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Where did the shining eye trope come from?
When an anime character is going to do something cool - or do something with fierce determination (Thank you @Ross Ridge), animators put in a sparkle on their eye usually accompanied by a metallic 'shiing' sound.
It seems like a reflection of sorts, but where did it come from originally? I haven't seen this in other media before.

Divine Spark might be relevant.

It goes as far back as the Space Pirate Captain Harlock TV series, but it seems to indicate determination or spirit, not necessarily that anything cool is going to happen. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TwinkleInTheEye

In response to woodchuck's answer, I've found two Japanese sayings that literally read like a gleam in your eye: 目が光る and 目を光らす, both of which mean "to keep a watchful eye on."

Further back, 1972, http://i.imgur.com/53PEJoG.jpg , Mazinger Z

The shining in the eye trope, as you call it, has been around for decades; I even remember seeing it in some black-and-white anime. It is a way for the animators and mangaka's to show the character's intent, and it has many spin-offs like the glowing glasses, which usually means the wearer of the glasses has a malicious intent.
It has a lot to do with the common saying of a gleam in your eye.  I am sure you have been told this or something like it at least once in your life. Japan has a similar saying, quite possibly adopted from watching US movies and cartoons.
Sorry, the explanation isn't as interesting as "why the Japanese think people are talking behind their back when they sneeze."

I'm not familiar with that saying, can you elaborate more about it in your answer?

a gleam in your eye is another version of the phrase. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/american-english/a-gleam-in-your-eye

We would like to know the origin of this trope in anime, not its meaning.

If you can find who started it and when all the more power to you. the epistemology of a word is more important then who first coined it as a word or phrase can have its meaning changed over time.

I guess this answer does make sense - I've seen that alternate phrase used in a lot of fiction, so I suppose it does stem from that

https://youtu.be/EnolBmSotZo?t=58
This isn't just some "cool" thing, (as I probably thought as a very young kid growing up). This is an actual spiritual orrence that happens in life. I'm not sure of ALL of the reasons why or what this is associated with but I do understand vaguely that its a spiritual occurrence that one sees. No different than seeing the blush or anger in one's face or feeling the magic of another when one falls in love. And not everyone understands that kind of sparkle (inner spirit feeling) or tingling. They see it as just a "talking" in-general. Then when they see it in art, they think,..."Hmmm, that's a cool way to express it.",...when really,...that really is the way it looks. Depending on the person you encounter it goes into levels. Though, in asia, they encounter the same kind of spirits they are familiar with. Some regions or countries may not experience that the same way. Ultimately, it is in other entertainment. It was in X-men the animated series when Sabretooth got what I call "The Flash" in his eyes upon talking to Wolverine before they fought. It was also a memory flashback when Sabretooth saw his father about to strike him and Sabretooth reacted upon fighting back. That was when Lady Death (Yuriko Oyama's) father Kenji Oyama launched Talos as the exterminator for the surviving members of the Weapon X project. When Talos raised his axe to strike Wolverine, Sabretooth flashed back a mental memory to see his father Jebediah getting ready to strike him down. You can see the flash in his eyes. (X-Men The animated series Reference: S3/Ep19 (6/11/95). In Bible, although it was talking about physically, I think it also had a spiritual meaning, Ref: (1 John 2:16; )1 John 4:1 (proof other spirits exist and spiritual things you cannot see because of the veil over your eyes. Which is also in marriage as one gets ready to kiss the bride.) Matthew 6:22-24 (Eyes are window to the soul.)
Because of different people, spirits, and regions some people don't know about the other and some things do divide rightfully so because it generates nothing but conflict. Especially with your enemy. But from my own studies, from all different sources and people these are the main reason of what I have found of the properties that its existence belongs to:
Amusement / Delight (Though twinkle and sparkle is different)
The lust of the eye
The connection
Prey vs Predator
Pride / Determination
Higher Level (than thou)
Engage / 1st Encounter or Battle Encounter (Varies in variation. There are different spirit qualities)
Hour of Trial
The cool / (some ignorant people do it from monkey see / monkey do; copycats unknowing)
Memory
Lust (dark / Want)
Love (Varies)
The Spark (Varies)
A thought of: (Curiosity / spark / want, etc.)
A Mark (supernatural).
A person or witch's delight
There may be more but that's not only what I've found, but what I've experienced.


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who are Stripism a parody of?
One of the most popular anime shows in Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed is Stripism. Here's a screenshot of them in-game (in their own game).

Knowing Akiba's Trip and its countless references, I can't think that this isn't a reference to some magical girl series. Unfortunately, I don't know enough magical girl series - and there isn't much info about the girls on the internet.
I'm somewhat inclined to think they're a parody of Pretty Cure because of their vibrant colour scheme, but it's got a load of different series so I'm not sure if they are or not.
At one stage the Akiba's Trip girls cosplay as the characters, so possibly some of that bare skin is fan service on AT's part:

Are the Stripism girls a parody of Pretty Cure? Or any other anime series?

「秋葉少女ストリッピスム」 (Akiba Shoujo Stripism) in Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed is not a parody of Pretty Cure specifically. Pretty Cure is a rather new franchise that started in 2004, which itself draws from mahou shoujo series dating from the 1990s.
Akiba Shoujo Stripism employs the characters from Kodomo no Jikan to blatantly parody the Pretty Rhythm franchise, as the three Stripism character's names are ピンクリズム (Pink Rhythm), ブルーリズム (Blue Rhythm), and イエローリズム (Yellow Rhythm). Pretty Rhythm's earliest incarnation, the Aurora Dream series in 2011, featured three girls in vibrantly-colored costumes; Pretty Rhythm is not mahou shoujo but rather is an idol competition series.
Akiba Shoujo Stripism also parodies the genre of mahou shoujo-mixed-with-sentai (live-action team fighting) which began in 1991 with Sailor Moon: this is clear because the characters are battling in the game, whereas Pretty Rhythm does not contain any fighting, and it looks like the characters attack using magic.
Akiba Shoujo Stripism is not a parody of the majority of mahou shoujo series. Before Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, the long history of mahou shoujo series were usually EITHER one girl who could transform into a magical version of herself (Himitsu no Akko-chan, Mahou no Yousei Persia) OR one magical girl from another world who is temporarily living in our world and uses an Earthling disguise except for when she needs to transform into her true self to use her powers (Majokko Meg-chan, Mahoutsukai Sally, Mahou no Angel Sweet Mint). In both cases, she was not part of a group dressed in vibrantly-colored complimentary costumes. (Magical girls living solely in magical worlds, such as Kero Kero Chime or Akazukin ChaCha, do not technically fall within the genre of mahou shoujo because everyone in their world is magical; a mahou shoujo is a girl with magic powers in a generally non-magical world.) In some cases, a magical girl's identity allowed her to work as an idol (Mahou no Star Magical Emi, Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami, Cyber Idol Mink, Full Moon wo Sagashite), which drew mahou shoujo closer to the ordinary-girl-suddenly-becomes-an-idol sub-genre in shoujo (Idol Densetsu Eriko, Idol Tenshi Youkoso Youko, Chou Kuse ni Narisou and, of course, now Pretty Rhythm and its spin-off, PriPara).
Most of the occasions for which the pre-Sailor Moon magical girls transformed were for day-to-day events, NOT for battling or trying to save the world. At the same time, there was a long history of live-action sentai (team fighting) series, which created the group-dressed-in-vibrant-colors scheme  (a famous example is Power Rangers which is adapted from Kyouryu Sentai Zyuranger). Sailor Moon was the first series ever to combine mahou shoujo with sentai: a colorful team of magical girls trying to save the world. Ensuing mahou shoujo-mixed-with-sentai series, such as Pretty Cure, Tokyo Mew Mew, Ai Tenshi Densetsu Wedding Peach, and Cutey Honey F, are rather obviously Sailor Moon-inspired (if not knock-offs).
Akiba Shoujo Stripism in Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed is a type of parody targeted at adult male viewers (whereas real mahou shoujo are a subset within shoujo, meaning they are targeted at an audience of young girls and if there is a manga origin or adaption, it runs in a shoujo manga magazine).
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the currently well-known example of this strain of parody for adult males (which, unfortunately, gets referred to as being "mahou shoujo" proper, confusing people on what mahou shoujo is and isn't). Though Madoka Magica has clearly struck a chord for that demographic, it is not the first series-for-male-viewers to adapt the mahou shoujo genre. Cutie Honey was a successful men's version of the mahou shoujo genre (with a stripping theme), but it surprisingly ended up coming full circle by getting adapted into the actually shoujo series Cutie Honey Flash, which was marketed to girls. Project A-ko parodied mahou shoujo back in the 80s and there have been plenty of other shounen parodies since (Mahou Shoujo Pretty Sammy, Mahoutsukai Tai!, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, etc.).

The screenshot of Stripism features the three main characters of Kodomo no Jikan.
From left to right, they are Kuro Kagami, Rin Kokonoe, Mimi Usa.

I'm not entirely sure what their outfit is reference of, though. However, PreCure does seem to be a close match, except for the design of the clothes, which may have been altered for the purpose of the game.

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Why is 1:144 scale used for plastic models?
Why a modeler originally choose 1:144 scale to create a plastic model such as GunPla? Why not choose 1:100 or some other number that can easily determine the size of the model from the original size?

Is there any reason why not to choose 1:144? I think 1:144 is chosen because it is 1:12 squared, and there are 12 inches in a foot. (i.e. If you imagine a person, then make a 1:12 model of him, then a 1:12 model of that, you get a 1:144 model.)

@キルア Well dividing/multiplying by 144 is pretty cumbersome compared to 100. If something is 13 cm in scale, you would instantly know the original size, while with 144cm, that might require a calculator for some. It is also squared, so I don't even see a logical reason to use the 1:12 model to begin with. I guess historically speaking it probably came from the British imperial system, but it would be nice if this was confirmed somewhere. Neither the 1:144 wiki nor the 1:12 wiki seem to mention a reason.

I'd strongly suspect the in-ft conversion influenced the 1:12 scale, in the same way 1:100 is basically cm to m (moving from large unit to the next one down in your unit system).

@PeterRaeves You are only saying that because you happen to be used to do calculations in base 10. Somebody used to do calculations in base 12 would say exactly the opposite. Lots of different bases have been used historically, and though 10 is almost globally standardized now, it isn't even the most practical base for calculations since it doesn't divide by 3.

@kasperd Actually my comment would have been the same regardless of what base OP was using. Whether OP was using decimal, duodecimal or any other numeral system, multiplying or dividing by 100 would always be easier than multiplying or dividing by 144.

@PeterRaeves I don't know if you're being disingenuous or not, but when using base 12 (duodecimal), dividing by 144 (base 10) is substantially easier than dividing by 100 (base 10).

@Foon Yes, dividing by 144(10) in duodecimal is easier because it would be written as 100(12) and dividing by 100(n), in any base n, is easy, as you seem to agree. Much easier than dividing by 144(n), written in the same base n, as I said from the start. Am I missing something here?

(Didn't you ask this exact question of SF&F yesterday?)
Traditionally, toy makers have used a 1:12 scale when building scaled down model of real objects, such as dollhouses. This practice pre-dates the metric system, and made it easy to scale down measurements because, at 1:12, one foot becomes one inch.
Now, suppose you wanted to build a dollhouse, and inside it, you want to have a dollhouse. To do that, you'd have to scale down your 1:12 model house by another 1:12, to give you 1:144. This is why 1:144 is sometime's called the "dollhouse's dollhouse scale".
Since 1:12 and 1:144 were already well known and popular by the time anime miniatures came around, the first people to make such models were already familiar with it, and they used it. After that, it's mostly inertia.

It is likely an unofficial common standard based on tradition that is used for small models and figures. As キルア said, 1:144 is a natural way to scale down a 1:12 scale model, which is another historically popular scale.
Theoretically, you could use whatever scale you wanted. It could cause compatibility problems if you use an uncommon scale as other figures would not be the right proportion due to being based on a different scale, but it would work just as well in every other way.

1:144 is often used for models of large aircraft like airliners.
1:144 is half 1:72 which is a very popular scale for scale model aircraft/tanks etc.
And thinking about it, as scale aircraft came first, I think it likely that Bandai etc adopted existing conventions.

Some of the more common modeling scales are based on the Imperial System, rather than the (base-10) Metric System. 1/12 for dollhouses is one foot per inch. The popular aircraft scales of 1/48 and 1/72 are four feet and six feet per inch, respectively. When it came time to produce models of larger subjects, in particular airliners, 1/144 made perfect sense. It is 1/2 the size of 1/72, and still an even division of units in IS (twelve feet to the inch). As a previous answer pointed out, Bandai most likely chose it because it was suitable to the size of their subjects and was already in popular use.
There have been efforts to popularize scales that are base-10, but they've had very limited acceptance; 1/50, 1/100 and 1/200 have all been used by various kit-makers, but none have gotten the customer buy-in that the other scales have. Other Imperial-based scales that have strong followings include 1/96, 1/192 and 1/720, which are popular in boat/ship modeling.
Then things get interesting in the world of scale. (Well, "interesting" if you're a model geek, I suppose.) Some scales don't really make that much sense, unless you know some of the history. While 1/720 is/was frequently used by U.S. model manufacturer Revell for ships (and later Italian manufacturer Italeri), the 1/700 scale used by Japanese manufacturers has become much more popular. And once 1/700 had a lot of appeal, 1/350 (2x the size of 1/700) came along a few years later for people who wanted larger-scale models. The 1/32 scale (3/8" equals one foot) that is popular in aircraft and has some acceptance in automotive and older armor kits, was mostly introduced by railroad modeling. It is also popular with slot car models. It's popularity with armor lost out over the years to 1/35 scale. 1/35 was made popular by the Japanese manufacturer Tamiya, largely so they could fit motorization gear into their models. Their models proved more popular than the 1/32 offerings from places like Monogram, and eventually 1/32 largely disappeared from the military miniatures landscape. Except for the realm of figurines, many of which are still sculpted to 1/32 (54mm) scale.
(I'm sorry... what was the original question...?)

Thank you.  Your post is interesting.  I think 1:36 (three feet per inch) should be more popular than 1:32.  And 1:35 is close to 1:36.

Yes, I always wondered why 1/35 and not 1/36 as well. According to the Wikipedia page on 1/35, the scale came about because the first kit in that scale (a Panther tank) was designed to fit two batteries for the motorization. After it became popular, they decided to create more models to the same scale, and when they measured out the Panther it turned out to be 1/35 scale. The origins of 1/32 in railroading gives more sense as to how it became popular in other genres. Also-- though I suspect coincidence rather than design-- 1/32 is 50% larger than 1/48, which is itself 50% larger than 1/72.

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Do Seiyuu use stage-names for their anime works?
What I mean by this is not the alias they use when they do H-Games. What I mean is whether they use a stage-name when doing anime works.
It all started from a little question I had in mind, "Is Hanazawa Kana really Hanazawa Kana?" Usually people in the entertainment industry use a stage-name to avoid mixing up their personal life and their public life. An example for this is the actor Hiro Mizushima, who is not really Hiro Mizushima by birth. His birth name is Saito Tomohiro. Does the same hold true with the seiyuu profession?
I also noted that Mizuki Nana's birth name is Kondo Nana. But is she just a rare case or are most seiyuu like that (that is, using a stage name)?

This is a pretty interesting question indeed, the only one I actually know from the top of my head (Yiu Itsuko) just uses her given name when she does Seiyuu work. I am however curious to see what answers will pop up

I read somewhere (thought it was Wikipedia, but it's not there anymore) that Hanazawa Kana goes by her real name. But other seiyuu (e.g. Horie Yui) go by stage names. It seems like it varies.

I looked up each of the listed "major" and "popular" male and female seiyuu at Hitoshi Doi's Seiyuu (voice actor) Database (Doi's database has been collecting seiyuu information since 1994 and hit 50,000 entries in 2001).
Although this is not a representative sampling of all seiyuu, out of these 20 individuals recognized as "major" and "popular" by Doi, 4 (or possibly 3) are using a stage name (if 4, that comes out to 20%):

水樹奈々 (Mizuki Nana), who you mentioned, born as 近藤奈々 (Kondo Nana)
[山口勝平 (Yamaguchi Kappei), born as 山口光雄 (Yamaguchi Mitsuo)
優希比呂 (Yuuki Hiro), born as 露崎照久 (Tsuyusaki Teruhisa), debuted in 1988 under the name 結城比呂 (Yuuki Hiro = same pronunciation but different kanji for the surname), changed his surname to 優希 in June, 2007.
堀江由衣 (Horie Yui), born as Horie Yoshiko according to Hitoshi Doi, but he does not know her original kanji nor does the Japanese Wikipedia page mention a name change

Based on this small sample, 1) seiyuu can choose stage names and change stage names after debut, but the majority go by their real name, and 2) those who do adopt a stage name may likely adapt their real name (change only the surname or given name but not both).
To check for more individual cases, the Japanese Wikipedia page of each seiyuu lists the real name under 「本名」 (honmyou = real name) in the profile box on the right side, if the person has a different real name.
花澤香菜 (Hanazawa Kana) is her real name.


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Why do lots of anime titles have ☆ in them?
☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃
Why do some shows have the star ☆ in them? I understand it makes it look cool, but it seems to be the only non-standard character that's used in titles?
For example - you don't see Christmas specials with a unicode snowman in them ☃
Some examples of shows using ☆:

Lucky☆Star
Rolling☆Girls
Space☆Dandy
Puni Puni☆Poemy
Fuuun Ishin Dai☆Shogun
Miami☆Guns

☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃☆☃

And you shouldn't miss 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ

It makes some sense with Lucky Star, and maybe a little with Space Dandy, but the rest of them...

TVTropes calls adding non-pronounceable characters to a works title a "Lucky Charms Title" and as you can see from the example list, it is not a purely Japanese phenomenon. However, the Japanese are generally more adventurous with this. An explanation could be that because of the huge amount of Kanji the Japanese written language contains, being suddenly confronted with a character you can not immediately identify is not as jarring for a Japanese reader as it is for a Western reader.
Why is the Unicode character WHITE STAR (☆) so popular? Because it is a natural eye-catcher. When looking at a list of works, like a TV program for example, the ☆ character immediately stands out, even among the huge number of characters the Japanese language is using.
By the way: Official releases in English often drop the lucky charms from the title. Amazon sells Lucky☆Star and Puni Puni☆Poemy sans ☆'s (although the star usually still appears as a decorative element in the lettering on the cover to reproduce the original typography as faithfully as possible).

This happens with a lot of other titles, and it's neither limited to Anime/Manga, nor is it limited to stars.
A partial list:

.hack//SIGN (read "dot-hack sign", leaving the slashes unread)
Yotsuba& (the ampersand provides a more accurate transliteration of よつばと！)
The iDOLM@STER (at-sign is pronounced like the letter "A")
∀ Gundam (contains the universal quantification symbol, but is read "turn-A Gundam")
Saiki Kusuo no Ψ Nan (the Greek letter Ψ (psi) is used for both phonetic purposes and for deeper meaning; this particular letter has roots in psychology and related fields)

From what I've observed, the context used for those titles is generally emphasis, tone, or for stylistic purposes.  You're likely correct in that a symbol like this is meant to be there to look cool.  But, if you come across a symbol stranger than a star, there might be more to it.

There's also the new season of Tokyo Ghoul, titled Tokyo Ghoul √A.


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Is Santa Company available to non-backers?
I unfortunately missed the kickstarter for Santa Company. Since I found out about it, I have been following the updates of the production and they have released the digital version to backers recently.
Is there anywhere I can purchase the movie digitally despite not having backed the project?

According to the Santa Company Twitter account (@santa_company), for a limited time (not sure why), it can be purchased from this website.
http://santa-company.jugemcart.com/

Would you please include the link of the tweet and the webpages which lead to that website?


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How did the young man take his turn? (spoilers)
The sequence of events:

The old man pots the two balls
The younger man attacks him just as they are potted
The old man dies (or is knocked out or something) in the fight
Young man returns to the table and proceeds to pot the rest of his balls

After the old man pots the balls, surely it's still his turn as he scored? Or did the rules of billiards that they were using not necessarily have turns? Or maybe he used the old man's body and made him miss?
Is there any proper answer to this, or is this just a big plot hole that was skipped over?

Taking episode 1 of the TV series Death Parade (which is based on Death Billiards) into account, except for the scoring rules and winning condition, the games don't have any other restrictions in the first place.
As revealed in episode 2 of Death Parade, the game is just a means to an end. It is designed so that as the players play the game (under the belief that their lives are at stake), they gradually regain the memory before death and expose their emotions and their true nature as they try to win the game by any means necessary. And the arbiter observes their actions and emotions displayed throughout the game to judge whether they should be reincarnated or sent to void.
Therefore, although his action violates the rules of the game in real life, it is totally valid here for the young man to knock out the old man and "steals" his turn to pocket the rest of the balls.

Sure it was the old man's turn... except he was incapacitated at the time, so he couldn't do anything, which is why the bartender allowed the young man to continue the game. In a normal game of billiards, if a player is knocked out and no one is able to substitute for them, then the game would naturally end. In Death Billiards, however, ending the game was not an option, so the young man decided to take over the old man's turn and finish the game


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Why are wash pans dropped on a character's head?
I've been watching anime for a long time and I still don't understand what it means when a wash pan falls from the sky onto a character's head.  I've seen it recently in Rosario+Vampire when the witch summons a wash pan over another character's head.
What does it mean or represent?

relevant tvtropes article. WARNING: Do not follow the links over there. HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!

I imagine this is somehow related to the common schoolprank of placing basins/buckets of water on top of door frames and waiting for people to come in and get soaked

As is mentioned in @Vogel612's link, it's sortof the Eastern equivilant of an anvil being dropped on someone's head. A bit more realistic perhaps though.


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What powers did Gol D. Roger possess?
I am a big fan of the One Piece manga. I just started watching the anime (completed 3 seasons).
I was wondering: What powers did the Pirate King Gol D. Roger possess?
Is there any chapter/episode which reveals his powers? Or is there any theory about it?

There has not been any information about the Gol D Roger power. Though there are some episode where part of Gol D. Roger are connected but information about him is very low. Main information about him are about family member, some crew, cause of death, very few information about his treasure One Piece but information of power has not been revealed. There are some more information about him in this wiki page.
As the story is progressing lots of thing are untold or unknown which may be revealed in future.

I would really appreciate if the down voter would leave the comment(reason) for voting down

There is a theory which says that Gol D. Roger ate an Akuma no Mi, which made him capable of speaking/understanding any language. It would explain why he could understand the Poneglyphs, and why he was the most wanted man (before Dragon), because in terms of strength/power, he was Whitebeard's rival. However, this is just a theory (I think).

Some say Gol D. Roger ate an Akuma no Mi Is this said in One Piece manga, or is it just some fan theory?

I don't read the manga, I just watch the anime therefore I can't really tell. Maybe it's just a fan theory

I edited it to suggest that it's some existing fan theory, but if it is actually a theory made by characters in One Piece universe, feel free to edit it with citation.

In the manga it is said that he was able to hear the voice of all things - but it is not mentioned that he ate a devil fruit: picture

luffy and the siren princess could hear other voices.
I don't think this has to be related to a devil fruit or luffy would have eaten 2

it is very plausible he is have a Weather Controlling Fruit.
In battle with Shiki the Golden Lion, Roger can win because of the storm destroyed majority of Shiki fleet.
and we know Weather controlling fruit exist when Monkey D.Dragon saving Luffy from execution in Logue Town.
so its a high possibilty Dragon found Roger DF after he died, hence He (Dragon) is named as the World Government's greatest enemy, and is the most dangerous and most wanted man in the world because World Government knows Roger`s power (probably from Garp) and what it can do.


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Why do some Anime have Loli Teachers?

I've noticed that in some Anime, the teachers are very short/little, I mean they look like elementary school kids. The anime I'm talking about are:

Strike the Blood
Noucome
Toaru Majutsu no Index

I've heard same is the case with Doki Doki School Hours and Pani Poni Dash but haven't watched them so can't say for sure. My question is, why is it so? Is it to appeal to a larger audience, specifically lolicons? Or is there some other reason, because from where I stand, I haven't seen how their being small has had a role in moving the story forward in any way.

Well, they being abnormal makes it normal for them to get involved with abnormal things, especially in manga where physically unrealistic elements are involved.

You can add Ranma 1/2 to the mix. Ranma's homeroom teacher has a strange disease that keeps her in infant body. Then Happosai teaches her how to grow to adult body (temporarily) by stealing the chi of a fighter.

And Negima, although he’s more shota than loli …

Ok, wall of text, so take your time to read.
First, these shows are aimed at teens. Since our society delegates the act of teaching children mostly to women (changing, but still), we have that the teacher is the grown female outside the teenager family circle that said teenager have the longest contact with.
In anime/manga this romantic/sexual tension is explored in several titles, like Onegai Sensei, KissXsis, and others.
So we can infer that several teenager boys have the hots for the teacher. Teenage girls ALSO have the hots for the male teacher, but I will restrain the answer to the boys' universe.
One sub-genre of anime characters regarding teachers is the Sensei-chan:

A common Japanese media character type, the female high school teacher who is fairly young, attractive, even cute, and on friendly terms with her students.
On the other hand, she is still unmarried, and very conscious about it, as well as about the lack of respect she gets.

Then we get another genre of anime characters, the Token Mini Moe:

The Token Mini Moe is a young or young-looking member of a cast designed to appeal to one of two predominant demographics. The first is those who simply find the character absolutely adorable and/or endearing and feel protective towards him or her. The character allows this sort of fan to act as and live out the role as an idealized older brother or sister (or parent) cheering their little sister on and helping her achieve whatever goals the setting deems important. The second are the Lolicons/Shotacons, who take an erotic or romantic interest in the character. Needless to say, these two groups are often at each other's throats over the character.

When the two (Sensei-chan and Token Mini-Moe) overlap, you get the kind of teacher you are asking about.
So it is a character designed to fill two roles at the same time. Depending on the needs, the Loli Teacher can appeal more to the Moe side or the Lolicon side


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How much English is spoken at Japan Expo (Paris)
I'm thinking of going to Japan Expo this year - as it is the largest convention in Europe, but because it is located in France, I'm unsure if I would enjoy it as much as my French - while passable - probably wouldn't get me through more complex conversations than ordering food, asking for directions, etc.
The convention's website does have an English version (Here)  but I have been unable to find any information as to how much of the convention is bilingual (there would be no point in going to some guest talks for example)
Does anyone have experience of Japan Expo who could tell me how much English is spoken throughout the convention?

Senpai, are you in the right SE site? Shouldn't this be posted to travel.SE instead?

I think so, we have a conventions tag, and I'd say it'd be too localized for travel.SE

Acknowledged...

Been numerous times to this convention (as a pro and as a visitor).
Most of the publisher booths are from French publishers. Panels, activities are in French and speakers are in French. Some panels don't really require to understand French though (cosplay).
Some video projections are in English but it is rare.
Most of the booths will speak English, but it will mostly be approximate English.
Documentations (map and planning) and information booths are available in English.
The professional part (license market) is in English, but I don't think you will attend as a pro.

I went to this years one, and it was very much in French - but there was enough signage and events that didn't need the language to keep me happy :) For the bigger events like ECG, they had english & french

I have not attended previous meetings of this convention, but I can tell from my professional knowledge that:

It is the largest in all Europe.
Many of the guests come from Japan.
This convention is considered a professional meeting point in the world of manga/anime, and as far as I know from my colleagues who have attended, all the meetings are in English.

Therefore, I think I can state with relative certainty that a significant portion will be in English or bilingual.
The people at the booths will probably attend you in English and French.
However, you might not find many English manga on sale. As far as I know, the manga they sell, except for some imported material in Japanese, are mostly licensed in France and edited by the respective publishers.

"but I can tell about my professional knowledge of it", what do you mean by this? Do you work in the anime/manga business?

Yes, I work on manga/anime/japanese culture events preparation, and I have some knowledge of this. Some of the members of my group attend at Japan Expo (France) and the another one (I don't remember the name) at Japan for business contacts.

I can't understand what you are trying to say from "Stands dare to bet..." to the end of your answer. Would you please edit it a bit?

I'm talking about languages used by booths. They probably talk you on English and French.


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How did the lolicon genre begin in anime/manga?
I have always wondered how the Japanese got the idea of making animated productions including underage girls and the obsession with them. When did it start? Did the idea originate in Japan? Was it welcomed by the actual anime public?

Appears to have started in the 1970's, but over time the definition got a little cloudy and changed from being pedophilia to more of an obsession. There was also controversy similar to violence in video games linked to violence in real life, where one party suggested that lolicon could fuel sex crimes toward children, while the other party maintained that if anything it decreased the chances by letting people live out their fantasies through manga/anime.
There is a lot of referenced material here.

Lolicon (ロリコン?), also romanised as lolikon or rorikon,is a Japanese portmanteau of the phrase "Lolita complex". In Japan, the term describes an attraction to underage girls (whether prepubescent, pubescent, or post-pubescent)or an individual with such an attraction. It is also commonly used when referring to lolicon manga or lolicon anime, a genre of manga and anime wherein childlike female characters are often depicted in an "erotic-cute" manner (also known as ero kawaii), in an art style reminiscent of the shōjo manga (girls' comics) style. Outside Japan, "lolicon" is in less common usage and usually refers to the genre.
  The phrase is a reference to Vladimir Nabokov's book Lolita, in which a middle-aged man becomes sexually obsessed with a twelve-year-old girl. It was first used in Japan in the 1970s and quickly became used to describe erotic dojinshi (amateur comics) portrayals of young girls.
  Laws have been enacted in various countries, including in Japan, which regulate explicit content featuring children or childlike characters. Parent and citizens groups in Japan have organized to work toward stronger controls and stricter laws governing lolicon manga and other similar media. Critics say that the lolicon genre contributes to actual sexual abuse of children, while others say that there is no evidence for this claim. Studies of lolicon fans state that lolicon fans are attracted to an aesthetic of cuteness rather than the age of the characters, and that collecting lolicon represents a disconnect from society

Adding onto Angelo's answer, the rise of the trend seems to coincide with the rise of idol culture in Japan.

The idol phenomenon began during the early 1970s, reflecting a boom in Japan for the musician Sylvie Vartan in the French film Cherchez l'idole in 1963, with Japanese title (アイドルを探せ Aidoru wo sagase) in November 1964.
The term came to be applied to any cute actress or female singer, or any cute male singer. Teenage girls, mostly between 14 and 16, and teenage males, mostly between 15 and 18, began rising to stardom. One in particular, Momoe Yamaguchi, was a huge star until her marriage and retirement in 1980.
Idols dominated the pop music scene in the 1980s, and this period is known as the "Golden Age of Idols in Japan".

Perhaps somewhat as a result of this, kawaii-ness soon came into fashion - especially with schoolgirls. Schoolgirls are commonly fetishized in the sleazier section of society anyway, so this could be where the trope slipped into anime's fanservice.
It's not really a definitive answer, but I'm of the opinion that television reflects society, rather than life reflecting television (although, there is some of that) - So I would say that it came from the gradual shift in attitudes in Japan, rather than a new idea that was introduced to anime.
And I suppose it wasn't too much of a shift either as many shows would have had young female characters already because they were targetted at a younger audience and it was just a case of moving them to more "mature" shows, which by their nature contained fanservice.
Some recommended reading:

Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool
By Brian Ashcraft

Routledge Handbook of Sexuality Studies in East Asia

As far as animation goes it all started in 1984 with the release of two different works called "Lolita Anime" that had nothing to do with each other.
The first of them also counts as the first ever pornographic anime to be released. Some will claim that the honor should go to the 1970 release Cleopatra, but if you watch it you'll see that there isn't really anything pornographic about it.
That, and it led to the creation of the anime porn industry.
The reason for that is that at a few years earlier it was found out that anime fans would buy VHS releases intended for renting at prices of over $100 for 30min worth of animation. That was around the time VHS became a thing everyone could afford. And branching out to porn was the natural progression of that.
As to why the characters featured were underage, the most convincing thing I've heard was about how a law defining obscene material was written. It was in such a way that the defining factor was pubic hair. By depicting children instead of adults they could skirt around that law.

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


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Live action version based purely on manga
There are a lot of live actions that are based from anime. To name a few: Paradise Kiss, Kimi ni Todoke and Lovely Complex. Has there ever been a live action film that was purely based on manga, meaning without the manga becoming an anime? Or is it not possible to base a live action film purely on manga (since a manga that has its anime version defines its popularity)?

Densha Otoko and 20th Century Boys come to mind

There are plenty of cases of this. Yankee-kun to Megane-chan (for some strange reason it was localized as Flunk Punk Rumble in English) is one such example of a manga which never had an anime. Jin is another example which actually had both Japanese and Korean live action versions, and again no anime version. Neither of those are technically films, but there are plenty of film cases as well, including Nana to Kaoru (no Wikipedia article) and Liar Game - The Final Stage. I know of at least 5 other cases of this (and I'm no drama expert), but I'll spare you the list because it's not terribly relevant.
There's really no reason that this should be an uncommon thing. Both dramas and anime are expensive to produce, but that isn't really a reason to produce an anime first. Very successful manga often have both drama and anime adaptations (for instance, GTO). The only reason why you see fewer dramas based on manga than anime is because the physical constraints for a live-action series are fairly limiting compared to anime. When there aren't any such issues it's pretty common for manga to be adapted only as a drama and not as an anime.
If you head on over to some site which indexes J-dramas and K-dramas, you'll find plenty more examples. One such site is mydramalist.info. Another one is mydramalist.com.
If you're only interested in J-dramas, then Wikipedia has a category for dramas adapted  from manga. Many of those don't have anime adaptations (easily a majority). For films, it seems that more of them also have anime series, but it's still roughly an even split. This list on Wikipedia is the corresponding list for films, though it does include anime films as well so you'll want to only count the "live-action" ones.

I'm only aware of live-actions that are based on anime. Or probably, I don't read manga that much. :) Is it safe for me to assume that there were more live actions films that were based from anime than films that were based only on manga?

@xjshiya I don't know about that. Just browsing through the top dramas on the second site, it seems like a lot of the manga-based ones don't have anime versions. I'd estimate at least half of them don't. Even in the cases where there is an anime version, often times the drama came out first, and it's almost always based on the manga version, not the anime version.


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What's the difference between Haineko and Senbonzakura?
What's the difference between these two shikai; Rangiku's Haineko and Byakuya's Senbonzakura? They both seem to have the same abilities.

For Matsumoto Rangiku's shikai:

When released with the command "growl" (唸れ unare?), the blade dissolves into ash. In combat, Matsumoto can control the movement of the ash, and cut anything it lands on by moving the hilt. The ash is also solid enough to be used as a shield to block enemy attacks

For Kuchiki Byakuya's shikai:

...Senbonzakura's blade separates into thousands of slender, petal-like blades.... While the blades are too small to be seen by the naked eye, they reflect light in such a way as to appear as cherry blossom petals. Byakuya can control the blades at will thereby allowing him to shred opponents at a distance and break through almost any defense. While Byakuya can control the blades with his mind alone, using his hands allows him to do so more effectively, making the blades move twice as fast.

There seem to be a few main differences, though they are very similar.

Byakuya can control the blades of his with his mind, while Matsumoto needs to move the hilt.
The ash can be used as a shield while Senbonzakura cannot.

"The ash can be used as a shield while Senbonzakura cannot". I would like to have a link attesting to this fact. Because it is well explained in the manga that the power of Byakuya was also very good defensively. (This is normally found in characters books)

A lot of people on various forums like to nit pick at the details, but in essence they are very similar. Both Shikai transform the blade of the sword into smaller substances that are used for offense and defense. While Byakuya is able to control Senbonzakura telepathically, Matsumoto controls Haineko with the hilt of her sword.  However, in Matsumoto's fight against Apache, SunSun, and Mila Rose, she changes Haineko's form from a dispersed cloud of ash to an ash tornado with her empty hand. The fact that Byakuya controls senbonzakura with his mind might just be due to the fact that he is a stronger and more experienced shinigami and partner to his zanpakuto. Just for the sake of the viewer/reader I wish would release a list or booklet or something along those lines of the zanpakuto and their abilities. I'd love it if he would say what their Bankai would be if they ever reached that level. I really wanna know what Urahara's Bankai is and especially Yoruichi's.

Senbonzakura can be used as a shield as proven in Byakuya's first fight with Ichigo in season 3. Though at the time Byakuya was using bankai, he made a shield by gathering all the fragments in front of him so he probably can do the same thing in shikai.

It is likely that rangiku 's bankai may be the same as sebonsakura's bankai and she might be able to control the ashes  with her mind , although we haven't seen her bankai yet.

The question is asking about the shikai, not the bankai.


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How is Amon able to revoke someone's bending?
It was never fully explained how, despite him being a great water bender and blood bender, how was Amon able to remove someone's bending?
That ability was reserved, up until then, to energy bending, which only Avatar Aang could use.
What kind of technique did Amon use?

I think it was explained somehow. I don't remember exactly now, but the idea is that blood bending allows him to do something similar as qi-blocking but in a more permanent way.
He didn't really take away the bending, just gave this impression.

As per this link Bloodbending has a lot of potential to be used in specific ways. One of the effects is Bending severing :

Bending severing :
Bloodbending can be used to completely cut off a bender from his or her bending abilities, achieving the same effect as energybending. This technique has only been demonstrated by Amon and requires direct physical contact between the user's hand and the victim's forehead. The effects of this technique are long-standing, and, unlike chi blocking, it cannot be easily undone. According to Katara, the technique "severs" an individual from his or her bending, making it impervious to all methods of healing. Even so, only active chi pathways can be severed; Korra was able to use airbending because it was still dormant when her other bending abilities were removed. However, the severed bending can be restored through the use of energybending, as shown by Aang and Korra


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Does the unlocked CG from Hard mode open up any additional story elements?
I read that if you complete the harder difficulties you get 2 of the last CG. I've seen both on the internet: one I think is Aruru, while the other is Eruru as a Shine Maiden.
I am wondering if these CG are just rewards or if they are connected to extra scenes that play out at the end.


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How are UQ Holder member numbers attributed?
In page 12 of chapter 11, Touta and Kuroumaru are officially accepted in UQ Holder. They are, respectively, attributed the numbers 7 and 11:

Do these numbers mean anything in particular and correspond to something in terms of hierarchy (of power or ranking)? If so, how powerful/ranked are Touta and Kuroumaru?
Or are they just randomly chosen?

I'm thinking it either has to do with power or some sort of immortality aspect

not disclosed till now. but maybe something related to negima manga. haven't read all so can't tell or sure.

Not sure if this is considered canon, as I stopped reading the manga and am not sure if further details were revealed, but...
On episode 3 of the anime, when Touta and Kuromaru meet Jinbei Shishido, he tells 'em he's number 2, and Kuromaru says:

Again, not sure if this is canon. Also not sure if Kuromaru is just making an assumption, or if this is a given in the anime — there are some different things in the adaptation, and I don't remember this bit of conversation from the manga. But, if this is not an assumption, then the numbers are attributed according to how powerful the characters are.

I think it‘s related to their potential, and not to their power, because when they are ranked, Kuroumaru is even with Touta, and Ikuu (the current number 10) is definitely stronger than Touta (at least I think so).

You said 'At least I think so'. Can you elaborate further and provide relevant sources (manga chapters, anime episodes, etc) to support your claim?

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


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Where exactly is Kadath
In Shikkoku no Sharnoth -What a Beautiful Tomorrow-, there are multiple references to a place known as Kadath, in Act 9 - Sharnoth of the Darkest Black there are references to Inganock particularly when Robin Funnel is talking to Howard Phillips that he should consider being a "Runner" and makes reference to a bird she knew who was a runner (obviously referring to Ati's partner David), Howard replies that he's not familiar which the occupation but he had heard that it's a Kadathian occupation.
I know that when Seikyou is referenced it refers to known locations of earth as London, New York, France and Germany are bringing in Seikyou, also in Sekien no Inganock -What a Beautiful People- in the chapter where Gii fights one of the spawn if the Blood Tree Youki, Gii comments that John Doe's name is a Seikyouan name for "no one", that John's belief in God is a Seikyouan faith and in parts of the story refers to stuff as being originated from Seikyou like Sandwitches.
Whenever travel to Kadath is mentioned they always talk about airships however it also uses the same term to mention travel to Germany and Rome is done by airship as well but never described what these airships look like or their capabilities, considering the Engine Technology that's used throughout the series it wouldn't be surprising if these airships could also travel space (Inganock was made to be totally independent using Engines to manufacture food and the Street Knight, Crack Chrome was almost entirely made of Engines, there are also references to Engine Humans much like Moran),
so i am wondering, is Kadath a fictional continent on Earth or is it a separate world and if so is it dimensional or another planet

Kadath is another world loosely based on the Dream-world from a series of HP Lovecraft short stories. It's the world in which Souten no Celenaria, Sekien no Inganock, and Hikari no Valusia take place and the origin of the steam-based technologies seen within the series.
I don't know the specifics as I have not played Celenaria, but from what I understand it's a parallel world that is connected to Earth/Seikyou via a portal in the North Pole, hence only being accessible by airships, and being an apparently dangerous journey.
As for the level of technology, I don't believe they have space travel, but Kadath is where airships were invented, and they do have floating fortresses and other higher technology marvels, especially after the Infinite Mist around Inganock cleared, and the breakthoughs of the Phenomenon Equation Experiment were shared, allowing development of crack engines and other technologies based on the Equation.

Actually, and this is a spoiler

 Kadath (in the original story that the city is first mentioned in : The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath) is actually Boston. This is revealed at the end of the Lovecraft work the above poster is talking about.


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Why do Asagi's eyes change color?
Normally, Asagi seems to have reddish-orange eyes, but under certain circumstances they change to a bright red color. This happens, for instance, when she is hacking into the Nalakuvera. The change is a bit subtle and I'm not even sure if it's intended or if it's just a combination of different lighting and inconsistent animation, but it is at least noticeable. Here's a comparison shot with the two most extreme examples I could find:

Is this change actually occurring or is it an animation error? If it is real, what is the meaning behind her eyes changing color?

It must be a side effect of activating her "supah hakkah powahs!"

Is she actually a vampire? I just finished watching the series myself and there seems to be two vampires at the end, Reina and Moegi. We know for a fact that Reina confirmed Kojou + Yukina as her parents because she outright said it. Then she also has Hasta Aurum as a familiar / weapon. Moegi on the other hand never referred to Kojou as her father, so perhaps her Asagi is a vampire married to someone else?

There is nothing wrong there. Her eyes are red, and because of the sun, they look reddish-orange. Here is a link that will tell you everything about her:  http://strike-the-blood.wikia.com/wiki/Asagi_Aiba
On that site, it says her eyes are red.

Due to the second season, she is the Cain Priestess (the impersonation of the Itogami island). So it is the visual effect of waking her power up for being able to hack an unhackable (great example is when she fought against Lydianne Didier (The Tank Rider) in the second episode of the second season). Then also author told us that Asagi is the Cain Priestess directly.


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Is there any explanation for "Tequila" in the Kuragehime eyecatch?
Kuragehime has my favorite eyecatch of all the anime I've seen:
Kuragehime Eyecatch
It's very amusing, but the "tequila" is pretty irrelevant to the show. Tequila isn't in any way relevant to the plot. It seems to be just a random word that they chose to use.
Is there any explanation for why they say "tequila" in the eyecatch, or is it just a random non sequitur for comedic effect?

I always figured it was both a funny sounding word and because of the song by The Champs, which has been covered (and mocked) an absurd number of times.

@JonLin That's plausible, as kuragehime has lots of pop culture references. Unfortunately it may be difficult to find an authoritative source that confirms it, but that would answer the question completely if there is such a source.

Not sure if it's just me, but it sounds like they play the last few beats of the Tequila song backwards.

@Krazer I'm not sure if it's backwards or forwards, but they also sound similar to me.

Although it can't really be confirmed ( or has not been confirmed yet )

It's a reference to a song from the 70's, which was mostly instrumental but contained one single lyric repeated throughout: "tequila." I guess the style was similar enough to the miniature music bit in that eyecatch to make the reference clear to everybody old enough to get it.
  source1

Not sure which tequilla song they reffer to as there are about 20.

It's the song "Tequila" by The Champs.

The general consensus seems to be that it probably is referencing that song, but the question is asking for an official source confirming it. Hence, I don't think I should accept this at least until the bounty period has expired. If that period does expire and no official source is found, then I'll consider accepting such an answer.

@LoganM Sounds fair enough, I will try to search for more information in the mean while.

There doesn't seem to be any sort of official reason given for "Tequila" being in the eyecatch. I looked on every page I could find on their official website (http://kuragehime.noitamina.tv) and could not find an explanation. You'll have to translate the website into English to check.
The best explanation I can find is from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Funny/Kuragehime, which says that "Tequila" is Inherently Funny Word. According to the page:

Fact: Whether by pronunciation, spelling, or use, some words are just plain funny to certain characters.

There are a number of websites that speculate about the reasoning but most seem to conclude that there is no reason but that it's funny. (Example)

So, it is (supposed to be) some kind of Japanese wordplay?

From what I can tell, it's more that it's just something that they thought would sound funny.


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Why is Kabuto referred to as "Four Eyes"?
During the fight between Jiraiya and Tsunade against Orochimaru and Kabuto in the Search for Tsunade Arc, Jiraiya refers to Kabuto as "Four Eyes". Why did he get that name?

It is a slang for persons wearing pair of glasses.

Because he was the only one among all present there that was wearing a pair of glasses.
The term "Four eyes" refers to people that wear spectacles.

I don't recall the scene. But in Japanese, he probably actually referred to him as megane (meaning spectacles). Rather than using literal translations, subbers/dubbers prefer to use equivalent terms which will carry a similar tone in the target language. Since an equivalent epithet used in English for a bespectacled person is four-eyes, that is what was preferred.
Four-eyes is almost always used as a derogatory term in English. But this isn't necessarily the case with megane. That said, considering the character of Kabuto, I expect that that is how it was used in this case. IOW, four-eyes is a perfect fit.


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What is the jutsu that ninjas use to appear/disappear instantly?
Some users of the jutsu are Kakashi, Gai, Genma, Kabuto, etc. It can often be seen when Anbu members are dismissed.

Can you expand your question a little bit? like add references to manga/anime(where you see it happen)

iKlsR has given the correct answer.
Kakashi uses that technique during Chunnin exam Preliminary round and Gai uses it to appear infront of Rock Lee to punish him for using a forbidden move against Sasuke.

The most common one I know of and I think you are talking about is the Body Flicker Technique (also known as Teleportation Jutsu, or Shunshin no Jutsu).

The Body Flicker Technique is a high-speed movement technique,
  allowing a ninja to move short to long distances at an almost
  untraceable speed.*
To an observer, it appears as if the user has
  teleported. A puff of smoke is occasionally used to disguise the
  user's movements. It is accomplished by using chakra to temporarily
  vitalise the body and move at extreme speeds. The amount of chakra
  required depends on the overall distance and elevation between the
  user and the intended destination.

It could also be a shadow clone.

It seems very unlikely that it'd be a Shadow Clone. Do you have anything that could back up your opinion?

Meh. There is no jutsu that make one appear/disappear. It's only shadow clones that disappear. I remember an episode where naruto had to master his wind nature energy, and talked with asuma sensei. It was a shadow clone who was talking with azuma, when they were done talking, naruto undid the shadow clone and azuma mentioned it was a shadow clone. it was episode 56, minute 7:35.


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What is the origin of the "Hidden" event in Fairy Tail?
In Fairy Tail chapter 269 during the Grand Magic Games arc, there is an event called Hidden.
The participants are transported to different locations inside a giant city.
They have to find an attack each other using either a physical or magical attack.
The participant who successfully lands an attack earns a point, which gets deducted from the attacked participant.
Now comes the tricky part: The city gets filled with clones of the participants, and they will now have to hide between the clones and try to find the original ones. Because if a participant attacks a clone, he or she loses a point.
I find this very similar to multiplayer games such as Assassin's Creed where you have a target hiding between NPCs and you have to guess which one it is based on its behavior (e.g. if he acts in a strange suspicious way).
So is there some origin to this game concept?

The origin is literally impossible to trace. At best, we'll see who implemented this idea first but it could have been thought of a long time ago or done in many things that we don't have knowledge of. Hiro Mashima (the manga-ka) might be able to say where he got this or why he decided on this but its not exactly a rare idea to do this. Its pretty much a simple twist on a "zero sum" kind of game. I'm almost certain that Assassin's Creed was not the first to do this.
Come to think of it, in earlier chapters of Fairy Tail, Mashima used to scribble "Mashima's ramblings" in the gaps or sides of the page. From these "ramblings", we know Hiro Mashima does play video games (and at the very least, owns a PS3). So even if Assasin's Creed multiplayer was not the first to implement this system, there is some offchance that Mashima got the idea from playing that game.

As far as the origin of the concept is concerned, I think only Hiro Mashima can tell!
Not only Assassins Creed but many other games have this kind of concept. It's actually a very simple concept where you picture yourself as a wanted person and try to hide in the crowd around you.
Hiro Mashima just made it more exciting by cloning the contestants and making it way more difficult to find the right person.
So what I can answer is that he must have combined the concept of Hiding and the concept of Shadow Clones from Naruto!


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Where did Gary get these badges from?
In Episode 63 of the Pokémon anime, it can be seen that Gary has ten badges, seven of them unknown.

The known badges are Boulder Badge (top left), the Cascade Badge (bottom left), and the Rainbow Badge (next to the boulder badge).
Where are the other seven from? And why are there ten of them? Every conference needs eight badges, all of them from the same region.

Besides all the official gyms, there are also unofficial gyms. After beating those, you will also receive a badge. Therefore, I think that those badges were obtained in one or more of the unofficial gyms. The one just right from the top left looks somewhat like the Coal Badge from Sinnoh though.
Unofficial Gyms in the anime:

A.J.'s Gym
Fighting Spirit Gym
Kaz Gym

... and many more.
There were 15 gyms in the Kanto region, that is one gym for every type, minus Dark and Steel types. This means they were not featured in the anime/game to prevent confusion, but still are considered official gym's.

Anyways it would make sense that Ash only went for eight badges compared to a possible 15. Most of his badges in the first season were given to him without even finishing his gym leader battles plus the games only featured eight gyms so then changing it to a higher number in the anime might have been confusing for fans. Source

To enter a League Competition, though, you need to have eight badges from official Gyms. If all those badges are from unofficial Gyms, then Gary only has three and could not enter.

@Eric: Maybe he carries more than he shows ... But I'll wait and see if there's another answer.

@Eric: good point, ill look into is some more in the meanwhile :)

@looper Found some more information

I am confused. Are the seven "unknown" badges either unofficial or official gyms? because if three are the same as Ash's and there are 15 official gyms, take out the eight Ash has and we are left with seven unknown official badges, the exact number Gary has. So are they official or unofficial?

Unofficial gyms were never shown to give out badges as far as I recall.


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What is the origin of the face fault?
In many anime, when characters are surprised or seen to do something stupid, the other characters will sometimes fall or keel over on their faces in some comical positions with their legs in the air. Where did this originate and is it used in any other case and or culture where stupidity or shock is (or) not implied?

This link offers some information on it but it doesn't verify or explicitly state its origin.

When shocked or surprised, often by an absurdity or non sequitur, the
  listener may fall over onto his face, his limbs in a twisted mass
  above him. In its typical form, the character in question has just
  heard someone else say something so incredibly stupid that it, quite
  literally, floors them.

Why do you have one part of your question in block quotes? Are you quoting something?

@kuwaly editing, the blockquotes section was supposed to have a title, just changed it

In the Japanese language, a joke or story is said to "slip" (suberu) if at any point it fails to keep up with comedic timing or the joke is seen as unfunny. Therefore, the origin of the actual facefault, the specific action of falling on one's face or back, is likely a literal expression of the slipping (failing) joke, resulting in characters manifesting the metaphorical use of the word literally and physically.

@AjoKoshy sounds good, answer with a credible source. :)

@iKlsR, well it doesnt have a source so gave it in comment :P

According here

When shocked or surprised, often by an absurdity or non sequitur, the
  listener may fall over onto his face, his limbs in a twisted mass
  above him. In its typical form, the character in question has just
  heard someone else say something so incredibly stupid that it, quite
  literally, floors them. A device usually limited to humorous anime,
  this may have been imported from a similar trope in early American comic strips called the 'flip-take'. A variation used mainly in films
  (as falling on one's own face in real life tends to be dangerous) has
  the characters briefly faint backwards, as opposed to forwards. Often
  includes, and is confused with, Wild Takes.

fair enough but the bulk of your answer, sparing the 'flip-take' link was already stated as insufficient in the question.

@iKlsR, it's the only stated probable origins of face faults wherever I search. So it is probably it's origin. :)

same here, its not exactly along the lines of what i was hoping for but its ok.


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Why did Kabuto heal Hinata?
During the third part of the Chūnin exams when Naruto was fighting Neji, Hinata begins coughing up blood. Kabuto, who was masquerading as a member of ANBU, heals her and then, after she has been taken care of, he knocks Kiba out instead of killing him.
Was there any shown reason for this or was it ever explained? If so, what is the reason?

As far as I know, this was never fully explained. But if you think about it, it kind of makes sense.
First, if we look at the plot, healing Hinata is one of the best way for Kabuto to fulfill his mission. Hinata starts coughing, nearly vomiting blood. Let's say Kabuto had not interfere, her condition might have gone really bad. At some point this would have made a fuss in the spectators (imagine Kiba calling out loud "Hey, Hinata is dying !" and so on). This might interrupt the Chunin exam, which is something Kabuto doesn't want. His mission is to wait until Gaara fights Sasuke and then start the attack on the village. Healing Hinata at that moment is a good way to keep the exam going.
Killing Kiba would not help at all. What to do with the body? Furthermore, some ninjas can sense killing intent. So it's in no way a good idea to kill a worthless kid at that moment. Just knocking him is enough. If somebody finds the 2 kids (Hinata and Kiba) laying down but alive, nothing happens. While if you find dead bodies, this might alarm everyone and Kabuto's mission would be a failure.
This is also coherent with the role he is playing (a member of ANBU would have done something, right?).
Now, why did the scenarist include such a scene? It is more difficult to answer to that and what follows is only my own speculation. In my opinion, this is a way to indicate to the reader that Kabuto made it to the arena and is ready for the next part of his mission (last time we saw Kabuto, he was still far away from the arena, just after killing the ANBU agent he replaced).
This is also a way of raising the tension. The reader has more and more indications that something is going to happen soon (other ninjas talking about "the mission", ...). When Kabuto knocks Kiba, this indicates to the reader "uh oh, it's coming soon..."

and what did he do with those DNA?

@user2242 if what you are saying is true. Then what did he do with her DNA. Normally I would expect him making a lot of research on it and uncovering the Byakugan secrets, but he didn't. I think he did not get her DNA because Orochimaru was not interested in it but instead on the Sharingan so it was going to be useless to him.

Might contain spoilers but just minor ones if at all.
I am up to the part of Neji's flashback in Shippuden and it reminded me to inquire regarding this topic of Kabuto healing Hinata. I vaguely remember what was and wasn't revealed and what was going on at that time in the story as well as character development, and it hit me (at least If I am remembering it correctly) it was still unclear how close Kabuto was to Orochimaru and his loyalty to him, and Orochimaru was questioning his loyalty like whether he was going to kidnap or kill Sasuke when they had that meeting by the pillars.
But my point is, I believe it was meant to play into more whether he was a good guy or not, and if he was loyal to Leaf or Sound, etc... because when he healed her, it continued to bring more uncertainty and curiosity if his allegiances and whatnot. At least that's what just hit me and is making sense to me. I don't know, it's more of an assumption or feeling more than anything else.

In my opinion, I think it was a distraction because when he healed Hinata, she was knocked out, and then he knocked out Kiba and then cast the genjutsu.


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Are these One Piece characters based on western children's story characters?
Some characters oddly remind me of certain stories I remember reading as a child. While the similarities can be considered purely coincidental, three times in one group raises some suspicion. So I ask, Is there any credible source that can state if any One Piece characters are derived or based on western ones?
Here are some of the more closely related ones, the Straw Hat Pirates.

Chopper - Rudolph
Similarities: Reindeer, odd colored noses, shunned by their pack etc

Usopp - Pinocchio
Similarities: Liars, Long noses

Franky - Popeye
Similarities: Large forearms, relies on food for energy

Usopp's name is derived from the Japanese word "Uso" which means lie or falsehood (1). The elongated nose is an allusion to Pinocchio.
Franky was actually created with seiyu Kazuki Yao in mind after Eiichiro Oda (the mangaka) heard the voice actor's performance as Jango and Bon Clay, however it is likely that Franky is based on Pop-eye. In addition to the enlarged forearms, both characters are 34 and both rely on food for energy and powers (Popeye uses spinach and Franky uses cola) (2).
There are numerous clues that Chopper is an allusion to Rudolph (taken from this Wikia article):

Chopper is a reindeer with an odd colored nose
His official birthday is Christmas eve
"Chopper the Blue-nosed Reindeer" was produced and sung by the cast
Dr. Kureha is described coming down the mountain with Chopper's silhouette pulling a sleigh and then enters some homes via chimney

This is a pretty good answer; you might be able to improve it by adding information about any other One Piece characters which are also based on Disney, and a bit of a conclusion overall. :)

They're not actually Disney characters: Popeye is a comic strip character, Rudolph is a literary character, and Pinocchio, although used as the inspiration for the Disney movie, was a literary character first.
I will see if there are any others and also if there are any translated interviews from the mangaka with quotes about the inspiration for the characters. ^_^

@AlisonB I concur, nice answer, and yes, feel free to add any more you might know of. The only one not fully clarified was Usopp but fair enough.

I hope this isn't the case, but do you guys think that Brooks might be based on Slash? I mean, both are musicians. Brooks has Slash's hair down to a T.

@Nil - Given the visual similarities, I think it is safe to say that Brook's style was inspired by Slash. However, I think that's as far as it goes. I've read that he, like most of the characters introduced in the Thriller Bark arc, are based on characters from the Nightmare Before Christmas. So in this case, Jack Skellington. For comparison, Jango is actually based on Michael Jackson and he acts like MJ (as opposed to just looking like him).

@AlisonB you might want to add that to your answer

Also, checked into the One Piece wikia and they claim that Sanji is based on Mr. Pink from the movie Reservoir Dogs.

@Nil also see http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/3470/is-roronoa-zoro-based-on-rurouni-kenshin

Brook is Saul Hudson aka Slash (guns n roses). He is a musician and one of the best known guitarist in the world these days. Brook's personality doesn't make sense at all as he is a pervert, which may have good manners at times but acts silly. He also looks gay, which reminds me more of Micheal Jackson that would be the best fit in regards to his personality in the manga, but MJ doesn't have an Afro hairstyle as a trademark, whereas Slash does. However, if you look closely at the poster of the 'guns n roses' album 'Appetite for Destruction' you will see Brook with the skull face wearing the shades and hat like Slash does.

I will speculate Franky more as Arnold Schwarzenegger for he is a cyborg related to 'The Terminator' and he always wears underwear posing like a body builder. Arnold was a body builder and had won many titles; if you search on Google for some pictures of this guy you will see him posing with underwear. There are surely more clues with regard to that matter like his real name 'Cutty Flam' and the star tattoo that he has on his elbows.

Darn, I almost see Duke Nukem in him.
Zorro, the name says it all. Aka Sero, Don Diego de la Vega, he always wears his bandana when he fights seriously which makes him look like a pirate, but it also covers his eyes making him look like Sero when he is not wearing his hat. When it comes to sword play, he uses one-sword style which is unmatched because of his dexterity. It is like fighting someone using 3 swords and the 'Z' of his trademark makes it 3 slashes. They say Sero is a fox with three tails related to Zorro Santoryu.

For Usopp and Chopper you are correct, I am curious to know about the rest. Remember One Piece is supposed to be funny, this is why the personality differs from the real protagonist, but when they are serious in a fight it turns them into the real thing.


text:
Is Dracule Mihawk really the strongest swordsman?
When Shanks entered the Battle of Marineford, it was to end it. All he used was a single sword to stop Akainu (considered as the strongest in the marines now) from killing Coby.

Mihawk left the battlefield saying that he had only agreed to fight Whitebeard. So is this just a normal reason for him to leave or was he scared that he would have lost to Shanks? Because, in the war Mihawk fought with other pirates except for Whitebeard so it seems a bit contradictory to what he said while leaving.

Then there was a scene where he actually tracks down Shanks just to inform him about Luffy's first bounty. Is there any particular reason behind this?

Also, does Mihawk has some relation with Shanks or is he scared of him?

Akainu to Ace: My Magma is stronger than your Fire.
Shanks to Akainu: BP! My sword is stronger than your Magma. ;-)

Haha Thats what!
If Akainu is the strongest amongst the marines (and has the Haoshoku no haki) and then also Shanks handled it so easily!. If mihwak has not been shown with it then definitely he is not as strong as akainu.
So its possible that Shanks is way stronger than Mihawk!

If you look at the wiki page of Mihawk

Dracule Mihawk is a member of the Shichibukai and the first one to
  be revealed. He is also the current holder of the title, "Greatest
  Swordsman in the World.

This should answer the title question.
As for the relationship with Shanks (it is listed under the Friends list),

In the past, Mihawk was a rival to one of the most powerful pirates in
  One Piece, Shanks. However, Mihawk lost interest in him after Shanks
  lost his left arm. He retains a neutral, though somewhat friendly
  relationship with Shanks, and is able to track him down if the need
  arises. He and Shanks do manage to get along, regardless of the fact
  that the two are opposites in personalities. Shanks is also able to
  get Mihawk to join in when he threw a party to celebrate Luffy's
  coming, even when moments beforehand Mihawk had scorned how laid-back
  Shanks was.
Mihawk even mused out an apology to Shanks during the battle at
  Marineford, where he declares that he will not be holding anything
  back against Luffy right before going after him. When Shanks
  showed up during the Whitebeard War, Mihawk left the battle, stating
  that battling Shanks was beyond the scope of the World Government's
  agreement.

So its not that he's really scared of Shanks, but just that he relishes the Frenemy kind-of relationship with him, and that's why moves out of the battle, when Shanks enters the scene.

Lovely answer, but I'd like to add a link to this article on the OP Fan Page : http://www.opfanpage.com/2019/01/16/does-the-vivre-card-databook-confirm-that-mihawk-is-yonko-level . While not a good source in itself, it is citing the Vivre Card Databook (which is official) and I agree with the reasoning of the author. Tl;dr - Mihawk is yonkou level for certain and may be stronger too when it comes to swordplay.


text:
Where did the trope of yaoi hands start?
There's a trope in yaoi manga of the character's having disproportionately large hands, often at least as big as their face.
Example of Yaoi Hands:

Where did this start? What was the first manga to do this?

I have a theory that this is related to the late Renaissance artistic trope of portraying beautiful men with huge muscles and tiny heads: the guy in the picture is, if not muscular, definitely large in size, which would explain his large hands; and he has a comparatively small head for his size, which would make his hands look even larger. All I lack is a good connecting thread between late Renaissance portrayals of beautiful men and modern Japanese portrayals of beautiful men in homosexual relationships for the pleasure of female readers.

This answer might be inconclusive due to lack of information on the topic.
According to Know Your Meme, the term "Yaoi Hands" was originated from MangaFox Otaku message board.

Origin
The earliest known mention of Yaoi hands appeared on the Otaku message board MangaFox on March 23rd, 2010, in reference to art featured in the manga Junjou Romantica: Pure Romance. While the image is no longer accessible, the description pointed out the oversized hands depicted on the characters Usami and Misaki.

So.. yes, the term was not originated from Japan. In fact, Japanese might not have heard the term, as shown in step55524's Togetter (Japanese) consisting Japanese tweets by カラサワ about an encounter to an image of "yaoi alpacas" to the revelation of 「やおいの手」 (yaoi no te, yaoi hands).

According to anime-planet, the earliest manga with "Yaoi Hand Syndrome" was Touzandou Tentsui Ibun (1998), a shonen-ai manga by Shungiku Nakamura.
She's also dominating the category with 4 other manga:

Mangetsu Monogatari (2001, shoujo ai)
Junjou Romantica (2002, shonen ai)
World's Greatest First Love: Ritsu Onodera's Affair (2008, shonen ai)
Junjou Mistake (2008, shonen ai)


text:
Why is "aku soku zan" used in different animes?
In Rurouni Kenshin, Hajime Saitoh had a philosophy of life or something like that called "aku soku zan" that was something like "kill the evil immediately" which he mentions when fighting Makoto Shishio. Now in Dragon Ball Super Toppo says to Goku the same "aku soku zan". What is this really? Is this something from animes or the history of Japan or something?

I found a few claims online that this was a motto of the real-life Shinsengumi, the group Hajime Saito (and the real historical figure he was based on) was a member of.  Wikipedia, however, claims the motto is most likely fictitious, but fits the real-life beliefs of the Shinsengumi, so it's possible that it entered folk history after Rurouni Kenshin. Either that or DBS was making a direct reference to Rurouni Kenshin, which the various Shounen Jump series do occasionally.

I didn't find any good evidence at all for where this phrase comes from. A few weird Shinsengumi fan sites and Urban Dictionary claim that it was a real historical phrase, but Wikipedia and the question I posted to History SE claim it was not a real phrase and was invented by Nobuhiro Watsuki for the manga. Wikipedia claims without citation:

The "Aku Soku Zan" motto he lives by (悪即斬, most literally, "Kill those who are evil immediately,", translated as "Slay Evil Immediately" in the English dub and as "Swift Death to Evil" in the VIZ manga) is most likely fictitious, though it does encompass a common sentiment of the Shinsengumi during the Bakumatsu.

The only semi-reliable source among these is the Google Books search that Avery did for the History SE answer, which turned up no results for the phrase anywhere in the 20th Century. The History SE answer also points out that the phrase smacks of the kind of bad Classical Chinese that a non-expert modern Japanese speaker would come up with, which is at least decent circumstantial evidence.
All I really have to go on at this point are instincts, which tell me that if it's this hard to find any decent historical source on this phrase, it's highly unlikely that a mangaka doing a weekly action series for Shounen Jump would have managed to dig it up, so it was probably a fabrication. I don't know whether it was Watsuki's specifically or if it was one of the weird fabricated "facts" that sometimes show up in happy fun-time history picture books aimed at grade schoolers that you buy in the gift shop at the museum, but my gut says someone made this up in the modern day.
This would mean that when other anime use the phrase, they're referencing Rurouni Kenshin. They might be doing so intentionally; several high-profile manga creators of today, including Eiichiro Oda of One Piece and Hiroyuki Takei of Shaman King worked as assistants for Watsuki, and the series has remained popular, leading to a live action film released in 2012, with a sequel in 2014, so it's still in the public consciousness. It's also possible that after the phrase was introduced in Rurouni Kenshin, it became part of folk history, the way American films like Titanic have influenced the public's view of the historical events.


text:
If Mayu had no contact with the outside world, how did she contact people in the outside world?
When Mayu created the selector LRIGs, she was being raised in solitude with no access to the outside world or other humans, apart from maids who made sure her simple needs were met. They did not speak to Mayu whilst in her solitude.
Knowing this, how was it possible for the selector LRIGs to leave Mayu's confined space and enter into the outside world?

The implication is that, upon her death, Mayu's ghost was what made her imagined Eternal Girl system into a reality. (In the flashbacks, we see her orchestrating it from her room with the implication that at that point it was all in her warped imagination.)


text:
Social etiquette in anime/manga/pop culture Japan conventions
When attending anime/manga/pop culture conventions, is there any guidance or any good manners I need to observe?  Is there something specific I need to observe, or is it just like the other "normal" conventions? For example, when you meet with a cosplayer or meet and greet with your favorite author, should we get hyped up, or do we have to have a poker face?

Legit question IMO. As far as I know, there are no rules other that the ones that apply in any convention, such as "do not be rude with cosplayers, people and artists, don't be too pushy, etc". Just good manners :)

since each con has  different audience and theme, so the answer is no ?

Are you asking specifically for animecon or just conventions in general?

all related anime/manga/ conventions @Dimitrimx
i will edit my question

Rule #1: please please please take a shower and use deodorant!

All the etiquette rules which apply to other conventions should also apply to anime/manga cons, but I suspect you're interested in nuances  specifically related to this topic. I can't think of such situations which would need clarification myself, but perhaps you have a list of specific con-related questions, in which case you should add them to your question.

@Pyritie looks like you really have a  bad experience with odor in conventions lol ( well, i cant argue with that, since i got the same experience )

The etiquette shouldn't differ much, if at all, between cons. But here's just a short checklist for you.
Be sure to respect the rules. Most conventions have a set of rules on their websites, more often even several. Take for example the dutch animecon which has general house rules and recording/photography rules. Most of these are updated every year, so be sure to re-read them before you visit again.
Some special events, such as concerts might also feature a special subset of rules. These often can  be found on the  events website, or will be told at the beginning of such a show.
Besides those, there are some good practices:

Don't take pictures of cosplayers without asking.

They try hard to look and act like their character, and often have special poses which make their characters look better/more appealing. Taking pictures without asking could annoy and sometimes even anger them. So be sure to ask them if it is OK first!

If handed props, be gentle.

In some occasions, for example if you asked, you might be handed props to feel. Those props may look like sturdy broad swords, but are often not made to be swung around. Be gentle and careful, they put a lot of time in those things

Free hug signs don't equal free grope signs.

Often you will see guys and girls alike walk around with a "free hug sign". When hugging said people, keep your hands level. No butt squeezes, no groping. (Yes, these things actually happen.) Also be sure to show your intention to hug them! Hugging them without them expecting it could end painfully for you.

Don't randomly hug, grab, or touch people.

Although this is often considered normal practice, at cons this somehow seems to be forgotten quite often. Just don't do it; keep it fun for everybody.

Don't be too pushy.

If people tell you to back off, back off. You may be very enthusiastic and happy, but some people might not like such behavior. And if they tell you so, just stop.

Unsure? Ask first!

If for whatever reason you are uncertain about rules or behaviour, you can always ask the convention grounds about it through an email. Or once on-site you can always ask the staff/gofers of said con.
Besides that, you are free to enjoy the conventions as you wish. No need for poker faces, but being too excited can be a bother to people as well. Just try to maintain some common sense throughout all the excitement.

@jackwise As a fellow cosplayer I totally agree ;)

Also, depending on how the con venue is organised there may be reasons to not take photos in particular places - e.g. where lots of people need to walk through a narrow space.

Don't take pictures of cosplayers without asking. Im confused about this. In what context should people avoid taking pictures? If they are doing some kind of show or posing, i kind of assume people will start taking videos/pictures. Also whatever you photograph there will be cosplayers on the picture no matter how hard you try to avoid it. I'm assuming you meant in a way that you should not take a picture of someone who is just walking/chatting around which kind of seems to be obvious.

@Proxy This might seem very common to you, and me as well. But it happens a lot. People just walking by and taking a picture. Or when you just dropped a piece of paper, and you are bending over, and they take a picture. You just took of your cosplay helmet/jacket because of the heat, and you guess it, they take a picture. Off course if you see them posing, and other people are taking pictures as well, it should be OK, however, you could always still ask to be sure. Accidentally including another cosplayer happens, but those ain't your main focus in the picture, and therefore should be ok.

Yeah, i see. I visited only 1-2 conferences so i never noticed it(well not that i have even looked at it too much)

One rule that is heavily emphasized at the cons I've been to is:
please, please, please
Observe basic hygiene practises
Conventions can smell really, really bad:

Lots of people --> Heat to enduce sweat
Lots of costumes made of unbreathable material --> Sweaty cosplayers
Close proximity of seats --> Your nose being close to the sweat.
Anime fans and general geek culture aren't known for great hygiene --> unwashed beards, clothes, etc.
Some venues do not have air conditioning

Hygiene doesn't start at the venue - If you are taking public transport, you may end up squished against a wall under another con-goers armpit (I speak from experience).
Some conventions will actually kick you out if you smell too bad (although, I'm sure if it is a medical reason it is okay).
If you wash each morning of the convention (don't be tempted to skip) and bring some deodorant, you should be fine.
Eat healthily and enjoy the con.

i havent seen some people that actually kicked out from conventions because they smell so bad...

I haven't either, and presumably it is only for extreme cases (if someone pooped themselves and refused to wash or something). But conventions do have it in their own rules:
http://www.bak-anime.com/?page_id=11

Dice Tower Con (a board games convention) recommends 6/2/1 - minimum each of 6 hours sleep, 2 meals and 1 shower per day. With emphasis on minimum.

Most fandom events these days seem to recommend the 6/2/1 rule, and it's just good, common sense even outside of conventions.

Of the things that I've done when attending conventions:

Cosplay doesn't mean consent.  I realize that's more catch-termy than anything else, but it translates to something very simple; just because someone's dressed up for the event doesn't mean that they want or have to take a picture with you.  Some conventions even have specific areas for this to take place; should you want to get a picture anyway, see if they're going to make their way to that area and arrange a time to meet with them there instead.
Be mindful of where you are on the convention floor, and avoid stopping in the middle of it.  This is especially true of larger conventions, but if you stop in the middle of the floor to look at a particular artist or particular thing, you run the risk of someone running  into or tripping over you, which would be an undesirable experience for everyone involved.  It's good to have a healthy interest in the stuff around you, but please be sure to pull off to the side and look at it, instead of stopping right in the middle of ped traffic.
Don't be a jerk.  Artists, actors, mangaka and creators alike are all people, and should be treated with some level of respect and courtesy.    Don't get upset if the thing you want is sold out, and don't decide to pitch a fit right in the middle of the shops because you felt like their prices are too high.  Most importantly, if you're meeting them in person, please don't act any other way than with how you'd want someone to act if you met them in person.  This means, you can't complain about how long it took for them to get there to meet you, and you can't make unreasonable demands of them just because you're a paying customer.
If you're ever confused, read the site/ask information.  The site usually posts what's acceptable months in advance for cosplayers, and what they expect of guests, so it's important to be peruse this listing.  Additionally, this can provide guidelines/rules for expected con behavior, which has to be observed for everyone to be safe.  Failure to do so can and often will result in you being moved to the back of the line or removed from the convention floor.

Number 3 hit me so hard...
"Don't get upset if the thing you want is sold out, and don't decide to pitch a fit right in the middle of the shops because you felt like their prices are too high."
i am so dumb...

Which convention did you attend @Makoto

I've been to Denver Comic Con for several years in a row now, only missing one due to a mandatory work vacation to the Dominican Republic.  I've seen some things there, and largely the convention has cleaned itself up and made these things more second nature other than a guessing game.


text:
Details about the Crystal ball in the first episodes of Naruto
I was starting Naruto and noticed the Hokage using a crystal ball to watch Naruto.
1) How does the crystal ball work?
2) What's its range?
3) What are its limitations?
4) Does any of the other characters in future episodes use it (tag spoilers)?

I was searching on the third hokage crystal ball. I happen to come across this link  here on a wiki

A technique that uses a crystal ball to track a particular individual anywhere they are. There are a few restrictions about the person that is subjected to pursuit. The user must know that person's chakra pattern. If someone can be targeted for pursuit, they may be very far away, the crystal ball will be able to confirm their position. As this technique is infallible for intelligence purposes, the Third Hokage used it to maintain public order in the village.

http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Telescope_Technique

it's best to quote the relevant content of the link you post because if the link to the site was to go down your answer will be invalidated. "I think copying and pasting the content of that link as though i invented them, is not right."  you can use > to indicate a quote and to also include the link indicating the quote came from that link.

The footer of the page says: Content is available under CC-BY-SA. which is the same license SE uses. So it is perfectly fine to copy & paste contents from that page as far as you link to it. The whole purpose of wiki pages is to provide free knowledge, and allow for redistribution and modification of the content.

Much like many of the original concepts of the series (See, the Kawarimi no Jutsu), most of the "magical"-like aspects of the world has been scrapped, probably in hopes of the fans forgetting about them because they made no sense and had no explanation.
The Third Hokage's crystal ball is like that.
Not much had been explicitly explained, but it could be argued that the crystal ball is a display for surveillance cameras or other similar sensors, pre-set all over the village. This is only a wild theory though, it has no basis in the series whatsoever.