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Where is the title of Spice and Wolf from?
I bought volume one of Spice and Wolf today, and I read the summary on the back. I understand that the main female character is a wolf and the main male character is a merchant, but he doesn't just sell spices, right? Is the name just meant to sound badass, or was I wrong and he really only sells spices? I'm just not getting it.

This is cannot be explained without spoilers.

 The phrase "Spice and Wolf" was used by a merchant to describe the two main characters later on in this series.

It was also repeated by the author in the afterward of volume 16 on page 299:

...But as the world of Spice and Wolf is not about viewing the world in itself, but the "Spice" and the "Wolf" (Holo and Lawrence) in it , it's actually the antithesis of that universal metaphor , so in other words... et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseum.

Could you perhaps flesh out the answer a bit? You can hide spoilers with spoiler markdown.

Thanks. I don't mind the spoiler, but as @Maroon said, you should use the Spoiler Markdown thing for others who want to know the answer, too, but don't wish to be spoiled.

Could you give the volume, page number, and the name of the character who said it for the spoiler? Or if you got if from the anime, episode and character name.

According to the afterward of volume 16, on page 297,

The title Spice and Wolf is a twist on the French economist Jean Favier's Gold and Spices: The Rise of Commerce in the Middle Ages(translated by Hidemi Uchida). Thinking back to when I read it, I recall thinking I'd love to use things from this, which gave me inspiration for the first volume.

Spices, along with precious metals and silk, are commodities associated with trade (have you ever heard "spice trade" or "silk road"?). Since this is a series heavily centered around medieval commerce, the "spice" in the title is meant to evoke that the series is about trading. As mentioned in the quote, the author was specifically inspired by Jean Favier's book.
The spice trade was quite important and lucrative in medieval times. Here's Lawrence's thoughts on the matter from volume 2, page 24:

Lawrence had bought the pepper for a thousand trenni, so that meant a profit of 560 pieces. The spice trade was indeed delicious. Of course, gold and jewels -the raw materials for luxury goods-  could fetch two or three times their initial purchase price, so this was a meager gain in comparison, but for a traveling merchant who spent his days crossing the plains, it was profit enough. Some merchants would haul the lowest-quality oats on their very backs, destroying themselves as they crossed mountains, only to turn a 10 percent profit when they sold in the town.Indeed, compared with that, clearing more than five hundred silver pieces by moving a single light bag of pepper was almost too savory to believe.

References In-story to the Title
The other answer to this question uses references of the title in the story. These deserve a place in this discussion, however, these references do not actually explain where the title comes from, as I'll explain. I believe the character the other answer refers to is Marheit. However, in the English translation of Spice and Wolf, I could not find an instance of him actually calling Lawrence and Holo Spice and Wolf. Instead, it is the narration (Marheit certainly prompted the reference though, and he probably says it in other media, like the anime). Here is the quote, at the very end of the first volume:

It seemed as though the travels of this pair would last a bit longer.
That is to say, the travels of the wolf and the spice.

While this reference is interesting, it does not explain where the title comes from. This is because it is in-story content. Unless the author wrote the whole book without a title, then looked at his own story and thought that this point at the end was important enough to make it the title, it cannot be the reason the story is called Spice and Wolf. And actually, when the play that Marheit is referencing is examined, it supports my initial claim that spices are linked to trade. The play is a morality play about a merchant trying to convince a demon to eat someone besides him. Here is Marheit's recounting of the end of the play and Lawrence's reaction (Page 227 of Volume 1):

"'The most succulent human is before your eyes- he has carried spices day in and day out in his quest for money, and his fattened soul is perfectly seasoned,'" continued Marheit cheerfully, gesturing expansively as he related the tale. [...]
"It's a religious play that the church uses to preach moderation in commerce," he explained. "[...] Pepper is surely appropriate for a merchant about to make his fortune, I think."
Lawrence couldn't help smiling at the amusing tale and Marheit's praise. "I hope I soon have a body suffused with spices myself!" he said.

Rather than an explanation for the title, this merely highlights the author's understanding of the connection between spices and trade.
Further reading on Wikipedia: Spice Trade

There is also no definite proof that the other answer is correct. It could be a result of the title rather than the cause. But I'll try to find some sources proving that spice was associated with trade.

Fair enough, you're right about the proof. And it's not that what you are saying is wrong, just that the other thing uses the exact same wording as the title and as such seems quite convincing.

I don't think either answer is necessarily wrong, unless an interview is uncovered. The things the characters say really aren't the "reasons" that the title is Spice and Wolf because the author had some external influence which caused him to name it such. This helps explain that influence and I believe is a valid answer.


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What is the skill Naruto used in the last movie?
I just want to know whether there is a specific technique name when Naruto's hand glowed when he took the ball of light out of Hinata. It was also used to attack Toneri Otsutsuki.
I don't watch the anime; I read the manga so I could have missed a lot of stuffs from the fillers. Heck, I don't even know what they show in the filler episodes.
Thanks.

That technique which Naruto used has no special name, not even at Wikia.
It is stated that :

Toneri took Hinata to the Room of Rebirth, letting his puppets to deal
  with Naruto. As they arrived at the Room of Rebirth and Naruto went
  after them, Toneri controlled Hinata to attack Naruto only for him to
  render her unconscious by taking the green chakra sphere out of her
  body. After Naruto took out the green sphere, Toneri took her back
  from Naruto.......

However, the technique which Toneri Ōtsutsuki used, it is called Puppet Cursing Sphere.
It can control, read minds and also has other functions.
It is also mentioned at Wikia article on Toneri Ōtsutsuki :

Toneri moulds his chakra into the form of a green-coloured sphere. The
  sphere can be used various purposes such as controlling targets by
  sending it into their body, reading their minds, absorbing chakra from
  a distance, checking if a target has a dormant Ōtsutsuki chakra, and
  detonating the orb if needed.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Why doesn't Kana's boss know about the Day of Flight?
I'm currently rewatching Haibane Renmei. In episode 4, we see this exchange:

Kana's employer: Hey, is Kana going away?
Rakka: Oh, not at all. I didn't come to replace her. I'm just visiting everyone's workplace because I'm new. Kana loves it here. I can tell.
Employer: I see. Well, with those wings of yours, they make me think she might just fly away on me one day.
Rakka: They look fancy, but they don't actually work at all.
Employer: I see. That's good, then.

It's quite clear from this exchange that Rakka does not know about the Day of Flight, which is probably to be expected, as she's a newcomer who does not learn about it until Kuu leaves.
However, what struck me as strange was that Kana's employer (who looks relatively older and who isn't a Haibane) seems to have no knowledge of it (as might be inferred from his question). It would appear that he is old enough to possibly have seen other Haibane disappear in the past. There are two obvious ways to explain this for me. However, I'm not sure if either of them is correct:

Beyond the trading that the Communicator does with the Toga, the normal townspeople don't have many personal interactions with the Haibane, so they wouldn't notice if one disappeared one day. The townspeople might have a basic understanding of how Haibane life works (so wouldn't be surprised to see the teenage Rakka appear as a "newborn" one day) particularly if they often interact with them, but they wouldn't be aware of the specifics.
However, given the limited number of places where Haibane can work (in episode 3), I'm not sure how true this is, since the people who work there would probably be slightly more familiar with things, even if the townspeople seem to outnumber the Haibane.
The Haibane are seen as somewhat separate: the employer earlier tells Kana:

The clock tower in your home. Go repair that yourself. [...] We're not supposed to meddle too much in the Haibane's lives.

This might mean that the townspeople might not delve into the specifics of the Haibane's lives, and that the Haibane are responsible for themselves. However, this is more of a general statement than anything, as we see in episode 3 that the housemother isn't a Haibane. Moreover, this would only mean that the townspeople might not bother inquiring after the Haibane who have disappeared (even if they might not know why they've disappeared): it does not mean that they do not necessarily know that the Haibane -- or at least the Haibane outside of the Federation -- eventually "go away".

Is there a more satisfying explanation for Kana's employer's ignorance about the fact that the Haibane eventually "go away" than these? Or do I already have the best explanation we can get? (Again, I wouldn't expect him to know the exact specifics about the Day of Flight beyond that the Haibane eventually leave.) Alternatively, am I possibly just misinterpreting the exchange? (I could see the first line as implying that the boss does indeed have the Day of Flight in mind, but what he says afterwards seems slightly out of line with that.)

I read that exchange more as the employer did know about the Day of Flight, but from Rakka's reply that she didn't, and didn't want to go into it right there, possibly figuring that another Haibane could give a better explanation. I would have to review the series again myself to find a real answer, though.

Note: it would be rather anti-climatic if the boss instead told Rakka "Sometimes the Haibane do go away," particularly since this section would seem to provide a bit of foreshadowing. But this still wouldn't entirely explain the very hypothetical way the boss is talking about "going away" in the second bit.

@Torisuda: it does occur to me that I could be misinterpreting the exchange -- will edit that in.

As it turns out, we later see Sumika have little knowledge about the Haibane -- she's surprised that Rakka is a newborn -- despite being good friends with Nemu. So it looks like my two theories aren't entirely implausible (even for individuals who are close to Haibane).

In episode 7, Reki states that she was despondent after Kuramori's disappearance. Nemu tried to cheer her up by doing research at the library to find an explanation for the disappearance. This explanation ends up being the "legend" about the Day of Flight at the library. Thus, information about the day of flight must be openly accessible.
In the same episode, Rakka tells the cafe owner that "Kuu has left us." In response, the cafe owner asks if Kuu has disappeared. After that is confirmed, he says, "But that's how you Haibane are, right?" Thus, Kana's employer is not an anomaly if he knows about the Day of Flight and other details about Haibane life. With the rest of the content in the exchange with Rakka then, it looks like Torisuda's suggestion (that the employer is aware of the Day of Flight on some level and simply didn't want to explain in detail) is relevant here. (After all, the details in his exchange seem too accurate for mere speculation.) It's still possible that he doesn't actually know, but what I'm trying to assert is that the scenario where he does isn't improbable at all.
However, it's worth noting that not all of the townspeople are familiar with Haibane life. In ep. 5, Sumika tells the presumably teenaged Rakka that she does not look like a newborn, despite being good friends with Nemu. Similarly, in ep. 8, a woman in the thrift store treats Rakka in a somewhat objectifying way, which might be grounds for assuming a lack of familiarity with the Haibane.
Thus, it must be then that the Haibane are "separate" enough that a number of people get by without ever having any meaningful interactions with them, while a small number do (and thus might be more familiar with Haibane life).

It's possible that there might be a clearer answer, but without looking into any of the non-anime content in the series, I wouldn't know.

authors: Самира Хусаинова

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Did the Hayate no Gotoku anime adapt the manga closely?
I'm gonna start watching Hayate no Gotoku anime and I haven't read the manga so I need to know whether the anime adapted the manga closely. I am referring to all of the anime seasons and movies .

Which season are you watching? There are quite a lot of anime-original content in the first season (but they are still canon, IIRC), 2nd season sticks to the manga, 3rd season is something entirely new, ahead of the current story in the manga (still canon?) and 4th season follows the manga, except for the last 2 episodes (not sure whether they are canon).

As nhahtdh pointed out, the first season has a lot of original content of the manga, but the time scale is completely different. Inside the anime, the first season was equivalent to more than a year, however in manga only 9 to 10 months have passed till then.
The second season completely sticks to the manga. So it does not seem like a continuation of first season.
The story of the movie: HnG Heaven is a place on Earth is not at all related to manga and so is the third season. However, the story of the third season was written by Hata Kenjirou (the Mangaka of HnG).
The new characters introduced in third season are present in manga, but the story is completely different. The fourth season HnG Cuties is a series of 12 episodes. The first 10 episodes are based on discrete chapters of manga. Each dedicated to some character(s). The last two episodes are not in manga.
Overall, you should give it a try!


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Trope where objects are physically harmed and receive giant bumps?
During the series, it happens quite often, where Naruto does something stupid (usually sexy jutsu related) and gets hit on the head, which follows by this huge bumps on his head. This happens quite often even in other series.

What caught my eye is that objects also seem to be affected by this phenomenon:

And in a earlier episode, this also seemed to happen to the chair Tsunade threw out of the window.
What is trope called, and why is it used?

The giant head-bump thing is common in other anime (and media, at least in East Asia), and is used to indicate an injury to the head, as you've stated. For instance, a Chinese search for "撞头" on Google Image (literally "hitting head [on something]") gives images such as this one, which don't seem to be connected to any anime:

I am pretty sure I have seen this in other anime before (e.g. Keroro), but I'm having trouble locating similar screen-caps. In a sense, it has become something of a "convention", the same way sweat-drops are kind of a "convention", which explains the usage here.
Thus, the Naruto extension of this to inanimate objects appears to simply be an extension of this trope -- the objects have been "injured", and so like the heads of these individuals, swollen, overly stylized bumps form on them.
TV Tropes calls the head case a "cranial eruption". However, any searches for the term don't produce many results beyond sites like TV Tropes (and some similar site), and this small anime wikia doesn't seem to have a listing for the trope, despite it being a fairly prevalent thing. (Conversely, it doesn't have "ahoge".) So it seems that there's no real, generally accepted English term for this trope.


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Where can I buy Suzaku Kururugi's sunglasses?
Somebody tell me where I can get them on the internet please? I'm looking for any and all sites where you find them for sale. I've looked vigorously, but I need to be sure that their existence is only a dream before I give up.

I also were unable to find a direct re-seller for those glasses. I did however find something very similar on Etsy. It also seems this person accepts custom requests, so you could also contact him for a custom design if necessary.


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Why did Sinon act strangely when Kirito grabbed her tail?
I noticed in an episode of Sword Art Online II (Calibur arc) that Sinon (a Cait Sith) reacted strangely when Kirito grabbed her tail. Silica (also a Cath Sith) noticed this but it seems that she too (just like me) has no idea. What happened here?

Watching the clip, you'd get the impression that she reacted like he was looking up her skirt or something. If you notice, when the camera focuses on Silica after Sinon's threat, Silica is holding her tail in her hand.

@PaulRowe - It wouldn't surprise me if it felt like a butt-pinch, which would both produce that reaction when someone else does it, and not be an issue when you do it to yourself.

@Bobson Considering that they're in a VR game and people don't have tails IRL, that's probably how the signal was sent to the brain.

@Bobson Sexual innuendo seems like the most likely scenario. No game No Life also featured Angel like creatures who felt pleasure when someone rubbed their Wings. Seem like a fan service gag to me.

The following is quoted from Sword Art Online Book 8: Early and Late, page 221

The triangular ears and tail unique to the Cait Sith race were of
  course organs human don’t have, however, they could sense the feeling
  using an unknown mechanism. Being grabbed hard by a player who
  wasn’t aware of the fact would cause a «super weird feeling»——
  Silica’s explanation——for that reason, the reaction was always very
  amusing.

This quote actually shows us a few things:

Why Kirito pulled her tail in the first place: it's "amusing"
What it feels like: "a super weird feeling" cause by sensentations from an organ humans don't normally have - similar to the wings in ALO, I might add
Why Silica looks at her tail in the YouTube clip: calling it a "super weird feeling" was her description, so she clearly knows how it feels. In other words, it's likely that someone (possibly Kirito, since he seems to enjoy it so much) has done the same thing to her.

I've added the picture of this scene from the light novel just for reference.

I'll add on.  The tail does have to correspond to somewhere on the body, and stimulus IS transmitted through the amu-sphere to the brain.  The tail can be a sensitive area, and thus I leave the determination of what the program decided the tail was in relation to the host body, up to the community.

I suppose it likely causes extreme discomfort or a strange feeling, due to actual humans not having these body parts, but the Amusphere still transmits that feeling. Much like a real-life cat getting their tail pulled, but perhaps less painful.

In many anime or Japanese pop culture, a cat-person's tail and ears are extremely sensitive and considered a "place only touched with permission". I think you get it now.

Maybe its because grabbing her tail didnt give her feeling of having her tail being grabbed due to the fact she doesnt have one, and the game made feel it in the spot where her tail would have been-her anus


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What is the name of the tune that Black always whistles?
When watching episode 10.5 of Kekkai Sensen, I found that Black, when possessed by King of Despair, was whistling some tune. I'm sure that Black whistles that tune more than once.
I remember hearing it:

Before Leo meets Black in a train, and
When Black is waiting for White to wake up to ask for taking Leo's eye.

Is it from another song? Or is it an original tune?

I can't say for sure, but it sounds a bit like the Overture from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. The same tune seems to play in the PV for Epi 4.

na na na Actually sounds quite familiar as well to it.

Note: having listened to the Kekkai Sensen soundtrack, I can verify that it is not included there.

Ep11 seems to suggest that it's Magic Flute's Overture but slowed down.
Well, they did use Ode to Joy as well (Albeit, usage is not as epic as Evan), so I'm assuming that they also selected another classical piece to be in.
In EP 11:
1659-1723 King of Despair hums that song at an extremely slow pace.
1723-2017 his hum is replaced with orchestra version which seems to increase in speed after a while.
Compare to 1:27 and set the speed to 0.5. Or a different source at here at 5:38.
credits to ʞɹɐzǝɹ for bringing 'Overture' up.
man you got me thinking about Hibike Euphonium all over again.

FYI the first link isn't working anymore.


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Is Jun openly homosexual?
In Shin Megami Tensei Persona 2 - Innocent Sin, after I beat Lisa's Shadow in the Taurus Temple and selected "I'm glad you feel that way", everyone is commenting on Tatsuya's own confession.
After that Lisa comments on not losing to an older woman and mopey boy. This to me seems like Lisa is saying that she won't lose to Maya or Jun in claiming Tatsuya.
Now I have always got the impression Jun is effeminate or something of the like but I never got an impression that he was homosexual. I am wondering then if Jun is homosexual. If not, what is Lisa talking about?

I'm thinking this should be in Arqade because Persona 2 did not have an anime or manga.

@AnimatedLime however it's accepted to ask questions about Japanese games so long as it's plot related not gameplay related related meta

I honestly don't know how much you were paying attention to the game if you didn't figure out Jun is homosexual... He has loved Tatsuya since he was a child; this game is one of few that do not shy away from exposing his orientation.
If you look at the demon contact description he has with Lisa, it says they are rivals in love (over Tatsuya). In his demon contact descriptions with Maya and Tatsuya as well as Lisa and Tatsuya, both are referred to as "love triangles" because he is after Tatsuya as well. He even flirts with Tatsuya, very obviously, and both Eikichi and Lisa acknowledge this. In fact it wouldn't be at all outrageous to suggest Tatsuya returns his affections, given his behaviour in-game and the word of the creators. In any case, Jun is homosexual and Tatsuya is bisexual, they are both explicitly attracted to men.


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Is the Princess Tutu manga any different from the anime, and does it add anything to the story?
Per my knowledge, Princess Tutu's anime adaptation came first and was remade into a manga later on. Does the manga of the show remain faithful to the anime, or are there differences between them? Does it add anything to the story?

From wikia :

The entire story of the manga is different from that of the anime with
  absent characters, too. Focusing more on the ballet side of things
  rather than the fairy tale elements that appeared in the anime, the
  manga brings with it a fresh look at the setting of Princess Tutu.
We could have listed all the differences between the manga and anime
  but there are so many that it would serve no point and result in
  telling the entire story.

So even though they share same name and have similar themes, they are so different as to be considered two different things.

Manga sounds less interesting.


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Can murders be committed by more than one person? Can there be more than one victim?
Unlike the games in Liar Game, the rules of a Danganronpa game are sometimes made up or stated midway, which for me kind of sucks but is tolerable so long as the rules are consistent.
As far as I know, in Liar Game, the dealers have always accounted for all possible situations so whenever there are changes in the game, they state it outright. For example, in games involving voting, the dealers have stated what happens in the event of a draw.

In Danganronpa, can murders be committed by more than one person?
Monokuma stated (albeit midway) that accomplices after the fact are not considered as murderers for their purposes.
What if both A and B hold a single knife together and use it to stab C once resulting in C's death? In that case, am I correct that A and B are both the murderers?*
Perhaps Monokuma will adjust the rules, but I would like to know what are the stated rules regarding this, if any and from any media.
I'm done with the anime. Feel free to spoil other media, but please use spoiler tags.

*I'm trying to rule out trick cases like:

A and B use one knife each to try to kill C at the same time but then it will turn out that one of them was actually first or the second stab was the one that killed C.
A and B say they will kill C together, but B didn't hold the knife firmly so only A is counted as a murderer.

Maybe you should try letting the series play out. Perhaps it's something that's explained later. Also again, why is this tagged with the "animation-mistakes" tag?

@ʞɹɐzǝɹ Death Note ended with a lot of unexplained stuff in terms of the rules of the DN. People have wild imaginations, especially those who watch  or read a lot of espionage, detective, fantasy, mystery, gaming or thriller stuff.

That's the thing, there were unresolved points when it finished. You haven't finished the anime, so you wouldn't know if they did or not.

@ʞɹɐzǝɹ And now I'm done soooo

In the third case of the first game (and anime), there are two murderers who each actually personally kill someone, but Monokuma states that there is only one culprit: the person who came up with the plan. As such, in your hypothetical situation of A and B stabbing one person with one knife at the same time, if A was the one to initially suggest the murder, then by Monokuma's rules, A alone is the culprit. I believe this would cover most cases of murderers working together, if only on a technicality in some cases; if two people were to come up with a plan to murder someone at the exact same time (wildly unlikely as that is), Monokuma would probably have to make up a new rule for it on the fly, which he does have a habit of doing.

Thanks E. J. ! By the way, mathematically speaking it's practically impossible (as in probability zero) that 2 people can come up with plan at the same time.

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How closely does the World Trigger anime follow the manga?
I have recently started watching the World Trigger anime and I have liked it so far. I read that the manga was way better so I'm thinking to switching to that.
However, I've been wondering: are there any big differences between the anime and manga?
For what it's worth, with the anime, I have just finished the second large scale invasion part.

It appears that there is little to no major plot differences, with 1 of the 7 story arcs being anime exclusive. However, there are 15 characters exclusive to the anime and 1 area that is exclusive to the anime. Considering that you claim to be at the 2nd Large Scale Invasion part (lasts episodes 22-38 and chapters 44-85), assuming that the second part is halfway through the large scale invasion arc, then you would be around episode 30, doing a simple ratio calculation:
(16 / 2) + 22 episodes = (42 / 2) + 44 chapters;

And you would probably be around Chapter 65 in the manga.
Further Reading:
Here's an article on the Story Arcs
Here's a general article about World Trigger on Wikipedia


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How is the use of the red stones able to bypass equivalent exchange?
In the 2003 series, we see on different occasions that the red stones are used as an unstable alternative to the philosopher's stone despite the fact that they do not have any souls entrapped in them. They're just artificially synthesised.
If so, why was prophet Cornello able to apparently bypass equivalent exchange using the red stones? More controversial is the revival of birds by alchemy using a red stone. Why are homunculi fed with red stones as a source of souls? It all just doesn't add up.

In this story line, a Red Stone does indeed have the power to bypass the natural laws of alchemy such as1:

The requirement for transmutation circles
The Law of Equivalent Exchange
The required alchemical knowledge to perform alchemy

The goal of alchemists was to find a way around the known laws of alchemy, which is why they had the goal of creating the Philosopher's Stone in the first place. Red Stones are a result of their efforts at such research and thus have similar capabilities as a true Philosopher's Stone. However, while they do not require human sacrifice, they are not as powerful and can cause adverse effects to the user in the form of rebound. An example of these rebounds is the effect on Cornello's arm when the Red Stone crumbled.

As far as your question about the birds, there has been a similar question already asked here on stack exchange.
It's important to note that the information I've provided is only relevant to the 2003 production. In the original manga, Red Stone is simply another name for a Philosopher's Stone, and the stone Cornello used crumbled because it had run out of souls. Ed believed it to be a fake because he was still under the impression that the Philosopher's Stone was a source of unlimited power1.

How were the birds revived in the first place as they were already dead? Their souls couldn't have been brought back,  so how were they moving? Such alchemy is also seen in episode 35. Besides, what about the homunculi being fed with red stones while they needed souls to shape like humans?

As you can see in the other question, there isn't an answer about the birds that we've found yet. If you find an answer, feel free to add it to the question by Memor-X.

The Red Stones are created by solidifying what is known as Red Water. Red Water is comprised of a collection of other chemicals that can then be used in one's alchemy.
So, in essence, the users of Red Stones are not bypassing the law of equivalent exchange, they are merely incorporating the chemicals that comprise the stone into their alchemy as additional materials.

In that case how is the possession is red stone makes even non-alchemists perform even better alchemy than the real alchemists?

@J.Doe Because the alchemists are using what they have around them and the non-alchemists have those same resources alongside the concentrated materials found within the stone.


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Why is Utena able to beat other duelists?
Every duelist is an expert on a different sword art (kendo, fencing, etc.), but Utena isn't, so she shouldn't be able to beat them.
That being said, there's the prince's image that falls from the castle into her, before she wins. Is that image why Utena can beat the other duelists? If so, what is the explanation for that image?

It sounds like it's the prince---IIRC she beats Juri by a "miracle" after the prince's image appears. The prince, I think is related to the "Power of Dios". (Keep in mind that there seems to be some linkage between Akio, the Prince who saves Utena, and Dios.) I might write a fuller answer later if I'm convinced that this is the best explanation out there.

I'd really appreciate if you would, so far this is the only thing that I haven't found an answer on the internet/forums and won't let me enjoy Utena (I wanna rewatch it soon).

It looks like I'm wrong about the episode where Utena fights Juri, but the gist of my answer (which I'm composing) should be the same.

tl;dr: Utena probably wins because of some sort of spiritual or moral quality she has.
Why is Utena able to win?
In Utena's second duel, Utena is losing until she "absorbs" power from the prince. Moreover, Touga, who is watching the duel, says:

What was that just now?! Was that the power to bring the world revolution? The Power of Dios?!

This indicates that Utena is probably aided by something that has nothing to do with her sword skills---probably whatever the image of the prince signifies, as the image frequently appears falling from the sky or imposed on Utena's body just before she deals a finishing blow.
Incidentally, in ep. 15, Mamiya says, of the Student Council members:

Swords strong enough to defeat Utena Tenjou may have crystallized inside of their hearts!

Mikage counters this by saying that the "weak-hearted fools" on the Student Council have already been defeated by Utena before. The emphasis here isn't on the physical abilities of the duelists. Thus, there might be some "spiritual" or "moral" aspect to some of the duels.
I should also note that in some of the cases, it's not surprising that Utena is able to beat the duelists, even if we don't consider any "unnatural" causes. For example, in ep. 5, Utena wins the duel after Miki becomes distracted (when Anthy cheers on Utena). Similarly, in ep. 29, Juri leaves the duel after her locket is broken.
Who is the prince?
In Saionji and Touga's ep. 33 conversation, Touga says that Akio saved Utena as a child by showing her "something eternal".
Later, in ep. 34, the flashback to Utena's childhood in ep. 34 indicates that the prince who saves Utena is the prince whose image appears in Utena's duels. This is the Rose Prince, who in second flashback is revealed to be Dios and Anthy's brother.
Akio must then be a degraded version of the prince, or a "fallen" Dios---in the flashback, it is stated:

the prince [the Rose Bride] loves is no longer the prince she knew. Not anymore. He is now the End of the World.

Thus, Touga might be right about Utena winning with the "Power of Dios". (Being not entirely sure what the "Power of Dios" is, I hesitate to say that this completely explains Utena's victories.) If so, perhaps she is channeling this power towards the end of the duels, when the image appears.

I'm not entirely satisfied with my answer, but I think I managed to get to a reasonable point without any unwarranted speculation.

Well, I am very satisfied with it, since the reason I was unable to fully enjoy Utena that I couldn't find the boundary between what events are presented as analogies and what events are actually happening.  With your answer, specifically the "moral qualities", it seems the duels themselves are also analogies and aren't actually happening, which would make sense... I think.

@ChristopherFrancisco: I've been reading the manga, and there, the "power of Dios" is more explicitly linked to the prince whose image appears. However, I'm still hesitant to make a very direct link, seeing that in the end of the anime, there's IIRC also some comment about attaining the "power of Dios" behind the closed door (which implies that it isn't something that one already carries). (Don't quote me on that; it's been a while since I've seen the anime. I may write a question about that later if I can't think of a good resolution of this seeming discrepancy.)


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Ladybug theme song identification
Ladybug PV. The anime is probably Miraculous Ladybug, but can anyone identify the title of the song used in this PV?

It is made by Toei and clearly is styled in the anime magical girl style though.

@MarchHo: That is a PV from 3 years ago. It's going to be a 3D film: http://www.pgsentertainment.com/property/11/miraculous-ladybug/

@nhahtdh You're right, but it appears to still have Toei in the credits, and the transformation scene is still Magical Girl.

The anime is, as you said, Miraculous Ladybug, but not much is known about it at the moment. The song might be titled Ladybug by Noam Kaniel, but again this is not confirmed. The lyrics and song can be found here.

You are right. The anime is indeed Miraculous Ladybug. Now, there's a little issue with the title and the lyrics of the song.
According to the Ladybug PV wiki site,

The song that plays with it is a test song titled Ladybug PV Song without true lyrics, having English-like gibberish, lyrics can be found here.

Then they also state what Gao already said in the comment.

The song in the video is titled Ladybug by Noam Kaniel and you can find the lyrics to it here.


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What's the viewing order of the Queen's Blade anime?
I want to watch Queen's Blade but found too many titles in the franchise, so I do not know which one to watch. In what order should I watch it?

Watch them in the following order:

Queen's Blade - Rurou No Senshi (The Exiled Virgin)
Queen's Blade - Gyokuza wo Tsugu Mono (Inheritor of the Throne AKA The Evil Eye)
Queen's Blade - Gyokuza wo Tsugu Mono Specials
Queen's Blade -  Utsukushiki Toushitachi (Beautiful Warriors)
Queen's Blade -  Beautiful Warriors OVA
Queen's Blade - Premium Visual Book OVA
Vanquished Queens OVA
Queen's Blade -  Rebellion
Queen's Blade - Grimoire (currently airing, alternative setting to Rurou No Senshi)

If you check MyAnimeList, under the related section, you can see sequels, adaptations and alternative settings.
There is also a forum where your question has been discussed.

can you update it please


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What's this music in "World of Ice"?
In "World of Ice" (ep. 9), there is music that starts off with something that sounds like a harpsichord, after Himari enters a hidden door in the library (around 6:11). Strings (mostly playing pizzicato, I think) and a clarinet come in later. Normally I'd assume that this might be something original created from the anime — for instance, I've heard stuff that could pass as classical music in the Monogatari Series.
However, I've noticed pieces that were clearly not original being used in this series, such as the beginning of Mozart's Piano Sonata K. 331 (when Himari is still in the normal section of the library), or the famous theme from Dvořák's 9th symphony (in "Because I love him"). Thus, it seems plausible that this is not original music.
What is the music playing here? I tried to look up the soundtrack or the episode on the fan-made wiki, but neither gave a full listing. Is this original music, and if not, where is this music from?
Update: If I'm not mistaken, the same track appears in the first half of ep. 21 ("The Door of Fate We Choose"). This would suggest to me that it's more likely to be original music, but I'm not even completely sure right now if it's the same music.
Update 2: I tried to search Musipedia, which largely is a classical music identification site, for the beginning of this section of the soundtrack and came up with no results that seemed correct. I also listened to this section of "World of Ice" a second time and it struck me as less "Baroque" and "classical" than I initially thought. Original music seems more likely, but I'm still having trouble obtaining the title of this music. (It's definitely nothing listed on this Tumblr.)

@orerawaningenda: might you know which TV program (and which episode) it was? Assuming it's indeed the same piece of music, I could do with an additional source to transcribe the melody from

@orerawaningenda: if you're referring to this piece, this is probably not what I'm looking for; it appears before the segment I'm interested in. IIRC the style is notably different from the Mozart, but I'll need to have another listen to make sure.

I finally managed to dig up the track that I wanted after I listened to a number of Penguindrum-related uploads on SoundCloud; it was listed as "Karei. Sora No Ana Bunshitsu". From some more searching, it appears that this can be found on the bonus CD of vol. 3 of the Blu-Ray. This all indicates that this was probably an original composition.
I'm unfortunately still having trouble figuring out what the original Japanese name of this track is; English websites so-far have only given romaji transcriptions of the title, and searches for "そらのあなぶんしつ" thus far have not yielded any particularly promising results. (It does not help that I don't really know Japanese.)

The Japanese title is 「華麗・そらの孔分室」. cf. this album's VGMdb entry. The use of 孔 for ana is weird, which is probably why you didn't find anything. Googling for "そらの孔" gives you pretty much only Penguindrum stuff. "Sora no Ana" is "Hole in the Sky", as in the giant library where Himari runs into Sanetoshi for the first time. Anything in particular you're looking for? I can Japanese-google around a bit for you.

@senshin: thanks. I somehow ended up with both 空の穴分室 and 空の孔分室 (the latter which Google suggested as a correction to the former, and occasionally came up as "そらの孔（あな）分室"), and I couldn't tell which was more "correct". I mostly just wanted to give an approximate gloss in English for the title, really.


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How can Naruto breathe on the moon?
In The Last: Naruto the Movie, Naruto's fight with Toneri is set on the moon.
But how can he breathe on the moon? Is that because of some technique, or something else?

he have Alien blood/soul/chakra in him . . .

Alien? In Naruto Universe?

The Naruto Universe is pretty weird, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was true. Plus in the Naruto wiki it says that Kaguya Ōtsutsuki is an alien, so it's not that surprising.

Oh, lol, I forgot about Kaguya, my bad! xD

@JTR case point the only 2 people have Alien Chakra (Naruto & Sasuke) is stupidly overpowered at the end of manga/anime

i was sure that kaguya's chakra came from the Chakra fruit, which was from a tree on earth. she even had children, both male, so she reproduced with presumably a Human male, something only another human can do (asexual reproduction is a CLONE, so it cant be male). It makes no sense for her to be alien.

In short
According to wiki:

The exterior of the Moon is barren, covered with craters and canyons.
It has a weak gravity, but is still able to maintain a breathable
atmosphere
.

Since it has breathable atmosphere, so that's why Naruto didn't used any technique or something else. Which conclude that the Moon from shinobi world is far more different than the real moon which we know.
For more information regarding this you can see this link.

I'll preface this by saying that the Naruto universe is not our own, and thus their moon is different. Also, all the spoilers ahead.
The moon in the Naruto universe was made by the Sage of the Six Paths, Hagoromo, when he and Hamura sealed Kaguya. The moon was made via Chibaku Tensei, which is a gravitational ninjutsu that turns an object into a "gravity core", which then attracts the matter around it into a large, circular object. You'll remember Pain using it on Naruto to capture the Nine Tails. Theoretically, it's possible that the moon has an atmosphere by capturing part of their Earth's atmosphere in the creation of the moon, being attracted to it via the intense gravity/immense power of the Sage's and Hamura's joint Chibaku Tensei. This would allow him to breath there, and since he didn't instantly suffocate on arrival I'd guess there was enough atmosphere from the formation to sustain at least his body.
Chibaku Tensei

Well, in this case we should consider that they're in a world totally different from ours, what means that their moon surface and structure are different from ours as well.
Some say that their moon was created to keep criminals arrested, but in that scenario we do have an atmosphere kindly similar to Earth's.
This isn't so insane to think of when considering the other movies where some characters could breath inside the water, or things like that.
About Kaguya, she wasn't an alien, she was a common woman that ate the fruit and absorbed the tree's power. :)

You should consider answering this question by relating it with some given facts. Also kaguya is an alien (see in kaguya wiki page) which is also stated by Ms steel comment. So I am not sure that you are giving right answer and also it seems like you simply made an assumption

I'm not particularly sure why all of the answers have resolved around the fact that the Naruto universe has a moon that is completely different from our own - it's more of a cop out, rather than a fully thought through answer. Although, I'm not saying it's completely wrong, as it could be plausible.
Considering it is the Naruto universe, filled with chakra and the abilities to use this chakra to create giant masses of elements, then it's pretty safe to assume that Naruto and Toneri were either subconsciously using a jutsu that created/utilised oxygen and allowed them to breath, or, with the power of the nine tails (in Naruto's case) and the large mass of chakra handed down through generations of the Otsutsuki family (in Toneri's case), allowing their bodies to operate fully by using chakra, instead of usual body functions.

It could also be Toneri using a jutsu that allowed everyone on the moon to breath, or he used a jutsu that created air, since Hinata and her sister (forgotten her name) were also on the moon before Naruto's arrival.

' Subconsciously ' I don't think so. According to the given question he is asking that Naruto used any techniques to breathe at moon and the simple answer for this question is no because there moon has atmosphere. See wiki page its already written. Also he didn't ask that how moon has atmosphere and about chakra importance on moon. So its better to limit answer.

Well , Naruto can breathe on moon because it is anime logic.
The creators doesn't want to complicate the situation too much and probably thought that they could just leave out the part where humans can't breathe on the moon.
Normally, we call this anime logic.


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In the Brotherhood continuity, do the Elric brothers know that their father has died?
After Ed got Al's body back, their father Van Hohenheim is shown at Trisha's grave, where Pinako later finds him dead. Did the boys find out that he had died or did they not even know what happened?

There is never a point either in the manga or the Brotherhood adaptation of it where the brothers are explicitly told of Hohenheim's death. Note, however, that it would be odd for Pinako to never tell the brothers of Hohenheim's death. Unlike with the Maria Ross incident, there is no reason for the brothers to not know, and it seems unlikely that Pinako would lie about the death (in the way Mustang lied about Hughes to Edward) and never tell the truth.
There is additional evidence at the end of the manga, where there is a compilation of post-manga photographs at the end. In one of them, we see Hohenheim's grave next to Trisha's. There is a similar photo at the end of Brotherhood. (Click link for anime screenshot. I am not cropping the images, since it should be easier to get a sense of where they are from this way.)

With this, we can infer that the brothers probably know of Hohenheim's death. That a marked grave was constructed for Hohenheim, who died shortly after Promised Day (and thus, before the brothers leave Resembool two years later), and placed at a meaningful position suggests that there must have been some level of ceremony put into his burial. Being Hohenheim's sons, the brothers then might well have been given the chance to be involved with the burial, and they would probably know of the death that way.
Moreover, even if Pinako quietly buried Hohenheim, it seems unlikely that she have buried him alone, without help from anyone, so word would probably eventually get out that he was dead. Additionally, the brothers probably periodically visit graves in the area — for instance, Edward decides to visit the Rockbells' graves at the end of ch. 41, after hearing about their work in Ishval — so they would be "forced" to know once they visited their mother's grave at some point.

Thank you. But wouldn't it be better if they showed their reaction? Ahhh, those mangakas. Always leave us with questions!

@ΒαγγεληςΖ': it'd be interesting, sure. :) Personally, I'm happy that the story more or less feels complete, with nothing blatantly missing (e.g. character development is where it needs to be for me by the end) and nothing that seems tacked on. But perhaps this is just my personal preference. (One thing I rather like about Arakawa is the fact that she IIRC doesn't give a lot of extraneous character details.)

Well sure but it would be nice if we saw some of their reaction to their father's death. I mean he was their dad, it should be important. How they reacted to it or if they were affected by it. Anyway, I won't complain about it, because it's one of the best manga/animation I've read/seen and I was happy with how the story developed. I wish we had seen a little more of Hohenhim, he was one of my favorite characters after all :D


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What's the order of Saint Seiya anime series and movies?
I wanted to watch Saint Seiya, but I found on Wikipedia that there are many series that make up the Saint Seiya franchise. So what's the order of it?

The main series is Saint Seiya which is an adaptation of first part of the homonymous manga by Masami Kurumada.
The second part of that manga was later adapted in three different series of OVAs which tells about the Holy War fought at the end of the 20th century between Athena and Hades:

Hades: Chapter Sanctuary
Hades: Chapter Inferno
Hades: Chapter Elysium

This is the core of the story and is set in the 1990s. In the same period of time are set the four OAVs: Jashin Eris, Kamigami no Atsuki Tatakai, Shinku no Shounen Densetsu and Saishuu Seisen no Senshi-tachi.
Then there are the prequels:

Episode G is set a brief time before the main story and tells stories about the youth of the Gold Saints.
Next dimension is both a prequel and a sequel (it involves time travel): it is written by the same author of the original story and it tells about the Holy War fought 243 years before the main story.
Lost Canvas is an alternative prequel (who was adapted by into a two series of OVAs) written by another author, which tells an alternative version of the Holy War fought 243 years before the main story.

The sequels are:

Next dimension (see above)
Soul of Gold is set in parallel to the ending of the main story and tells about the Gold Saints who are resurrected after their sacrifice at the end of the main story.
Tenkai-hen an OVA set after the ending of the main story and sees as the main antagonist the God Artemis.
Omega is set 25 years after the main story and tells about the "new generation" of Saints who will have to fight agains Mars and his warriors.

There is also a spin-off, called Saintia Sho set more or less in the middle of the main story, where the main antagonist is the Goddes Eris.
The following is a scheme showing how the various series are related.

I should add that canonicity in Saint Seiya is extremely wishy-washy. If you're going purely by Kurumada's timeline, it would pretty much only be his Mangas, both the original and Next Dimension. Anime-wise, you have all that plus the Asgard arc (and by extension Soul of Gold) which was completely made for the anime, the movies, including Tenkai-hen and Omega. Really, each fan's definition of what's canon or not can vary. I hear some fans consider Lost Canvas to be more canon than ND due to personal preference, since the two series greatly contradict each other.


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What's the reading order of the God Eater manga?
I wanted to read God Eater manga but I found that there are quite a lot of manga series in the franchise. What is the reading order of these manga?

What is the reading order of these manga?

Read them in the order they were published in.
Some may not know but God Eater indeed has a manga.
It has, but the manga itself is based on the original game, so it has nothing to do with the anime. (The anime itself is different because of the MC)
AFAIK, there are 4 mangas and here is a brief description:

Return of the Messiah -> takes place in the original GE timeline

The story takes place in Fenrir America Branch, 1 year after the events of God Eater Burst.

Spiral Fate -> takes place after the GE timeline

a manga that offers an alternate reality to the main continuity of the God Eater series, since the protagonist is Ryo Kagami, not Yu Kannagi.

Summer Wars -> side story about romance & stuff

Alisa Illinichina Amiella develops a feeling similar to respect for the 1st Unit leader, Yu Kannagi. Meanwhile, Alisa and Yu are dispatched to Aegis Island on a protection mission.

2nd Break-> takes place in the GE2 timeline

The manga is a prequel to God Eater 2 in the manga continuity.

The protagonist of each manga is different though, and it seems like they only appeared exclusively on that manga.
Here are the Mangas in other of Publication:

The game received several manga adaptations written by Namco Bandai. The first is titled God Eater: Kyūseishu no Kikan (GOD EATER - God Eater -Return of the Messaiah) was illustrated by Osan Eijii, published by Kodansha, and serialized in Rival Comics magazine. As of December 28, 2011, the series was completed and compiled into five volumes.^ The second is titled God Eater: the spiral fate and was illustrated by Saito Rokuro, published by Dengeki Comics and serialized in Side-B.N Magazine. As of November 27, 2010, the manga was completed and compiled into two volumes. A third manga titled God Eater: the summer wars was illustrated by Okiura, published by Kadokawa Shoten and serialized in Dragon Age Comics Magazine. The series was completed and compiled into a single volume on May 7, 2012.

God Eater 2nd Break

was Published: Dec 27, 2011 to Aug 27, 2013 with 3 Volumes and 18 chapters


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Looking for a special Death Note chapter
I read Death Note for the first time about 10 years ago. I remember of a special chapter at the end, which I was not able to find, even in the manga (I own them all - or I think I do):

 Some of that chapter takes place in the Deathgod's world. After Light's death, we see him atone for every single name he wrote in his Death Note. After a while, he tells Ryuk the exact number of people he's killed with his Death Note. Then, he asks Ryuk to bring bring to the Deathgod's King: his world has gone to waste and Light would like to make it prosper once more. The chapter end with Ryuk being impressed once more of Light's tenacity and mental strength.

Answer:
Anki Sharma's answer is correct. The chapter I was looking for is indeed fanbase, I found a youtube link here.

Are you referring to the rumored alternate ending of Death Note?
From deathnotefanon.wikia.com:

The Death Note alternative ending is a possible ending to show
  something else that might have happened to Light Yagami after his
  death. It is unknown if the ending is real or fake. There is a lack of
  evidence to prove the ending to be real. It has really only been seen
  on the Internet and there are mainly English versions of the ending
  circulating, but it has become popular in the Death Note fandom.
Due to the fact that there is no proof, it’s left to fans to decide
  for themselves. The ending only exists in manga form; there is no
  anime adaptation for the ending.

But in this ending Light decides to die in old age and tell Ryuk to kill him. After his death he appears in the Shinigami Realm and starts dying again and again in the ways his victims died. Then Light tells Ryuk to take him to their king, so that he can make deal with him. He even tells that he will kill their kind if he doesn't agree. But the end just shows the start of their journey, there's no interaction with the king.


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Why do sword owners tap them with a fluffy ball on a stick?
In many shows characters poke their Japanese swords with a soft-looking ball on a stick. It seems that swordsmen in real life did that too. What's the purpose of that? Here's one example from Shaman king E02:

This gif is kind of eyecancerous. It would be nice if an enterprising person with access to the source video could replace it with something that's a bit less of an eyesore. (Nothing wrong with the question, mind you.)

This “fluffy ball” is a standard part of any sword care kit (see the red ball in the picture below). It contains some sort of powder ‒ I believe chalk ‒ that is used gather and bind any fluids on the sword before oiling it again. (That powder acts sort of like a sponge.)
When cleaning your sword you will usually use clean water to remove any big pieces of dirt, then distribute this chalk powder all over your sword by “poking” the “fluffy ball” on the sword and then use a clean cloth to wipe the blade clean before putting the oil on it and distributing it evenly.

"When cleaning your sword you will usually use clean water to remove any big pieces of dirt"... ah, I've been cleaning my sword wrong the whole time!

The powder (and the ball) is called 'uchiko' and, while it is mildly abrasive, it is used to absorb moisture and acidic grease (from fingers) on the blade. I teach iai, and after each session I will inspect the blade, tsuka etc for any loose items, wipe the blade with very soft paper, tap with the ball to coat both sides and the back of the blade with powder, wipe ONCE with paper to remove the powder, and then oil

As @almost-time said, plus it helps polishing the blade. If you have rough metal, you start with harsh sandpaper (or stone), then go to finer and finer as the metal is more and more polished. (It is work of sword maker on this level). But when it is polished enough you need to use really fine and soft materials. At some level you can improve it only with something soft as a soft chalk or so. Also the metal is still corroding, even if very little so you need to keep it polished. The finer polishing, the less and smaller scratches, the less of influence of weather and so.
Also this make some more bond between the warrior and the sword, as it makes any repeating caring about something. And the sword is soul of the warrior, so the bond is natural part of his mind. You can have servant to clean your clothes and to cook your food, but you take care about your sword personally.


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What is the background music played in ep. 2 when we are told of the conquest of Japan?
What is the background music played in the first 30 seconds of episode two, when a narrator speaks of the conquest of Japan? This is the section before the OP is played.

I have found the answer. It is actually this so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtxNw8Rs8Ds

It might be better to add the title of the track (and maybe the source, if you can locate it), in case the video gets taken down in the future.

I have heard all of the OST tracks from Code Geass, and the closest match is in  Code Geass OST #2 - Pessimistic Time. If you listen carefully after 0:40, the main instrument's melody is the same. The style and backing are different, but it's normal for there to be some variation between the original OST and the version used in the series itself.
If you want the full list of all songs that played in the series, you can check them here.

I skimmed through the link and couldn't find any point that matches up with the segment the OP specifies. (There should be some extended sections involving strings in a somewhat different style, and the oboe? or trumpet? fragment doesn't seem to quite match up either.) Could you perhaps specify where the similarity occurs exactly?

Because i have heard all of OST's there are from Code Geass, this is the closest to the original music from the 2nd episode. Sometimes you should know there are differences between the original OST and the one that plays on the series. If you listen carefully after 0:40 the main instrument it's 100% the same as the one that start's at the beginning of the episode.

Thanks, it sounds like the main instrument has been replaced, and the style (and backing) is slightly different. Perhaps you could add this detail to your answer (so the situation is clearer to those who are reading more casually)?

For some reason it doesn't let me edit it (I mean i click the edit button and it doesn't take me to the edit section). Can you please edit that?

Done with the edit: is this okay? (As an aside: I've also reverted my somewhat careless downvote from earlier: by the time I saw your reply, it was already locked in.)


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Can Alphonse sleep in FMA/FMA:B?
In both Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009), there are instances of Alphonse Elric saying what he can't wait to do once he gets his body back. He usually states things that only humans/living creatures can do that he cannot, such as eating and smelling.
Since sleeping is something that only humans/living creatures (i.e. - not a suit of armor) can do, does this mean that Alphonse cannot sleep? Does he just sit there all night on Ed's floor? Is this talked about/approached differently in the two shows?

I am about 95% sure that this is addressed in at least one of FMA/FMA:B, and the answer is that Al can't sleep. Hopefully somebody can dig up the relevant details and post an answer.

Yeah. I also vividly remember that scene. It's been too long so I can't place it any more, but I'm sure there will references to spesific scenes soon enough.

To simply answer your question. No he cannot sleep. I found the below referenced in the fma wikia here.

Additionally, his armor body has several combat advantages including - strengthened offense and defense, imperviability to bullets, inexhaustible stamina, invulnerability against extreme temperatures and an exemption from needing to breathe, eat or sleep.

Although, it only states that there is no need for him to sleep. I am 100% sure that in the anime, Alphonse explains Elric about the horror of not able to sleep and the pain he suffers in solitude. It is a very sad situation that almost makes you want to die.
EDIT:
Found the below content here

During the night, after Edward's emergency surgery was completed successfully, Alphonse discovered the true tragedy of his new body. Incapable of physical sensation and sleep, he began to feel detached from others and lamented the long solitude of restless night.

This clearly states his disability to sleep.

In chapter 15 of the manga there is a flashback in which Ed says referring to Alphonse:

In 20th episode of FMA:Brotherhood, when Alphonce visit Winry, who was irritated by dialog with Ling Yao, she recalls his first night as living armor, when he states, that this body is not able to sleep at all.

I've added information, where you can see episode I've mentioned. Could we remove this yellow tag below answer?

No, as far as I recall Alphonse doesn't sleep...he sits besides Ed the whole night since he is just an empty suit armour with a blood seal. He doesn't get tired nor does he feel pain of that sort since he doesn't have any senses.


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In the Japanese dub, is there any parallel to Baobao's use of Sichuanese?
Near the beginning of the second episode of Hitori no Shita: The Outcast, Baobao reads out details about her new identity as a student supposedly from Taiwan to Zhang Chulan. In the Chinese version of the episode that I saw, Baobao's Mandarin Chinese pronunciation in this specific segment sounds very non-standard. (Elsewhere, her pronunciation sounds normal.) Zhang Chulan in fact remarks that she is speaking 四川话 (i.e. Sichuanese).
Is there any mirroring of this use of a regional language variant in the Japanese dub? If I remember correctly, the subtitles on Crunchyroll, which broadcast the Japanese dub, only have Zhang Chulan indicate that Baobao is lying, but which makes me suspect not. However, as I do not know Japanese, I would like for someone to perhaps confirm this.

I watched the first three episodes of Hitori no Shita, and can confirm that Baobao speaks plain old standard Japanese (hyoujungo), with not a hint of any regional lect. In episode 2, Chulan indeed only states that the details she's reading out are obvious lies.
(It came as a surprise when I learned that she spoke a non-standard variety in the Chinese audio version. Kinda strange that they wouldn't similarly pick a non-standard variety of Japanese for the Japanese version.)

For what it's worth, I dropped the series after two or three episodes, but my impression was that her pronunciation outside of that specific section was more normal.

@Maroon Ah, I see. That makes sense - I'm guessing this is funny in Chinese because you wouldn't expect a person from Taiwan to speak Sichuanese? (But there's no stereotype for what a "Japanese-speaker from Taiwan" sounds like, so the joke wouldn't translate.)


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In what year(s) does the Monogatari series take place?
Looking from the perspective of the recent movie (which occurs at or near the chronological beginning of the series):

Koyomi has what appears to be a slide-phone with a keyboard, and Hanekawa puts her "phone number and email address" into it.
Koyomi goes to the bookstore for porn instead of just looking it up on the internet. (This show never seems to indicate any signs of the internet even existing?)
All the cars (which are mostly copy-pastes of the same CG model) seem to have a much older style to them.

Most of all, this frame (which appears right as Koyomi is about to bring up his phone) may indicate a year. But what does the "G9" stand for?

FWIW there are references to the FMA series in Tsubasa Tiger, so the series would have to take place at least after 2001. Note also that the events of Monogatari all take place in the span of one or two years, IIRC.

This answer notes that May 14th in the first year was a Sunday. The only plausible year that matches this is 2006 (anything earlier doesn't make sense because of the cultural references in the series, and it seems unlikely that Monogatari is set in the future either); I've also checked with a few other dates listed there to see if their days of the week (in 2006) are plausible, and they are. But I'm not sure if I might be missing some additional details.

@Maroon Your comment appeared as I was in the middle of writing my answer. I'm revising based on your observations.

@Torisuda: I was writing one myself (in favor of the 2006 date), but I saw your answer and felt ambivalent about it after seeing the comment about smartphones (and about the banknotes, which I hadn't been aware of).

@Maroon I think you should still write an answer. The bank note phaseout actually started in 2004 (and finished in 2007), so 2006 is plausible, and your evidence is very strong. The K-On reference is a little harder to get past but that's easier to put down to authorial license.

I don't recall an exact year, but there's evidence that the series takes place in the modern day, between 2007 and 2018.
The strongest piece of evidence comes from the novels. In Kabukimonogatari Chapter 7, after Koyomi travels back in time 11 years, he notes that the money is different and has Natsume Souseki on it. These would have been the series D bills issued from 1984 to 2007 and suspended April 2007. This puts the series no more than 11 years after 2007, or no later than 2018. The novel version of Otorimonogatari has Nadeko make a reference to K-On, also putting it after May 2007, when the K-On manga started.
Maroon notes in the comments that the dates line up better for 2006. The phasing out of the Souseki notes began in 2004, so 2006 is a plausible year as well. The novels began their run in August 2005, so it's possible that Nisio Isin looked to March 2006 as the starting point for the series.
Smartphones do exist in the world of Monogatari; in the preview on Episode 7 of Nisemonogatari, Kaiki complains that after Hitagi smashed his phone, he went to buy a new one and could only find smartphones, which he dislikes. Here's a hard-to-see picture of my television screen that shows it:

Flip phones are actually still pretty common in Japan; see this Answerman column.
As a side note, the male protagonist hiding porn books in his room is a time-honored tradition of the genres that Monogatari draws on, harem and school action. Suruga also fills her room up with cheap BL books instead of going on the Internet and reading slash fiction. Monogatari is a mixture of real and hyper-real, so sometimes it just plays by the rules of fiction.

The cultural references that appear in the Monogatari anime — for instance, to Neon Genesis Evangelion ("Karen Bee") and Fullmetal Alchemist ("Hitagi Crab," "Tsubasa Tiger") — indicate that it is probably set after 2001. (At this point in time, I am not familiar with the light novels and do not know if details entirely match up with the anime. However, a quick skim of someone's translation of the "Hitagi Crab" and "Karen Bee" portions of the light novel confirms that the references to FMA and Evangelion also exist there, so the 2001 estimate for a lower bound is still reasonable.)
The Monogatari series mostly takes place over the span of two years. This post notes that May 14 of the first year is on a Sunday. I ran a search for the years where May 14 fell on a Sunday using a calendar site, and the only plausible year was 2006. (No matches between 2001 and 2006 came up, and the earliest match after 2006 was in 2017, which seems too far in the future. There was also a match for 2000, which seems possible if we take the FMA reference loosely, but it would not fit with the mention of banknotes that Torisuda discusses.)
Since the Monogatari series began publication in 2005, 2006 is then a reasonable guess for the "first year" of the series. This would indicate that the series takes place between 2006 and 2007, with a brief foray into 1995 in "Mayoi Jiangshi".


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What happened to Uub?
From what I understand once the Majin Buu arc ended Uub became a pupil of Goku and was to become Z-fighter. But in Super so far I haven't seen any mention of him at all.
Does he not exist in Super yet? Or have I missed something crucial?

I believe the reason is that Super takes place before the final scene of Dragon Ball Z, where Uub shows up, but I'll let an actual Dragon Ball expert confirm it.

Hey just came to say uub was shown briefly in the manga

The final tournament takes place AFTER the events of Dragon Ball Super. DB Super picks up immediately after the defeat of Majin Buu (Kid form).
Thus characters such as Uub, Pan and Bulla are yet to be shown in DB Super.
Dragon Ball Timeline: All Events
This might be an interesting read.
Relevant part:

DBZAge 774, September 7 : Shenron erases everyone's memories of Majin Buu.
Dragon Ball Super
Age 778: Gohan and Videl are married, and Videl becomes pregnant with her and Gohan's daughter, Pan.
Age 778, August 18: The events of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and Battle of Gods Saga take place.
Age 779: The events of Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ and Resurrection ‘F’ Saga take place.
    Pan is born.
Age 780: The events of the Champa Saga take place. The God of Destruction of the sixth universe, Champa wants to have a tournament between universe seven for their Earth.
    The events of Potaufeu Saga take place.
    The events of the Future Trunks Saga take place.
DBZ
Age 784, May 7 : The 28th World Martial Arts Tournament takes place. Goku leaves with Uub to train him

Thanks for the reference so interestingly enough there is a rough 10 year span for super to remain in continuity.

@KazRodgers Of course, given how many episodes it took Namek to blow up, ten years could easily take us 10,000 episodes to get through.

Gohan sure grows up quickly. He was not even a year into highschool when buu showed up, but a year or two later, hes married, about to have a child, and a scholar who possibly has a College degree.

@Ryan 4 years according to the timeline. Enough time for the high school sweethearts to marry and kids.

Whoops, something must have been in my eyes, well, Satan high must be a really good high school and require less than our normal 4 years.

Does he not exist in Super yet?

He does. But he's younger than at the end of Dragon Ball Z.
In Dragon Ball Super, Dende mentions to Goku that there is a kid in a small village with a great potential that he should train, and that the boy is a reincarnation of the evil Majin Buu.
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Uub

dragon ball super did not start at the Uub part they just started right after they beat kid buu  so its like they just cut off the Uub part and that never happend because after battle of the gods they got the idea of revival of f  then  got the idea of dragon ball super because at first they were gonna make a season about goku training Uub to fight him


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Who is the woman who talks to young Tooru Amuro/Rei Furuya?
Tooru Amuro or Rey Furuya is the Black Organization member nicknamed Bourbon. He actually something like secret police agent (I can't remember the organization's name) who is working undercover in BO.
He as Tooru Amuro works at Poirot Cafe, and become Kogoro's apprentice.
I remember a case when Amuro, Conan, Ran and Kogoro are at the hospital and there's a case where a posion is used in a tea.
After Amuro and Conan realise who the suspect of the cases is, there's a kid with her mother counting the lift that coming from the upper floors.
When the kid counts to zero (they are on the ground floor), Amuro hears that and he seems surprised about it.
He also has a flashback to when he was a kid and was called "zero" by a woman.
So, who is she? Who's the woman who speaks to with young Amuro? What is their relation? And also why he called "zero" by this woman?

You are talking about episode 771 of the anime (chapter 892 in the manga) The woman was Elena Miyano, the mother of  Shiho Miyano (Ai Haibara) who created the first prototipes of the APTX-4869 for the BO.
Acording to DC world wiki:

While the true relationship between them has not been revealed yet, We know that they knew each other when Rei was younger. Rei got into many fights and it seems that Elena would bandage him up after the fights. However, one day, Elena had to move and could no longer bandage

Amuro's real name is Rei Furuya and "Rei” (零) means “zero” and that is possibly the reason why he is called zero.


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Gintoki's example: Shy school girl becomes slutty after mysterious summer holiday
I want to know the season and the episode number in which the following scene occurs.
Gintoki speaks with some people (maybe with Kaguya-chan and megane-kun). I don't remember the topic of speech but he gives this as a supporting example: There is a very shy and cute school girl. After the summer holiday, she becomes very arrogant and slutty with a lot of make up on her face. Gintoki says that something must have happened in the summer. While Gintoki gives this example, we watch before & after images of the girl on the screen.

possibly episode 203, its called "Everyone Looks Pretty Grown up after Summer Break" http://gintama.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_203

No. You can't find it by looking the episode title. It is a 10-second joke not directly related to the main arc, that only hardcore Gintama fans can find.

It is from Episode 136 (season 1), an episode of Hasegawa looking for a 1LDK room.
The scene is about Gintoki giving a nonsense analogy to Hasegawa explaining that a good room has already been "done" by the time you meet, just like girl xD.

To be exact, the scene starts at minute 17:20. Happy rewatching ^^


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Why can't Edward get back his power to do alchemy?
Roy Mustang's vision was restored, so why can't Edward Elric try to use something to exchange back his gate, like using another philosopher's stone? Is it that he didn't need alchemy anymore because he fulfilled his wishes?

Remember that what Marco presented was his incomplete philosopher's stone which is somewhat unstable and can go off at any moment (i recall Marco saying this). also if i recall correctly Ed traded his ability to perform Alchemy for Al's life, i think if Truth was to give that back he would require a life and remember that neither Ed nor Al wanted to restore their bodies if someone else's life had to be sacrificed

Note that Edward did not want to use a philosopher's stone to save Al, so it is doubtful he would have wanted to use one to get his alchemy back (were that even possible), particularly when his alchemy is less important to him than Al. I'm not sure if there is some deeper reason as well (perhaps it isn't possible in the first place to make such an exchange), but I'll think about it and try to write an answer later.

@Memor-X: FWIW, Roy implies in the manga that he would have exchanged his gate for his lost eyesight. We also don't know whether the value of the gate is equal (and not greater than) Alphonse (or Roy's eyesight), particularly since it seems that there is some subjective aspect to what things "cost" in this realm, but this at least doesn't rule out the possibility that it wouldn't necessarily take a life in a hypothetical exchange of something for one's gate.

Edward's actions when he recovers Alphonse indicate that he probably would not want to get his alchemy back, much less do so by using a philosopher's stone.

Ling offers Edward a philosopher's stone to use to recover Alphonse. Edward refuses because he and Alphonse had promised not to use a philosopher's stone (and more generally, human lives) to restore their bodies. Alchemy is surely less important than Alphonse is to Edward, so he would not want to use a philosopher's stone for recovering his alchemy (were it possible).
Edward tells Truth that he will be fine without his alchemy: he has always been an ordinary person who was not able to achieve everything he wanted, and even without alchemy, he has his friends. Edward accepts this result, so it would be unlikely for him to want to reverse it.

More generally, exchanging something for one's gate would probably count as a transmutation of sorts. If someone already gave up his ability to do alchemy, it would then seem contradictory for him to be able to exchange it back. (It is unclear whether another alchemist could initiate the exchange, but it seems unlikely in light of the personal nature of the gate.)

When Edward tried to transmute bricks (or something like that) at the end, he seemed to miss his alchemy powers though.  Would he be able to use alkahestry then?

@G.Ole: True, but he doesn't seem to miss it that badly. For the other question, see this.

I believe it would work if he had a Philospher's Stone. Remember the stone has the power of many human souls. Ed stated that every human is in fact their own Philospher's Stone, except each person simply has the power of one soul instead of millions. Ed gave up his gate as a payment to get Al back. A Philospher's Stone gives the illusion of alchemy without equivalent exchange, because it has the power of many souls, so using the stone would indeed get his back, or at least give him a brand new one.

Good point about the philosopher's stone giving the illusion of alchemy; if I'm not mistaken, Father Cornello does exactly that in the series. Note though that this isn't a route that Edward would be willing to take, and that it seems doubtful (at least to me) that Edward would be able to recover his gate either way.


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Why do some anime characters use Sanskrit spells instead of Japanese?
Recently while watching Twin Star Exorcists I noticed the main character using a Sanskrit spell. Why is that the case? Why don't they use native Japanese spells instead?

per Wikipedia on Sanskrit

Sanskrit (/ˈsænskrɪt/; Sanskrit: saṃskṛtam [səmskr̩t̪əm] or saṃskṛta, originally saṃskṛtā vāk, "refined speech") is the primary sacred language of Hinduism, a philosophical language in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, and a literary language that was in use as a lingua franca in Greater India.

While Japan's native region is way back when was Shintoism during the Nara period Buddhism was making it's way into Japan and was structurally established within Japan by Emperor Shōmu sometime during his reign between 724–749 being a devout Buddhist himself.

During this time, Buddhism becomes structurally established within Japan by Emperor Shōmu (reign 724–749), and several large building projects are undertaken. The Emperor lays out plans for the Buddha Dainichi (Great Sun Buddha), at Tōdai-ji assisted by the Priest Gyogi (or Gyoki) Bosatsu. The priest Gyogi went to Ise Daijingu Shrine for blessings to build the Buddha Dainichi. They identified the statue of Viarocana with Amatarasu (the sun goddess) as the manifestation of the supreme expression of universality.

Soruce: Shinto - History - Nara Period

Shōmu, a devout Buddhist, is best remembered for commissioning, in 743, the sixteen-meter high statue of the Vairocana Buddha (the Daibutsu) in Tōdai-ji of Nara.

Source: Emperor Shōmu - Legacy
obviously one can find Buddist references in some anime such as Dragonball and Brave 10, particualy from the answer in that link

Buddhist texts in Japanese are strange things. As the informed reader is aware, Buddhism originated in India, and as such, many of the foundational texts of Buddhism were originally written in Sanskrit. When Buddhism moved into China, those Sanskrit texts were translated into whatever the contemporary form of Classical Chinese was. Eventually, those texts made their way from China into Japan.

the exact reason as to why they would use that? if i was to make an assumption it would be because it's an old yet mystical language from a age long gone and normally (from what i have seen) old languages are generally used for magic such as with the Merlin series the Spells used in it were literal commands (like Open, Copy, Burn) translated to Old English or Lancer in Fate/Stay Night using Northern European Runes

Lancer obtained 18 Original Runes, Norse Runes, after studying magecraft under Scáthach in the Land of Shadows

Source: Lancer (Fate/Stay Night) - Abilities - Runes

^ you can see 3 of the 4 Runes Lancer uses in Ath nGabla. the 4 runes being Algiz, Nauthiz, Ansuz, and Ingwaz

I think Latin (or pseudo-Latin) is used for similar reasons in English-produced media.  I can't think of any examples offhand, though.

In your last example (the gif) what runes? You mean the purple thing on the ground?

@AyaseEri yes. if you notice the 3 that you can see are different shape. i don't know which is which but i do recognize the slanted F (Lancer's back) and the trident like Y (Lancer's Right)

I love your answer and yeah since I m basically from India that's how i recognised that was Sanskrit , a beautiful answer indeed :)

@Bobson Harry Potter is a good example of Latin-based incantations. H. P. Lovecraft sometimes used Hebrew-based incantations, likely to evoke popular notions of Kabbalah.

@RobertColumbia I can’t believe I didn’t think of that at the time. Good call.

You can find an English language equivalent (English using spells spoken/written in Latin) easily.
For example, any of the Harry Potter books.
Lumos, for example, for light.
-john

I think "lumos" is not Latin. It would be "lux" or "lumen".

that does not answer the question at all.Its just another example but I appreciate you commenting


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Is the Ace Attorney anime canon?
Is the series canon or is the game that counts as canon? I've had a growing interest in the franchise since Wright became an Marvel vs Capcom 3 character and I just started the anime. I was wondering if the anime depicts the actual storyline of Wright's progression as a lawyer or if a story line even exists for the series at all.
Can anyone let me know for sure if the series is canon or not?

The Ace Attorney/Gyakuten Saiban games are the original works, and as such are significantly older, and cover a longer story, so they would be considered the core cannon.
That said, there are not a lot of differences between the two - the cases covered in the anime are the same as in the games (so far the anime is up to the second case of the second game, although it skipped the first case of that game since it was more of a tutorial and not particularly important in the scheme of things), and the plots are pretty much the same. The anime does add a few details here and there, and in particular episode 13 gives some background to a big event when the main character was very young that does affect how one side character is portrayed slightly.
That said, if you just watch the anime, you will get the same story, you'll just have to wait longer to run into certain characters and plotlines.


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Why are most anime dubbed in American English, rather than British English?
What is the reason behind most anime being dubbed in American English and not British English? Does the control of a country over the world market have something to do with this?

Dubs don't just appear out of thin air. Somebody has to want them, and pay for them. That means they would probably want the English variant for their target audience, which evidently more often happens to be an American company, and so the variant is American, too. Then the other English-speaking countries may sub-license that dub to air locally. It would probably help if you googled up who made the dub for a certain anime. Don't be afraid to do a bit of research.

Because most of the companies that first get the licenses to distribute a series outside Japan in English are based in America.
If we look at three of the biggest ones that I can think of off the top of my head, we have:

Funimation - Headquarters: Flower Mound, Texas, United States
Aniplex of America - Headquarters: Santa Monica, California, United States
Crunchyroll - Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

When companies in Anglophone areas outside the U.S., like Manga Entertainment (UK), Madman Entertainment (Australia) and Siren Visual (Australia), get licenses to broadcast outside of America, it would be a waste of money to re-sub/dub the series. This is why when you get DVDs/Bluray from somewhere like Madman, you see company logo animations for all the companies involved, including U.S. companies like Funimation or Aniplex, before the title menu.
Re-subbing might be significantly cheaper since you are replacing words based on how they are spelled (color/colour, meter/metre) but re-dubbing wouldn't be because you have to hire the voice actors/actresses to come in and redo lines. If the original VA's were re-hired then it would be possible to get them to redo certain lines, but if you wanted a UK VA Cast then you would need to redo every scene and this wouldn't be cheap.
Also one thing to consider is that Japan does have different accents such as the case with Toji who has an Osaka accent which was interpreted to be a New York/Brooklyn accent. If an English-speaking company outside the US was to re-dub they run the risk of ruining this and we know how bitchy we can be when it comes to subs/dubs not being accurate.

from a Non-American perspective, the general US accent can be off-putting for us - because it sounds specifically like Americans talking, whereas with a regional accent, it would be easier to suspend disbelief. Also, on your last point - it's not as if other english speakers don't have their own selection of accents...

@ToshinouKyouko non-american here aswell and i've watched alot of dubs and generally i don't find it off-putting except when it's like Aimee's voice in Bravely Second when it's out of context

I would probably totally lose any Osaka-ben-is-Brooklyn-joke because I wouldn’t realise it’s Brooklyn … It all sounds the same from sea to shining sea to my (British trained) ears so … yeah. But I’ll totally agree that people are waa~y too bitchy when it comes to dubs/subs …

I'm going to distill this comment to an answer.
It largely depends on what region the dub is intended for, and also who is paying for it.  There are a lot of differences between the two English styles, and it's important to ensure that the market which the dub is intended for receives the correct-sounding audio.
I've personally noticed a trend with dubs in that America is its principal market.  This doesn't exclude any other English-speaking countries, but given that America is one of the larger markets for dubs, it makes sense to go that route.
If a dub is not localized to British English, then either there is no budget to do so, or the differences in localizing the audio wouldn't be quite significant enough to justify the effort, and the American English version is "good enough".


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Has the State Alchemist pocket watch ever been shown to be of use in a transmutation?
In the beginning of the series (both 2003 and Brotherhood) Cornello takes way Ed's pocket watch in order to prevent his circle-free transmutation (which is later revealed to be pointless). From this, it was implied that the pocket watch has some sort of effect on a State Alchemist's transmutations. I seem to also recall that in the 2003 series, when Ed became a State Alchemist and was given his watch, he was told it could boost his alchemy.
However I don't recall any instance in either series where this was the case. It's not used as a mobile circle as each combat State Alchemist had their Transmutation Circle with them (Roy's ignition gloves, Gran's gauntlets, Armstrong's metal knuckles, Kimberly's own hands) and Shou Tucker was never shown to use his (and I doubt that he used it for producing the Alexanina Chimera because he was capable of doing this from the start, having done a similar transmutation before becoming a State Alchemist).
I recall at one stage the chain was used to bind someone, but what I would like to know is if there was any situation, in either series, in which the boosting capabilities of the State Alchemist pocket watch is shown to have benefited an Alchemist's transmutation (without the addition of Red Stones/Fake Philosopher Stones as per the Lior Rebellion in the 2003 series).

It is somewhat difficult to answer this with complete certainty without analysing every single transmutation that appears in Fullmetal Alchemist. However, I will give an answer based on my memory and impressions of the series.
In the manga-based continuity, the watch appears to serve largely as a marker of identity; there is never any comment about the watch's powers. We never see the watch invoked or made reference to as a source of power when State Alchemists transmute substances.
I do not know the 2003 series as well, but my impression is that while the claim that the watch amplifies transmutations is reasonable, we are never actually shown an instance where it is explicitly used in a transmutation. It is entirely possible that the State Alchemists we see are drawing from the watch's power anyway, when they attempt transmutations, but we do not ever directly see it.
The current revision of the FMA Wikia appears to support my conclusion:

Although the manga does not describe the pocketwatch as anything more than official proof that the carrier is a State Alchemist, the 2003 anime suggests that each pocketwatch is an alchemical amplifier. The 2003 anime also depicts the watch's silver chain as extendable, as in the instance when the Strong Arm Alchemist, Major Alex Louis Armstrong uses it to tie up a target.

In particular, were there actually an instance where the watch is explicitly used, I would expect there to be a note of it here, seeing how rare such an instance would be in the course of the anime.

Skimming over the early Lior arc in the manga, incidentally, I cannot find any instance where Cornello takes Edward's watch from him. The watch also does not appear in this part. (I was only able to tell that Edward had his watch because I could see the chain.) This also does not occur in FMA:B.
As might be expected then, the section of the Lior arc in the 2003 anime where Cornello takes Edward's watch is not in the manga-continuity. (This is after Ed and Al have escaped from the fight. Cornello turns a mob on them, and they are captured again. The watch is then taken.)

I'm not fully satisfied with the bit about the 2003 series. If I've gotten something wrong, please comment.

hmmm, i thought Ed's watch was taken from him in Brotherhood ( which was from the manga) as well as the 2003 series however it could be my memories of the 2 series are overlapping

At one point in the 2003 series, Ed's watch is handed in for "maintenance", and they put one of the fake philosopher's stones in it (I think the dialog implied this was done for all alchemists over a certain rank).


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Where does the manga Otoyomegatari take place?
I know it's located near the Middle East, but I'd like a more precise idea of the locations involved in Otoyomegatari.

I think it in Turkey.

@swswsws Mr. Smith and his guide is the one bound for Turkey.

If you are not already aware, the series is set in 19th century Central Asia. The culture is without a doubt Turkic.
The main setting of the story is explicitly mentioned to be a rural village near the Caspian Sea.

It's important to note that the land and territory borders in the 19th century were vastly different from what is is today.

This bit, done by the author for the 2014 Taisho Award, sheds some light on the regions each of the characters are from.
Karluk's town (Pariya included) is located in modern Uzbekistan, and are of Uyghur ethnicity.
The city where Mr. Smith meets Talas, Karaza is likely in Karakalpakstan, part of Uzbekistan.
The town where Mr. Smith and his guide meets the twins (Laila and Leyli, they're Tajik. Not Turkic, but rather Persian) is Muynak/Moynaq, a city in northern Karakalpakstan.
Amir and her family are of Kazakh ethnicity, and hail from modern day Kazakhstan.

Awesome answer, the specific locations where really what I was looking for!


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In the manga, what piece is Chiaki playing at the beginning?
In chapter 1 of Nodame Cantabile, it is implied that Chiaki is playing some Beethoven in preparation for the school concerto competition. We also get a snapshot of a score, which presumably contains what he is playing.

Do we know what piece Chiaki is playing? In the anime, he is playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 5 ("Emperor"), and it is easy to recognise as he starts from the beginning of the first movement. However, the score here does not correspond to any section of the concerto that I can recognise, and in any case, we are not explicitly told what piece he is practising.
I tried skimming through a copy of the piano part of Emperor and could not find a section that matched. Inputting part of this score into the Musipedia search engine also did not get any useful results.

This is the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 1, which is not the concerto being played in the anime. Examining the section where the piano begins to play, we can see a correspondence between the orchestral reduction (as shown in a piano part) and the bars of top line shown in the manga. The lower line corresponds to the opening of the piano part, although a couple notes at the very beginning are missing.
For comparison, here is the relevant section of the piano part. The orchestral part (i.e. the first line) is marked with yellow brackets; the piano (i.e. the second) with blue. (Note that the score Chiaki is using has a different format from the one I found; his includes the orchestral reduction even when the piano is playing, and the reduction occupies a separate line.)


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Why is the Japanese flag supposed to be funny?
In the first chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist, immediately after the priest explains that he wants to conquer the nation, we see Ed saying that he doesn't care at all.

Why is there a Japanese flag on the priest's head?
And what does Ed's gesture mean?

the japanese flag reminds me of child menus https://musa4trip.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/okosa.jpg :D

Mybe it's about nationalism, conquest and the role 'Nippon' played in the past? Also, it's hilarious.

Ed's gesture means he throws the priest's ambition away to where the arrow points using his both hands. The SFX (onomatopoeia)「ぺいっ」(pei with small tu to express impetus) dexcribes the movement you toss away something light that you can easily carry such as a crumpled paper. 「ぽいっ」is used commonly but in this case, the author chose「ぺいっ」to make Ed's action a bit funnier because he totally ignored the priest's burning passion to conquer the nation in front of his nose.
About the Japanese flag, I think only the author knows the true meaning of it but I assume the flag is hoisted on the priest's head to make fun of him who's in shock by Ed's indifference.
It won't make a difference if it were a American flag or a tiny flower because it doesn't hold a serious meaning which affects the scene but only add a mockery taste to the conversation of them and give a tiny giggle to a reader.