text:
Did manga from North Korea undergo the same audience changes as in the rest of Asia?
I was looking at Tongil Tour's website and saw that manga is sold on the streets of the DPRK:

I was able to find one manga that was translated into english and a site that sells books from the DPRK, but all ones that looked like they were manga (manhwa?) were targetted at young children.
The Gekiga movement in Japan started surfacing in 1957, which brought about manga targetted at older audiences and dealing with more gritty subject matters. However, Korea has been divided since 1945
Nowadays both Japanese manga and South Korean manhwa target several audiences. Did North Korean manga miss out on this development and continues to target only children - or are there manga for other readers too?

I imagine that an answer to this would be difficult, considering the capricious nature of the DPRK and its openness to sharing catalogs of its media.

i think it would be easier to brainwash children with manhwa depicting they great Kim Family as Super Seiyans protecting the world with their god like powers and Unicorns

Of course, North Korea is pretty secretive so not much information is out there in the open - but I did contact the owner of this North Korean manhwa collection and he gave me some insight of his own.

You'll see that "Blizzard" is clearly for an older readership than the others, but most of them are aimed at children. There are also manhwa explicitly used in schools for instructional purposes (how to detect and report spies, for example, along with ones about being a good
  citizen, student, etc.). It looks like a large percentage of the comics are actually geared for export and are sold in China.

Culturally, it is still somewhat of a stigma, I think, for North Korean adults to be reading comic books, and that's in keeping with their general conservatism. In South Korea, adults began reading comics on a large scale only in the late 80s with the explosive popularity
  of "The Alien Baseball Team." When I grew up in SK in the 60s, adult readers were either delinquents or women (who would read rented romance series the way we used to get videotapes at Blockbuster).

Part of the appeal of Gekiga works were that they were gritty and covered topics like sex and murder. A big feature was that they were drawn like a movie - scenes were dramatic and authours experimented with different angles for the best effect.

Ironically, their comic style for action seems to be similar to american war comics.

I think because of the North Korean's conservatism (and the preference of socialist thought over freedom of expression), North Korean artists decline to veer far from the status quo - especially with the threat of 're-education' camps.
A lot of visitors to North Korea liken it to a South Korea in the 60s & 70s that stagnated. Even though Blizzard seems to target an older audience - I believe it is still targetted at young (army-age) boys, much like the Western comics from that time period.
Other manhwa he linked me to were similarly nationalistic - including one of the most popular titles - Great General Mighty Wing - a thinly veiled advert for juche ideology, a family-based society and a war against evil enemy (in this case, wasps).
So, just as North Korean society has evolved much slower than the outside world, manhwa seems to have also.
== Update ==
A question of mine got featured in NKNews' "Ask a North Korean" - "Do North Koreans like reading books".
From someone who lived in the regime:

one day, North Korea put a new show on TV on which they read children’s stories from other countries during the time when they used to air animations. This new TV program was so popular that all children and adults began waiting for the show.
  [...]
  The books adult readers rented were mostly fiction rather than comic books. As far as comic books for adult readers were concerned, they were mostly about Chinese fantasy or stories set in the historical Koryo and Chosun Dynasty.

It seems while some comics were targetted at adult readers, they still did not go near the topics dealt with in gekiga manga.

The government ban on comic books was loose. As a result, it was easier for vendors to sell or lend them for profits. But foreign novels usually contained and revealed aspects of capitalism. So vendors wouldn’t display them out in public. Instead, they would only lend them to people they were close to in order to avoid any trouble.

Traditional books on the other hand were monitored more stringently and shared via familiar connections. One of her favourites was 'If Tomorrow Comes'

The American book, “If Tomorrow Comes,” was a story about a man during his imprisonment. Rape and homosexuality were depicted in the story, both of which were topics inconceivable in North Korea at that time. This is why I’m certain that this story wasn’t written by a North Korean.

Further info:
I recommend checking out this interview

I wonder how common reading comics or the like is for adults in other East Asian countries. While e.g. Doraemon and Chibi Maruko-chan might be very pervasive, I'm not sure if it's necessarily common that people will seriously read comics (or watch anime). Anecdotally, I suppose, I can also "relate" somewhat to the connotations of childishness or immaturity mentioned in this answer.


text:
What was the first anime to feature an OP/ED that was not performed by a Japanese group/artist?
I noticed a few animes in the 00s feature Western opening and closing themes.
For example:

Ergo Proxy's ending theme is Paranoid Android by Radiohead
Speed Grapher's opening theme is Girls on Film by Duran Duran.

Both of which are pretty big names.
But, most anime usually have an artist/group performing the songs that hails from Japan.
When did a track from the West first appear as an opening or ending to an anime?

To clarify, is this specific to the Japanese version, or does this include the new openings bundled with dubbings? EG Pokemon, Dragonball Z

@Quill the original Japanese version (although, I'm sure dubs might be interesting too)

In your eyes by Samantha Newark in Project A-Ko (1986)
The earliest use of an English song as an opening in the Japanese version of an anime I can find is In your eyes by Samantha Newark in Project A-Ko (1986), however, English songs were fairly common in versions dubbed for North America and Europe, often getting complete song rewrites instead of translations.
See the differences between Dragonball Z's English and Japanese openings for a good example of this.
Later on, however, when they stopped shipping new openings with anime (around 2000, for memory), English songs became more common, sporting names like Radiohead (Ergo Proxy, 2006) and Oasis (Eden of the East, 2009). An early and particular favourite of mine is Serial Experiments Lain's opening, Duvet by Boa (1998).

Ah, I'd thought of "Duvet" when I saw this question as well!

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Is Bishamon a god of war or a god of fortune?
In Noragami, somethings are still not clear to me. Bishamon was first introduced as a god of war. In fact, Yato said that she was the mightiest god of war. But in the second season, she is said to be one of the seven gods of fortune.
The question is what exactly is Bishamon a god of. Is it common for gods to be for two entirely different things?
Same goes for Yato. He was said to be a god of war and also a god of calamity. And why is there a need of two gods of war if Yato is a god of war?

In real-world mythology, gods with a whole bunch of seemingly-unrelated things in their portfolios are very common.  There is usually a mythological or symbolic connection: think of Hades, Greek god of the dead ... who are in the underworld ... which is under the earth ... which is where we mine metal and gemstones from ... so he's also the god of wealth!  And so are pantheons with more than one god of war; this often indicates that two different cultures' religions have gotten syncretized.

In short:

Bishamon is both, the God of War and the God of Fortune.
Yato is not only given the title of the God of War and the God of Calamity, but is also a self-proclaimed Delivery God. Besides these:

 • In Chapter 40, Fujisaki Kouto revealed that Yato is a "God of Depravity," meaning that Yato only knows how to steal and not to give, and that those people around him will suffer terribly.
 • He has also decided to become a God of Fortune now.Source

In detail:
Firstly, a God of Fortune is the title given to a God who brings good luck or uses his/her special abilities/powers to guard or enhance one's everyday life, and is, for the most part, not directly related to their powers (so as to say, they do not cast a spell which causes good fortune to come to someone).
Neither is one "born" a God of Fortune, or if one is, he/she may be stripped of the title should they bring dishonor to their kind (Similarly, other Gods can also be given the title of the God of Fortune.
As mentioned on the Wikia:

The Seven Gods of Fortune (七福神 Shichi Fukujin), commonly referred to in English as the Seven Lucky Gods, are the seven gods of good fortune in Japanese mythology and folklore.
They are some of the most widely worshipped, prayed to and wished upon Japanese gods in modern times, with figurines or masks of them being especially commonplace in small businesses.

Like for Kofuku, it's almost impossible (if not completely impossible) for her to become a "God of Fortune", given that she is the Goddess of Poverty.

As the Goddess of Poverty, Kofuku has always been hated and scorned. She was never allowed to own her own Shinki, possibly since it would augment her powers of disaster and create further destruction and chaos.Source

Secondly, a God doesn't have any "occupation". They are given the title based on their powers and how they use it. For example, Yato is technically only a God of War. The other titles were given to him based on how he used them. In the past, he used to be merciless and cruel, using his powers to kill other Gods in the battle, giving him the title of "God of Calamity".
Similarly, there is no reason why a God cannot be given two or more titles. This trait can be seen in real-life Gods and Goddesses as well. For instance:

Saraswati (Sanskrit: सरस्वती, Sarasvatī) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, arts, wisdom and learning. Source
Parvati (IAST: Pārvatī) is the Hindu goddess of fertility, love and devotion; as well as of divine strength and power. Source

These are just two among many Gods and Goddesses who are believed to have more than one power for themselves.
I do not know much about Buddhism, however since the Gods of Fortune are based on real-life counterparts, of which you can read in detail here, it is not at all far-fetched for the Gods to wield more than one power or for more than two, or even ten Gods to share the same title. Even if their Buddhist counterparts in real life wield only one power or even none, the concept of the
Gods having more than one title is nothing new.

That seems to make sense. Are there similarities between the concepts of gods and goddesses among the japanese or budhism and hinduism?

@Alchemist They all have their similarities and differences. I don't know much about this subject. You can read about them in detail here. You can find a more comprehensive comparison chart here.

I removed a cut off sentence, Ashish. I think you started it then made the paragraph above it.

@u人ʘ‿‿ ʘ人u Thanks. You're correct. I just forgot to erase that sentence after writing the paragraph above it.

he's both, kinda. on Wikipedia it says

Bishamon is the Japanese name for Vaiśravaṇa, a Buddhist deity.

following the link for Vaiśravaṇa and looking at the In Japan section it says

In Japan, Bishamonten (毘沙門天), or just Bishamon (毘沙門) is thought of as an armor-clad god of war or warriors and a punisher of evildoers. Bishamon is portrayed holding a spear in one hand and a small pagoda in the other hand, the latter symbolizing the divine treasure house, whose contents he both guards and gives away. In Japanese folklore, he is one of the Seven Lucky Gods.

the reason why i say kinda is because wikipedia says Bishamon is the god of war or warriors, however another site says he is a god of warriors but not of war

Bishamon is the god of warriors (but not of war) and prayed to for victory prior to battle. He is also a god of defense against foreign invaders, a deity of healing with the power to save emperors from life-threatening illness and to expel demons of plague (details below), to keep personal enemies at bay, and to reward followers with riches, good fortune, and even children. Around the 15th century, he was enlisted as one of Japan's Seven Lucky Gods owing to his association with treasure and wealth.

Source: Overview (Second Paragraphg)
so technically he is a god of warriors but since the definition of a warrior is

a brave or experienced soldier or fighter.

and are soldiers are generally used for wars it's probably common for people to think that a god of warriors is a god of war as well
the above quote also indicates he's one of the 7 lucky gods because of his association with treasure.
it's not unheard of for gods to be associated with more than one thing, for instance Amaterasu is seen as the goddess of the sun, but also of the universe and Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto is the goddess of dawn, mirth and revelry.
i don't know much about Buddhism so i'm not sure about their deities but it's possible some could be associated with more than one thing since some of the kami in Shintoism are like Bishamon and are also Buddhist Deities.

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


text:
Where can I buy anime cel sheets?
I'm somewhat interested in buying cel sheets for some of my favourite shows, but it seems to be very hard to find somewhere that stocks them.
I have had the opportunity at a convention once, but I'm pretty sure they were counterfeit, so I decided against it. I unfortunately don't remember the retailer's name to look them up.
I have been looking for a while, but almost every website I come across has been shut down.
Looking on Cels.org, all the websites are down. The ones that aren't, have a live website, but with a closure notice:

Are there any companies (preferably based in the West) that sell cel sheets?

As a side note, pretty much all shows use digital animation, so anything is either likely to be pre-owned, or manufactured specifically for selling.  Even long-time holdouts (like Sanae-san and Doraemon) have switched over.  There simply isn't enough supply, generally, for what was effectively a niche market to begin with.

By "cel sheets" do you mean hand-painted animation cels? In Japanese, these are called seru-ga (セル画). When searching, "anime cel" will give you more search results than "cel sheets" (which is not a common phrase). The line drawing that corresponds to the seru-ga is called a douga. When purchasing, ascertain whether your purchase includes the douga and/or the background. Some do, some don't. If you get all three as a set, that is more valuable.
Instead of searching for online shops that sell only cels, search for online retailers that sell a variety of anime merchandise, especially used. Anime produced from the late 1990s to the present are computer-animated, so hardly any animation cels have been produced since then (which is why cel-only shops disappear: not enough stock available to flow in). Thus, you are generally looking for pre-owned cels that a previous collector has re-sold to a used goods shop.
There are licensed anime cels produced by the production company but which are not from the anime series itself, and which greatly vary in value (or lack thereof), such as these: hanken-seru (版権セル) a.k.a hansoku-seru (販促セル) which are cels hand-painted for promotional artwork such as posters and toys, sericel (セリセル), fukusei-ga (複製画) a.k.a. rirezu-seru（リレイズセル), and chroma-cel a.k.a. ripuro-seru-ga (リプロ・セル画).
Doujin cels (同人セル画) are fanart cels made by Japanese doujinshika (doujin artists) and look just as real as the original ones, so take note of the word 同人.

Some places to buy authentic anime cels are:

Mandarake (stores in the U.S. as well as in Japan, ships internationally)
Yahoo! Japan Auctions in Japan, but you can use a proxy service to bid and ship internationally, such as Celga (which has staff in the U.S. as well as in Japan and specializes in proxy bidding for cels)
Cel-Ga (U.K., ships internationally)
Entertainment Hobby Shop JUNGLE a.k.a. Anime Jungle (shop in U.S. as well as in Japan, international shipping <--- they sometimes show up at conventions; if you see Jungle's booth, rest assured that they're selling authentic pre-owned anime cels)
Asylum Anime
Animegame.com (which is now selling on eBay)
Takamura-Store (exporting from Japan)

Have a look at my gallery on http://www.kochigallery.com/#!comics-japan/c1r18. I offer hundreds of original anime cel and sketches from anime such as Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Captain Harlock, Akira, Sailor Moon, Galaxy Express 999, City Hunter and many others! You may find something you like there!
Edit
we have updated our website, which now comprises more than 200 anime celluloids and sketches!

We are a London based retailer selling authentic anime cels via our online store www.cel-ga.com As we purchase Cels either directly from the production companies or certified dealers, we can guarantee the authenticity of the items we sell. Our stock includes including some rare items from Studio Ghibli, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and others.
Sorry this is a bit of a late reply but hopefully this will be useful for anyone looking at this later on.

authors: Γιαννης Ιορδανοπουλος


text:
Who are the characters on the girls' planes in Shirobako?
In the intro to Shirobako, the girls are shown flying in fighter jets. Each of them has a design under the cockpit - presumably related to the characters.
I can't figure them all out though.

This is the easiest one, the two toys are delusions of Aoi's that she interacts with often during the show.

Shizuka's plane has the  pig with a plum-shaped nose. This was the character that she got to play in costume during one of the episodes.

Misa's plane has a depiction of a penguin - from the show that inspired her to join the company she was making tires for.
However, I don't know what the final two are referring to.

Did I miss something obvious? Any ideas how these pictures / characters are related to the cast?

Ema's is one of the characters from their Seven Lucky Battle Gods anime.

I'm not sure about the one for Midori, but it might be the guy behind her in the red armour.

Hmm I don't believe Midori's is the guy behind the woman. The facial hair matches neither in color nor shape.

This blog post suggests that the final character might be Fyodor Dostoevsky, a famous Russian author, journalist and philosopher.

We see that Midori is a big fan of Dostoevsky's in the anime occasionally, including dropping the title of arguably his most famous book Crime & Punishment.

Dostoevsky's influence is one of the reasons why Midori wanted to be a writer in the first place.

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


text:
How are games in the School Days franchise linked?
I have played, watched and read the media from the original School Days, but I don't know much about the other games in the series and how they're linked to each other.
I even saw there's a tower defence game in the series, which seems bizarre.

What order should the games be played in and how do the games fit together (are they all in parallel universes for example?). Are there any alternate adaptations of the games while I wait for them to be translated?
Use the spoiler tags if necessary please.

I made a small diagram to show the order the games came out:

School Days is the main & first game in the series. It was remade in School Days HQ with updated graphics and additional uncensored scenes.
Summer Days takes place during the same time period, but in an alternate universe. The story is told from the perspective of Setsuna Kiyoura. It was remade as Shiny Days and an English translation of this has been announced recently. The original Shiny Days came bundled with bonus games Ahoge Battle and Strip Battle Days which haven't been confirmed/unconfirmed by JASTUSA yet whether they will be in the English version or not.

Cross Days is a story that takes place at the same time as School Days, but with a different cast. There is no English version yet, although there was a trial CD at one stage.
Island Days is a VN/Tower Defence Game, where weapons picked up in the main story line are used to defend yourself during the tower-defence stage. It seems to just be a spin-off unplaced in time.
Alternative Versions
As of writing, only School days has an animated version, but Summer Days and Cross Days have small manga adaptions - An anthology and a two-volume series respectively. There are light novels of all three games.
There doesn't seem to be much secondary merchandise for Island Days.

I don't know anything about School Days besides that it has Nice Boats, but the VNDB relation graph for it lists a lot more games: https://vndb.org/v14/rg

If someone wants to take that and clarify the links a bit more that would be cool. As far as I can tell though, they're only slight links like some shared character/setting


text:
Where did Yaoi Paddles come from?
Sometimes on convention pages I see bans on Yaoi Paddles; canoe-like paddles with Yaoi or similar phrases (For example Seme, Uke or Yuri) written on them.

I understand that someone who has a Yaoi Paddle goes around smacking people on the butt with it, which presumably is why they are banned (as I've seen a lot of people complaining that they hurt) - but why is this a thing in the first place?
When and where did Yaoi Paddles originate?

I've seen some claims of origin, but none were very reliable sources

I know that they came up around '00/'01 and gained more popularity in between '02 and '04 due to the bans. I believe they originally started sales on Yaoi con, shortly after going to ota con. Where a set of people started randomly hitting people with it without consent, which also lead to the ban.

@Dimitrimx is it a purely western thing?

Seeing that it is banned on several cons through out the United States, Europe and even several in Asia, I don't think it can be limited to a 'western thing'

Following up on some stories I heard of yaoi fans I know from conventions, and a lot of trips on the WayBack machine to find old/deleted posts following the first ban, I came down to this pretty consistent story both online and among the fans.
The original yaoi paddle was made as a prank between 2 friends. The one receiving it was a yaoi manga/doujishin artist, which made quite a bit of his income this way. It is said that this event happened at yaoi con, hence the interest of other people at the time, and the huge surge of requests for the yaoi paddles.

I originally made the first yaoi paddle, with woodburned letters and a high gloss acrylic finish for the owner of the company "hen da ne".
It was meant as a joke since he and I are friends and over 33% of his business relies on the sale of yaoi manga and doujinshi, and his business model includes yelling out catch phrases to passerbys in con dealer rooms (such as "geeeeet your red hot yaoi books right here!" and "hot boys in tight pants right here").
He liked the present so much, that he decided to mass produce them (to my dismay, without my final consent). And thus, has sold them ever since.

From http://adf-fuensalida.deviantart.com/journal/15376535
The post also said that the original yaoi paddle was invented in 2002/2003 by akicafe, and the rights of mass production have since been bought by hendane
Shortly after the start of the mass production, bans started to follow fast, due to the high number of "incidents" surrounding the paddles on cons. Several of these stories can be found online. All stating something along the lines of "I felt a intense pain running through my bottoms, as I turn around to see who did it, I see this small girl carrying a huge yaoi paddle melt into a group of people in cosplay with more paddles". Some of these cases even stated that the paddle broke/splintered, leading to their upgrade in 2005, and also the introduction of yuri/uke paddles.
In between 2004 and 2006, the paddles gained their massive media surge in response to the bans and police involvement. Following this media surge, even more bans occurred as a preventive measure on cons world wide.
TL;DR
They originate from a prank between a yaoi artist and his friend around 2002, following up the purchase of mass production rights in between 2002-2003.


text:
Why is the release of season 2 of Attack on Titan delayed?
The first season of Attack on Titan aired from April 6, 2013 to September 28, 2013, as stated on Wikipedia. Although the anime is popular and there are demands for the second season, the second season is not yet released. I came across this article, which explains the reason for the delay as:

According to the director, there are a lot of things happening in the "Attack on Titan" franchise this year, which hinders the second season production and has delayed the hit-anime to 2016. It was also revealed the delay is due to Hajime Isayama's best-selling manga lacking two-story arc, which make it impossible for Araki to come up with a new season.

This makes fans (like me of course) impatient... What is this lacking two-story arc referring to?

A similar article on earlier date in Jun 2015: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/attack.on.titan.director.talks.s2.delays.rumored.plot.discussed/55201.htm. However, the news of the 2nd season has been announced since Nov 2014. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-11-21/attack-on-titan-tv-anime-gets-2nd-season-in-2016/.81305 I guess the author of those articles has access to the event video (probably from the BD/DVD? of the movies) and wrote based on that information?

I have watched the video of the announcement, and there is no comment from the director about the delay. Other videos on the channel, if anyone is interested.

What is this lacking two-story arc referring to?

I recall reading that and I believe it should have read "lacking a two-story arc", meaning there either wasn't enough material in the manga for the anime creators to do a second season, or the material present hadn't yet concluded any identifiable second "arc".


text:
What was the first English-speaking anime fangroup?
When anime and manga first came over to English-speaking areas, I presume it was treated more like traditional national comics were, and that manga fans were still primarily comic fans - rather than there being a distinction like today.
What was the first public group that had an anime/manga fandom that was distinct from western comic fandom?

According to interviews with co-founder Fred Patten, the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization (C/FO) was the first anime/manga fanclub set up in 1977. Based in Los Angeles, the group started expanding into several spin-off groups in the 80s, including another major group in New York:

1980s C/FO New York meeting.

Most ways of accessing anime & manga were limited back then. You either had to know someone over in Japan, or visit one of very few Japanese bookshops. Nearly none of which having English translations.

(src)
Whilst there may have been some small gatherings of friends before the C/FO, it was the first group to be open to the general public.
Many of the early members of the C/FO became prominent figures in the emergence of furry fandom.
Unfortunately, due to political in-fighting the splinter groups gradually ceased to exist, leaving only the original L.A. branch active. Their current website was last updated in 2013.
Even today, Los Angeles is one of the most important places in english-speaking territory for anime, hosting one of the largest conventions - Anime Expo

For those interested, you can read more about this on wikipedia


text:
What anime is this girl with pink hair on a key chain from?
I'm wondering what anime this character is from?
She's so cute that I just bought it anyway but I feel silly not knowing if anyone asks me about it. I would be very happy to know.
Thank you!

Why did you tag this [tag:madoka-magica]?

That keychain is actually Meruru from Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai.

But it's totally understandable to mistaken it as Madoka at first glance.

In the interest of being pointlessly pedantic, I'd like to note that the gif in the post is actually the character Kanako cosplaying as Meruru, which is why the eye color differs from the keychain.


text:
What anime is this female anime figure in blue uniform from?
I recently bought a Hideyoshi Kinoshita figure on ebay, when it arrived I noticed that the seller had included a small figure of a loli girl in a blue uniform with yellow ball looking badges on it, white shoes red hair with a long cowlick and sword with a cat charm on the handle. Can anyone tell me where she is from? It's been driving me nuts for days! it would be much appreciated.

You could always try and ask the seller ^^

The female character in the above picture is Kurogane Hayate from Hayate x Blade.

                   Kurogane Hayate's appearance in the Manga

The Manga currently does not have an anime adaptation. You can find the figurine here.


text:
How do people set up sites like MangaReader and MangaFox? Aren't they illegal?
How do people set up sites like mangareader.net and mangafox.me? Aren't they illegal?

Simple: They setup a server, pay for a DNS (Domain Name Server), and start developing the client side code (HTML/Javascript) as well as the server side code. Why, do you want your own illegal manga reader site?

lel, these sites are illegal but why they are still around today?

Maybe you should ask at law.stackexchange?

Who knows? Maybe the Japanese don't know about these sites? Maybe they've given up, because every time one of these are shut down, 10 new ones pop up? Maybe they just don't care? Or maybe they do care, but those servers are based in a country that doesn't? You might as well ask why people still steal, murder, traffic drugs or humans, or why the pirate bay is still online. Who knows?

You commit three felonies a day. Why aren't you imprisoned?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because we are not lawyers. This question might be better asked on https://law.stackexchange.com/ instead.

Just because it's illegal doesn't mean you can't do it.
(You'll probably have a lot of legal headaches and risk going to jail etc - but you can still do it - killing people is also illegal, yet people do it)
Just as how the PirateBay is still around, despite many copyright claimers' objections - these site use loopholes in the law to get around legal restrictions.

Ignoring take-down notices

Usually blatant copyright infringement will have relevant parties emailing take-down notices, but many of these sites will ignore these. The next step for interested parties is to file a law-suit - which many smaller groups do not have the funds to pay for.

Selectively applying takedown notices

Some sites simply take down the particular series that have been claimed against - and no more. Seeing as English companies are the most interested in preventing English copyright infringement, series that haven't been licensed usually get ignored in take-down lists.

Complying with take-down notices, but restarting under a new alias

There are several sites that close down after legal pressure, but then start right back up again under a new alias - this means legal pursuers have to start the process all over again, for presumably the same result.

Hosting tricks

Sometimes these sites will get around copyright laws by hosting their website in a country that has a copyright policy that makes this website legal. I don't know of many examples but I do know the Pirate Bay tried to buy the micronation Sealand.

Not actually Hosting the content

Manga readers sometimes don't actually store the content on their servers - they are simply an interface to someone elses' server and consequently, they try to blame that group if anything is contested. Some countries have enforced ISP-level blockages on some piracy sites to stop infringements in their country.

There are some other tricks they use to avoid getting caught, mostly to do with international differences & ambuguity in law.
I do not recommend you try to set one up yourself. Firstly for your own wellbeing, secondly because in doing so you are taking away from manga artists, who already don't make much money as it is.


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Which anime did the pregnancy test meme come from?
Several months back, there was a meme circulating where anime characters had pregnancy tests photoshopped onto a picture of them.
Some examples:

The two hands and device look fairly well drawn, so I presume it was cut out from another show. I haven't been able to find out what the show that originally had the pregnancy test was. Does anyone know?

The two hands might not have come from the same source. The slight difference in skin tone suggests they came from different characters at least.

I suggest you to look at this page if you haven't already did.

@Dario, you should post that as answer.

It is probably from the original ending of Danna ga Nani o Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken (Season 1 Episode 13), which aired in 2014.
A clip of the scene can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU5CFBRL1R0
Screenshots:

This is actually convincing, but apparently, season 1 episode 13 was broadcasted in December 2014, 2 months after the October's trend on Twitter... now that I think about it, perhaps the meme might be started from its manga version instead?

Maybe. Crunchyroll got the license and started putting up episodes on 4 October, about a week before the blank image first showed up, so chances are someone saw the episode pre-release. The actual blank template was not cut from the episode, and the art style of the manga is quite rough, but I'l bet it is what started the wheels spinning in some jokester's head.

Closest I could get to an answer.
According to knowyourmeme:

According to archived discussions[1] [2] from the Japanese imageboard site Futaba Channel (2chan), the photoshop meme originally began as a minor fad sometime in the summer of 2014, but it didn’t take off until the blank template image was posted on Twitter[4] by @Gorxxx_[3] on October 15th, 2014."

It's a pity the user doesn't exist anymore :( might have been able to help


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What is the significance behind the apples and boxes?
In the show, the box and apple motifs reoccur throughout Mawaru Penguindrum.
What are the significance the two? Does it tie into the plot in any way?

I haven't seen it myself, but apples can often symbolize sexuality, temptation ("forbidden fruit") , fertility ("bearing fruit" as in your screenshot).
Connections can also be made to the stories of Adam & Eve and Sleeping Beauty.
The circular shape of an apple can also be a depiction of loops, or eternity - which is what it appears to be in Penguindrum:

 It is revealed in the finale that the apple is a metaphor for the Penguindrum, which seems to be Kanba's life, shared between the three siblings

(TVTropes)
This article is more indepth about the apples in Penguindrum


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Looking for the Oneshot Shoujo Manga about a guy with split personality
I read a manga a while ago about a girl who fell in love with a guy whose other darker personality appears at night. Later on, the girl and the dark side fell in love with each other and the dark side got jealous that the girl likes the other side of him more.
Can anyone identify what this manga is?

There are likely to be a lot of oneshots the fit the bill. Can you be a bit more specific as to the outlying plot, characters features, or drawing style?

Out of the five I've found, this one fits the closest:
Blackberry

Ever since Fune Momohara was told that she was just like a "guy
  friend" by the boy she liked, she's been bent on becoming the ideal
  girl. But when she meets the perfect guy who turns out to be more than
  a little pretentious, she realizes that it can be difficult to keep up
  appearances!

That looks like D.N.Angel to me. Though I'm not too sure as the plot could be any story nowadays.

It is a series, not a one-shot.

Oh damn... I tried.

I haven't finished this yet, but it might be S+M, however it doesn't mention anything about nighttime:

The first man who doesn't obsess over her assets turns out to be the first man she ever wants to have obsess over her, though there's something strange about him... One time she's with him, he's a sweet masochist, the next time he's a bold sadist. Which does Ryou like better? The S or the M? She'll have to make a choice, because it turns out that she CAN'T have both.

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1902

A friend of mine was desperate to find this manga... after so long trying to find, she finally found! She said it's an extra chapter of Ookami Nanka Kowakunai!? If anybody else is after that, it's here :)

Can you provide at least some evidence to your words, like a description from anime database site or wikipedia?

I was trying to recalled and find some manga that I have previously read before I stumbled upon your question. So it was not until that I ultimately found the manga that I have been looking for, that at the same, I found a manga that seems to match your description.
Here it is: Saitei na Hito wo Suki ni Narimashita

Liking the worst possible person...... "If you love me, you will fufil my wish, right?"
  Yui confesses her love to Hiro who hides a dark personality...

I haven't read it before but by the looks of it, it's maybe the one.
Hope it helps!


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How does the dual entry EVA work?
In Evangellion 3.33,  Two entry plugs are inserted into EVA 13.
I thought the angle of the plugs looked like they would crash into each other within the EVA:

Having taken a screenshot I estimated the rough position of the placed plugs:

And my assumptions were correct. Clearly the two plugs would crash if this was correct. Is this merely an animation mistake, or is there something that happens to the plugs once they are inside an EVA as the cockpits look quite different inside?

There's nothing but speculation at this point. It's possible that the pink/red bits where the plugs enter (which are markedly different from the mechanical looking slots from before) actually take the entry plugs into some "meta" space (for lack of a better word) that's not entirely physical. It's possible that the plugs, in the angle from the screenshot above, are actually angled slightly forward and back so that they slide one in front of the other once they've reached the full depth. There's going to be a Groundworks released soon, maybe we'll get production drawings from that.

Yeah, so the first volume of Groundworks 3.0 has been released, but it looks like it ends before the dual entry system (looks like it ends where Shinji's going down into the crater the first time, sans Eva). So I guess we wait for next volume...

The second volume of Groundworks 3.0 is out, @JonLin. Do you (or EvaGeeks) have access to it?

Agreed; while the plugs are at the same angle on the vertical axis, the chutes most likely enter the EVA unit at somewhat different angles (which cannot be seen from a 2D frontal POV) so that front part of one plug actually rests some distance in front of the other plug. Remember that both plugs connect to the "cockpit" inside the EVA, which is used by both Shinji and Kaworu simultaneously.


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Do publishers pick certain seasons for a show to be published?
I have been thinking about this for a while, but I haven't really been watching enough just-released anime to form a picture of what type of series are broadcast when.
I'm interested to know if publishers pick certain seasons for a show to be published? Or do they release it as soon as they have the idea, in the nearest season?
I'm sure there could be lots of reasons for a show to be published in a particular season instead of another one:

Scheduled Christmas Episodes, Valentines Day/White Day
School Holidays / School Year
Seasonal trends for particular genres
Publishers know a similar title / popular title will be coming out

I don't really see any trends with this though.
The answer could be very publisher-dependent, but is there any evidence that any companies knowingly wait until a preferred season?

They choose it based on show and audience for instance why would they put Sword art online during school period since its a show likely to produce a high amount of audience, sales of products and the such or so I think. How they pick a show and when they deploy it is pretty much decided based on the expectation levels for that show, and on the manga data. But hey that is just me thinking since for instance they don't make a second season for shows that have low sales etc.

Yes, producers do time their productions but for a variety of reasons.
First of all, anime are released quarterly. This means you have a seasonal release beginning with winter in January, spring in April, and fall in October.
To resume it, I would say that usually the biggest blockbusters are released either in summer or fall, since after a big investment, producers would need to sell a lot or get big audiences, which is accomplished by releasing the material during vacations when there would be more people available to consume the product, as it's usually everywhere. However, this rule is not set in stone and there are many other factors that influence when exactly producers decide to broadcast an anime or to release a light novel or a manga.
Right off the bat, if a certain anime season takes place within a specific season, then the producers will time the release of the production to the season in question. For example, the second season of Suzumiya Haruhi begins with a summer festival episode about Tanabata. The next 8 episodes called Endless Eight are all about the main character being trapped in an endless summer. The first episode of Endless Eight was broadcasted on June 19 all the way through August. Since the plot of the episodes revolves around the protagonist being caught in a time loop because he hasn't done his summer vacation homework, the 8 endless summer episodes were broadcasted during the 8 weeks of summer vacation.
On the other hand, an anime like Yuri on Ice began broadcasting in the fall so that the climax of the season would be around Christmas which seems like something logical for an ice skating show.
Many anime about high school will begin with the school term, that is in April with spring since this is also the beginning of the Japanese school term. Almost all high school animes are about club activities (like Suzumiya Haruhi). In this way, the first episode of spring coincides with the beginning of school terms for kids in Japan when they will also, most probably, join a sport or cultural club. Examples of this are Hyoka (Classics Club) or Euphonium (Band). Spring anime is thus slanted toward SOL anime or school anime. This gives it in my opinion a more comfy vibe since you get more comedies.
Likewise, sports anime will be broadcasted in the season when they are played. Baseball shows will tend to begin in spring or summer. But if you have a very long story arc like in Major, the show might begin in the fall, so the last episodes are broadcasted around April when you will have the big tournament. It makes sense to want to match your "Koshien" episode with the real Koshien.
Since an anime, like a school anime, can span more than one year, the producers will usually use either the first or last episode to time the release. Also, it depends on the motives. Beginning a show in spring is usually adequate to introduce new stories and new characters. Whereas beginning broadcast in the fall means that the last episode will be broadcasted during the end of the year, which is a good time to wrap up or finish a story.
So if an anime covers a long time span but the last episode is set in Christmas or new year, it's very likely that for this reason alone it will be broadcasted in fall, rather than spring or summer when you would expect bigger audiences, since you can still make use of the end of the year holiday.
So in conclusion, there are an infinite number of reasons why producers decide to release their content in any given season. This doesn't mean that there are fixed rules as to when an anime of a certain genre has to be released. In reality, it depends mostly on the story. However, you can see that animators are really careful to try to time their releases at the best possible time, so as to cause the best possible impression with the audience and thus drive higher sales.

I think most Publishers dont, since most anime are aired for 3 months and contain a timespan of way more Tome(like in most School Anime they contain a whole school Year), but I think there are trends of Genres over the seasons, for example, most 'Harem' Anime are started in winter/spring and most sport anime are aired in summer.

Welcome to anime.SE.  Unfortunately, this answer isn't what we look for on this site.  We like longer, factual answers with references.  If the source material for the answer is the manga or anime, we are more lax than others on formal citations but this question just seems like an opinion.  Please visit the site tour and look at what other answers do well.


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Is Naruto Uzumaki the fourth Sage Of The Six Paths
In order for a ninja to become a Sage one must posses a Rinnegan which is the strongest among the 3 dojùtsu's, and this is a combination of the Sharingan (from the Uchiha Clan) and the Baykugan (from the Hyùka Clan) and a marriage from these clan was forbidden because the child would poses extreme power, not long after the 3rd Shinobi World War the Uchiha's and the Uzumaki Clan, so many people of this clan were dead that the war had to be stopped. Minato was an Uzumaki and thought he wasnt because there was no Uzumaki around him and there was Kushima his beloved sweetheart and not knowing their marriage was forbidden they got married and had a child, how could such child survive such power, and being a Jinchuùriki of the Nine Tails, there must be some truths behind these

Yo, guys, what's with the downvotes? Maybe comment on how you think this question could be made better?

This question makes a lot of opinionated assumptions without citing any sources. Furthermore the title and body don't correspond to each other. Please take some time to review and edit your question to focus on what you wish to have answered.

There seems to be a lot of wrong information in the question you posted.
In order for a ninja to become a Sage one must posses a Rinnegan
To be a sage you need to master Senjutsu. Ninjas that have mastered senjutsu are Naruto, Jiraya, Kabuto, Hashirama, Sasuke (With the help of Jugo).
To have powers similar to the Sage of the Six Paths, one would need to have the Rinnegan and the Chakra of the Tailed Beasts.
To read more on how the Rinnegan can be activated you can read here.
combination of the Sharingan (from the Uchiha Clan) and the Baykugan (from the Hyùka Clan)
It has not been explicitly mentioned that Rinnegan was a combination of Sharingan and the Byakugan. It was shown that the mother of the Sage of the Six paths had the Byakugan, but that does not imply that the Rinnegan was a combination of the Sharingan and the Byakugan. Infact, to activate the Rinnegan, you don't need to have a byakugan.
marriage from these clan was forbidden because the child would poses extreme power
I don't remember reading anything that specifies that marriage among the uchiha and the hyugaa was forbidden. If you could maybe provide some references then I could elaborate on it.
Minato was an Uzumaki
No, Minato did not belong to the Uzumaki clan. It was Kushina that belonged to the Uzumaki Clan. Other ninjas that have been shown to belong to the Uzumaki clan are:

Karin, Nagato, Kushina Uzumaki, Mito Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki

The Third Shinobi War was not fought among the Uchiha and the Uzumaki.

The Third Shinobi World War (第三次忍界大戦, Daisanji Ninkai Taisen) is the
  third of the four shinobi wars that involved the majority of the
  shinobi villages. It takes place more than ten years prior to the
  beginning of the series and has been rarely shown in the series
  outside the Kakashi Gaiden. Because of a decline in national power,
  the reign of the Five Great Countries was crumbling. Along their
  borders, skirmishes with smaller nations broke out all the time. The
  prolonged war gradually spread its fires far and wide, until at last
  it developed into the Third Shinobi World War. This war turned into an
  unprecedented war of attrition, tormenting all nations with a shortage
  of war potential. Not even excluding a great power like Konoha, very
  young children were thrown unto the battlefield, losing their short
  lives.1


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Why don't Araragi and Senjougahara call each other by their given names?
It only happened once in Bakemonogatari when Araragi went on his first date with Senjougahara (and her father). Araragi called her by her family name Senjougahara, and Senjougahara teased Araragi and asked if he call her or her father. And then Araragi called her by her given name (Hitagi)
They're dating, so why they don't call each other by given name? Does Senjougahara do this out of respect to Hanekawa?

In addition to what ton.yeung says about Japanese culture in general, Senjougahara personally has some pretty deep intimacy issues because of her past. And Koyomi always seems to stay pretty respectful in his forms of address; he calls every heroine in the series, including Mayoi and Nadeko, by family name, even though he could probably get away with given name + -chan for those two.

Even though we viewers have spent three, four, five years of our lives watching Monogatari, Koyomi and Hitagi have only been dating for about a year at the end of Monogatari Second Season. In other anime, characters who've known each much longer than that are still on a family name-basis; for example, Honey and Clover takes place over four years, but by the end of it, almost everyone is still on a family-name basis. That's something we should probably consider.
Not only that, Hitagi herself is a distant sort of person. Look at the lengths she went to to stop anyone getting involved with her when she was afflicted by the Heavy Crab—she alienated her friend, Suruga, and actually cut open Koyomi. Because of her past, she's distant and standoffish with everyone, but she's especially uncomfortable with romantic matters. She warns Koyomi early on in their romance (Tsubasa Cat Part 2) that it's going to move very slowly if he stays with her, and that she might never be ready for certain intimate activities. I'm sure she wasn't including calling each other by given name in that, but it's still a sign of the very slow progress that she warned Koyomi about.
I also think we should look at Koyomi himself. In general, he seems to use pretty respectful forms of address. He calls every one of the heroines by family name, even though Mayoi and Nadeko are younger than him and could probably be referred to by given name, possibly with -chan. (In Love Hina, Keitaro Urashima calls Motoko Aoyama "Motoko-chan" from the get-go, and even though she despises him, she never calls him on this that I can remember.) He calls his own sisters "Karen-chan" and "Tsukihi-chan" with an honorific, which Tsubasa remarks on as odd. He refers to Oshino Meme as "Oshino-san", even though Oshino is a weird transient in a Hawaiian shirt and Koyomi doesn't seem to find him particularly worthy of respect in most ways.
Given all of the above, it seems likely that:

It's somewhat normal in Japanese culture to still be on a family-name basis after dating for just a year.
Hitagi is trying to take things slow; for that reason, she might be sticking with family names as a way of keeping a little distance.
Koyomi seems to prefer using a family name with no honorific to address his friends, and without a sign from Hitagi, he isn't going to switch how he addresses her.

As for Hitagi hassling Koyomi when they're in the car with her father, well, that's Hitagi. She loves making him uncomfortable. It might also have been a way for her to try on being on a given-name basis in a non-threatening environment without committing to anything. If she liked being called by her given name, she could ask Koyomi to keep doing it; otherwise, once she's had her fun, they're back to family names. I don't really think she keeps this up out of respect for Tsubasa. I would go too far into literary analysis if I talked about all my theories on the dynamic between Tsubasa and Hitagi, but suffice it to say, I don't think Hitagi ever saw Tsubasa as a loser who she should be a gracious winner towards, which is the view that that kind of gesture would suggest.

very good answer indeed, and good way too avoid speculation between Tsubasa and Hitagi +1

and one more thing, Koyomi called Shinobu with her given name, guess this makes her special :)

@ShinobuOshino Yeah, I thought about going into Koyomi and Shinobu, but it was getting pretty long. Even if they don't always like each other, they have a very profound connection, in some ways much closer than the connection Koyomi has with Hitagi. But also, Shinobu's family name is "Oshino", so it might have to do with avoiding confusion between her and Oshino Meme. Anyway, thanks for the upvote!

In Japan, it is normal to address others by their family name instead of their given name far longer in any kind of relationship than in the West. First name basis is usually reserved for very close friends, and even then not always applied, depending on the people involved and their background.
With that premise, what can be observed is not very unusual, just sufficiently borderline to allow giving a spotlight to the issue in the story.
The way Senjougahara uses this to tease Araragi can be considered her trait. She often (ab)used similar situations in the same manner and made a pun of it, which confirms the image and personality she displayed before.

This is rather scratching the surface, I hope someone else can provide a more thorough answer


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What's the meaning behind the text in the intro of Sabagebu?
During the intro of Sabagebu! There are some random english sentences that scroll across the screen like:
"You are a real follower of our survival gamers. Its fantastic to be atrocious. You must be the one beyond good and evil."
"____ be so easy if they apologise to us for it"
and several other weird sentences.

I found it strange when I watched it initially, because it doesn't seem like it would be from a blurb or an extract from the original source.
Does anyone know what the sentences mean and what they are a reference to? They don't seem to be translated lyrics anyway.


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Is there a way to kill Shinigamis with a death note?
I know that if you write the name of a shinigami in a notebook he won't die. But let's say I would write something like this:
7.11.2014.
John Zeürtö gets scared to death.
At 11:30, John Zeürtö enters a dark alley (name of the alley) with a knife and threatens everyone who is there. Then he sees something not from this world. He attempts to kill the monster, but is unsuccessful. He then sees that the monster is coming closer to him and then he dies at 11:45.
With this, the shinigami would technically kill a human without a death note. And since shinigami die when they kill a human without a death note, this could work. But I also have another example.
8.11.2014.
Bob Johnson dies of a neck fracture.
At 1:30 pm Bob Johnson enters a mall (name of the mall). At 1:35 he takes cocaine and destroys certain things in the mall. At 1:40 he notices a little piece from a death note in the last regal from a TV store. Then he sees something not from this world and shoots at the monster. After he realizes that the monster is still alive he runs to a staircase to flee. But the monster follows him and pushes him. He falls down the staircase and then he breaks his neck.
Would that work?

The second one literally has the Shinigami pushing the victim.  I don't think you can control someone who is not being killed by the death note.  In the first the shinigami does nothing to hurt the victim; If you saw my face over skype and died of horror, I don't think I would be charged with murder. That being said, he might just die of a heart attack as he cannot see the monster unless he touched the book.

where exactly did you read that a Shinigami dies if they kill without a death note? from my recollection a Shinigami dies one of 2 ways, prevents the assigned death of a human or failure to keep adding years to their own lived

with the second example, you put in that Bob "notices a little piece from a death note", unless Bob has prior knowledge of the Death note this will cause the entire thing to fail as Light demonstrated when he tried to have a prisoner write "i know L suspects the Japanese Police", that failed. when Light killed Kiichiro Osoreda he never states in the Death Note the paper Osoreda picked up a piece of the Death Note, juts that after picking up a piece of paper he then sees an otherworldly phantom and empties his gun before fleeing and getting hit by a car

-1 I downvoted, because I feel like these things were well explained throughout the series. Especially the fact on how to kill a Death God. I'm curious though to the reason why you would think that a Death God would die if he would kill a human without the use of the death note.

There are laws in the world of gods of death. If a god of death should break the law, there are 9 leve ls of severity starting at Level 8 and going up to Level 1 plus the Extreme Level. For severity levels above 3 the god of death will be killed after being punished.
For example, killing a human without using the Death Note is considered as the Extreme Level. See? A shinigami will die when he kills a human without a death note. @Peter Raeves

It's a actual rule from death note. @Memor-X

@PeterRaeves just for reference DarkYagami is talking about How to Use: XLVI. And also with those laws aren't they laws of the Shingami Realm, do they apply to Shinigami who are tied to the human world when a death note they own is possessed by a human cause I assumed that if a Shinigami is unaffected by the time limit rule (can't remember the number, it's the one that talks about how long they can be in the human world) then they aren't considered to be in e Shinigami Realm

There is no way you can kill a Death God with the Death Note.
In the first example, the human got scared of the Death God and died. The Death God did not do anything. He just stood there and then the human died, so why would he be held responsible for just being and not doing anything?
In the second example, you write that the Death God pushes him down the stairs. This situation is impossible, therefore only the cause of death will take effect (see rule LV below). The situation is impossible, because the Death God will never kill a human being without the Death Note, because it would result in their death.

LV: In the occasion where the cause of death is possible but the situation is not, only the cause of death will take effect for that victim. If both the cause and the situation are impossible, that victim will die of heart attack. )

I think you can manipulate a person who's names i not written down in the death note. For example when i wrote: John Smith gets stabbed to death, then the death note will most likely manipulate a person with a knife who will then kill him. Also you can just write: sees a piece paper on a ground and picks it up, and make sure that this piece is from a death note. Also when you write: John Smith car accident, that means that the death note will control someone without killing him to actually run over the victim.

@DarkYagami i wouldnt call that manipulating. The person driving the car was already driving that car even without the death note. You cant for example say "john sees a man do twenty backflips before he stabs him" cos the backflips wouldnt have occured naturally. I will look up XVLI before i change my reply then if such rule would really exist. I dont remember it being mentioned in the manga though

@DarkYagami the rule seems to exist but it still wouldnt be possible to kill a god that way. I cant find a rule that says other people cant be manipulated into doing improbable things, but X does say that other lifes may not be influenced and may not directly cause the death of others. XXVI confirms this

If he touches a piece from the death note then he will see the shinigami. Also the death note says that by killing a human the lifespan of others may be shortened. @Peter Raeves

@DarkYagami indirectly it is allowed. But ur goal is to kill the death god so that is quite directly influencing him. Its like saying "john commits suicide after poisining his family". It is not sure whether they die from the poison but I dont think this would be similarily possible. Although not sure cos technically that criminal did hijack a buss thus dirctly influencing and endangering other peoples lifes... it might come down to VI.2 were we dont know

I think it would be possible. But let's say that i would write for example: John Smith gets stabbed to death at 12.11.2014 11:30. Someone would stab him. And then, the police finds him. Then, he get's the death penalty and voilà his lifespan would be shortened. So you can say, that this would work.

That's not possible. as stated in the series, they die from using a death note to prolong a humans life out of love, and they just crumble to dust. Where did you even get the new rule that they can't kill a human without a death note or they die too? that's not in the series.

A god of death can only die if he falls in love with a human or he intercepts with a humans life span. Or anyone can die if they interfere with another persons life span.

A shinigami(god of death) can die if he/she falls in love with human and kill somewone who was to be responsible for humans death. Any shinigami can die if he interfeares with other shinigamis lifespan.

Do you have any sources to go along with that?

Deth node dude :p


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Is there a huge difference in the amount of male vs. female protagonists in anime and manga?
I'm wondering if there's an imbalance in Japanese society as there is in American society. Or if anyone has come across a survey that found the percent of female vs. male protagonists in anime and manga?
I think the main difference in anime and manga is that the Japanese have created genres to meet the interests of those who consume anime and manga (which if I'm not mistaken, is a far larger amount than Americans who consume comics and cartoons). For boys, they have shounen, and for girls, shoujo. For more matured tastes we have seinen and josei (which could arguably still be divided into men and women). In shounen, the protagonist is predominantly male, and in shoujo, the protagonist is usually female. Should I instead be looking at which genre is produced more for my answer?

I think your question could be valid and on-topic, but it's kind of unclear what you're looking for in an answer, and the second paragraph just muddies the waters further. Are you just looking for a pie chart that says "Across all anime ever made, X% had male protagonists and 100-X% had female"? Are you asking us for some kind of analysis, like the comparison to American media that you hint at? Please edit and clarify what kind of answer you're looking for.

While there's nothing wrong with your question in principle, this kind of data would be incredibly difficult to gather (consider an analog: "What fraction of Hollywood movie protagonists are female?"). I think it's obvious that it isn't a 50/50 split, no matter whether you're looking at anime as a whole or at a particular demographic or whatever, but precise numbers will be hard to come by.

Generally, most of anime/manga are for boys/males and most of shounen anime/manga do have male protagonists but it's not that simple. A lot of shoujo mangas have male protagonists. Also a lot of manga can't be categorized by target audience.

I'm wondering if there's an imbalance in Japanese society as there is in American society. Or if anyone has come across a survey that found the percent of female vs. male protagonists in anime and manga?
By "imbalance . . . in American society," I'm going to guess that you mean the number of male protagonists within American comics, rather than sexism in society at large (though sexism is far more rampant in Japanese society than in American society).
I strongly believe that such a survey does not exist, since the sheer number of anime titles that have been produced since the dawn of the medium, and the even more monstrous number of manga titles, would not be able to be researched and distilled into such a graph, even with a team of paid researchers.
Have the Japanese created genres to meet the interests of those who consume anime and manga (which if I'm not mistaken, is a far larger amount than Americans who consume comics and cartoons)?

American cartoons come in many varieties, which have differing demographics, such as Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks theatrical films; Saturday morning and weekday afternoon cartoons for kids; The Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park satirical cartoons for adults, etc.
The demographics of readers of American comics has drastically changed within the past decade. In previous generations, adults and children read comic strips in the newspaper, children read comics like Archie or Barbie, young men read fanboy superhero titles like Marvel and Star Wars. Nowadays, though a large bulk of American comics are still super hero serials that appeal to fanboys, 1) the advent of American comics that have expanded into other genres such as Maus, Bone, and American Born Chinese, and importing/translating serious comics from other languages (such as Persepolis, A Jew in Communist Prague, and Kozure Ookami) has gained comics a recent recognition of contributing to quality literature by American libraries and teachers (for example, see the Eisner Award and Harvey Award winners, Good Comics for Kids from School Library Journal, and No Flying No Tights), 2) fangirls and niche reader demographics have increased, and 3) being a nerd/geek/otaku has become more respected in society at large, as evidenced in the popularity of The Big Bang Theory sitcom.
Aside from Studio Ghibli films, of which nearly everyone in Japan has seen some, the demographics who consume anime and manga in Japan are 1) children who buy the toys, 2) casual viewers, such as families who tune into anime when it airs on TV but are not particular fans, 3) families/teens/adults who only purchase tankouban (graphic novels) of the specific series they care for, and 4) otaku, who are a minority of the population. There are also Japanese who casually read manga such as Jump when the magazine issues come out, but most read it tachi-mi (stand and read) in the convenience store or bookstore without purchasing anything, so they cannot be counted as consumers.
Unlike in many parts of the world where manga and anime are considered esteemed art forms, in Japan most parents consider manga to be junk and discourage their kids 1) from reading manga, since they should be reading literary novels instead, and 2) from becoming a mangaka when they grow up. So most Japanese do not read manga as adults, and most who had a dream of being a mangaka gave up on it. Teens and adults who are involved in subculture are generally viewed negatively by the general populace, and many are socially-awkward or hikikomori (a consumer demographic which is uncommon in the U.S.). Even though many Japanese have read manga and/or watched anime at some point in their life, it is not considered a mainstream thing to have as your interest or hobby.
The population of the United States is estimated at 316.5 million, whereas the population of Japan is 127.3 million, as of 2014 (the U.S. has a constant influx of immigration, which is not common in Japan, and Japan has a falling birthrate, so the difference in number is probably more pronounced by 2015). It is very possible that more Americans are cartoon and/or comics consumers than how many Japanese people are anime and manga consumers (many Americans have bought a ticket to watch an animated film at a movie theater, bought the VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray release, bought Dora the Explorer-themed school supplies or  Christmas presents, etc.).
It is true that manga and anime boast a wider range of genres and subject matter than comics in other countries, as pretty much any literary genre you can think of has been explored in manga.

Manga scholar at Kyoto Seika University, Matt Thorn, explains,

Another trend in the way shôjo manga were published was also intimately linked to the nature of the genre. Because readers looked for works that clicked with them personally, they were not happy to simply read what everyone else was reading. As a result, shôjo manga became increasingly niche oriented. The number of magazines increased, but the circulation of each slipped as the pool of readers became dispersed. For example, the top-selling teen magazine, Bessatsu Maagaretto ("Special Edition Margaret") stuck rigidly to the school-based hetersexual romance. Juné and other magazines, on the other hand, focused exclusively on the theme of boys' love. Wings was created for fans of science fiction and fantasy. By contrast, the bulk of young male readers gravitated to just three weekly magazines: Jump, Magazine, and Sunday. Boys were concentrated in a vertical column, all reading virtually the same manga, whereas girls were spread out horizontally, each seeking a manga world suited to her own identity.

For boys, they have shounen, and for girls, shoujo. For more matured tastes, seinen and josei could arguably still be divided into men and women?
Thorn reports  that the origin of the segregation of shounen and shoujo happened in 1902:

The roots of both shôjo and boys'manga can be traced to early magazines for children—boys and girls alike—which began to appear in the late 19th century, reflecting the Meiji era effort to encourage literacy. In 1902, Shôjo kai ("Girls' World") was first published, and children's magazines began to be segregated, as was the education system itself, along gender lines.

but that

To be honest, though, things are complicated by differences in target age groups. Although male manga are easily classified as shônen ("boys'") or seinen ("men's"), female-oriented manga are not so neatly divided. This is probably because the first successful manga targeting adult women were labeled as "ladies' comics," and these comics quickly acquired a stigma that fans of shôjo manga did not want to be associated with. . . . josei-muke ("woman-oriented") or josei ("women's") manga, but such terms never really caught on with mainstream readers. To those readers, such works are still shôjo manga, or else just plain manga. But readers have no doubt, in most cases, about whom the target audience is. To make things even more complicated, there are many manga today that are created by female artists, and deal with themes of interest to women, but which are published in "gender-neutral" magazines, and have many male readers as well as female readers. Think of these as "indy" or "underground" manga, even though many are published by huge publishing houses.

Seinen is the Japanese word for "young man" and josei is the Japanese word for "young woman" or "women" in general (such as joseikan, which means "view of women"), so yes, they are explicitly marketed toward men or to women just as shounen is marketed toward boys and shoujo is marketed toward girls. Likewise, the words seinen and josei contain no indication of what sort of content is included (they are not genres such as sci-fi or history which are grouped based on the content). The sections in a Japanese bookstore are clearly delineated as to what the target market is.
In shounen, the protagonist is predominantly male, and in shoujo, the protagonist is usually female?
Correct. Of course there are exceptions, such as the massive corpus of BL (boy's love) titles within shoujo, which have been produced ever since the 70s.
Thorn points out,

while it may be difficult to imagine now, heterosexual romance was rare--indeed, almost taboo--until the 1960s. In the prewar period, readers of manga were small children who had not yet learned the pleasure of reading text-only fiction and non-fiction. Even after the war, when Tezuka had launched a boom in thematically sophisticated “story manga,” it was assumed throughout the 1950s that children would “graduate” from manga by the time they were thirteen or fourteen. And since the heroines of shōjo manga were almost always girls between the ages of ten and twelve, romance occurred only between older supporting characters, such as elder siblings. Whereas manga for boys have always been about action and humor. . . . Prewar shōjo manga were short humor strips, usually set in the home, neighborhood, or school.

Female protagonists are not as uncommon in seinen as male protagonists are in josei, because seinen includes many bishoujo titles, not all of which are harems in which there is an ordinary male who all the females center around.
Should I instead be looking at which genre is produced more for my answer?
Yes.
But that is also hard to pinpoint. Since shounen is far more financially-viable than shoujo, we might conclude that most manga published are shounen. Under that conclusion, if most shounen series have male protagonists, we would say that most manga and anime protagonists have statistically been male.
However, Thorn's claim that "the bulk of young male readers gravitated to just three weekly magazines: Jump, Magazine, and Sunday. Boys were concentrated in a vertical column, all reading virtually the same manga, whereas girls were spread out horizontally" throws a wrench into that hypothesis. Going by this fact, one would conclude that perhaps more shoujo series have been published in recent decades than shounen series, since Jump + Magazine + Sunday only run about 20 series per magazine at a time (about 60 series published in a given week), whereas a larger number of shoujo magazines each putting out 20 series an issue would outnumber 60 contemporaneous shounen series.
But that also fails to take into account that shounen magazines are usually published weekly whereas shoujo magazines come out monthly, and the fact that both types of manga magazines are ruthless in canceling any series which drops in the monthly reader survey. So we would need to consider which tend to get cut after a shorter number of chapters: shounen or shoujo titles? If, for example, shounen series die more frequently than shoujo ones since all the shounen series are duking it out in cutthroat competition within only 3 main magazines, it could be that the number of short-lived shounen series outweighs the number of shoujo series.
For more details on the financial situation, see Thorn as well:

Since 1995, sales of manga magazines, along with sales of all magazines, have steadily declined. Sales of manga paperbacks have fluctuated, but have so far managed to escape the fate of magazines. Why have sales of magazines declined? We can identify several factors, such as: the growth of the Internet in Japan; the increasing sophistication of video games; a lengthy recession that forced consumers to be more frugal; the rise of massive used bookstore chains, not to mention twenty-four hour manga cafes, that do not pay royalties to publishers. But the biggest single factor in the decline of magazines in Japan is this: the cell phone. Fifteen years ago, you would board a train in Japan and see dozens of people reading magazines, including manga magazines. Today you board a train and see everyone hunched over their cellphones, reading or writing e-mail, surfing the Internet, buying concert tickets--almost anything you can do on a personal computer. For more than thirty years, . . . manga is then serialized in cheap magazines with few advertisements that are essentially sold at cost. Serials that prove unpopular are cut short. Those that prove even marginally popular are republished in paperbacks. Ten percent of the cover price of each copy sold is paid to the artist as royalties, and the rest of the profit goes to the publisher. The magazines, in other words, are extravagant advertisements for the paperbacks, which are the primary source of profit. The quandary for publishers is that, in this digital age, Japanese consumers are no longer inclined to buy a large paper object that they will eventually discard anyway. . . . The extinction of the printed magazine is inevitable: not a matter of “if” but “when.” . . . Even those who work in the giant manga publishing houses--Shueisha, Shogakukan, Kodansha--acknowledge that those corporations are dinosaurs, massive and slow, unable to turn quickly or adapt to sudden changes in environment. That is why the glass ceiling against which female employees bump their heads remains firmly in place, and that is why these publishers will follow the printed magazine to extinction.


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Why do almost all anime series have a "going to the beach" episode?
Not many anime have a dedicated episode for going to the cinema, concert, amusement park, circus, football match, camping or any other activities. But, almost all of them spare at least one of their episode for a "trip to the beach" episode. The characters sometimes travel a long distance and/or struggle among hardships for this trip.

Is is just for fan service (showing boobs and bikinis)?
Is it related to a strong cultural interest?
Or, is this because of a psychological project of the Japanese government for encouraging Japanese youth for swimming? (This reminds me of USA TV series: In almost all shows, it is a must that at least one episode must be dedicated to a gay character, one episode for a Jewish character, and all good working computers are Apple (except for the ones which get hacked or broken).)

So, what does make beach so special in anime?

I don't know what era of USA TV shows you're referring to, but from my experience the majority do not satisfy those requirements.

Is is just for fan service (showing boobs and bikinis)?

Mostly yes. Occasionally there are plot points or setting circumstances that require a scene be on a beach (legitimate reasons that is, like a romantic beach walk with an imprtant conversation, rather than poor excuses for bikini parades)
For example, the Pretty Cure franchise has one Beach Episode per season, but, it's not for fanservice. The girls never wear swimsuits and they don't swim at all. [TvTropes]
Sometimes it is used as a 'breather episode' to let the audience take a break from the intricacies of the plot.

Is it related to a strong cultural interest?

Many Japanese will travel to the beach on a trip during the summer. This is common in many modern cultures. However, the Japanese have their own beach traditions too, like smashing watermelons at the beach, which is not common in the West.

Or, is this because of a psychological project of the Japanese government for encouraging Japanese youth for swimming? (This reminds me of USA TV series: In almost all shows, it is a must that at least one episode must be dedicated to a gay character, one episode for a Jewish character, and all good working computers are Apple (except for the ones which get hacked or broken).)

I think you're over thinking this a little :P If the Japanese government wanted to encourage youth to swim - they wouldn't be targetting the otaku demographic, which are stereotypically stubborn basement dwellers who don't go outside much

But the otaku demographic is the one which would benefit the most from an activity which is 1. outdoors, 2. at day, 3. not technology-oriented, 4. trains physical fitness and 5. involves bathing :)

It'd definitely benifit them the most :) , but they're generally disinterested in these things so it may be futile

A good point of evidence of a beach scene(s) which involves plot/character development over fan service is in Ouran High Host Club (though not being a girl maybe the Host Club being topless for most of the episode would be fan service to girls).

Your premise is false. It is not the case that "almost all anime series have a 'going to the beach episode'".
The gist of the argument below is as follows: most non-short TV anime of reasonable length (1 or a few cours) do not have beach episodes. However, very long anime will often have beach episodes simply by virtue of being long. OVAs may also incorporate beach episodes, but not so frequently that it would make sense to say "almost all".
If it seems like every show has a beach episode, that's because you preferentially watch the kinds of shows that tend to include beach episodes, and says more about your tastes than it does about anime.

Let's look at some one-cour shows
For an illustrative example, let's just look at the full-length one-cour anime from Summer 2014 that I watched in their entirety. Those that do contain a "going to the beach episode" have their titles bolded.

Free! Eternal Summer. Despite this being an anime about swimming set near a seashore, the longest segment on a beach is few minutes in length, and is not the fan-servicey type of thing you're talking about (other than the show having lots of half-naked men in general).
Aldnoah.Zero
Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
Sabagebu!. I don't remember any beach segments in this one, but I could be wrong.
Tokyo ESP. There is a fairly long segment where one character happens to be on a beach, but this still isn't a "beach episode" in the sense you're talking about.
Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei. They do talk about going to the beach, but they never actually go there.
Futsuu no Joshikousei ga Locodol Yatte mita
Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!
Glasslip

So that's 1/9. Certainly not "almost all". But there are systematic biases in the things I included in that sample, so let's examine those.
For one, I probably have an inclination not to watch shows that have beach episodes. There were 29 one-cour full-length anime in Summer 2014, and if it were the case that all the other 20 had a beach episode, then the figure would come out to 21/29, which is sort of "almost all" - but a cursory examination of episode synopses for the other shows suggests the following breakdown. I welcome corrections.

Definitely a beach episode: Rail Wars; Majimoji Rurumo; Persona 4 The Golden Animation
Maybe a beach episode: Bakumatsu Rock; Shounen Hollywood; Barakamon; Jinsei; Momo Kyun Sword; Seireitsukai no Blade Dance
No beach episode: Tokyo Ghoul; Sengoku Basara Judge End; Space Dandy 2; DRAMAtical Murder; Ao Haru Ride; Hanayamata; Re:Hamatora; Love Stage; Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus; Nobunaga Concerto

So it looks like we have between 3 and 9 of these with beach episodes; let's assume that all the ones where I was uncertain do indeed have beach episodes, so that we have a total of 10/29. That's certainly not "almost all".
But what about longer shows?
But what about shows that are longer than one cour? What if those shows are more likely to have beach episodes? Well, they probably are. The longer a show gets, the greater the odds that it's going to spend an episode sending its characters to a beach. After all, there's only so many different settings you can use for your episodes. For things that run particularly long, there may even be multiple beach episodes! I would definitely be surprised if a show with more than 100 episodes or so didn't have a beach episode.
But I don't think there's anything special about beach episodes here - any show that runs sufficiently long is also likely to have an episode where the characters partake of some other anime staple like going to the hot springs or playing a game of baseball or participating in a school cultural festival, or whatnot.
And keep in mind, these long-running shows only make up a small fraction of anime (in terms of number of shows, not total amount of footage).
And what of OVAs?
And what about OVAs? What if the reason that the TV series don't have a beach episode is because the beach episode is shunted off to an OVA? This argument also has merit. Let's look at the numbers: which of the OVAs released during Summer 2014 contain at least one episode (20 minutes) worth of beach? For a list of OVAs, I consulted Anichart for Summer 2014, and only included OVAs of at least half-length (10 minutes or more) that were associated with a TV series. Only those that have a beach episode are listed below.

Definitely a beach episode: zilch.
Maybe a beach episode: Hayate no Gotoku OVAs
No beach episode: Tamayura S2 OVA; ImoCho OVA; Girls Und Panzer OVA; Non Non Biyori OVA; Ano Natsu OVA; Kill la Kill OVA; Chuu2 S2 OVA; Suisei no Gargantia OVA; D-Frag OVA

Nope. Beach episodes in OVAs certainly do exist, but they aren't all that common, and I'd be surprised to find any season in which beach-episode OVAs made up the majority.
Notes
It's possible that Summer 2014 is non-representative for some reason, but I can't be arsed to spend time gathering more data from other seasons. I've seen my fair share of anime and am pretty sure the conclusions I draw above are correct.
We have also ignored shows that aren't full-length (such as 4-minute shorts). I don't think this is much of an issue, since that's precisely the kind of show people typically talk about when they talk about anime.

I can't be arsed to spend more time gathering more data.... sure?

I agree it's a mistake in wording to assert that "almost all anime" have a beach episode, but I think it's clear from the question's main text what the OP wanted--something more along the lines of "Why a beach trip, rather than some other event?"--and this answer doesn't address it.

@Torisuda Well, my point is that it isn't the case that beach trips are significantly more common than other events. I'm pretty sure I could find similar prevalences for school cultural festivals, or traditional Japanese festivals (the kind with street stalls and stuff), or visits to hot springs, or trips to Kyoto, or baseball games, or concerts, or whatnot. OP's question is "Why does X happen a lot", and the answer is just "X doesn't happen a lot".

OTOH, there does seem to be something special about beach trips since they get shoehorned into so many shows where it doesn't even really make sense to have one--see number 39 on this list--and I took the OP to be referring to that phenomenon. But I see your point, and the question was nowhere near as unambiguous or specific as I originally read it to be, so I retract my statement.

This is, most of the time, suppose to give the watchers a break from the fighting plots. And to see the chill side of most serious characters. It's also for a highly humorous episode. It's kind of like that episode of a 90s or 80s show where a child sneaks out to go to a party or sleep over with their friends.

But why the beach specifically? The question mentions many other activities that would achieve the same purpose but are much less frequently depicted.


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Difference Between Limited Edition and Standard Edition
I am looking into buying some anime. But when I go on Amazon, there is a Standard and Limited edition for certain shows. But both say they contain 4 discs, though. I watch unboxings on YouTube for the certain series (like Haganai and Haganai: NEXT) and there doesn't seem to be any difference between the two besides a thicker box (which looks cooler on a shelf). Can someone explain this to me? Links, pictures, and examples would be great, thanks!

Just to be clear, Haganai and Haganai:NEXT are two different season of same series. Haganai:NEXT is a sequel of Haganai

There is normally an obvious difference between Limited and Started Edition anime normally defined by the content they come with, the actual episodes however aren't different.
Limited Editions of Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 and Tales of the Abyss came with Manga and the first volume of Galaxy Angel on Amazon came with figures, pencil boards and a book.
On RightStuf the first volume of My-Z-HiME came in a special box, not like the one where you have the spins of the disk cases sticking out, this had a lid and also on one side it had the cast printed on a sheet of plastic and was positioned slightly in front of an image of the academy while the other side had Arika's jewel, there's one of it on Amazon. the Zwei OVA came with a shirt and there's one on Amazon (images say it also comes with Pencil boards, i haven't opened by box yet and i missed that note on the box about what was inside)
Puella Magi Maodka Magica on Madman the only bonus was with Volume 1 and was a box to put the other 2 Volumes in, on RightStuf you got the Soundtrack, Cards, Art Book, all glittery and shiny, also there's 2 more Limited Edition Volumes while Madman never went further than a box.
Fate/Zero subbed on RightStuf original came with a Translation book on developer interviews which was missing in the Dubbed Limited Edition.
Sword Art Online on RightStuf, along with the soundtracks, came with limited edition Weiss Schwarz cards. i also remember getting a card in each volume of Fate/Zero dubbed but i can't remember if i did with the subbed (the subbed ones went into storage for safe keeping)
NISA's Premium Editions normally come in a large box with an art book inside however Love Live! School Idol Project has 2 Premium Editions. a standard one and the Concert Set which comes with the OST.
also, NISA will oftern include a bonus item like tear resistant posters (Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress), Student Council Armbands (YuruYuri Season 2), Ties (Daily Lives of High School Boys) and RightStuf sells NISA stuff though i have yet to get a NISA Premium Edition from them since the PAL Lockout on NISA's store (Hanasaku Iroha the Movie ~ HOME SWEET HOME ~ is going t be the first). it should be noted these bonus items are in even limited supply than the Premium Edition themselves as Arakawa Under the Bridge used to come with a Kappa Mask of Chief however were out of stock by the time i started buying them
Generally a standard edition will just be a normal case with the disk inside, however Hanabee's stranded edition of Nisemonogatari DVDs are like little art books with the DVD inside while RightStuf Limited Editions includes cards, posters, soundtracks, of cause more expensive. it seems to be the same with other Monogatari releases between Hanabee and RightStuf since all the Monogatari DVDs i've brought from Hanabee has been the same book thing and i always notice a better limited edition on RightStuf
Also, Hanabee's Standard Edition of Dusk Maiden on Amnesia came with the soundtrack though i still torrented it after because like most soundtracks ripped from disk, unless you have a net connection you don't get the Meta data (Album Name, Artist, Cover Art etc.)
So as you can see it all depends on the series and where you buy them. Limited/premium editions are normally worth buying because you get something in them you don't get with a standard edition, and great for collectors since they are limited for a reason, but you should always look up both and see exactly what is different and how much more your paying for the extra stuff
NOTE: i can't get any RightStuf Links due to it being blocked at work


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What specific event was the forking point between the two storylines?
In Rebuild of Evangelion, the first movie is almost an exact retelling of the original anime series. But soon it begins to deviate more and more (and more /sad...), until I really wasn't sure of what I was watching anymore (but I digress).
So, lets consider both storylines as happening on parallel universes.
What is the event (onscreen or not) in the Rebirth series that is the turning point of the forking/deviating storylines?

While this may seem opinion-based, it is not. I am asking you to compare the rebirth movies to the original series, script or storyline-wise, and backtrack the visible differences to their sources, pointing to a specific event that happened onscreen or was mentioned that may be the cause of those differences, looking backwards for the cause of that other event. Pepper your answer with references, please.
You may add a few speculations in making your chain of causality, if the events have a significant impact or relation.

Here's a list of differences between the first movie and the original timeline
The most notable plot-wise is that Misato knew about Lilith, and she knew what Lilith's purpose was, and later before the Ramiel battle, she showed Shinji what Lilith was and explained why he needed to fight the Angels.

The appearance and identification of the Angel Lilith at the end of the first movie and just before the commencement of Operation Yashima (Corresponding to Episode 06 of the TV series), unlike the veil of secrecy kept in the original series where Lilith was never seen until Episode 15 and wrongly identified as Adam until Episode 24.
More notably, Gendo and Fuyutsuki speak about a "contract with Lilith," which did not exist in the old series. Lilith's existence may not be a mystery, but its role is hinted to take a different turn from its original series counterpart.

There was no mention of a "contract" with Lilith in the original time-line.

where you logged into evageeks what you got the link, if not why is it https? i've been to the site before and it's never needed https before (but i have nevr registered)

@Memor-X sorry, I removed it. It's optional but you need to accept the self-signed certificate.

I think one of the biggest changing points is the Vatican Treaty.
As the wiki points, this represents a weakened political influence by the part of Seele. Comparing the roles of Seele in both continuities, in NGE they are the masterminds, but in Rebuild they are more like an advisory board (going even to the extreme of shutting themselves down peacefully, instead of having the plug pulled by Gendo).
The Vatican Treaty may have arised from a stronger nationalism to fill the vacuum left by Seele's reduced influence. Since Asuka identifies more as a German (even being part Japanese), this reduced the bonding between her and Shinji and probably supressed whatever crush she had on Kaji.
But keeping with the Rebuild continuity, there were no need to a fourth pilot, so Toji Suzuhara was never recruited.
When Bardiel attacked, the one inside the plug was Asuka, not Toji. The bond between Shinji and the person trapped was smaller, and the psychological damage from the fight was also smaller. Toji was Shinji's friend as much as in NGE, but Asuka was, instead of a love interest, just some annoying female.
This vacuum in Shinji's love interest created by Asuka disinterest had him gravitate more towards Rei. So the psychological reaction to having Rei "dying" while fighting Zeruel had the added impact that was missing during the fight with Bardiel.
So instead of just going into 400% synchro like in NGE, Shinji causes the awakening of EVA-01. Notice that in both scenarios, EVA-01 ends up bearing both fruits (in NGE she eats Zeruel S2 engine, while in Rebuild the liquified Zeruel-Rei merges with EVA-01), becoming the forbidden godlike being.
So I think the root cause (as far as we can go from what is shown in the Movies) might have been the Vatican Treaty.

Keeping this game as ethical as possible, I won't ever mark my own answer as accepted. I will let this simmer for a couple weeks, then pick another answer as accepted.

In the wiki page you linked to about the treaty it does hint that Seele may have a deeper reason for allowing the treaty despite it's counterproductive result as to prevent a risk of a uncontrolled repeat of Second Impact. if we accept that speculation it would mean that Seele isn't any weaker than before and more willing to risk Angels running amok than not being in control of another impact

I've only seen up to the second movie. However, if i was to make a guess, it would be what Kaji gave to Gendo.
In the original one, it was a Adam's Embryo, while in Rebuild it's Nebuchadnezzar's Key. I'd say its discovery (before the first movie) is what would be turning point, but a noticeable difference didn't occur until Kaji went to deliver it to Gendo.
In the original series, Gaghiel attacked the UN Pacific Fleet searching for Adam's embryo, but that never happened in Rebuild. Rather, Ramiel became the new 6th Angel, while Gaghiel never appears. Instead, we have the unnamed Third Angel which, if you account for the fact it was subjected to experiments, is reminiscent of Gaghiel.
Also, Kaji released the Third Angel to cover his escape with Nebuchadnezzar's Key, so it's possible that the facility that the Third Angel was in was where Gaghiel attacked before the first movie. Gaghiel may have been captured and experimented on, and became the Third Angel we see in the second movie (thus making Sachiel the Fourth Angel). Kaji knew that by releasing the Third Angel, the facility will do everything they can to prevent its escape from the facility, and in the end, they destroy it.
I'd also note that Sachiel, Shamshel and Ramiel are very much the same since the first movie was more of less the same as the original (very little deviation), except their numbers have been pushed up thanks to the Third Angel appearing in the second movie (and numbering seems to be based off appearance) - from the Seventh Angel on they are different.

 While Bardiel is just demoted in number, Asuka is the one who pilots the Eva, not Toji, and the Dummy Plug is over top Shinji and talks backwards which didn't happen in the original.

Jon Lin's Answer talks about Lilith which I totally forgot about. However, both Rebuild's references to Lilith in the first movie and the original series references to her would still occur after the item Kaji gave to Gendo was discovered (Original = "Adam's Embryo", Rebuild = "Nebuchadnezzar's Key"), and as such I stand by my speculations.

Would you please rewrite the 4th paragraph and review the rest of your post? Thanks.

@nhahtdh i think i fixed up the paragraph you was talking about, the one about Kaji's escape with Nebuchadnezzar's Key

Phew... I hope that my edit doesn't change your meaning.