie. all Hanabee released DVDs/Bluray will have Hanabee's animation, Fate/Zero will have Aniplex and Unfotable. Speed Grapher from Australia will have Madman, Gonzo and i think Funimation's)
generally all episodes will have the Opening and Ending and you will be able to skip these with one button press on the DVD remote (as they are set as a separate scene).

First off let me say that you went above and beyond my expectations with your reply and for that I thank you; also I would like to say that I will definitely be on the lookout for  legit anime. I'm actually curious, do you know if the website sourceanime.com is legit? I found what i was looking for on playtech-asia.com but some people online are saying that playtech-asia is a bootleg site but I cant seem to find any feedback or reviews on sourceanime.com. They seem to have a bunch of sales and discounts which is nice.


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What happened between episodes 7 and 8 of Konosuba
At the beginning of episode 8 we see Wiz for the first time but Aqua and Kazuma already know who she is. They have a short flashback to how they meet, but it doesn't go into very much detail.
So I was wondering what happened between episode 7 and 8. Why did they agree to take over her task of sending the lost souls to heaven?
Also was there anything else from the source material that was skipped in the anime?

According to the manga, it wasn't her quest. Wiz took pity in the souls of the people who hadn't enough money to pay the priest to cleanse the souls of their friends and relatives. These souls would wander around. So she cleansed them for free.
Kazuma and the rest just took the quest to cleanse the cemetry, because the party thought, it would be the ideal job for Aqua to level up. After defeating some undead, they notice Wiz and want to fight her. But then they hear her story.

wow. i really think this is important but why does the anime version skipped this part? or haven't elaborate this side story? Also i wonder a bit why the people in that city love Wiz so much. Maybe your answer is the reason for it too.

@nameme I don't know, why the anime skipped it. But it is the reason the people love her. She's helping them for free...


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What are these color pages for?
If noticed it in several manga now. A extra page added in a fully covered overlay, usually followed by the identical page in either full color or normal colorless.
They tend to be red(ish), blue or green. But I have seen a purple one a while ago as well.
Why are these pages included and where are they coming from?

These pages are using spot coloring:

This type of printing consists of printing with 1 or more pre-mixed colors (generally 1, 2 or 3 colors at once). Spot printing uses a color system of solid, premixed colors known as Pantone colors.

As mentioned on that page, the benefits of spot coloring are:

When using spot printing, colors are more accurate because you have already determined the color by its specific Pantone number. Since the ink is not being mixed, that color will never change from one print run to the next. For example: a Pantone 186 Red will always be 186 Red. Some colors, such as metallics and fluorescents, are only available as spot colors—the same color and effect can’t be achieved using 4-color process.
Spot color is generally more economical if printing is kept to 3 colors or less.

It is nowhere explicitly mentioned why spot coloring is used for manga. However, it can be said that they're used as an eye-catcher. Usually single spot color pages are used to make the publication feel more colorful but not pay the full price of colored pages.
TL;DR:
In Japan, where Manga are published in magazines, such pages serve the purpose of catching the attention of the reader without costing the publisher as much money as it would have cost to publish a full-colored page and nor the artist/mangaka extra time to color each part of the page separately.

plus for "eye-catcher"


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Why does Ed not pursue the origin of the fake Philosopher's stone used by Cornello?
In the first chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed and Al come across Father Cornello at the city of Reole.

 The Elric brothers Edward and Alphonse discover, soon after arriving in Reole, that Cornello's 'miracles' are nothing more than alchemy augmented by a Philosopher's Stone that the priest has in his possession.

One of the biggest rules of Alchemy is Equivalent Exchange, and Ed sees Cornello obviously breaking those rules, something that should have been impossible in Alchemy without the philosopher's stone.

Ed and Al have been searching for the Philosophers Stone as a way of returning their bodies back to how it was. Even if it wasn't a complete Philosopher's stone, the fact Cornello was able to bypass equivalent exchange should have been incredibly significant in itself and pursuing this lead would likely have lead them a step closer to their goal.

 And it was later revealed that a Homunculus was behind the incident.

However, Ed, upon realising the stone was not a true philosopher's stone, left the town. Why is this? Did he, for some reason, think of it as unimportant, and if so, why?

At that point in time, I guess they don't have any ground to suspect that someone else is pulling the string behind Cornello. When the stone, what they are looking for, broke right in front of them, they had no choice but to continue their search elsewhere.

I'm getting all of the following information from episode 3 of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.
Near the end of the episode, Ed exposed Cornello as a liar to all his people.  Cornello attempts to kill Ed using his alchemy.  During the attempt, Cornello's alchemy "rebounds" and causes some ... adverse effects on Cornello.  After a short fight, Cornello's fake stone breaks.  Ed starts asking about it and Cornello states he knows nothing about it.
Given all that, I don't believe Ed didn't think it wasn't important, but that he had nowhere to go with that.  First, the stone was gone and couldn't help Ed learn anything.  Cornello was equally useless in learning about the stone.
On top of that, a real stone would have allowed Cornello or Ed to do whatever they wanted, presumably without any rebounding.  This made the fake stone even less desirable for two reasons.  First, there is no guarantee that it could even help Ed and Al (granted there was a chance, but it may not have been worth the time to look into).  Secondly, even if Ed did get his hands on a fake stone, there was no telling if it would rebound and just make matters worse.
Overall, it's not that it wasn't important, just that Ed had no leads on where or how to get a fake stone and that the risk might not have been worth it.

Ed didn't actually think it was unimportant, but you have to realize that alchemy was so scares in that town that people were actually willing to accept Cornello as a demi-god (yes, he had a philosopher's stone, but in a city with more alchemy, they would probably end up questioning him on how he breaks the laws of equivalent exchange).  It's not that it was unimportant, it's just there was nothing there.

but ed obviously saw cornello break equivalent exchange, so why didn't Ed question that? Ed could have at least asked him where the stone came from, but he just left it as a dead end.


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When does Son Goku learn to fly?
In chapter 202 of the DragonBall manga, Goku floats into the air to see where his child is:

Then when he is travelling along the green scale road, he flies a portion of the way there. He also flies to assist combatting the Saiyans after his training with the Lord of the Worlds.
When did Goku learn how to fly, when previously he had only used Kintou for aerial movement?

The first time we see Goku fly is in Chapter 193, page 10. Krillin, Master Roshi and Tien actually describe it as the Air Dance. Since the first time he saw the Air Dance was at the previous tournament, we can conclude that he learnt in in between the 2nd and 3rd tournament, during his time training with Kami.

It was never shown, how he learned to fly, so that's pure speculation. The DragonBall-Wiki has a possible explanation:

Goku likely learned how to fly from Kami during his long training at Kami's Lookout, as he was unable to do so before and demonstrated his abilities to conclude his World Martial Arts Tournament fight with Piccolo.

Source: Dragonball Wiki

Ah that makes sense, seeing as Piccolo can fly using his special technique, and Kami was also a Namekian

I could be mistaken, as I'm not referencing any sources now, but didn't Krillin, Yamcha, and Goku learn the Air Dance that Tien and Chaotzu already knew during a time skip after defeating king Piccolo but before the World Martial Arts Tournament where Goku and Piccolo fight?

@Nil Krillin indeed, because he flies when fighting against Piccolo. But I don't think Yamcha could fly at that moment.

Goku learned to fly during the first tournament arc while he was fighting Jackie Chun.
Albeit, he flew by rotating his tail like a helicopter, which is a different technique than normal.

+1 nice find! What about when he used his Kamehameha to fly? Not sure if thats counts too ;)

I think Goku learned to fly at Kaio's planet (at least I think so in the anime). When they fought Raditz, he still used the Kintoun Cloud. And he died that fight.

He seems to pretty clearly be flying without the cloud in the manga panels from the OP, which is during the Raditz fight.

It could just be DBZTime floating.

I believe that Goku flew fighting Piccolo Jr. towards the end of Dragon Ball. I believe he already knew the Air Dance but flew slower than his kintoun/flying nimbus. That's probably why he used that to get to Raditz, but I don't have a source to verify it.

@Nil i'm pretty sure you got it right.  Numbus, was FAST.  easily keeping up with Piccolo's flight, and at the time, Goku hadn't gotten a death-powerup yet, so his ability to output enough energy for flight was most likely not as high as it could have been.