text:
Protagonist saves the world by killing monsters by transforming into different mecha using disks
I'm looking for an old anime which I watched when I was young, during the 90s. As far as I can remember:

The earth is flat in the story
The storyline is about this protagonist trying to save the world by killing monsters by transforming into different mecha?
The protagonist transform by inserting a disk (?) into a device on his hand
At the end of the first arc, the world isn't restored, and the protagonist had to return all the disks he collected to their original place
Each time a disk is returned, one of the bad dudes will turn back to normal
To make things clearer, it is the protagonist himself transforming

Are you sure they are "disks"? Are they cards? Could it be "Digimon"?

I'm thinking of medabot, possible?

Are you sure this is an anime? Because I can somehow remember a sentai series with your description.

http://powerrangers.wikia.com/wiki/Secret_Disks This is presumably what you are talking about @xjshiya

Is this the hovercraft you're talking about?

@Moke: That sounds like Shinzo, I also thought about it, but I'm not sure it's it.

A few potential options, some of these are a shot in the dark hoping some of your information is mixed up:

Monster Rancher - Monsters were born from disks and used to battle other monsters. Not a mecha anime and came out in 1999. Protagonist doesn't transform most of the time.
Saint Seiya - Has transforming protagonists that look mecha-like. I don't recall any disks though, it came out in the late 80s.
Escaflowne - Came out in the 90s, mecha like.

It could also be some flavor of Digimon, Gundam, etc.
Very few Mecha anime that weren't Gundam or Macross came out in the 90s that I'm aware of; but here is a list.

i think that you are looking for Gulliver Boy:

It matches your specifications.


text:
Does the Spice and Wolf anime follow the same events as the manga
I've been thinking about whether or not I should start getting the Spice and Wolf manga, or to wait to see if there is a season 3 to the anime. So I am wondering, does the anime closely follow the events in the manga or does it diverge at some point and become more original?
EDIT: Logan M has stated that the anime is sourced from the light novels rather than the manga, so now the initial question is slightly different, I want to know how much difference there is between the manga and the anime.

I'm not able to answer this question, but I will note that the original source is actually the light novels, not the manga. The light novels stopped in 2011 so while we can't know for sure it seems unlikely that another anime season would be made now.

@LoganM most Light Novels don't get translated into English anyway so i'm not worried botu them however since the source of the anime is the light novels i'll alter my question

The light novels are being translated by YenPress.

Both manga and anime generally follow the novels well, but there are differences between them:

The two seasons of the anime adapt volumes 1,2,3 and 5 of the novels, skipping volume 4.
The manga does not skip volume 4, but has yet to catch up with the anime.

Personally, I would suggest you to take a look at everything, it's all awesome :P

SingerOfTheFall's answer has covered the relation between anime and light novel: volume 1-3 & 5, skipping 4. For the detail, according to Japanese Wikipedia:

Season 1 adapts volume 1 & 2 of the light novel almost faithfully (+ volume 7's "The Red of the Apple, the Blue of the Sky" on the DVD-exclusive episode 7)
Season 2 adapts volume 3 & 5, skipping 4 (+ volume 7's "The Wolf and the Amber Melancholy" on the OVA episode 0)

Given the above fact, the anime covers volume 1-8 of the manga with quite heavy modification. According to Japanese Wikipedia:

Beginning of light novel (LN) 1
Middle of LN 1
End of LN 1 - Beginning of LN 2
Beginning - mid of LN 2
Middle - end of LN 2
End of LN 2 + LN 7's "The Wolf and the Amber Melancholy" (anime season 2's OVA episode 0)

Part of LN 3 + Beginning - mid of LN 4
End of LN 4 - Beginning of LN 8 (LN 5-6 are simplified)

For the manga, you might start from volume 7 instead, for the skipped volume 4 of the light novel.

Note: as of July 2017, the manga is still on-going and consists of more than 8 volumes. The above list ends at volume 8 which covers volume 5 of the light novel because that's the last volume that got adapted into the anime.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

sort: votes


text:
Why did Naru not want Lin to know he bent a spoon?
In the Ghost Hunt anime, in the "The After-School Hexer" story (episodes 7-10), Naru shows that he can bend a spoon using psychokinesis, but asks Mai not to tell Lin he did so.
It is revealed at the end of the first (and only) season that

 Naru has tremendous psychic powers, that are too much for a human being to control, therefore he must not use them. Lin looks after Naru and is the one who has told him not to use his powers.

But later in the same story arc, it is revealed that

 Naru used a trick to bend the spoon. There was no psychic power involved.

So why would he need to hide this from Lin?

I think Ghost hunt is good mystery story instead of horror story.
Warn: I wrote follow part based on novel which anime version doesn't covered and contains spoiler.

 Naru has psychic power.

The scene that naru describe the trick is mislead.
The story is:

Naru cuts the spoon, Mai see it.
Mai talk about (1) to lin, monk and other member.
Lin is angry and mock asked how to do it to naru.
Naru bents the spoon by using trick.
Naru apologize to lin.

 The point is the difference between 1 and 4.
 Naru cuts the spoon at 1. but in 4, Naru just bets.
 The trick which naru describe in 4, naru can't cut the spoon.

The real story is different:

 1. Naru cuts spoon by psychic power.
 2. Mai talk naru cuts.
 3. Lin is angry because naru uses psychic power.
 4. Naru try to cheat monk using trick, because he'd like to hide his psychic power.
 5. Naru success to convince monk and mai.
 But lin know that trick doesn't work for cut which mai talked in 2, and naru know he can't convince lin by this story. Then he apologize to lin about use psychic power.

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


text:
Why is it common for anime to lack surround sound?
With all this push for HD video, I would think HQ audio (5.1 surround sound) would be obvious. But I am having trouble finding any TV anime in 5.1; One Piece from Japan is only stereo (movies are an exception), Crunchyroll does not have any 5.1 according to their support, most anime series listed on sale say on Amazon (or even Rightstuf) don't even seem to have a field for the sound type (stereo or surround).
Why is this?
According to a reddit user:

ISDB supports 5.1 but in practice most broadcasts are stereo, with 192k AAC audio.

[1]
Another question of mine would be why would the DVD releases not support 5.1?

Does over-the-air television support surround sound?

In the US it does. Everything is digital today, I assume it's mostly the same in Japan.

Hm, it looks like Japan uses ISDB (different from the US but still digital), but I don't really know anything about this technology and am having trouble figuring out whether or not it supports 5.1. I'd guess that technical hurdles (e.g. it's hard to get surround sound right when you have to assemble lots of separate voice recordings rather than just putting mics around a live-spoken scene) are the main reason why not, but that's pure speculation. Anyway, interesting question, +1.

Isn't it mainly because 5.1 surround systems are less common in the average Japanese household ? If under a certain % of your viewers don't have it, why bother to add it. ( although 5.1 surround is slowely getting a bit more common in anime thou )

@Dimitrimx Probably, since I would assume Japanese viewers typically don't have large rooms to accommodate  surround sound systems, 5.1 mixes for Japanese audio tracks are not too common, at least not for TV anime.

Probably the only anime that I saw with 5.1 audio is Evangelion. However as you've pointed out, most(if not all) TV-aired anime in Japan are in stereo unless it got released into special BD/DVD.
This issue is also under budget constraints, etc. It's not budget-wise to apply one, just the same as what @Dmitri said about the average Japanese household.


text:
What is Juha Bach's motivation?
For everything Juha Bach is doing in the current Bleach manga, what is his reason for doing so?
Also according to the Bleach wiki his official name is "Yhwach" with no reference to Juha Bach though, so I also wonder about that. What is his canonical name?

A note: Our community decided that it is okay to ask about things that may or may not have been revealed thus far.

He now holds Hueco Mundo. Should he gain control of Soul Society, there would be no power considered great enough (in his mind) to threaten the Quincy race again. This seems to be my assumption.
Although i'm sure there's some sort of connection that's yet to be revealed to us as well. I speculate this connection due to the fact that Masaki's family is dead and there was no explanation given, unless we are to assume they perished in the Quincy genocides.

what is his reason for doing so?

It has not been revealed yet. Though it is likely to come out towards the end of the arc.

What is his canonical name?

He is using and is mostly referred to by others as Juha Bach. "Yhwach" may be a title rather than a name (basing this on the similarity to "Yahwe" - the Hebrew name of god), or a different pronunciation of the same name (in a different script/language).
Though it appears that Juha Bach is a mistranslation of Yhwach (which appears to be the official name), as @Zeno commented.

I just looked around and apparently Juha Bach is a mistranslation. The official name is shown on http://shonenjump.viz.com/node/1095 and it's "Yhwach", weird.

Well, the reason is probably revenge? I mean, the Shinigami did genocide-annihilate the entire clan of Quincies.

@MadaraUchiha - Doesn't sound right to me, not timeline wise and in particular not in view of how he regained his powers. That is, he seems to have been an enemy of the shinigami for a very log time, probably from before the genocides.

@Oded: According to the "prophecy" or whatever, he recovered his full strength in 999 years, so the timeline matches.

He probably wants to kill The Soul King and rule the world. In one of the chapters. he told his assistant to order the Sternritters to retreat so that they can wait for the Royal Guards to come. Juha Bach is too smart to start a war all because of revenge. He only cares about himself.


text:
What is the purple stuff on Doflamingo's strings?
In the latest episode, we see a pure purple color at the tips of the string attack. I've never seen this before. What is it?

I didn't think it was Busō-shoku no Haki, because that's black:

it's Busō-shoku no Haki (should be black but Toei since Punk Hazzard have colored the CoA with that color).

Huh? But Toei colors it black (see Chinjao's head during it, etc)

white + black = lighter black maybe

It's Busō-shoku no Haki. Most Busō-shokus are black because they are on something that's not light colored (skin or Doflamingo's strings).
The only exceptions I've seen are Luffy and Chinjao. Doffy's shoe is Busō-shoku'd so it's black, Vergo's staff is Busō-shoku'd so it's black, Vergo's skin is Busō-shoku'd so it's purple.
It may be that the color underneath chooses whether it's purple or black. It may even just be the concentration of Haki.


text:
Are there Blu-ray differences for Dragon Maid?
Some series have Blu-ray differences such as animation improvements or minor adjustments.
Are there any differences with Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid? If so, any visual examples?

If anything, I failed to find Japanese resources that explained the differences between the BD and the TV version (or my search query suck), so it might be too uninteresting to be shared with the public. Meanwhile, I found a recent discussion in English about this on Reddit.

@AkiTanaka Yes, funny enough that was my Reddit post. Alas, no answer there.

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


text:
Why weren't the four Hokages reincarnated by Kabuto in the Shinobi war?
In the anime, Kabuto reincarnated Asuma, Dan, Hizashi etc from Konoha to battle against the allied Shinobi forces. Earlier, Orochimaru reincarnated the 1st and 2nd Hokage to battle against the 3rd. Why didn't Kabuto reincarnate the four of them to fight against the alliance? Couldn't they be reincarnated again or wasn't that part of Tobi's plan?

This is answered here.

Yes. Probably a duplicate.

Actually, Kabuto can't revive the 1st and the 2nd Hokage simply because Hiruzen Sarutobi (3rd) sealed them away using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
While the reason Orochimaru can revive the two is because he ripped the belly of the Demon (Shiki Fuujin) who consumed their souls in Naruto chapter 618, page 4.

That's because Edo Tensei can only reanimated souls that are in the world of the dead.
The four Hokages were sealed in the death god's stomach. That's why they were only revived after Orochimaru released Shiki Fuujin.

The last time first and second hokage were reincarnated, they were sealed using the death reaper seal by the third hokage.
The 4th hokage was sealed along with the nine tailed fox using the same seal.
One of the pre-requisites of the reanimation jutsu is that the target shinobi cannot be sealed.
Since the 4 hokages were sealed, kabuto was unable to reincarnate either one.

 However, later Orochimaru shows that the souls trapped in the death reaper's belly can be realesed, and thus reincarnated each of the hokages.


text:
Anime with commando bunnies
I saw a few images of this anime.
It was based in Afghanistan, or some place similar. Except of humans fighting terrorists, it was bunnies. The bunnies were dressed like soldiers.
I think it was supposed to be a tongue in cheek parody of the war, but I'm not sure.

The show you are looking for is called "Cat Shit One"

It's based on a manga of the same name (and also called Apocalypse Meow in the U.S.). As far as I know, there's only been one episode and it's mostly CG animated. The terrorists are all camels.

From what I've heard, each country gets its own animal. Americans are rabbits because "USA G.I." => usagi (rabbit).


text:
What anime is this image of a girl caressing a skeleton from?
I found this picture on a fansub website, and it did not have any reference to the name of the anime to which it belongs.

Does anyone know where it is from?

The image is related to the anime Dusk Maiden of Amnesia (or Tasogare Otome x Amnesia), which aired in 2012 and had a manga running from 2009-2013. The character in it, Kanoe Yuuko, is a ghost haunting an old school, who can only be seen by a few other people, namely Niiya Teiichi and Kanoe Kirie.
Here's wikipedia's plot summary:

The story revolves around a first-year middle school student, Teiichi Niiya who had just enrolled at Seikyou Private Academy. When he gets lost in one of the school's old buildings, he meets a girl named Yuko Kanoe who reveals herself as a ghost with no memories. Teiichi then decides to investigate her death by looking through the school's seven mysteries revolving around her. Throughout the story, Teiichi and Yuko discover the truth about these ghost stories and help those who are troubled.

The image seems to be an edited version of this image, which (as best I can tell) is official promo art. This image has also been used for a wall scroll. A rotated and cropped version was used as the album cover for the single Choir Jail, the OP of the anime.


text:
Name of anime with a character whose wings wrap around his arms when he's not flying?
I saw this anime on TV when I was kid. I think there was a space war going on and this guy was trying to bring a message somewhere. He meets a green alien who he befriends. One planet they go to has some round shaped guy that rolls around and electrocutes you on contact.
Does anyone know the name of this anime?

You said you saw it when you were kid, but can you give us a decade or some similar time frame to help narrow this down?

It would also help to know what country you lived in when you were a kid since then we can reduce it to looking at shows with TV dubs in that country.

In Galactic Patrol Lensman there's a character called Worsel who has wings that wrap around his arms when not in use.


text:
What is the little doll on top of Tomoko's phone?
In WataMote, Tomoko's phone appears to have a little figure on the top of it. It looks like a doll, with a kitty-face smile and an orange coat and antenna. In the ED sequence, it appears again, in both orange and blue.

Is this doll a reference to another series or Japanese pop culture? What does it mean?

It looks like a parody of Yaruo (やる夫), a popular ASCII Art meme character from the Japanese 2ch forum.

That guy is apparently from the Wii game Opoona where you play a character called "Opoona" that's short and has a number of facial expressions (and one of them has a ball over their head), though they don't always have such a sour look on their faces.

Some ascii art of Opoona with the Yaruo face that Krazer mentioned:


text:
Which manga was being parodied in episode 5 of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei?
In episode 5 of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, I think the following scenes might parody some manga. What I want to know is which manga the author intended to parody.

At the very least make sure the spelling in your Title is correct.

This is clearly a reference to the manga Black Jack by Tezuka Osamu. The doctor is referred to as "A detoxified Dr. BJ" in a previous screenshot:

The joke probably only makes sense if you know a bit about Black Jack, so here's MAL's summary of the series (based on the anime entry). Note that it would sound far less interesting if he were an ordinary doctor.

In the medical profession, there is a name spoken in hushed tones, of an unlicensed genius physician who can save lives—for a price. His name is Black Jack, and he is a dashing, moody figure, caped in black, a Harlock of medicine, a man who lives by no rules other than his own—and the Hippocratic Oath. A man who would defy the will of God himself in the name of preserving life.

Anime News Network's trivia list for the show agrees that this is the reference being made:

In episode 5, Dr BJ is obviously refers to Black Jack, from the anime/manga of the same name.

Just so you know, ANN's trivia list is not official in any way. So it is further evidence that you aren't the only one thinking this, but I wouldn't say it really "confirms" anything.

@atlantiza I'm well aware that ANN's triva list isn't official. I included it mainly because it's a useful place to check for these sorts of references. As with most references, there's almost certainly no official confirmation of this by any of the producers.

I've changed that sentence so that the active verb is "agree" rather than "confirm" since the latter could be interpreted to give undue weight to the source.

Right, I agree that it's useful but by no means does it confirm anything :)


text:
What is the anime where a popular soft drink kills people who drink it X times?
I've got this vague memory of an anime movie I saw once a very long time ago (around 1990?) and I'd like to find it—but I've no idea of any names that were mentioned.
A particular unique aspect of the plot was that there was some kind of new popular soft drink that was actually made as a part of an evil plan as people died or disappeared (turned to green sludge?) after drinking it X times. The setting was near-future, and I believe that the focus of the action was on some kind of sea warships, but I don't recall much more—that's why I want to find it! :)

Do you have any further details, such as art style or the language you originally saw the movie in?

Weiss Kreuz (ep 5?), had some sort of drink name Freude that cause ppl's skins to degenerate. The movie Flying Phantom Ship had something called Boa Juice that caused ppl to dissolve.

You may be thinking of an old Miyazaki movie called Sora Tobu Yureisen. In the movie, there was a drink called "Boa Juice" which is manufactured by the evil corporation and was really some kind of poison that made people dissolve if you drank enough of it.

This blog post has a really detailed synopsis with lots of screenshots of the movie.


text:
Anime Western with a young boy with a gun?
I remember watching an anime that was very gun-centric, and had a young boy character who had a gun.  I think I got the sample DVD as some sort of tie-in, maybe with a video game magazine.  I only watched the sample couple of episodes on the DVD and remember liking it, but don't remember anything else about it.  I would have seen this at some point between 1998-2000.  I think it was a TV series which also had a video game tie-in, which is why I got it with a video game magazine.  I also think I remember a Western setting.  Does this ring a bell with anybody else?

Gunslinger girl (there are characters that look like boys), Texhnolyze, Grenadier, Madlax, Toshokan Sensou, Noir, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, and City Hunter all come to mind. Can you give any specifics, such as setting, cast, when you saw it, what types of guns? If it was a TV show or game?

I don't think there are enough details to identify this. The only thing fairly specific is the (possible) gaming magazine, but if you don't remember which magazine it's just a shot in the dark.

It was a TV show but had some sort of game tie-in.

Close vote retracted as this was solved. Apparently the additional info was enough.

The only other thing I can think of is Wild Arms. It's from circa 1999 and has a kid with a gun in a western setting, but I've never seen the show or played the video game series before, so I've no idea how gun centric it really is.


text:
Identify this image of a girl with red hair wearing a dog puppet
I've posted an image of an anime girl below. Do you have any idea about who she is and where she is from? I think she seems to be from a visual novel according to CG.

This appears to be from a game and as such is off-topic here. You can also buy a calling card with this artwork :)

@coleopterist I don't think this question is OT; we allow questions about anime games which are not gameplay-related. As well, the image does appear as an anime character, so the OP would have no way of knowing it was from a game anyway.

Yes, refer to this meta post for more info.

@Eric Roger that. But which anime is she from? I don't see any anime named Rakuen no Reihou. (Close vote retracted.)

The other answer is almost correct. The name of the VN is 楽園の令嬢（アリス）たち, but the parenthetical word after 令嬢 (normally meaning daughter or young woman) is means that word should be read as Alice (アリス) in this case. So the name of the game is, in romaji, Rakuen no Arisu-tachi. The character's name is indeed Inujima Rise (狗島離世). The game is by doujin group Harthnir, and version 0.01d was released in 2006.
It's not clear to me whether a full version of this game was ever released. There was definitely a trial version,  which the f-game page above mentions. All references I can find are for the trial version. The website for the game is also down. All the references I can find to the game are to ver0.01d or earlier, which was definitely released, but is not a full version (as far as I can tell). There were some rumors that the full game would be released in 2009, but very little new information has appeared since suggesting that this didn't happen. Assuming the game wasn't released, I'd probably conclude that it was abandoned.

This is a character from the adult eroge, Rakuen no Reijou. The character's name is Rise Inujima.


text:
What is this manga about hair cutting?
There is a shoujo manga I remember reading probably about six years ago (give or take) about a school with a hair cutting club in it. There are a few boys in it (maybe 3) and they are essentially celebrities within their school. They do hair cutting shows for the school in the auditorium, and they turn the girls from being unattractive to being very attractive. They may have also done makeup for the girls as well.
There was a girl in the manga who had been trained by one of the master hair cutters (her father) but she didn't like cutting hair. She ends up getting involved in it, however, and she's very good at it. I think in the manga book covers she had pink or orange hair. Does anyone know what manga this was?

The manga you are looking for is called "Beauty Pop".
Here is MAL's synopsis:

Although a truly gifted hairstylist, Kiri Koshiba has no interest in using her talent to pursue fame and fortune, unlike the three popular boys in the "Scissors Project" at school. Determined to become the best makeover team in Japan, they give showy makeovers to handpicked girls. As much as Kiri tries to shy away from the Scissors Project spotlight, she finds herself responding to beauty's call


text:
How are White Album and White Album 2 related?
I know that White Album 2 recently started, but it doesn't seem like it has anything to do with the first White Album aside from being a similar genre of music related romance stories.
The original White Album was about the triangle of Yuki, Rina and Touya and the second White Album seems to be about 3 different people, Setsuna, Haruki and Kazusa.

Given that the phrase "White Album second season" could refer to season 2 of the anime or to White Album 2, I took the liberty to make it clearer in your question which one you were asking about.

There is little direct relation between White Album 1 and 2. They are in the same series and have some similar themes, but the plots are unrelated and all the characters are new (as well as a different writer). There are a few references to the original game, mostly in the form of music, and it does take place in the same universe 10 years later, but that's basically all the connections. It isn't at all necessary to be familiar with the original to watch White Album 2.
It should be pointed out that both of the anime adaptations are originally based on visual novels. The few references that did exist in the VN versions could very well be removed from the anime. The original White Album came out in 1998, while White Album 2 ~introductory chapter~ (the part which is being adapted this season) was released in 2010. Given the long gap between the White Album game and anime (2008-2009), there's some speculation that the latter may have been intended to increase hype for White Album 2.

Ahh, that makes sense


text:
Old mecha anime with white winged aliens
I have vague memory of an old (maybe 70's or 80's, it is very old) mecha anime TV show or movie that involved winged aliens and one scene in particular where the main guy is with an alien girl in a field of flowers and when the wind blows the flowers change colors. There was some robot martial arts action, too.

I actually revisited this several years ago because I remember the scene with the flowers. The show is called Tosho Daimos, or "Star Birds" in the English localization.

It is earth's most desperate hour. It is a time for heroes. And it is the ultimate battle for freedom in this rocket-fueled animated spectacular!
The Starbirds have invaded planet Earth. It seems our only hope lies with Kelly- a daring young starfighter who pilots an indestructible cyborg robot. But wait! A growing force of Starbird rebels are fighting to overthrow the oppressive rule of their King Oban. And together with Kelly, they join forces to rid the galaxy of King Oban's treacherous rein so that the Starbirds and the people of Earth may one day be free.

I haven't seen the entirety of the TV series, which is 44 episodes, but I've seen an edited version of the TV series released as a movie on VHS that's dubbed in English. I'm not sure if this is the same thing as what Anime News Network lists as the "Tosho Daimos movie".
The scene with the flowers occurs in the movie around 30 minutes in:

The petals are pink on top and yellow underneath, as the kid pointed out.

"Kelly" and "Erica" in a field of flowers.


text:
What is the significance of fifteen strokes in a name?
In chapter 3 (titled Savior) of the manga Shurabara!, I don't understand the meaning of certain lines in there:

"I absolutely cannot accept someone like you, Yagimoto Kazuhiro, who only has fifteen strokes in his name!"

Is it rare to have fifteen strokes in a person's name or is it a joke? What does she mean?

Probably, it is about a more complicated name being more "high class"? That is the only thing that I can think of here. I don't know much about the Japanese culture to answer the question "why".

Yes, I can't properly answer this question either, but looking at the kanji in that guy's name, it's all extremely simplistic kanji: 八木本一大. Compare this to the name of the girl talking to him: 羊飼桃乃. Even without knowing any Japanese, you can probably tell that hers looks more complicated.

My guess is that it's just a matter of rivalry, as in how the girl's superior to the boy in any way, as long as she's 'better' than him, especially considering that Takana now has to date someone stronger (better) than her.

i remember that zetsubou sensei counted the strokes in his name too, maybe it is relevant, so i thought i'd just comment

It is a cultural thing, but parallells can be drawn with other cultures of course. Some consider(ed) characters with more strokes to be more classy and aristocratic. Which goes back in history, peasants had shorter and more simple names—often practical in their nature. While the rich could have several names, with rich symbolism, more abstract meaning and sometimes exotic pronunciation.
Some of the really aristocratic families in olden times actually created their own characters so they could be really unique (often by adding a stroke or two to an existing character or by combining two or more existing characters into one). This is actually referenced in many Japanese/Chinese dramas where a name can be “taken” from someone by removing a stroke or character, as well as adding a stroke to the (real/adopting) father’s given name so that the relation father–son could well be seen, as well as adding rich philosophical ideas to the relationship. For example, consider the anime movie Spirited Away where the protagonist Chihiro has part of her name taken away by a witch, which then becomes Sen (while the pronunciation differ, the character 千 sen is actually the same as chi- in 千尋 Chihiro).
But back to the number of strokes. There is one Japanese belief (not sure how widespread) that it is good fortune to have the same number of strokes in your given name and the family name (not seldom combined with similar meaning and/or pronunciation). That, and that some numbers in themselves are considered either auspicious or inauspicious are additional aspects on the stroke count. (For example the number four is considered ill-lucky as it can be pronounced the same as 死 shi “death”, while the number eight is one of the more lucky, a heirloom from the Chinese culture.)
八木本一大 (YAGIMOTO Kazuhiro)

八 hachi (here ya-), the number eight (2 strokes)
木 ki (here -gi-), a tree (4 strokes)
本 hon (here -moto), a book (5 strokes)
一 ichi (here kazu-), the number one (1 stroke)
大 ōki (here -hiro), something large (3 strokes)

That is 11 strokes in the surname and 4 strokes in the given name (15 strokes total). Ordinary characters, low stroke count, common pronunciation and very concrete, everyday meanings. It’s hard to get more low profile than this, naming-wise!
羊飼桃乃 (HITSUJIKAI Momono)

羊 hitsuji, a sheep (6 strokes)
飼 kau (here -kai), to keep animals (13 strokes)
桃 momo, a peach or peach tree (10 strokes)
乃 no, an older form of the possessive marker の (2 strokes)

That is 19 strokes in the surname and 12 strokes in the given name (31 strokes total). The double of Kazuhiro’s. When it comes to the meaning and pronunciation of Momono’s characters they are somewhat more “refined” than Kazuhiro’s. It adds to the feeling of a name belonging to someone more important. Which I guess is what the mangaka is trying to achieve, name-wise. Of course, a childish game, but yet an important one if you are insecure in your own place.
He he, I was only going to write a sentence or two. And still, there is much more to be said. If you wish to know more, take a look at Japanese folktales and history.


text:
Looking for a fantasy anime movie
Watched it around end of 80's - beginning of 90's.
It's about two nations constantly fighting each other.  One lives in a valley with huge levee, another in a forest. Those from the forest are the "evil" ones, if I remember correctly. Also, there is an airship flying at night, with souls of the dead people, and all those souls look like birds. The protagonist lives between the two fighting nations, together with his wife or sister (don't remember exactly). At the end he helps the forest guys and destroys the levee. His wife/sister dies as a result.

You're most likely thinking of the Windaria movie, based on a novel of the same name, by Keisuke Fujikawa.
In the movie, when people die they turn into red light shaped like birds and fly to an airship in the sky over the ocean.
It might also go by the name Legend of Fabulous Battle Windaria and Once Upon a Time, Windaria. The English version by Harmony Gold was rescripted and altered to include renamed characters, revised plot, and a happier ending among other things.


text:
Is the term 4koma a generic term?
I know the term 4koma only from the .hack series, in which it normally relates to the parody manga .hack//4koma, and it's also the title of the bonus videos unlocked in .hack//G.U. on the desktop.
However, I have seen the term 4koma used in other places, so I am wondering if the term 4koma is a generic term used to describe something, and if so, what it actually means.

4koma (pronounced yonkoma) is a Japanese word meaning "4-panel"1, and refers to a type of manga which is formatted as a series of four vertically-stacked panels. This term is used in contrast with "regular" (non-4koma) manga, which do not typically adhere to a rigid panel structure.2
Here is an example from one very long-running (and famous in Japan) 4koma manga, Sazae-san:3

Some of the most famous 4koma manga among Western audiences are Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, Hetalia, and K-ON. As this list suggests, the 4koma format is heavily populated by gag comedy manga.

1 from 四 yon "four" + 齣 koma "scene, frame, panel"; usually written 四コマ today.
2 Think of 4koma as being sort of like your bog-standard weekday newspaper cartoons (at least in the US) in that sense - 3 or 4 panels, and no real freedom as to how to use the space available.
3 Note that most 4koma these days have narrower panels (usually square), allowing two 4koma to be printed side-by-side on paper with a standard A or B aspect ratio


text:
Why does connecting an automail hurt?
We could see plenty of times in both Fullmetal Alchemist anime series (at least twice in the 2003 series and at least once in the 2009 series, according to my memories) that connecting the automails seriously hurts for Ed. What's the reason?
My theory is that during connecting, it "turns on" and sends an electric wave to the brain to provide right functionality.

Essentially, after the completion of the loss of an arm or other limb, there is a raw set of nerves poking out (not literally, but you know what I mean). These are what connect to the automail's circuits. As stated by Vic, all of these nerves are stimulated simultaneously, causing a severe, severe shock to the person.
This pain is shown to be more obvious in the 2003 anime, lasting for quite some time after the connection. In the 2009 anime (Brotherhood), the repercussions of the event are significantly tamer.

Unfortunately, it's hard to pin this down exactly to something you might feel in real life. One common example would be hitting your "funny bone" which is actually a group of nerves in the elbow. However, this still does not do justice, as the nerves are not exposed and there are not that many of them.
The only thing biologically similar in our world is that of an exposed nerve under a tooth. If you've ever lost a tooth, and touched or injured the exposed nerve, you'll know that this pain pretty much brings you to your knees. And that's a tooth-area worth of nerves; expand that to your entire shoulder and you've got a HUGE amount of pain.

Given that the pain is akin to something few humans can ever even experience, it is no surprise that even the characters in the show (like Armstrong, shown above) cannot comprehend the pain behind the process.

...or, just simply like the feeling of being hit by a tazer ;) isn't it?

@ZoltánSchmidt Worse. Law enforcement officers get tazed for up to ten seconds as part of their training. Being tazed tends to numb you, actually, rather than stimulate pain in your nerves.

Its the shock to the nerves. The connection activates a lot of nerves at once; causing a quick shock of pain to the user

Linked directly to the nervous system, an automail prosthesis does not usually require an external energy source, and can be moved at will like a natural appendage, taking electrical pulses from the nerves to power and regulate the various electric motors and pneumatic actuators inside

Source (Second Paragraph)
The reason people can feel things (like pain) physically is due to nerves. When the automail is connected; the nerves "turn on" all at once.

This seems the correct answer but can you add perhaps some links to sources?

It's stated in both the animes and the manga. You're connecting STEEL WIRES to every nerve one a time. Then sending huge amount of electric charges and heat in order to have those already damaged nerves function to control the prostatic. Add that to the fact you might have to add further amputation to the damage in order to even fit the automail.

If you could quote the episode or manga itself this would be a great answer ;)


text:
Where did Kagami Taiga live when he lived in the US?
We see a flashback to when Kagami lived in the US in episode 1 of season 2 (26Q).

Judging from all the palm trees, I'd hazard a guess that he was probably in California. California also seems like the most likely option on a demographic basis (i.e. where are Japanese temporary immigrants most likely to end up?).
Is it ever explicitly stated where he lived? And if it is California, is it ever stated whether he's in SoCal or NorCal (or somewhere else)?

It was explicitly stated in the manga by Seirin's coach in Chap 112. He used to live in LA.
Note this page may spoil events that have yet to come in the Anime

The only indication offhand gets kinda spoilery but
Character Spoiler:

 Unrevealed yet in the anime as of episode 1 of Kuroko no Basket S2, Alexandra Garcia, was a college champion in the NCAA from UCLA. In her retirement, she frequented betting courts on the streets (which could technically be anywhere) and eventually runs into Taiga & Himuro.

Event Spoiler:

 Alexandra trains Taiga & Himuro as kids. Later on Taiga decides to receive training once more from his old master by returning to Los Angeles, so it's pretty suggested that everything took place in SoCal. Here's a pic of an announced airline destination: Chapter 111, page 19 from Batoto.net

I tried to minimize unnecessary spoiling information. Overall, a bit circumstantial, but still enough for me to presume that they're in Southern California.


text:
Who is this person who climbs Mt. Tsukuba and also Mt. McKinley?
In episode 1 of Ore no nounai sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love-comedy wo Zenryoku de Jama shiteiru (or NouKome or NouCome or whatever else you want to call it), as part of the hilarious montage of people making choices throughout history, there's a mountain climber:

His first choice is "Climb Mt. McKinley", and his second choice is "Be satisfied with Mt. Tsukuba". He is shown as selecting the first choice, and then, presumably upon reaching the summit of Mt. McKinley, shouting "Naomi!".
Who is he supposed to be?

It's likely to be a reference to Naomi Uemura, the first person ever to climb Mt. McKinley solo.
As a side note, Mt. Tsukuba is 877 meters high at it's highest peak), while Mt. McKinley is 6,194 meters high at it's highest peak.


text:
Why are there sometimes darkened scenes in new anime?
In the first Shingeki no Kyojin opening, I've seen some scenes with lower contrast or brightness, something like this:

And later, in the same sequence, a scene appears without that contrast change:

I've seen this kind of contrast change in the HxH remake as well, and the first thing that comes to my mind is that legendary Pokemon episode where a lot of kids suffered of photosensitive epilepsy attacks in Japan thanks to Pikachu and Co.
Does it has some relationship with that or there is another reason? Maybe a new law in Japan related to these flashy images on TV?
It seems this change appears only in new anime (I don't remember seeing something like this before last year). Any clue around that time?
===UPDATED===
It's not just in the opening; here are more examples:
One of many scenes where the image is normal:

Then comes the darker scenes. Maybe it cannot be appreciated in the snapshots, but all are a full sequence of images appearing quickly with a bright background:

And then it returns to normal:

This is from the last HxH episode. At first, the image looks fine:

Then comes an attack and the image looks darker. Maybe the effect is not so intense as in Shingeki no Kyojin, but it is still there. Look, all these bright flashes coming from the hits seem not as bright as they should be:

And then the image looks normal again - compare the smoke color before and after:

As @JonLin notes, maybe it could be some kind of TV censorship, despite that there's nothing to censor besides all these flashy lights. Is it just me being paranoid or is there something more behind all this?
==UPDATE 2==
I've found a Blu-ray rip of the Shingeki no Kyojin opening (no subtitles, no credits) and I took some shots of the same frames that I already put. To the left, the TV version and to the right, the BDRip version (click for more detail):

So it is not an effect to make things more dramatic, but rather an effect included only on TV. I suppose the same applies to the other shots (at least in SnK).
So my question comes again, why, lately, are there some anime with darkened scenes? My conspiracy theory is that it is related to those bright changes and possible photosensitive attacks. If that's true, why is this being applied lately? And why doesn't it appear on DVD/BD?
If not, what else it could be?

Or could be a problem with the encode, or they wanted to add blur, in the first image the credits are darkened too so I doubt it was like that in the original.

@Braiam I'm sure I've seen so many times that kind of effect in Shingeki no Kyojin, not just in the opening. I don't think is the encoding, or the fansub adding that effect because I've seen in others, editions. You could check here the same images, but in another video. Maybe I'm just beign paranoid, but it looks suspicious for me

It's obvious the two instances from the Titan OP isn't censorship, but could a lot of the other instances you're referring to be the "lightened scene"/"darkened scene" censorhip used in broadcast anime (link contains NSFW images)?

@JonLin I've added another examples, and yeah, maybe it must be some kind of tv censorship, but it really sounds strange to me

It seems most of those screenshots are just lighting effects for the sake of dramatics.

@senshin while i can agree that it is a cinematography effect, in the OP Screenshotsof Attack on Titan doesn't the Japanese text (not the lower subtitles) look darker in the comparison? Attack on Titan hasn't been released on DVD yet where i live so i have no way of confirming without third parties using codecs to compress the video for their site

@Memor-X look darker in comparison to what? From Crunchyroll's (official NA licensor) stream the color of the text varies in every instance, ranging from #707572 to #959c7d to #9c9d8a to #d6d4c9. Essentially some alpha mix with whatever is immediately behind the text.

@JonLin But the text color variation is a proof that the filter was added to the finished video instead being added only to the opening sequence without text credits. As Memor-X says, while there's no a DVD release, there's no way to confirm if is just something cinematographical or some kind of dark subliminal message from MBS D:

@AlterLagos I'm not saying that it's a filter, but an alpha channel. The text is partially see-through, so the color that the text is on top of bleeds through. That's not a post filter, and the color of the scene is indifferent of whether the text is there or not. In other words, the text doesn't indicate why some scenes are bright or why some scenes are dark. The brightness and darkness can be a result of some post filtering, but that in itself doesn't mean it's anything more than a cinematic/dramatic effect.

And just to be clear, the same text on the same screenshot is different colors. The white has a tinge of the color in the background, so for example, the first snippet has text with a tinge of bright green, has text with a tinge of blue, and text with a tinge of brown, all in the same frame.

I've noticed this a lot lately as well, and my best guess is also something related to preventing seizures. It seems to happen most often in scenes with a lot of fast movement.

@JonLin I've updated my question with some shots of a BDRip

Upon thinking about this again, I decided to do some research into this phenomenon. You correctly identify that there is some unusual darkening of scenes in TV broadcast anime that is not present in Blu-Ray releases. It looks like you are also correct that this has something to do with laws1 requiring broadcasters to avoid airing content that may cause seizures in people who suffer from photosensitive epilepsy (though I don't think you could reasonably construe this as "censorship").
As you probably know, the issue of photosensitive epilepsy became prominent following the airing of the Pokemon episode Electric Soldier Porygon back in 1997. For more about this, see this article on Bulbagarden: Japanese Episode 038.
That was then; nowadays, all major broadcasting companies impose restrictions on broadcast television as a sort of countermeasure to epilepsy.2 For example, a page on TV Tokyo's website says the following:

Guidelines for the production of anime/etc. with regard to the effects of video
As part of TV Tokyo's efforts to do everything possible to avoid exposing viewers to dangerous stimuli, we have developed the following guidelines. By producing and broadcasting anime in accordance with these guidelines, risk associated with viewing television can be almost entirely eliminated.

Avoid displaying more than one flash of light per one-third of a second (8 frames on film, 10 frames on TV).
Since abrupt scene changes and rapid motion produce the same effects [as in (1.)], avoid using these techniques more than once per one-third of a second.
Flashes of light and scene changes mostly or entirely in red are dangerous. Scenes of equal brightness using colors other than red are acceptable.
Patterns with regions of differing brightness (e.g. stripes, spirals) should, in general, be avoided.

It seems to be the case that, rather than producing anime that meets these guidelines, anime is produced however the production studio wants it, and then post-processed for TV broadcast by darkening bright scenes and (temporally) smearing out flashing.
As to why you don't see the same alterations on Blu-ray: Blu-ray is not a broadcast medium, and so the laws pertaining to the nature of broadcast television do not apply. If you think about it, that makes sense - it isn't really possible to inadvertently view a Blu-Ray, whereas it certainly is possible to inadvertently watch broadcast television, and so the government steps in to protect viewers in the latter case but not the former.

1 I am not actually sure whether the practices I have described here are backed by force of law, or whether they are just voluntarily undertaken by broadcasting corporations.
2 These restrictions are most commonly relevant for animated television, since live-action television typically won't contain the sort of flashing patterns that trigger seizures (since the real world itself typically doesn't either).

I was just joking with the conspiracy thing, but anyway that was a great answer. Thanks :)

IMO, this is simply the artist accounting for or playing with the lighting. In the first image, the character is silhouetted against the sun. This is pretty much how it would look in real life if somebody were to come directly between you and the sun.
The second image is a sunrise/sunset twilight shot.
The rest are a mixture of cloudy, smoky, and sunny backgrounds. The flashy lights are the sun peeping through clouds, reflecting off stuff, and so on. Where there's sun, there's shadow too.
I don't see any censorship or anything else similarly irregular.

I've updated my question again for more controversy :P

@AlterLagos I really don't see it. Show us some samples where the BD-Rip and the TV-Rip are identical except for the darkening. Your current TV examples involve fansubs and credits.

But at the end of my question. Find UPDATE 2

@AlterLagos Yes, that's what I'm referring to.

But I cannot get what you're referring for. The first snapshot is a tv version, at the upper right corner clearly appears MBS, the second one is a bdrip, without credits and subtitles. Why in TV should appears without credits?. Besides fansub subtitles, everything is exactly as MBS broadcasted the show and all the fansubbers are using those versions. As a example here is a snapshot of an english fansub using the same version (appears MBS in the corner too)

@AlterLagos I don't really have an opinion on why the credits don't appear in the BD rip. However, in the context of this question, the TV rip might have been darkened on purpose to allow the credits and subs to be seen clearly. This could well have been done by the fansubber.

let us continue this discussion in chat


text:
Are the other Puella Magi mangas separate stories?
I discovered some other titles in the Puella Magi series today, Kazumi Magica and Oriko Magica:

Are these completely separate stories, or is there some overlap with Puella Magi Madoka Magica?

Madoka Magica (art by hanokage; story by Magica Quartet1) is an almost shot-for-shot manga adaptation of the anime. There are a couple minor differences (e.g. it's made more explicit that Sayaka kills the two guys on the train just before she turns into a witch; Kyuubey does these freaky open-mouthed smiles), but other than those, it's pretty much the same as the anime.
Madoka Magica was published as three volumes (covers: 1, 2, 3).

Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice (art by TENSUGI Takashi; story by HIRAMATSU Masaki) is set in the same universe as the anime and shares mechanics with it (such as Grief Seeds, Soul Gems, and so forth), but has very little in common with the anime in terms of plot. The city of Mitakihara is mentioned and Kyuubey shows up from time to time, but there's nothing to suggest that the characters of Kazumi Magica ever interact with the characters of Madoka Magica. (Kyuubey excluded, because he seems to be sort of a hive-mind thing without real individual identity.)
Kazumi Magica is compatible with the plot as depicted in the anime, given that there are basically no points of overlap between the casts. Kazumi Magica is generally considered to be low on the canonicity scale.
Kazumi Magica was originally serialized in Kirara Magica, and was later collected into five volumes (covers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Oriko Magica (art by MURA Kuroe; story by Magica Quartet1) depicts a possible timeline that occurs prior to the main anime timeline. All the major characters of the anime appear, with a particular focus on Kyouko and Mami, as well as some original characters such as Yuma and Oriko. Judging from the way Homura is depicted in Oriko Magica, it is suspected that it takes place in one of the timelines between timelines 3 and 4 of episode 10 of the anime.
Oriko Magica is generally compatible with the plot as depicted in the anime, though it leaves behind nagging questions like "Where was Oriko in the anime timeline?" and so forth. Oriko Magica is generally considered to be slightly higher than Kazumi Magica on the canonicity scale.
In addition to the two original volumes of the story (covers: 1, 2), there was "Another Story" (別編, cover), consisting of the stories Noisy Citrine and Symmetry Diamond, originally serialized in Kirara Magica. A longer continuation, titled "New Contract: Oriko Magica ~sadness prayer~" ([新約] 魔法少女おりこ☆マギカ ～sadness prayer～, covers not yet available), begins serialization in November 2013.

The Different Story (art by hanokage; story by Magica Quartet1) depicts a possible timeline that occurs prior to the main anime timeline (presumably between timelines 4 and 5 of episode 10). All of the major characters of the anime appear, again with a heavy focus on Kyouko and Mami. There are no (significant) original characters in The Different Story.
Noteworthily, The Different Story begins chronologically prior to Episode 1 of the anime. In fact, Volume 1 of The Different Story begins shortly after Mami contracts with Kyuubey, and then follows her life through her meeting and subsequent partnership with Kyouko. Volumes 2 and 3 bring us forward to the timeframe in which all the timelines depicted in the anime occur.
The Different Story is generally considered to be very high on the canonicity scale, because

It began as an adaptation of Drama CD #3 "Farewell Story", generally considered to be highly canonical.
Its creation involved more input from Magica Quartet than did the creation of either Oriko Magica or Kazumi Magica
The artist for The Different Story was hanokage, who was also the artist for Madoka Magica and Madoka Magica –Rebellion–, the two "most-official" adaptations
There are no known incompatibilities between the plot of The Different Story and the plot of the anime.

In light of these facts, it is generally agreed that The Different Story can reasonably be viewed as essentially canonical in the context of the anime, and so may fairly be interpreted as a direct extension to the anime. This is important because, if The Different Story is canonical, it gives us lots of knowledge about Mami and Kyouko prior to the events of the anime. All of this knowledge is necessarily valid in all timelines, because it occurs prior to Homura waking up in the hospital. As such, it would do much to inform Mami and Kyouko's motivations throughout the anime.
The Different Story was published as three volumes (covers: 1, 2, 3).

Madoka Magica –Rebellion– (劇場版 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ [新編]叛逆の物語; art by hanokage; story by Magica Quartet1) is a closely-hewing adaptation of the third movie, just like Madoka Magica was a closely-hewing adaptation of the series (corresponding to the first two movies, I suppose). All signs point to the story being plotwise identical to the third movie, but with some stylistic differences, both minor and substantial. With the third volume yet to come, though, anything could happen.
Madoka Magica –Rebellion– will be published as three volumes (covers: 1; 2, 3 not yet available).

Suzune Magica (art and story by GAN, I think) is another spinoff that has just begun. At a glance, it looks like it has nothing to do with the main storyline (though Kyuubey shows up, unsurprisingly), but as with all things Madoka, looks can be deceiving. More details as they come.

Tart Magica: The Legend of "Jeanne d'Arc" (art and story by the group Golden Pe Done) is yet another spinoff, and began serialization in volume 10 of Kirara Magica (the Nov 2013 issue). As the title suggests, the main character is Joan of Arc, who is a magical girl. In keeping with the prevalence of suffering in the Madoka Magica world, it appears that the story starts with a shot of her burning at the stake, and then flashes back to how, exactly, she came unto such suffering.
Note: "Tart" is, supposedly, an alternate spelling of Joan of Arc's last name.

Notes
1 "Magica Quartet" is the collective name for SHINBO Akiyuki, IWAKAMI Atsuhiro, AOKI Ume, and UROBUCHI Gen, who are the director, producer, character designer, and writer for Madoka Magica, respectively.

"Jeanne d'Arc" is another way of saying "Joan of Arc" and in the anime at the end when Madoka's wish is granted it's shown that Joan was a Magical Girl too as she was visited by Madoka when he was being burned at Rouen

i don't know the details either but i would assume that Taruto Magica's focus is on Joan and her being accused of being a Witch by everyone might have much more meaning since Witches in Madoka are real and are born from Magical Girls and in history Joan was at peace without despair at the very end when an Englishman who seemed to have noticed that her cross had been stolen which caused sadness to slowly overcome her handed her a makeshift wooded cross which meant that Joan would have died and not become a Witch

Puella Magi Homura Tamura -Parallel Worlds Do Not Remain Parellel Forever- (Comic by Afro) is a 4Koma style comedy parody of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series. It takes place during many of Homura Akemi's alternate timelines. It is established that there are many Homuras all traveling through time all trying (and failing spectacularly) to find some way to Madoka. The main character is Homura Akemi (but implied to be a Homura from an alternate timeline) with the rest of the Madoka Magica cast making appearances. There also several other Homuras who make appearances from time to time. Typically in the manga, Homura arrives in a new timeline and finds some wildly exaggerated change from the regular story (like a world where Magical Girls are all motorcycle riders, or one where Mami Tomoe has taken over the world), and Homura tries to save Madoka in the middle of all the chaos, while trying to understand how the world has changed each time.
So far, there are only two volumes to the manga. They are published in the U.S. by Yen Press. The first volume came out August 2015, and the second in February 2016. According to Amazon, Vol. 3 is scheduled to come out September 19, 2017.


text:
Manga with a prodigal martial artist whose body is limited to half power by his father
I read a martial arts manga set in present day where a prodigal martial artist fights lots of enemies as they come along. The main character is almost unbeatable but in his youth was a bad person and so one night, while he was sleeping, his father affected his joints to limit his power to half. As stronger enemies come along he starts having trouble in his limited state and begins seeing an old lady who painfully repairs his joints to remove those limits. I'd really appreciate help finding this thing.

This is Aiki.

Kunitoshi Joukyuu is a lazy ass, good for nothing pervert. Who also happens to be a supposed genius master of Aikido, the strongest in the world, if not because his father sealed away most of his abilities before dying.
So now he's stuck trying to find a way to rid himself of the "curse" that had been put on him all the while getting involved in fights with beautiful high-school girls who are a part of a power-struggle over a school.
But none ever suspected the true sadistic monster that hides underneath the calm and bored face he usually wears.
Who will be in greater trouble? The girls, or Joukyuu?

You're the boss, mate. Cheers!


text:
Where can one learn about viewership ratings for anime?
In the U.S., companies like Nielsen track viewership of television programs. What is the equivalent of this for Japanese television programs (and, in particular, anime), if any?

The closest thing you can probably find to something like Nielsen is Video Research. It's in Japanese (of course) but google translate does pretty well with the anime titles.
Also, there is this site which lists historical ratings that go back to 2000.
As for anime movies, DVD/BD rankings, there's Oricon.


text:
What anime is this blonde girl wearing a purple dress from?
I have no idea who this is but the pic is awesome. Could anyone tell me who this is and where she is from?

That's Histoire from Hyper Dimension Neptunia (the game). This particular picture is from Mk 2 when she's reminiscing about the past with the Mascots after all the CPUs have been freed.
In the original game, she's the Tome that allows the world to be changed, but Arfoire (pronounced as "R-4") locked her away. In Mk 2, she is the Oracle of Planeptune and the one who sends IF and Compa to rescue the CPUs and Nepgear with the shareacite; however, there's only enough power to free Napgear.
She's also in V; however, I have yet to play that. In it, she's a child as most of V is set in an alternate past.

+1, For reference, Histoire appears in the anime as well, though she's mostly a minor character there.

@LoganM should point out that Eric made the hyperlinks, also i know about the anime but have yet to see it so i didn't mention it


text:
What show is this?
I was reading an interesting article about differences between TV and DVD releases of anime.  This one caught my attention.
What anime is this?  I tried Google's "Search By Image" feature, but couldn't get an answer (at least not one in English).

Also, I assume the one on the left is the TV version but confirmation would be nice.

It's a show called Jewelpet Twinkle.

In Jewel Land, Jewelpets, creatures who has the natural ability to use magic lived in harmony with the Witches, attending the Magic Academy to learn to use magic with their Jewel Eyes. However for Ruby, a white Japanese Hare whose magic sometimes fail, is appointed to go to the Human World to search for her partner. But when she used the card the magicians gave her, she was sent to the Human World by accident. In the Human World, A girl named Akari Sakura met her on the beach on her way to school. At first, Akari can't understand her due to her Jewel Land Language until Ruby took a special candy so she could speak and understand human language. As the day passes, Ruby knew about her problems and later apologized. A Jewel Charm appeared on Akari's hand and she realized it that she's chosen by Ruby to be her partner. After that, she decided to become a student along with Ruby as they were accepted and entered the Jewel Star Grand Prix.


text:
Why can Korra bend 3 elements from the beginning?
In the beginning of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, we see Korra, as a child, bending water, earth and fire, without training to do that. She was born in the Water Tribe, so isn't she supposed to know only how to bend water? Like Aang, who knew only wind and trained a lot to master the other three elements?

The story is too compressed

The key I think is 'to master'. Both Aang and Korra knew how to bend all four basic elements from since they were born, but required training to get control over such powers (that's why they are avatars; they know how to bend all elements).

She was born in the water tribe, so, isn't she supposed to know only how to bend water?

So, I would answer no to that. She, just like Aang knows how to bend all the four basic elements.
One possible 'proof' is that Aang used his water bending skills (although never being trained by any water bender) when he got lost in the storm and that was how he got into the iceberg in episode 1 in the first place.
As for why Korra has greater mastery over bending than Aang, there was no specific reason mentioned as far as I remember, but I would say that it's just a talent, just like it can be a talent for someone to know how to play piano without actually getting someone teach them while one can say that other people need a push so they can develop certain skills.

The iceberg was done in the avatar state. When he channels all of the power and knowledge of the previous avatars. Aang did not know how to waterbend on his own before Katara started teaching him.

@MadaraUchiha I still think it's a matter of controlling as opposed to knowing. If everyone could learn how to bend like that, everyone would be able to bend every element. Instead, some people know (maybe a better word is 'can') how to bend certain elements, except the avatar. It's then just a matter of learning how to control that bending. Zuko once could not bend as he did before. Did he 'forget' how to bend? I believe it's more about learning to control that bending. Still, it's mere speculation!

@Jerry: The only physical difference between the avatar and the rest of the people is that the Avatar has a chi connection to all four elements, as opposed to other people, who only have one or none. It's not about controlling, no one is born with the knowledge to bend (Katara knew she was a bender, but without a teacher, she couldn't). As for Zuko, firebending is very emotional based. Zuko used his rage before he joined Aang's group, once that rage towards the Avatar disappeared, he needed a different emotion to "fuel" his fire. That would be the desire to help the Avatar restore balance.

@MadaraUchiha Erm, in the episode where Katara suggested Aang she would help her learn waterbending, Aang could waterbend better than her even if that could be considered to be basic and I can't say that she taught him much at this point. About Zuko, that doesn't change the fact that he knew how to firebend but couldn't! It's just he had to find another approach to control his bending.

Korra was designed to be Aangs polar opposite. He is calm, peaceful, and prefers to solve things without a fight, he prefers to avoid the enemy rather than counter or bide.
Korra on the other hand, is hot-headed, a fighter, prefers to pulverize an enemy rather than avoid a battle.
Airbending is considered to be a very "spiritual" type of bending, it requires one to be connected to his inner spirit. All airbenders were monks, meditated a lot, etc.
The rest of the bendings are more "physical" bendings.
As part of Aang being the exact opposite of Korra, he was familiar with airbending at the beginning of the series, and she was familiar with everything but airbending.
As to why she was able to bend 3 elements at the age of 4-5, that wasn't explained, but we can assume it has to do with pure talent. (She is very good with the "physical" world, but has no talent with the "spiritual" world. An avatar needs both to be "complete".

I just think they didn't want a montage of Korra learning each individual element so they essentially push the skip button. We, as an audience who seen ATLA, seen  fire water and earth training in the show. But we never fully seen what air training is. So I think the writers just gave the other elements so we go straight to AIRbending

It is possible that she had some masters over at the South Pole to teach her. After all, Katara commands quite some respect.


text:
What exactly is a "Nobita face"?
After Gankyou in Joshiraku removes her glasses, her eyes change to '3' characters.

Marii then exclaims:

I understand Nobita is a character in Doraemon, but I haven't found any information online either of pictures where Nobita has his glasses off, or any references to a "Nobita face".
Can someone explain this joke further?

From the Doraemon Wikia:

Nobita's eyes are never drawn consistently. Sometimes they look like the number 3, sometimes they're black beaded, and sometimes, like in the case of the recent movies, they're normal eyes.

I'll try to find a suitable image.

Then and now compared. http://girlschannel.net/topics/25131/


text:
Did Kyouko fight Sayaka in the new universe?
After Madoka recreates the universe so that magical girls disappear before they become witches, there is a scene where Mami, Kyouko, and Homura come out from a battle and Kyouko is upset about Sayaka being gone.
Did Sayaka "disappear" during that fight, or did the three just come out from fighting her witch (thus Madoka not getting to Sayaka in time)?

There are, definitionally, no witches in the post-Madoka universe. As such, it is not possible that Kyouko fought Sayaka's witch.
Besides, Mami says:

行ってしまったわ。円環の理に導かれて。
ミキさん、さっきのあの一撃にすべての力を使ってしまったのね。
She's gone. Taken away by the Law of Cycles.
Miki used up all her energy in that last attack, didn't she?

And furthermore, we see that they have just set a wraith/demon/魔獣 on fire. It is very clear from this that Sayaka just disappeared after running out of energy in a fight with a wraith/demon/魔獣.


text:
Who is Sakamoto?
In Chapter 5 (I Won't Get Pool Again) of Wagatsuma-san wa Ore no Yome, the following scenes appear on page 11. In that scene, the person being called Sakamoto is actually called Itou.

I guess it might be some kind of parody. Which character or human was being parodied?

This is a parody of Ryoma Sakamoto (坂本健太), a prominent figure and force behind the overthrowing of the Tokugawa Shogunate (during the Bakumatsu period) which led to the Meiji Restoration, and one of his quotations:

人間、好きな道によって世界を切り拓いてゆく
People make their way in life by following their hearts

As a side note, the Underdog Scans translation is rife with inaccuracies GIA, which is Gesu (not "guess," which can mean anything from lowlife to humble person, the ambiguity here seems intentional) Intelligence Agency. his is the same kind of "gesu" as the "Gesu-ling Club" from Sket Dance.

Dang, here I was hoping it could be referring to the Sakamoto... :P


text:
What is the new shuriken formed from Naruto and Sasuke's power?
In the end of chapter 634, the latest chapter of Naruto Shippuden, Naruto's shuriken and Sasuke's arrow mixed together and formed a new black kind of shuriken to attack the ten tails.
What kind of power does the new shuriken contain? It contains Naruto's Wind element, but which of Sasuke's powers does it contain?

Is it the "Amaterasu" OR "Lightning" element?

It is a blaze element technique (an enhanced Amaterasu with help from Naruto). What is is called? Well according to the said chapter:

They could call it "SHAKUTON KOURIN SHIPPUU NO YA ZEROSHIKI (read: Swirling Gale of Black and White Arrow)!"

Hmm, not sure if it's a good idea for us to be using a scan watermarked with an illegal distribution site.

I'm sorry but I'm not really aware of that.

It's good that you included the page as proof for your answer, but it has a watermark showing that it's from a site which illegally distributes the manga. Just as we don't allow questions about where to get illegal fansubs, I don't think it's a good idea to include this watermarked image since it is promoting an illegal site.

@atlantiza the official policy is that we are not lawyers and we don't care unless some copy holder starts complaining, and even that it's the problem of the [se] staff, and not ours. Carry on.

@MadaraUchiha This is not about copyright of the image but rather promoting illegal distribution methods such as fansubs and manga browsers

@atlantiza: Again, we are not lawyers and don't need to think of such things. If an image is supplementary to a good answer or question, I don't care where it came from.

It contains Amaterasu. In Naruto, wind is superior to lightning and in fact defeats it. What Naruto stated earlier in the chapter was that he was glad that his wind could fuel Sasuke's fire with his powers - and the image is clearly black and colored like Amaterasu. He manipulates Amaterasu through his Blaze Release: Kagatsuchi.


text:
From which anime is this ad on Scifi SE?
Here is the image that appeared in this ad on Scifi SE.

What anime is the character in this image from?

The anime is Naruto and the character is Itachi Uchiha.


text:
Video Identification - Boy, Girl Two Pianos
I'm trying to identify a video that I only saw a small part of (in the AMV room at A-Kon).  The part of the video I saw featured a boy and a girl and two pianos.  I think this might be enough to identify the video, but if it helps the AMV was to the Lady Antebellum song, Just a Kiss.  I can find the credits on Youtube but I don't see where it mentions the name of the video.

Do you have a Youtube link to the video you saw? It would probably be very helpful and make it easier for people to visually recognize the anime.

The video title is "A Kiss Goodnight" by Dragon/Roy (youtube) and the anime is Nodame Cantabile. The two characters you see playing the piano are Shinichi Chiaki (male) and Megumi Noda (female).


text:
Looking for a "game anime" with summoning monsters using stone circles
I'm looking for an anime I saw when I was a kid. It was a game anime, rather typical, where a kid falls into a game and is trying to escape. I can remember that the characters fought using some kind of monster. They only had to summon it once, and did so by placing a stone circle into some kind of receiver. The main character's monster was called "Sweetcake", I think, and he was joined by a blonde girl and someone else. Pretty sure Sweetcake could talk, too. Does anyone know what this anime might be?

I think it could be Monster Rancher (also known in Japan as Monster Farm).
Here is a summary of the show from Wikipedia, bold emphasis is my own:

The story follows a boy named Genki Sakura, who is a keen player of
  the Monster Rancher video games. After winning a tournament hosted by
  the game's creators, Genki wins a special CD that he can use to unlock
  a special monster in his game at home. However, upon using this disk
  in his game console, he finds himself transported to a world of
  monsters that, much like Genki's game, are given life by scanning
  special stone disks within temples. There, he meets a girl named
  Holly, who is seeking a stone disk containing a legendary Phoenix that
  will save the land from the tyranny of an evil ruler named Mu. Upon
  attempting to use the disk Genki had won to try and release the
  monster, they bring forth a different sort of monster, which Genki
  names Mochi. Wanting to free the land from Mu's rule, Genki, Holly,
  Mochi and their other monster companions go on a quest to find the
  stone disk that contains the Phoenix.

One of the monsters mentioned in this summary, Mochi (sometimes also written as Mocchi), is the name of a Japanese confection. It seems that "Sweetcake" is used as a translation of this name sometimes, based on the results of Googling monster rancher "sweetcake". Here is a picture of Mochi/Sweetcake which may help jog your memory more than written words.

That's it! Thanks man, I can finally stop thinking about it! And rewatch it, of course. Thanks again!

@Tom Interestingly enough, I've never seen the anime, but I've played a few of the games and your description seemed close enough. Glad I could help though :)


text:
Manga involving indirect kiss through icecream
Long back I started reading a manga, where in the first chapter, a guy is showed to have a crush on a girl. Then the girl starts eating an ice-cream cone, but for some reason, the guy then gets to eat the same ice-cream. He then thinks that by eating the same ice-cream, he has shared an indirect kiss with the girl. (Maybe the guy ate the ice-cream first, I don't remember exactly.)
I don't know any more details because I never got back to reading it after finishing half of the first chapter. I want to resume it, and see if it is any good. Does anyone know what manga this is?

When is "long back"?

About 2 years back, but I think the manga was much older than that.

Could it have been a crepe instead? They look a lot like icecream cones. Off the top of my head, the first chapter of the Railgun manga has an indirect kissing thing with crepes, but that's 2 girls.

Are you maybe looking for Anedoki? The question is a bit old, but this appears to be the one you're looking for.

Welcome to Anime & Manga.SE! Please consider expanding your answer, as we prefer good and detailed answers, instead of one-liners. :)

Downvoter, please remove your downvote. This answer is useful.
@Jnat Not sure what else needs to be explained here. One size doesn't fit all. :)

What I meant by "expanding the answer" was something in the lines of either including an image or specifying in what point in the story it happens (chapter or episode).

Also, don't be afraid to answer unanswered old questions. We actually have a Badge for it :)

@JNat It's pretty clear from the question that this happened at the beginning of chapter 1. I don't really think it's necessary, but I've edited in an image of the scene.

I know that this happens in Shugo Chara! in episode 33.  Here's a link to a picture of it:

I did this on mobile so I couldn't set the picture or link.

Does this also happen in the manga in the first chapter?

It doesn't, but this is the closest thing I could find to it.

Thanks for the answer, but I am afraid it isn't the one.

Okay. Sorry I couldn't help more.


text:
What factors contributed to the "golden age" of anime?
The anime boom of the 1980s is considered, by many, the beginning of the "golden age" of anime.
What factors contributed to this boom? Where did it all start? Who were the major players?
What led to the end of this boom? How did we get to the so-called "moe-boom" we have today?

Related: http://anime.stackexchange.com/q/3811/274

The golden age of anime began in the 1980s with Mobile Suit Gundam and Space Battleship Yamato.
According to Wikipedia:

Mobile Suit Gundam (1979), the first Real Robot anime, was also initially unsuccessful but was revived as a theatrical film in 1982. The success of the theatrical versions of Yamato and Gundam are seen as the beginning of the anime boom of the 1980s, which many consider the beginning of the "golden age of anime". This anime boom also marked the beginning of "Japanese Cinema's Second Golden Age", which would last until around the beginning of the 2000s.

Mecha animes and space operas began becoming popular after Star Wars was released in 1977. The major players were Mobile Suit Gundam and Space Battleship Yamato in the beginning. Hayao Miyazaki released Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which is considered one of the most influential anime of all time, during that time. His company became Studio Ghibli.
The introduction of the martial arts genre also happened in this time with the release of Dragon Ball in 1984. The anime fandom, filled with people known as otaku, began forming at this time, concentration on magazines such as Animage, which published Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and Newtype. The sports genre also began in the 1980s with the release of Captain Tsubasa.
The beginning of OVA (Origial Video Animation) also happened in the 1980s, bringing anime to the home video market; the first OVA released was Moon Base Dallos.
The fall of the 1980s anime boom had a few causes. The first is that the success of Nausicaä led to an increase in experimental and high budget anime films. Many of these were relatively unsuccessful, not making up the exorbitant amount of money spent to create them. Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise had a budget of ¥800 million and Akira had a budget of $11 million (which, if that is the 1988 budget, was approximately ¥1.408 billion). Neither of these films, along with many other experimental anime films, were box office successes in Japan, though Akira did bring in fans from the West. Because of these failures, many anime production companies began closing. Studio Ghibli was one of the only successful anime production companies at the end of the 1980s with the film Kiki's Delivery Service. These failures, along with the bursting of the economic bubble and the death of Osamu Tezuka, a main player in the experimental anime field, lead to the fall of the 1980s era of anime.
Regarding the moe boom, according to this:

Another theory asserts that its usage stems from 2channel in the 1990s when the word was used to refer to female characters who were “hybrids of the Lolicon (lolita complex) and bishoujo (beautiful girls) genres,” Hotaru Tomoe from Sailor Moon being an early example of a moekko character.
In an article written by Patrick W. Galbraith of Tokyo University, Galibraith explores the origins and meanings behind the term “moe”. He states that the term originated from 2channel in the 1990s in the discussion of young, cute, and innocent girls and their burning passion for them. This term likely picked up because moeru (nominalized as moe) while meaning ‘to bud or sprout,’, is homophonous with the verb ‘to burn.’
The sexualization of underage (or underage-looking) characters in manga goes back to the late ’70s, when underground and adult manga artists such as Disappearance Diary creator Hideo Azuma began to work around censorship laws by drawing characters without pubic hair. This was the beginning of the lolicon (Lolita Complex) trend.


text:
Is this character from an anime series?

I saw this character way back on the internet and based a character in my story on his physical appearance. A friend of mine told me that she saw that character from an anime but wasn't sure from where. So, is this character from an anime series or just a fanart?

I believe this is Christopher "Kurisu" Ousaka from Angel's Feather:

His full name is Christopher. Kurisu is Shou and Kai's cousin, to the fact that his father's brother was the father of Kai and Shou. He is the Crown Prince of Winfield Kingdom. In episode 1, Chris is seen as a roommate with Kai, although it seems that there's more to their relationship. Like his cousins, Chris is white-winged, and later escapes with Sena and Shion from Winfield Kingdom. His birthday is on October 12. [Wikipedia]


text:
From what series is this odd lolicon poster?
I recently saw this image of an approximately high-school-aged boy with a young girl under his arm, pointing up at the stars with the text "lolicons are diseased!"

(Note: No offense intended from the image.)
Are the characters found in this image from an actual anime or manga, or are they just made up for this bit of art? If it's the former, what series are they from?

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

This is from the eroge/visual novel Cross†Channel. The characters in the image are Taichi, the protagonist, and Yusa, a young girl who lives next door to the protagonist. Taichi, who has certain mental conditions including being a sexual deviant, is in this scene avowing his intent to do nothing inappropriate to Yusa.
Here's Wikipedia's synopsis of the plot:

After a failed summer vacation with other members of the school's broadcasting club, Taichi Kurosu and some of the other club members return to the city, only to find that all living creatures within it except for the club members have completely vanished. In order to confirm the status of the outside world, Taichi decides to gather other club members to help Misato Miyasumi, the president of the broadcasting club, set up a broadcasting antenna to contact any possible survivors. However, Taichi soon discovers that the world is actually repeating the same week and thus all their actions are reset, with no loss or gain, no matter what actions are taken. Seeking himself and the restoration of broken bonds, Taichi must discover meaning to exist in this strange and lonely but, for Taichi, comforting world.


text:
What type of trees can Ueki make?
In the anime Law of Ueki, Ueki has the power to "turn trash into trees".

What kind of tree(s) does he turn trash into? Can he control what tree he creates?

As per the wiki

Although the power to turn trash into trees may seem weak, Ueki can be
  creative with it, making wood darts, wood clubs and wood vines. He is
  able to win most battle which may seem impossible, beating someone
  with 299 talents when he only had 11. He can even make trees strong
  enough to travel directly through cars.
Its seen that he can make any tree he wants, making a chestnut tree to
  counter Taira's fire attacks with the chestnuts flying out of the tree
  and shooting at the opponent(but really wanted to make them hot enough
  to eat).


text:
What is this ninja anime from the late 70s early 80s?
I have seen this anime on TV as a child, dubbed in Arabic (so I couldn't tell you what the character names are). This was during the early 80s and I don't recall much of the detail.
The protagonist is a boy, always dressed in a red kimono and long black hair tied up and armed with a katana.
As a ninja he was able to transform to different animals (I recall a very large fish).
Wish I had more details, but it was long ago and in a language I did not understand.

you really dont remember anything more?

@Robin - I was 10. The people were all wearing short kimonos and the bad guys also had swords. I think (!?) there was some small creature that was the companions protagonist.

I believe you are looking for the series Manga Sarutobi Sasuke, or Ninja, The Wonder Boy.
The show tells the story of Sasuke, a Koga ninja boy living in 17th century Japan, doing battle with the Iga ninja clan lead by the evil Hanzo.1

OP/ED: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7vnd8rhoY

Nicely done! Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.


text:
Ano Hana's opening mentions "misanga". What exactly is that?
In Ano Hana's opening theme "Aoi Shiori", the word misanga was mentioned a few times.

Ichipeeji mekuru tenohira   kuchibiru de musunda misanga
Nee kyou mo kawaranai kyou de   ame fureba denwa mo dekiru yo
Sou yatte ima wa kimi no hou e (itsu no ma ni ka kireta misanga)
Oshitsukeru boku no yasashisa wo (demo nazeka ienai mama da yo)
Hontou douka shiteru mitai

which means..

My hand that turns to the next page, and the misanga I fastened with my lips...
Hey, today is today, and that won't change; if it rains, we can still talk on the phone.
In that way, I now push (Before I knew it, the misanga came off,)
My kindness in your direction. (But for some reason, I can't say it.)
There really must be something wrong with me.

The translation didn't give the exact meaning of the word "misanga" so I was wondering what it is.

I have a suspicion that this question could better fit [japanese.se] since it's just about a certain japanese word.

A misanga is a type of handicraft good luck charm, similar in concept to friendship bracelets, they are typically made from knotted embroidery floss, thread, gimp, or similar material. Like friendship bracelets, they are tied together by simple knots.
It is said that if you make a wish when you tie the ends together, your wish will come true when the bracelet falls off from wear.
The etymology of the name seems to come from the Portuguese word for "beads" (miçanga). They were first popularized in 1993 during the beginning of the J-League, the Japan Professional Football League. Ramos Ruy and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa of the Tokyo Verde football club wore these to wish for the victory of their team.
The idea behind it may have changed but it's intended to be a symbol of good luck and friendship.

It is also said that when a misanga naturally comes apart and falls off the wrist, it is an omen that a wish will come true.


text:
Title of an anime with children quarantined in a city block?
This is all I can remember:
It's an anime series with some SF or future theme. The government has the ability to close off a very large city-block with walls that can move and destroy buildings. Behind these walls, they have defenses which can kill anyone who tries to leave the quarantined area. As far as I know, there was some form of virus, but the surviving children were not contaminated.
As far as I know, it's about a high-schooler who has to survive in this quarantine and has to form a society to survive. At first, the leader wanted to be more democratic, but then his girlfriend gets killed which turns him into become a hard-line dictator. In the end (I think, not sure), they build enough resources to make an attempt to escape.
I'd like to know the title of this series. For some reason, the new Valvrave anime reminds me of this series.
I hope I've given you enough information to find the title.

Do you know a time period when it might have aired? or when did you watch it?

I wish I could. I thought I'd seen it on DVD(1999). But it could have been 1 of my earlier complete downloads(2002). At first I thought it was Infinite Ryvius, but that one was set in space, in a spaceship.

I think you are looking for Guilty Crown

Hiya, thanks for that title. But it's not the title I was looking for. The main character didn't have powers as far as I remember.

hmm then i gotta remember which 1 it was since i remember the anime you are describing

lol, also wracking my brain over here. Looking through my old DVD's right now. XD I can see the images vividly, but just can't seem to remember the title.

@Kat: This is the closest match for the recent years anime.

@Kat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Guilty_Crown_episodes you might wanna read the episode descriptions to see if it really isnt this anime

Downloading it now. Really thought that the main character didn't have any powers. Hoping for the best.

Also reading the episode link, hopefully that'll jog my memory.

Thanks! It is the correct answer, sorry for having a bad memory. Only thing I could connect to Guilty Crown at first was mechas and resistance, a crappy lead character with power and an idol girl. Thank you for helping me. starts to replace harddrive in head

@Kat No problem glad we could help you

Betterman?
From Anime News Network:

A deadly virus known as "Algernon" has attacked humanity with vicious meaning. At the forefront of the battle is the mystifying Akamatsu Industries – disguised as a heavy machine factory in Tokyo, this undercover organization uses neural enhanced weapons known as NeuroNoids to battle Algernon.


text:
Is there a difference in drawing style between different anime for different demographics?
I know that every anime (and manga) has a different drawing style depending on who drew it.

Clearly these aren't drawn by the same person. However, are there any set or common differences in drawing or animation styles between those targeting different demographics (shoujo, shonen, seinen, josei)?

This question is a bit too broad in my opinion. And anime usually follows the original source (if any) quite closely for most of the cases.

@nhahtdh Any suggestions for how to make it less vague?

Probably narrow down to only 2 demographic? Actually, I don't know. The current question is not vague; just that it is too broad, which leaves you with less detailed answer.

As @nhahtdh said, this is very broad, but I'll try give an overview.
Shoujo contains a lot of flowery imagery and tends to emphasise the figures of genders - broad, manly shoulders for guys; short,slim, long-legged girls.
Many of the female characters have huge eyes with eyelashes that stand out. Usually, colors used in shoujo are lighter. Many times, colors like pink, light brown, yellow and light blue are used.

Shounen art is usually sharper and more defined than shoujo art. Obviously, there will be more action sequences with many dynamic angles and poses. Shounen tends to use more darker colors such as black and dark blue.

Josei characters are more realistically proportioned than the exaggerated shoujo artwork.

Seinen manga is a similar contrast from shounen, being more realistically proportioned. As seinen caters for the older males, a lot of seinen targeted material is ecchi or H, so this can vary quite a bit.

Within genres, styles can change also. 4koma manga consists of 4 panels and is usually comedy-oriented. Because of the lack of space, usually the artists prefer to use simpler-designed characters. This is similar to many comedy-based shows that concentrate on the jokes rather than detailed, deep characters.

Obviously, the manga is very much artist-dependent, but I hope this gives a rough outline.
I think it's worth noting that sometimes shows can parody the art styles of other genres - like this scene from Kore wa zombie desu ka? with a stereotypical shoujo scene.

Reference - Shounen Vs Shoujo Art Styles

IMO, 4coma is a style of manga, rather than a "demographic". the question asks about difference between manga of different demographic, though.

that's true, the rest is relevant though. I'll edit it so that it's more clear


text:
What are the episode titles of Boku no Imouto wa "Oosaka Okan" parodying?
Listed below are all the episode titles from the official site (in Japanese). The title for the limited time episode on NicoNico is taken from the official (?) blog (in Japanese):

Episode 1: ある朝、大阪おかんの妹ができまして。 (Aru Asa, Oosaka Okan no Imouto ga Dekimashite)
  Episode 2: 妹が大阪おかんなんですけど！ (Imouto ga Oosaka Okan Nandesu Kedo!)
  Episode 3: 俺の妹がこんなに大阪おかんなわけがない (Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Oosaka Okan na Wake ga Nai)
  Episode 4: 大阪おかんだけど愛さえあれば関係ないよねっ (Oosaka Okan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne)
  Episode 5: 大阪おかんホーム (Oosaka Okan Home)
  Episode 6: 最近、妹のようすがちょっと大阪おかんなんだが。 (Saikin, Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Oosaka Okan Nandaga.)
  Episode 7: この中に１人、大阪おかんがいる！ (Kono Naka ni Hitori, Oosaka Okan ga Iru!)
  Episode 8: あるいは現在進行形の大阪おかん (Arui wa Genzaishinkoukei no Oosaka Okan)
  Episode 9: 大阪おかんな妹と受難な俺 (Oosaka Okan na Imouto to Ju'nan na Ore)
  Episode 10: 妹は大阪おかんの女神ちゃん (Imouto wa Oosaka Okan no Megami-chan)
  Episode 11: 最近の大阪おかんブームはどうやら俺のおかげらしいですよ (Saikin no Oosaka Okan Boom wa Douyara Ore no Okage Rashii Desuyo)
  Episode 12: 浪花はん＠がんばらない (Namika-han@Ganbaranai)
Episode 1.5: 配信限定大阪おかん (Haishin Gentei Oosaka Okan)

Some episode titles can be easily recognized as a parody of the names of several light novel/manga series. It is interesting that the original series usually have something to do with brother-sister relation:

俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない (Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai)
  ==> Episode 3: 俺の妹がこんなに大阪おかんなわけがない (Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Oosaka Okan na Wake ga Nai)
お兄ちゃんだけど愛さえあれば関係ないよねっ (Onii-chan dakedo Ai sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne!)
  ==> Episode 4: 大阪おかんだけど愛さえあれば関係ないよねっ (Oosaka Okan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne)
最近、妹のようすがちょっとおかしいんだが。 (Saikin, Imouto no Yousuga Chotto Okashiindaga.) [Screenshot]
  ==> Episode 6: 最近、妹のようすがちょっと大阪おかんなんだが。 (Saikin, Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Oosaka Okan Nandaga.)
この中に１人、妹がいる！ (Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!)
  ==> Episode 7: この中に１人、大阪おかんがいる！ (Kono Naka ni Hitori, Oosaka Okan ga Iru!)
ささみさん@がんばらない (Sasami-san@Ganbaranai)
  ==> Episode 12: 浪花はん＠がんばらない (Namika-han@Ganbaranai)

I believe most or all of the titles must be a parody of some existing series.
What are the rest of the titles parody of?
Update: I have identified all of the main episodes' titles. However, I cannot find any work that resembles Episode 1.5: 配信限定大阪おかん.

After some googling, it turns out that all of the episode titles are parodies of the names of light novel series that have a big brother ― younger sister theme:

ある朝、ヒーローの妹ができまして。 [Amazon] [Screenshot]
  ⇒ Episode 1: ある朝、大阪おかんの妹ができまして。
妹がゾンビなんですけど！ [スマッシュ文庫] [Amazon] [Screenshot]
  ⇒ Episode 2: 妹が大阪おかんなんですけど！
妹ホーム（マイホーム） [Amazon] [Screenshot]
  ⇒ Episode 5: 大阪おかんホーム
あるいは現在進行形の黒歴史 [GA文庫] [Amazon] [Screenshot]
  ⇒ Episode 8: あるいは現在進行形の大阪おかん
女子モテな妹と受難な俺 [ガガガ文庫] [Amazon] [Screenshot]
  ⇒ Episode 9: 大阪おかんな妹と受難な俺
妹はラノベの女神ちゃん [Amazon] [Screenshot]
  ⇒ Episode 10: 妹は大阪おかんの女神ちゃん
最近の妹ブームはどうやら俺のおかげらしいですよ [Amazon] [Screenshot]
  ⇒ Episode 11: 最近の大阪おかんブームはどうやら俺のおかげらしいですよ

I still don't know whether the special episode (episode 1.5) is parody of any existing work or not.

配信限定 means "limited release/distribution" or "limited edition"

@Krazer: Well, it probably means that it is not a parody, then. (I recognized the 限定 as limited - so I had a hunch that it might not be a parody).


text:
Why are there so many vehicles in the world of Hokuto no Ken?
In the world of Hokuto no Ken, as far as I can see, there is no industry left. There is nowhere to produce parts for vehicles or repair the current ones. Also I don't see any industry for finding oil and distributing it to towns.
However, there are a lot of vehicles running in the series. Where do they find so much oil? What is the explanation of why there are so many fuel engines able to run?

Hokutou no Ken was created in 1983. A lot of inspiration for the post-apocalyptic world in the manga came from the movies Mad Max (1979) and Mad Max 2 (1981).
In these movies (especially in Mad Max 2), oil is very important. Gangs of marauders fight for oil. They have the same kind of vehicles as we can see in Hokuto no Ken. In fact, in Mad Max 2, Max, the hero, protects a group of people around an oil refinery.
Ken and Max have a lot in common as characters.
So why is oil so important in the movie Mad Max in the first place?
In 1973 the world endured what was later called "the first oil crisis". 1979 was the time for the second oil crisis.
So the 1970s were years when people were talking about oil a lot. It was THE topic of the decade (maybe the second topic, just after disco music). In a way, it is logical to imagine that a movie made at that time would give such importance to finding oil.
If you have oil, you have power. In a post-apocalyptic world oil would be more important than money. In fact, money doesn't exist anymore, there is only barrels of oil to trade.
For the manga, the world is very similar than the world of Mad Max 2, but the topic of fighting for oil is not the main theme. Ken fighting for revenge, seeking his brothers, martial art, ... are the main themes. The problematic of oil/energy is not really explained, since it would be a little bit off-topic.
The enemy organizations are just bad guys and the don't really need a reason to attack the normal citizens. They attack normal people because they are bad guys. This is a reason good enough for Ken to fight them. There was no need to add some stuff about fighting for oil.
If you really need an answer, we can probably say that the bad guys are fighting for the control of oil. The gangs probably gather around an oil refinery, or a storage of oil barrels. This explains why the bad guys have vehicles, while normal people just live where they can. However, this problematic was not considered important to the scenarist and he just omitted it.

A couple of notes, Mad Max is also fighting for taking revenge after his wife and daughter were killed. There is not conclusive evidence of Mad Max first two movies to have had an influence on the making of Hokuto No Ken.
I didn't find online any interview to the authors of Hokuto No Ken about how they developed the story so this hypothesis I am reading online is quite speculative I shall say....