text:
Did Zetsu know about Tobi's truth/identity all the time?
I'm guessing Zetsu is one of

 Madara Uchiha's successful projects (created from First Hokage's DNA)!

And that makes me believe that

 Obito and Zetsu must be knowing each other!

But on the contrary! When Tobi was searching Sasori's ring (after his fight with Chiyo and Sakura), if you observe Black Zetsu and White Zetsu's comments on Tobi, one would think that they weren't aware of Tobi's serious part of life.

what is the reason for downvoting??

I edited your title to prevent spoilers. Also, I think that if you have the information on the first spoiler markup, you also know the answer to your own question. When that info (the one on the first spoiler markup) is given (chapter 606), one already knows that Zetsu and Tobi (his alter-ego, actually) had interacted (in chapter 603), with the former helping the latter.

@JNat, I see, thanks for responding. will take of spoilers in future :)

If you know Tobi's identity, then you almost certainly know the answer to your question, since Tobi's backstory was covered about 2-3 chapters after his identity was revealed. So unless you answered your own question, I fail to understand why you needed to ask this.

@Deidara-senpai, thanks for a downvote! Well. It is possible that obito might have cleared Zetsu's brain, as his intentions were more clear than his methodologies, which he never cared about. I wanted to know because I wanted to be sure if he was really acting or he was being controlled. Tobi has done it to many since past!

@Sai I did not downvote.

k. Sorry for claiming it then :) There were many zetsu clones created prior to White/Black zetsu with same shape and powers! The ones created by madara may not be the same who are existing now. Tobi himself knew the technique, so he might have created one himself. But not revealing them his true identity! I suspected that I might have missed a part somewhere.

Zetsu did know Tobi from the beginning.

 Tobi has interacted with the White Zetsu the moment he arrived to Madara's cave. Black Zetsu was created by Madara in Obito's presence.

The reason for Zetsu supposedly not knowing Tobi could be

He wanted to keep it hidden from the other Akatsuki members.
Kishimoto haven't thought about it at the time.

accepted for adding 2nd point :)

Do you remember this thread? http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/158016/should-the-voting-be-locked-for-question-that-is-closed/158023#158023 we had long discussion out there :)

@Sai: I don't understand how it related to the topic in hand though.

sorry! it isn't related .. but wanted to point out that we met earlier :)

@Sai: Oh, cool :)

Yes, he did. It is shown in chapter 603 (on the very first page) that Zetsu was given the opportunity to look after

 Obito while he was recovering.

so he was just acting as if he didn't know .. (just to hide it from other members of Akatsuki)

@Sai, yes, exactly ;)

It was clearly a retcon. And NOBODY above answered his question...just gave bs info pertaining to after they retconned tobi. Black zetsu in the anime...not manga...does not know tobi's identity and "bosses" him around like a recruit even though there is nobody else there to "fool". Deidara comes a few minutes after tobi loses the ring. The only answer is this was very clearly retconned into just being obito. Ive watched the show 6 times over in 6 months. Its the greatest show ever made. That doesnt mean they didnt need a retcon or two. The mods of this thread are idiots. The show has been over for gd years....dont need a spoiler alert ffs.


text:
What defines one "season" of anime?
From what I've been able to follow, the seasons of anime shows have been tied to thirteen week blocks, directly correlating with the actual season in Japan (for instance, this is the Winter 2013 season).
However, there are instances in which shows with more than 13 episodes are considered to have only run for one season.
Which is the correct definition - are seasons 23-26 episodes, or are they 11-13 episodes?

The 13 week "season" that refers to a time of year or when a show starts airing is sometimes referred to as an "airing" season or a "television" season. This is like "Winter 2013 season". But since shows sometime span different television seasons, even if it's 13 episodes long, this run of a series can also be referred to as a "season".
Sometimes shows get cut off, go on hiatus, or for whatever reasons (e.g. financial) have a significant break between certain episodes such that the TV series runs through multiple "television seasons" (e.g. Girls Und Panzer) yet the show itself is still referred to as the "first season", and this is sometimes referred to as a "cour" or "series". The usage of "season" comes down to semantics. Multiple "seasons" of a TV series can also be called "series", like Galaxy Angel and it's multiple (different lengths) "seasons" are sometimes called "series 1", "series 2", etc. "Cours" however, usually refer to a 12 or 13 stretch of episodes. So a 26 episode series can be referred to as "2 cours".
But as far as the length of an anime "season", a 12 episode series run can be referred to as a "season", yet sometimes a 26, or 36, or 201 (Gintama) episode run is called a "season". It's technically not tied to a specific length, which is why some people prefer to use "cours".

This is probably one of the reasons my head is spinning on the matter.  "Season" is too loosely defined a term, so it's better to use "cours" instead.  But then, I introduce new language to mean practically the same thing.  Thank you for distilling it, but I'm going to need a few seasons to digest this properly.

A "season" is pretty much whatever the producer defines as "season".
The traditional size of a season in a periodic TV show is 24-26 episodes, but this is not written in stone. Frequently a "test run" will be 12 episodes.
There is another reason called "Broadcast Syndication" - a bundle of either between 88 and 100, or exactly 65 episodes is sold to a TV network.
So, season sizes are often adjusted to these: two seasons of 26 and one of 13 episodes will create a bundle of 65. Three seasons of 25 and one of 13 will create 88. Four seasons of 25 will create 100.
And of course there are exceptions: two-episode stories, extras, OVA and so on which may or may not be included in the number.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Who is Ichigo's Father, Isshin?
Though he is initially shown as a normal human, it is later revealed that he once had Shinigami powers, and later he is the only one

 Who knows about Ichigo's true powers, and who tells Ichigo how to train for the last battle against Aizen.

But the The Lost Substitute Shinigami arc where

 Ichigo fights Ginjo, it's revealed that Ginjo was the first Substitute Shinigami.

So what is Ichigo's father and why does he know what he knows? Also, why he doesn't seem to have any Shinigami powers, while he knows so much about them?

Yeah, Bleach is full of plot holes like that.

@MadaraUchiha it doesn't really seem like a plot hole, I mean there are too many hints about ichigo's father that one might assume there should be a big story (maybe even as big as an arc) behind him.

Isshin Kurosaki used to be a Shinigami of an unknown division and rank. According to bleach.wikia.com:

About twenty years ago, he ceased being a Shinigami, losing most of his powers.

He still has a shikai, which he uses during the Fake Karakura arc.
Spoiler:

Ichigo also has Quincy powers that have been implied to be related to his mother. If Ichigo's mother was a Quincy, Isshin may have known.

isnt it revealed that isshin is a former captain? as far as i remember he is the captain of the division where Tōshirō Hitsugaya is the captain as of now.

The wiki claims he was the captain of squad 10 and links to the chapter in the manga that this occurred: http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Isshin_Kurosaki

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


text:
Will Naruto have a Kid?
In Naruto movie 4, during the ending scene

 The priestess says that she needs to give her powers to the next priestess. And asks Naruto's help with this matter. But what did she mean by that? Did she mean it in the context "Make a new priestess with me?" or more in the context "Once the time comes can you help me transfer my powers?".

Video of the scene I'm referring

I doubt that they would make such innuendos ;).

Ah, I shouldn't comment so fast :D.

Then she asked Naruto if he would help (indirectly asking if he will father her child) to everyone's shock, which a misunderstanding Naruto, happily agreed to.

Source: Narutopedia
However, it never happened.

damn fillers =\

made for a funny moment though :p, Still wondering. Did it not happen because the movie is set to another time line or any other specific reason to it? or is it just never mentiond after anymore ?

@Dimitrimx: As Hashirama Senju (lol) mentioned, it's a filler. It's just like a parallel-universe.

I legitimately doubt that anything serious was meant by that, or even came of it.
Naruto's character has always been to help others out where and when they need it, but in this case, he didn't pick up on the subtext like Rock Lee, Kakashi and Sakura did.
If nothing else, there won't be a child between him and that priestess.  Considering that, in canon...

...he has two children with Hinata:  Boruto and Himawari.


text:
What is the meaning behind Tsukihi's pose 17 minutes into in episode 1 of Tsukimonogatari?
When Tsukihi is taking a bath together with Koyomi, she played with the foam and struck a pose while saying [都条例]【とじょうれい】 (or so I think, based on the translation). Koyomi said it was scary and splashed some water on Tsukihi to wash all the soap away.
Below is the image of the relevant scene (NSFW):

What is the meaning of Tsukihi's pose here? And why did Koyomi freak out like that?

Yeah, what Tsukihi said was 都条例 tojourei, which is the short name of the "Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths" (also called "Bill 156"). This ordinance underwent a major revision in 2010 that substantially expanded its scope. In particular, it required publishers located in Tokyo Metropolis to self-regulate and prevent the publication of "manga, anime, and other images (except for real-life photography)" that "unjustifiably glorify or exaggerate" certain sexual or pseudo sexual acts.
This bill was obviously targeted at the anime/manga/etc. industry (given the exemption for real-life photography). And, of course, the industry (which is largely based in Tokyo) was not a fan of this - this ordinance has been a hot-button topic for some time now. I'm pretty sure that the whole ending of the Kenzen Robo Daimidaler anime was a reaction to it.
In practice, the law has not been very strongly enforced. As of mid-2012, no works had been actually deemed "harmful", though I believe a small number (single digits) were deemed "harmful" in 2013. But anyway:

What is the meaning of Tsukihi's pose here?

Glorifying a pseudo-sexual act, I guess. The pose isn't a reference to anything in particular; the only previous examples of it I was able to find were a few things on pixiv (one, two; NSFW) doing drawings based on the description in the light novel (chapter 004; keep in mind that the light novel was written in Sept 2012, nearly two years after the revised ordinance was passed). More generally, this is a pretty prototypical example of the kind of thing that could have been subject to scrutiny or outright banned had the "non-existent youths" provision of the bill gone through.

And why did Koyomi freak out like that?

Well, here is his internal monologue immediately after Tsukihi does her pose:

Don't poke fun at it!
Panicking, I dumped the washbowl on her. The soap was washed away. I think that made it worse, at least as far as the Metropolitan Ordinance is concerned. But still, I was of the opinion that covering up bits and pieces was far less wholesome.
Nudity is healthful and artistic.

I don't really know what to extract from that. Perhaps he was breaking the fourth wall and was worried that the government's censors would shut them down?

In the novel of Kabukimonogatari, Koyomi makes another reference to this law: he says he'd like to go back in time and get lolicon material that's banned under it in the present.

I don't understand Japanese and relevant part of light novel is not translated, so I'm assuming that the anime translations is correct.
Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths is a prefectural law, that simply says that any material, which is "considered harmful" must be marked as so (adult-only or 18+) and can only be placed in adult-only sections of stores. In 2010, the "considered harmful" was supposed to be expanded with "sexually provocative depictions of fictional characters who appear to be under 18 years of age"(aka. "Nonexistent youth" bill), but was never passed due to heavy opposition from industry.
The meta-joke here is that Tsukihi is both canonically and visually under age of 18, is striking suggestive pose and her privates are barely covered. Araragi is scared, because if said bill was actually in effect, it would immediately make the episode into 18+ material and would be handled as any kind of pornography. And thats something Araragi obviously wouldn't want. This is less obvious in anime, but it would definitely feel like real meta-joke when in written form. And considering NisiOisiN's streak with meta-4th wall breaking naratives, I wouldn't be surprised he written this exactly to make life of animators harder.


text:
Why does Okita Souji did not appear?
When Kenshin Himura arrives ten years ago after the Revolution, Basically, Okita Sōji  suffered from tuberculosis, as seen when he fought Kenshin in a flashback as well as in Trust and Betrayal, though he was still able to hold his own with the Battōsai. After that, Okita Sōji didn't appeared his character both Manga and Anime, is he already died before kenshin arrives in tokyo 10 years ago?

Okita Souji is an extremely well-known and well-liked historical figure in the minds of Japanese people, who generally know that he died of tuberculosis at about age 25.
He died on July 19, 1868.  The Meiji era started on September 8, 1868. In Rurouni Kenshin, Kenshin arrives in Tokyo in 1878.
In the same way that a historical fiction about Abraham Lincoln doesn't need to explicitly include the fact that Lincoln was assassinated since everyone already knows that, Watsuki-sensei did not need to give this detail about the timing of Okita's death within the series itself because the average Japanese person knows he was already dead long before Kenshin arrives in Tokyo.


text:
Where can I legally download SAO light novel in English?
Are there any legal sites where I can download the complete English Sword Art Online light novel?
I can't seem to find translated ones.

doubt it, there was a fan translation however now that Yen Press is doing the translation and selling i doubt you'll find legal links and the fan translation i think can now be seen as illegal now that the series is officially being translated

@Memor-X On Yen Press I need to buy it? So maybe torrent is my option as of now?

while torrents themselves aren't illegal their content can still be and in this case i'd assume any torrent of Sword Art Online Novels will be thus.


text:
How did Asuna and Kirito survive?
In the last episode of Aincrad arc of Sword Art Online, how did Asuna survive even though her avatar disintegrated after being attacked by Kayaba? Also Kirito was stabbed by Kayaba as well. How did he survive?
Was it in the novel on how they really survived?

Related: http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/13007/how-does-kirito-come-back-to-life-when-hes-fighting-heathcliff

@Mysticial So there's really no actual text written on how they survived?

None at all on how Kirito survived, however it's easily explained why Asuna survived, see here: http://anime.stackexchange.com/a/19173/3034

@NatsuDragneel your current accepted answer has a problem -- it's almost entirely based on conjecture and cites not canonical sources to back itself up. Please take a look at the comments provided to review the accuracy of your accepted answer to determine if it truly provides an answer to your question.

BY THE POWER OF LOOOOOVE~

Divine Stone of Returning Soul (還魂【かんこん】の聖晶石【せいしょうせき】, Kankon no Seishōseki) is a unique rare item found in «Sword Art Online» that can be used to revive a recently fallen player. The only known way to obtain it was to defeat Nicholas The Renegade, the Christmas event
  boss, during the Christmas Event.

Item description and image source: Sword Art Wiki
I remembered this item was mentioned to have existed within Sword Art Online and that it was hypothesized that it must obey the laws of the game. Part of the reason for the delay between a player dying within the game and being killed by their Nerve Gear in real life, was because there is a chance for them to be revived within the game. To me this explains why Asuna was able to live, because the world was 'saved' very soon after her avatar's HP hit zero.
While this could explain why Kirito didn't immediately die after his HP was zero, it doesn't explain why his avatar was still able to last hit the world boss after receiving a death blow. I have a hypothesis for this, but this one is even a larger leap. In Sword Art Online, there are skills known as Unique Skills which are rewarded to players who satisfy certain conditions. Kirito had the Dual Swords skill (rewarded to the player with the fastest reaction time). My hypothesis is that this unique skill could also have a "last stand" or "last resort" type of skill to get that last hit in or increase DPS for the user in their final throws which makes sense for a player with the quickest reaction time in the game.
Another possibility is that Kirito could have earned more than one unique skill which allowed for his final thrust. The creator of the game stated that there are 10 unique skills and each one is awarded to the player who satisfies the condition best in all of SAO. He stated that the 10 unique skills are awarded to only one player each, but did not say that a single player couldn't obtain more than one unique skill. Out of the 10 unique skills we know of these six:

«Dual Blades» - given to the player with the fastest reaction time
«Holy Sword» - given to the strongest player.
«Darkness Blade» (暗黒剣, Ankoku Ken)
«Battoujutsu» (抜刀術, lit. "The art of drawing one's sword")
«Shurikenjutsu» (手裏剣術, lit. "The art of using a throwing star")
«Infinite Spear» (無限槍, Mugen Yari)

This means that there are still 4 unique skills that we don't know the abilities for, of which one could explain Kirito's ability to briefly withstand a killing blow.

I gotta say I disagree. Kayaba himself was surprised to see Asuna moving to protect Kirito despite being paralyzed by the system.

Well the rest is correct, though.

Just an FYI for everyone...Kirito gave that stone away after he saw it only worked a few seconds after a death.....

@Dupree3 We know, that's not the point why the stone was mentioned though.

I am going to completely disregard this answer for multiple reasons. Look here: http://anime.stackexchange.com/a/19173/3034 Here I explained why Asuna and Kirito both do not actually die after fighting Kayaba. This line, "He stated that the 10 unique skills are awarded to only one player each," means that Kirito could only obtain one unique skill, no more. Your statement is contradictory to this.

So more than an answer this is all speculation.

But the argument of why Kirito was able to go on even after his HP hit zero does kind of make sense. I myself think that could be the case. Such abilities aren't uncommon in RPGs.

@Alchemist: The concept of human willpower overriding the limit of the system is prominent in SAO (if you keep reading) and Accel World. It is reasserted in ALO arc, when Kayaba appears before Kirito near the end of ALO arc, and acknowledged the fact that he overcame the limit of the system.

Asuna
Theory 1: Kayaba kept his words to prevent Asuna from comitting suicide
Before the fight, Kirito had requested Kayaba to prevent from Asuna taking her own life if he was to die, as Asuna threatened to commit suicide if that happened. Quite possibly, Kayaba had set thing up to ensure that if Asuna went to kill herself, she wouldn't actually die, confident that he would win (as he was supposed to be the last boss on the 100th floor).
Otherwise, in my answer to the question Mysticial linked to, I explain there is a time delay before the NervGear kills Kirito in the real world. Seeing as Asuna had in a way killed herself, Kayaba at that point might have prevented Asuna from dying in the real world and put her in the holding area where she met with Kirito later. After all, Kayaba was show to have a level of honor and fairness and probably wanted to hold up his end of the deal. Remember that he paralyzed everyone so no one would get in the duel between him and Kirito, yet he was surprised to see that Asuna was still able to move.
Theory 2: Sugou had been keeping Asuna alive
Another possibility is Sugou Nobuyuki. Asuna being in the holding area may have been a stroke of luck, and Kayaba didn't notice that after SAO was cleared, Sugou prevented 300 players from waking up for his experiments. However, this runs off the theory that Asuna was not just one of the 300, and she was targeted to be isolated and trapped separately.
This is slightly backed up by 2 points:

Sugou did say he was keeping Asuna alive, rather than her father who owned the company, and were more likely to use it to look after his daughter
The wiki about RECT Progress's background says

RECT Progress Inc. had set the 1st main goal of ALfheim Online to reach the top of the World Tree, but was later found to be impossible to complete. It was revealed that the World Tree's actual purpose was to hold the remaining 300 prisoners from SAO as test subjects in inhumane experiments.

This would indicate that since the release of ALO, Sugou was waiting for SAO to be cleared.

Kirito
As for how Kirito survived, please refer to my answer here. (Originally, this question only addressed Asuna, and I have only noticed that it's been edited to address Kirito as well).

So there's no actual text written by the author on how they survived?

@NatsuDragneel i haven't actually read the light novels so i'm not sure, my answers in Sword Art Online are mainly from the anime as i'm trying to avoid the Wikia so not to spoil Sword Art Online 2 and Yen press's English Releases of the Light Novel.

Its okay I'm updated in SAO just curious about that part.

It's never explained in the novels either. At most you can infer based on information you have, and there's maybe 2 or 3 possible explanations that use information from the series, and all make sense in their own right. But over all, a definite answer is never given. In fact, I think the author at one point said not to dwell too much on the events toward the end of the first book (End of the "Aincrad arc") Even Kayaba's word choice about human will could infer either Kirito's drive to not give up, or his ability to overcome the system, seeing as the latter only happens once through-out SAO.

As a note, it's impossible who Sugou does anything for stop something getting their brain fried. If you think on that, if they can do it, then they will do it already at the start of ALO server (One year after SAO start) for their experiments. More than this, if RECTO can stop this function for one player, can do it for all of them, and then, they can stop the server running.

@SakuraKinomoto if suddenly players died in SAO but didn't die in real life but remained in comas after ALO went live i think you could be a bit suspicious. remember that what Sugou did in experimenting on 300 SAO players was highly illegal. as i said however this is a possibility and as i have shown there are logical points of evidence which could back this up

As you can view on the anime, when Sugou explain how they got the 300 players, they told: "there are no difficult to send 300 players to ALO when they're disconnecting" (or something similar). They told, too, "I've completed a lot of investigation on the last month (since SAO end)".
Also, I think the more valid "theory" for keeping Asuna alive, are the delay. If there's a item who can revive a player who dies on the last 10 seconds, there's a delay programmed on the core between dying ingame and IRL. And light novel or anime doesn't tell time passed since asuna dies, until game being cleared.

This is quite well-explained in the manga.

As he was dying, he said to himself "The system might be telling me to get lost, but I'm not listening! I'm still here! I'm still alive!", denying the system's control over his existence, and more or less breaking the limitation imposed on him.
Also, in the first season episode 24 Gilded Hero, at the end of ALfheim arc, the gravity magic used on Kirito didn't end, but like he did in the battle against Heathcliff, he again denied the system and stood up with his willpower.

hmmm this answer is interesting. he was able to deny the system. what about asuna? did she deny the system too when she was able to move despite her paralysis?

There was no reviving stone in this scene, Kirito brakes the rules all the time, there are many examples and this is what this anime is all about. Kind of reminds of Neo. Its a "never give up" genre with a deep meaning that you can brake the system with your own will. It may have been a good story if  both of them didnt wake up, but it just wouldn't be profitable so just stop searching for a logic, because there is non.

Kirito and Asuna didn't immediately die because the system, Cardinal, was designed that way. That's why they have the resurrection item like Disgaea mentioned. There is a delay before the player is killed in the real world, following his avatar's death.
As to how Kirito can still move after his HP reached 0, it was because of the Cardinal system's artificial intelligence. Seeing that Kayaba himself was surprised that Asuna can still move despite being under paralysis status applied by Kayaba, the GM, thru the system, it is safe to assume that that is not planned by Kayaba. Being an artificial intelligence system, Cardinal reacted to Asuna's strong will to protect Kirito.
Now, the same can be said about Kirito killing Kayaba. It was because in his final moments, Kirito suddenly showed a burst of emotion, strong enough for the Cardinal to approve that it is of higher priority than his death.

Do you guys know accel world? It's from the same author as Sao. In the accel world series threre appears something called incarnation System. It means that if you can imagine something hard enough, the system will accept this image has reality instead of what really happend. So in my opinion kirito used some Kind of incarnation System, with what he just overpowered the Kardinal System in the case that he kinda revives himself
Btw accel world and Sao play in the same Universe, so this should be possible, right? :)

from my understanding the only links Accel World and SAO had is that something that looks like the Nerv Gear appears as the basis of the technology used in Accel World, a non-canon cross over special where Kirito is in Accel World and that it's the same author. i don't remember see any citation that they are, without a doubt, the same universe

Sugou released Asuna from paralysis in the final moments so she would run to Kirito, as he knew she would.  Sugou lifted his sword in anticipation as Asuna darted to Kirito, then struck her dead.  Kirito was killed, however I think Klein used the revival item on him, but also, Kirito used Asuna's sword for the kill, so perhaps Asuna's sword became Kirito's and gave him some sort of ability.

Since when was Sugou trapped in SAO? how can he be trapped in SAO but also be the game master of ALO?

There are no theories, because there is a real explanation for this topic. Although, I suppose you remember he bears the "Divine Stone of Returning Soul," yes? The item may be used to resurrect yourself during the 10 second delay before the system has told you "You Have Died." An explanation for his awesome matrix-like ability to come back and see Heathcliff's face for the last time would be the usage of the own human will. Yes, it may sound stupid, but really. It says in the manga. Kirito has so determined to end the virtual world of SAO, that he had to destroy the system to revive himself.

it says in the manga, could you provide the chapter where this is said?

He gave that stone away way before he died..

My theory is a mixture of a lot of the popular ones, but I think what happened is that, first, Kirito gave the Divine Stone of Returning Soul to Klein. Kirito said to use it on the first person he saw die, and either that first person was Kirito, (Can't remember the order of the episodes) or he saved it, and used it on Kirito, bringing him back to give the final blow.
As for Asuna, I think that Sugou prevented her death. We know that he said that he was keeping her alive, and that she was one of the 300 that didn't wake up. Sugou must have stopped her NerveGear from killing her somehow, but how he did is unknown to me. We know that he planned to marry her without her consent, while she was trapped in the game, and that he works at RECT, so, after saving her from dying, he trapped her in a separate game, ALO. That way, Asuna is still alive, and still asleep.
To me, this makes the most sense, but if there is something I'm missing, please tell me.

Klein was paralyzed during the fight with Kayaba, and if Klein does something, he would have bragged all about it. And Kayaba has promised to keep Asuna alive in case she attempts suicide when Kirito dies, so I think Sugou has nothing to do with her here.

The reason they didn't die is because it takes some time between the moment you die in game and the moment your brain is fried in real life. If you recall the scene where Kirito looked at the menu to find "[Executing the Final Phase, 54% completed]", the "Final Phase" was meant to be death in real life.
From Volume 1 - Chapter 24:

But the window contained neither an avatar nor a menu list. The
  blank screen showed only the message [Executing the Final Phase,
  54% completed]. As I stared at it, the number went up to 55%. I had
  originally thought that my mind would die alongside the destruction of
  my body, but what was going on here?

But of course, he cleared the game in time to be logged out before the Final Phase was complete.
The item Kirito got from the Christmas Event was the 10 Second Revival Item, which also backs up why it took time before dying. The delay gave them a chance to be revived, and the Nerve Gear had to charge up to fry the brain.

The OP apparently didn't remember any of these events, so it might be helpful if you pointed out more clearly when they happened (episode, chapter) and whether it was in the anime or was light novel-only.

Final Phase scene is after Kirito has defeated Kayaba and reappeared on the sky. This is irrelevant, since Final Phase here should refer to the destruction of Aincrad after the game is over.


text:
Why does Konoha have only 1 tailed beast?
While others have 2 considering 1st hokage distributed it to other villages.
It doesn't make sense to give other villages to have advantage of having more power. I haven't read manga so have no clue if it's been addressed somewhere.

9 tails + 8 tails can fight the other tailed beast. just sayin'.:) Isn't that imbalance if they have at least 2 tailed beast?

Again probably not. Each tailed beast would be equally powerful (my assumption).

Rather than instruct the world who's the strongest by hoarding the beasts, the First divvied out these nukes to show trust and encourage others to trust him. Besides, how threatening can two beasts be to the guy who was in charge of handing them out?

Idt it was mentioned but they had 2. Rin was the 3 tails jinchuruki.

Their power levels are not equal. Nine-tails power level is equal to every other tailed beast combined. It is stated in no plainer words. However, a beast's power is not determined by the number of tails it has, e.g. two- through eight-tails have a comparable power level.
Check this out for more info.

Why would you say that Shukaku is stronger than either Matatabi or Son Goku?

You're right. After looking into it, that was a presumptuous statement to make.

Adding on to what omni said:
The first Hokage wished/hoped for peace among the five countries, not use their power for war. During the first meeting of the Kages, Hashirama even bowed his head, asking for understanding and peace. To show his sincerity, he might have given the other villages one more tailed-beast than his own.
It's true that Kurama is the strongest among all the tailed-beasts, but I am unsure whether  or not Kurama can take on two of the other tailed-beasts by himself.

Kurama inspires utter terror in every living thing, even most of the other Tailed Beasts. If say Matatabi was unleashed on the battlefield by Cloud and the Leaf answered by unleashing Kurama, Matatabi would probably run like hell in the opposite direction to Kurama with her tails between her legs. Gyuki might've stayed to fight but any other Tailed Beast, maybe except Shukaku (because he's a crazy son of a raccoon) would duck right on out of there.
I'd say Kurama is so powerful that the threat he represents is so great that Hashirama didn't feel the need to keep another Tailed Beast. Add to that the Leaf having the Uzumaki Clan, who could release and reseal Kurama practically at will and Hashirama himself, who could apparently 1 vs 1 every single Tailed Beast and come out on top, every other village wouldn't have dared to use their Tailed Beasts against them.

Dudes look at it this way the yondaime split the kyuubi into two halves reducing its max output and size and yet it can still beat the hell out of the others of all the beast it has the most chakra even when split in half to show how awesome it is . oh and the higher the tail the more powerful the beast  chakra sensors know this fact people like Karin and the blonde body gaurd the 4th raikage brought with him

When Hashirama convened the first Kage summit to distribute the tailed beast, he wanted to distribute them to each village based on power. Three of the four great nations and received 2 tailed beast while sunagakure already possessed the 1 tail and did not desire another, so takigakure took possession of the 7 tails for their commemorative strength of not being one of the great nations. Since the nintails possessed chakra comparable to equivalently 5 tailed, the first hokage sall acquirring another tailed beast would disrupt the balance of power between nations and thus settled with having the strongest tailed beast overall. The argument of kurama being as strong as at least 5 biju is supported by him creating a tailed beast ball able to cancel out a combined tailed beast ball empowered by 5 tailed beast.

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


text:
How can Madara still stick around even after the Edo Tensei had been ended?
Edo Tensei is a technique to revive the dead, and bind their souls into living bodies. However, after releasing the technique, all of the dead should get back into being dead.
How can Madara still stick around even after the Edo Tensei had been ended? I am not sure if it was something that we needed to think about and figure out by ourselves or is it yet to be revealed?

It should be possible to add spoiler marks on questions themselves. People who haven't read the Manga will have serious spoilers just by reading the title... -.-'

Had to comment this, too good to miss: Protected by Madara Uchiha. Trying to hide his own secret ahahah

Firstly, the most important thing to know is that anyone, who knows the Edo Tensei seals, can free themselves from the contract, if given the opportunity. Now, there are multiple ways that one can be unrestricted in Edo Tensei form. These are their opportunities:

The grace period when one's soul is released
(Example: Dan meeting Tsunade)
The revived person is strong enough to withstand the Edo Tensei
(Example: Hashirama not under Orochimaru's control)
The controller allows the revived person free movement
(Example: Madara being revived by Kabuto)
Some other force is able to place a stronger control over the revived person
(Example: Kotoamatsukami being used on Itachi)

In Madara's case, Kabuto had claimed to revive him in a form stronger than his prime. Madara questions Kabuto's ignorance of his prime state and then Kabuto gives Madara full control of his own body in order to demonstrate his abilities.
After Kabuto gave control to Madara, Madara was able to use the Edo Tensei seals to free himself.

One can probably argue that even if Kabuto tried to control Madara, Madara can overpower it. Either way, Kabuto let Madara have full control (perhaps for this very reason).

you got the question wrong, since you don't speak about the point that madara is still arround after everyone else soul moved to afterlife. he used the grace time right after the release of the edo tensei by kabuto, to use edo tensei himself to revive himself.

@Mintri You are misunderstanding how Edo Tensei works. Madara did not use ET to revive himself. He simply unbound the constraint that forces him back into the afterlife.

When Edo Tensei ends, the summoned soul is freed from the Edo Tensei's control, and then the soul ascends to the pure world (afterlife). However, there is a small "grace period" between the two. During this grace period, the soul can act freely.

 During that grace period, Dan used the Reika no Jutsu to go meet his girlfriend. Itachi shared his memories and feeling with Sasuke (though granted he had been freed from the Edo Tensei's control long back). Most other shinobi stood around doing nothing significant.
 However, during that grace period, Madara released the Edo Tensei's summoning contract itself. As such, his soul is no longer bound to "ascend to the pure world" and can continue to stay in the impure world.

He could have done the same thing even before the Edo Tensei was released, if Kabuto had let him, and the effect would be the same. Also, if others knew the seals and chose to use them, they would be able to stick around too.

While the grace period does exist, Madara didn't actually use it. Kabuto gave him full control to begin with.

From what I understood, if you know the Edo Tensei technique yourself, and you're resurrected, you can use it on yourself, after the technique was dismissed by the original caster.

 So actually, what Madara Uchiha did was use Edo Tensei again, using the original sacrifice Kabuto gave him, so that he is now the new caster, and he revived himself.
 Like Madara said on Chpater 591 page 17, there is one risk to the technique.

 If you know the seal, you can release the summoning contract itself.
 Basically, freeing you from the caster's control. Madara's soul wasn't bound by Kabuto anymore, but by himself.

Tell them not to use forbidden jutsu so lightly next time.

I like the way you the 'I' as a substitute for Madara. Will wait for a couple of answers before accepting as i think there could be other possibilities. Was this revealed in the manga directly?

@MozenRath: I am Madara, problem?

@MozenRath: Yes, by the way. That's what I said after I came back. "If you know the seal yourself, you're able to break the Edo Tensei contract itself".

but that just means that if u know the seal urselves then you can break the contract and not necessarily reinstate it. It simply means that Madara refused to go back. Please include the references in the answer before I can aceept it

@MozenRath: I don't remember the exact chapter, but Madara states it himself.

I said that on Chapter 591, page 17. Added to the answer.

@MadaraUchiha: Yes you did. Yes you did.

but it does not have to be casting the edo tensai himself

@MozenRath: I transferred "ownership" of the Edo Tensei from Kabuto to myself. Basically now, it's as if I used Edo Tensei on myself. That's why I'm practically invincible. No one can undo my jutsu now. Maybe except Sishui's eye, Komoamatsukikami.

ohhk. but in the manga you dont say that you become the new caster

@MozenRath: No, I didn't explicitly say that. That's why I said, that's how I understood it, and it also makes the most sense. That's why my soul started leaving my body, and then it returned, because I reinitiated the technique.

@MadaraUchiha I think you did not resummon yourself. I agree it is very plausible what happened is as you described, but the other answer I added seems sufficient to explain what happened.

@MadaraUchiha just a doubt, if you reuse edo tensai. Don't you need a sacrifice. Like what orchimaru offered to tsunade

@3.1415926535897932384626433832 the sacrifice that was initially made to revive Madara is still valid. The soul is still bound to the same body, no need to find a new one.

@MadaraUchiha, now it makes sense. They just need a body for the soul to bound with...


text:
What does Unohana Retsu's Bankai do?
What does Unohana Retsu's Bankai do?
It was not so clear in the manga.

I don't think we have enough information to say what exactly it does... Too little was shown in the manga.

For now we really can´t say. For all we know it could just be the stab we saw. We´ll probably know in the next couple of chapters.

She has a bankai?  You saw it?  Where??

@Makoto Yes, she does. That she has a bankai was revealed during the Soul Society arc itself. What exactly the bankai is wasn't revealed, but that changed recently during the Thousand Years War arc.

@Deidara-senpai: That wasn't her Bankai in the Soul Society arc. It was seemingly her Shikai.

@MadaraUchiha It was revealed that she had a bankai, but what exactly that is wasn't revealed until recently.

Leaving that aside, I vote to close this question for now, but we keep an eye on it, because it seems this question will become answerable soon.

Please dont close. I think another chapter of the manga will be released in the next couple of hours or so. I hope we get the answer to this question soon.

@aikur: When the next chapter will be released, simply flag the question for reopening, and we will reopen it for you. (4 members already agreed to close it, and we don't have many users with closing privilege). If new information comes in, your question will be reopened (right now, it cannot be answered). Don't be discouraged!

@aikur Close does not mean the question is bad, just that it is currently unsuitable for our SE site. This question is actually important for us, since we get some experience on how to deal with questions whose "answerability" changes with time. Rest assured, I wait for Bleach manga each week, and if no one else beats me to it, I will myself flag this for reopening. :)

@Deidara-senpai Thanks too. I look forward to reopening this. :)

Doesn't look like he would explain anything more. :(

Okay. For reasons of SEO, at least two of us in the chatroom believe that currently airing shows where the answer may be revealed in later episodes should be left open. Come to the chatroom to discuss if you disagree.

As for all the information that is currently available

she finally enables her Bankai! Blood spills from the skies, as though it was rain, she enables it caller her Minazuki Bankai out! Zaraki notices all the blood that’s dropping! Unohana’s sword is straightened and changes into a sword with never-ending blood oozing from it. She mentions that the play is over!
  Both of them go crazy and quickly go on their attacks! They keep on clashing, Zaraki can feel that the sword Unohana currently has melts her, it starts to degrade his face from skin to flesh and to bone! He mentions that it’s fun! He notices his hands and cloths degrade away from his bony hands. He asks himself what that is, he mentions that everything seems to be different, at the same time, he sees Unohana with no face except bones!
  Zaraki mentions that everything is so different, he’s been asleep, he’s  just been dreaming about their contacts over and over again, he calls this exchange to have no name, but thanks to her, she now realizes that this can be called, Fighting! They keep on clashing swords and spilling blood! Unohana mentions that she likes fighting! Zaraki likes it so much that he can’t help it, Zaraki is back to seeing flesh and blood again. Source

It seems like a weird kind of bankai to me very Illusive

I simply did not realize how far out of the loop I was in this series.  Wow.

@Makoto same i just randomly stumbled upon it haha

Quite simple really . Her bankai ressurects her target as many times as she wants. When Zaraki fought her he mentions having blackouts. They werent just blackouts but  unohana killing & ressurecting him again and again to keep fighting.


text:
What databases and listing sites exist for anime, manga, etc?
What are the major online databases of anime, manga, light novels, visual novels, and other related media? What are the differences between them?
To qualify as an answer, the source should list a large fraction of series in some particular medium, not just one or a few related series. The primary purpose of sites here should be indexing information about series. While it's acceptable to link to sites that do have some information related to e.g. fansubs, the primary purpose of all links in answers here should be indexing, not providing download links. Also, databases which are out-of-date should be removed.
Non-English sources are welcome so long as they qualify, but please specify what language in parentheses.

Note: This is intended to be the canonical reference for
  questions like this to avoid lots of new questions coming in with
  slightly different specifications. Please check the sites here to see
  if any fit what you want before asking a new question. The answer is
  CW, so feel free to add to it.

All lists are alphabetized, for lack of a better method. If you have a better suggestion just go for it. For the moment, due to the size of this answer, the only things included for each entry are whether they list characters, people, and music from the series. If you want to add this, please do so for everything from a category, not just a single entry.
Anime
All anime:

Anemy

Includes characters, people, industry, music, and file information

anica.jp

Includes broadcast info

AniDB

Includes characters, people, industry, music, fansub groups, and file information

Anikore (Japanese)
AniList

Includes characters, people, and industry

AnimeCountdown

Includes broadcast info

Anime News Network Encyclopedia

Includes people and industry

Anime-Planet

Includes characters, people, and industry

AniSearch

Includes characters, people, and industry

GAMDB

Includes characters, creators, and companies

Kitsu (formerly known as Hummingbird)
Kurozora (Multilingual)

Includes characters, people, industry, music, and broadcast info

MyAnimeList

Includes characters, people, industry, music, and broadcast info

sakuhindb (Japanese)
SIMKL

Includes people, industry, broadcast info

Current/Recent Anime Only:

AniChart
AnemyChart

Also includes older charts

LiveChart
MOON PHASE Anime List (Japanese)

Manga

Anime News Network Encyclopedia

Includes people, industry, and publication info

Anime-Planet

Includes characters, people, and industry

AniSearch

Includes characters, people, and industry

GAMDB

Includes characters, creators, and publishers

Kurozora (Multilingual)

Includes characters, people, industry, and publication info

Manga Updates

Includes people and industry

MyAnimeList

Includes characters, people, and industry

Light Novels
All of the sites above which list manga also include some light novels in their manga section.

LNDB

Includes people and industry

Visual Novels & Eroge

VNDB

Includes characters, people, and industry

Live Action*
*Please remember that live-action series are only on-topic here if they're related to some anime or manga.

AniSearch
JDorama.com
MyDramaList.com

Includes people and industry

Games*
*Please remember that games are only on-topic here if they're related to some anime or manga.

GAMDB

Includes characters, platforms, creators, and companies

Kurozora (Multilingual)

Includes characters, people, industry, music, and publication info

Other

Anime Bath Scene Wiki

Site dedicated to archiving bathing scenes from anime, manga, and other related media

Anime Characters Database

Site dedicated to characters from anime, manga, and other related media

IMFDB

Site dedicated to firearms from movies, TV, and anime

VGMDB

Music from anime and video games, including many visual novels and anime-style games

Recent suggested edit added "fansub groups" to one of the entries. I know that MAL also has info on that, and so must have some other sites, but is it appropriate to add that info on this site?

@user1306322 It's a bit questionable. Generally, people should not use this site for the purpose of pirating anime, but this isn't a direct link to any fansub group. However, it's not clear to me that the information is even useful in the first place. This post is not intended to be a list of all features of every site listed; such a list would be too long. I'm personally of the opinion that this sort of information is too specific to be worth including here. Other opinions are welcome though, and I could see this going either way.


text:
Was Bakuman deliberately made to attract new manga artists in the industry?
The manga and anime Bakuman talks about two middle school boys wanting to be published on a Shonen magazine. The anime clearly set a goal and create antagonists for narration purposes but the story explain rather accurately expectations, procedures and workloads of a real magazine.
Was Bakuman deliberately made and published on Shonen Jump to attract new artists in the industry? If so, are there any documented effect of this type of promotion nowadays, i.e. about more young people trying to join the industry?

I don't think Japan has a shortage of young manga artists. Is there any information on how many new artists debut per year?

The guy who drew Bakuman also did Death Note and Hikaru no GO. I think he likes working with mangas different from the norm.

The magazine QuickJapan vol. 81 published interviews with the authors Ohba and Obata, and the editor Soichi Aida. Aida stated that:

Like how the number of players who play a sport would increase after a manga on the sport gets popular, I do think about people who would think "I might try drawing a manga" after reading Bakuman. If Bakuman does well, we would see more people aspiring to be a manga artist. If we have more manga artist candidates, the future of Jump is bright. As an editor, I do dream about those stuff.

He might be drawing an analogy with how the population of Go players increased significantly after Obata's earlier work Hikaru no Go. More competitors + survival of the fittest = only the best of the best can remain... that's the editor's point of view.
Meanwhile, Obata has stated that he has always loved Fujiko Fujio A's Manga Michi (a semi-autobiographical work about the Fujiko Fujio duo), and the idea for Bakuman started from wanting to do a Manga Michi of his own. So, you can say that it was less about "bringing in fresh air to the industry" for the authors, at least; but there was no reason to keep the editors and the publisher from anticipating it.
As for the effect on the industry, the number of young people bringing their manga to Jump office did increase, according to the QJ magazine.


text:
What does this Death Note rule regarding visual acuity mean?
This is the rule in question, (listed under the Death Note Wiki as "How to Use: XXI"):

"Those with the eye power of the god of death will have the eyesight of over 3.6 in the human measurement, regardless of their original eyesight."

So, what are the numbers referring to? 3.6 what? I googled Visual Acuity, and I'm guessing those with death god eyes can see over 3 and a half times further than normal humans? 3.6 times to be exact.
I never read the manga, or saw the Japanese version, so I ask this question to confirm it with perhaps something someone read.

3.6 in Japanese measurement is the equivalent of 72/20 in American measurement.
That's considered to be Excellent eyesight.
It's not that you see 3.6 times further, you are able to distinguish, 3.6 times more detail in the image you get (read, 3.6 times smaller details).


text:
What makes the Breeder's Diary a future diary in Mirai Nikki?
I only found out that the diary allowed Tenth to control the dogs, but that wouldn't make the diary a future diary. So he had to be able to see some kind of future events with it.
Does anyone know what he saw with it?

If I'm not mistaken, Tsukishima couldn't control the dogs with the diary, but used voice commands via a cell phone.

His diary allowed him to not just control the dogs but also to know their future. That's why he could be one of the players of the diary game. The following is written in the the wiki:

His diary is The Breeder Diary, which is mostly used by his daughter
  Hinata. Despite of this its uses are clear, which involves to predict
  the movements of his dogs and those of his targets.


text:
How did Araragi hide yoto "Kokoro-Watari" inside his body?
In the Nekomonogatari-Black anime, yōtō "Kokoro-Watari" (妖刀「心渡」, sometimes translated as demon sword "Heartspan") is shown with different lengths, but it always appears to be bigger than Araragi. The size changing isn't very noticeable unless you are actively checking, so it could just be due to animator laziness, but the fact that it is longer than Araragi is seems deliberate as it is drawn that way consistently in every scene.
Here is one screenshot of the sword, compared to Araragi. Both red lines are the same length.

Even if he is leaning over in the picture, it's pretty clear that the sword is bigger than he is. It's also clear when he gets cut in half:

However, despite the fact that the sword is taller than he is, it fits into his body. It even fits in Shinobu's body, though of course that could just be one of her abilities. But to the best of my knowledge Araragi should not have any such ability. In addition, the sword is stuck in the ground after his legs disintegrate, which also should not be possible if it was inside of him.
This could very well just be SHAFT following their usual style with the Monogatari novel adaptations, where the visuals aren't meant to be taken literally. Or it could be an indication of another ability of the sword. Is there any evidence that yōtō "Kokoro-Watari" has some ability that would allow it to fit inside Araragi's body (e.g. changing size)?

Just to clarify--you're asking how the Demon Sword Heartspan is able to fit inside Araragi's body?

@kuwaly Yes, that's right.

+1 Wow, I did not notice this at all. And I watched it literally 2 days ago...

I don't think "Heartspan" is an accurate translation of "心渡" (Kokorowatari, lit. "Heart Ferry"). So maybe something like "Cross-over-Heart" or "Heart Crosser,"  since "watari" comes from the verb "wataru; 渡る" (meaning to cross over or to cover). Perhaps it's an allusion to childhood oath "cross your heart and hope to die?"

@Krazer Wikipedia translates it as Heartspan. I don't know whether or not this is an official translation, but it's how I've seen it written in English before. I agree they don't really mean the same thing. If you can find a better translation feel free to edit it in; for now, I've put the Japanese name in parentheses to avoid confusion (though there is only one sword in Nekomonogatari-Black so there isn't much room for confusion).

@LoganM I think this was decided by the UTW translator/s that subbed the episode.

@Krazer While that may be the case, this is the name by which the sword is known in the majority of the English-speaking community, as evidenced by the fact that it was the only English name I could find for it when I was composing the question and looking for the name. Even if it isn't a good translation, we shouldn't go making our own name, as that isn't what people will search for. I'd be fine with changing it if there is an official translation, but barring that I think we should either keep this name or use a romanized version of the Japanese name.

In any case, let's continue this discussion in chat if you want to, because I don't think we should be making decisions like this that might impact other questions here.

As someone who read Kizumonogatari (translated by Baka-Tsuki, not in original Japanese) I thought that I might shed some light about the sword.
First off, I would like to mention that although Kizumonogatari does have a whole bunch of interesting facts about the series (most of which are based around Shinobu and Koyomi's relationship) there is actually surprisingly little about the sword (I actually found this thread by googleing the sword).
I'll try to refrain from spoiling and just say you learn where the sword is from and how it only cuts Kaiis (or Aberrations/Monsters) but we are not told that it has any other special properties from a sword otherwise, so while mcs may have the correct answer, I believe it actually lies elsewhere.
First off I will answer why the sword is able to fit inside Shinobu. Contradictory to Koyomi, Shinobu doesn't actually stick the sword inside herself. Vampires actually have the ability to materialize objects/possessions at will, and Shinobu "conjures" up the sword each time she wishes to wield it. Koyomi never reached that "power level" so he was never able to materialize anything, but to Kissshot-Acerolaorion-Heartunderblade it was no big deal. As for why she materializes it from her mouth, I have no idea (but hey, it sure looks cool).
For Koyomi, I think you actually answered your own question. Indeed the sword is longer than him, I think in the novel it was said to be around 2 meters (~6.6 feet) long. However as you so keenly noticed, the sword was stuck in the ground. During his conversation with Hanakawa, Koyomi never moved from his original spot and if you notice his standing posture is a little strange (he seems to be focusing all his weight on his left foot). I think this is just because he stuck the sword (through him) straight into the ground and couldn't move from that axis.
This is just what I thought from re-watching the scene and from reading the light novels. I hope you found my information useful.

This answer is very helpful. I didn't notice that Koyomi doesn't move for that scene. Factoring that in, I think your answer is as good as we're going to get, so I've accepted it.

This is just an on-the-spot theory since I haven't read the novels, but 刃渡り means the length of a blade. Notice it shares 刃 with 忍 and 渡 with 心渡, while 心渡  and 忍 share 心, completing the trifecta.
Thus I think it's safe to assume that the length of the 心渡 is a crucial part of its design. (perhaps "heart-length" would be the most appropriate translation)
From this you could derive any number of theories and many of them would be appropriate. The simplest would be that it changes length depending on the will, emotions, or state of mind of the user (all three have close ties to 心).
While Shinobu is heart-under-blade, the sword's true usage might be heart over blade, i.e. mind over matter, controlling it with your will.
Someone who's actually read Kizumonogatari might be able to give a definite answer.

We were discussing this in chat yesterday. It seems that Kizumonogatari does not explain it, though we do learn some more about the sword. There could still be an explanation in Onimonogatari, which none of us had read. In any case, +1 for an interesting answer, but I'm not going to mark it as accepted unless it's confirmed that either this is the correct explanation or that it isn't explained in the series.

Some translation would be nice (at least the literal meanings of the kanji)... Not all of us know Japanese, thus but 刃渡り means the length of a blade. Notice it shares 刃 with 忍 and 渡 with 心渡, while 心渡 and 忍 share 心, completing the trifecta. doesn't look like a strong argument xD

This post is old but since it hasn't been answered yet: In the novel, Araragi explains that he swallows the sword and stabs it down through one of his legs until it is burried past his throat and all the way through the floor (As a little nod to that, you can notice that though his posture shifts, he never moves one of his feet).
The ability of kokorowatari as explained in the novel is that it can perfectly cut through anything, oddity or object. Oddities are hurt by this cut but physical objects and living thins are so seamlessly cut that they join back together at the incision and receive no damage; so that's why Araragi could easily push through his flesh and the concrete floor.
In the anime it was really only drawn to it's full length as an artistic liberty to be more visually impressive. Heck, for that matter when Shinobu rips out her arm to restore Araragi with her blood, Araragi explains that his bottom half rematerializes but the pants are left behind and they didn't draw him half naked.

This is correct, but the accepted answer does mention this.

Spoiler for Kizumonogatari:

In Kizumonogatari, Kissshot explains that the Heartspan is not the original sword, but a copy made of vampire blood (the blood of Kissshot's first servant). That by itself is enough to explain why Shinobu and Araragi, being part vampires, can manipulate it in that way. When the sword enters their bodies, it melts into blood again. The sword is special in this case, not them.

I think this explains it for Shinobu, but not Araragi, as he isn't really a vampire after the end of Kizumonogatari. In any case, the accepted answer above by Delti says something similar for Shinobu.


text:
What could be Hashirama's age when they formed village?
I've read the Naruto Wiki page for Hashirama but I couldn't find his age. I just want to compare the present Naruto (in the anime not in manga... i.e no sage powers yet..) to Hashirama when he was 17-18 years old...
As suggested many times that both of them have a great chakra reserves but Hashirama points it out that naruto has almost the same amount of chakra as him i.e including Kurama's chakra... So when Naruto would be in his prime, for example, 25 years of age will he be able to rival Hashirama (without using Kurama's power)?

What are you asking? Hashirama's age as you detail in the question title, or if Naruto will be able to rival hashirama at 25 years old

Related: Can Madara be killed with a Death Note?

It has been implied that the chakra reservoirs of a ninja increases as they proceed to adulthood. When Hashirama implied that the current Naruto has almost the same amount of chakra (Naruto + Kurama), he was in fact comparing to the chakra reservoirs of Hashirama when he was in his adulthood/most powerful.
Since Naruto has a way more to go to adulthood, it is possible that he might surpass Hashirama's chakra, but only in conjunction with the Tailed Beast's chakra inside of him.
However, Hashirama's chakra is all his and it was never shown that he "borrowed" chakra from the Tailed Beasts. But, Naruto has the power from the Sage of Six Paths. But, in the series it has never been implied that the power received from the Sage increases Naruto's chakra reservoir.
Hence,

Adult Naruto's + Tailed Beast's chakra > Harshirama's chakra in his Adulthood.
Adult Naruto without Tailed Beast's chakra MAY BE (very likely) < Hashirama's chakra in his adulthood.


text:
What Mangekyo Sharingan power does Itachi have?
Kakashi and Obito, have Mangekyo Sharingan powers but what power does Itachi have?
I tried researching it but nothing is helping.

also, mangekyo sharingan powers.

try to edit your question description to match with your title.

refer this question. I think it contains all Mangekyo Sharingan powers.

Mangekyou Sharingan users have three abilities. Two unique ones in either eye, and Susano'o, which can only be used if you have Mangekyo Sharingan in both eyes. Itachi had Tsukuyomi in his left, and Amaterasu in his right. Sasuke had Amaterasu in his left eye, and could extinguish and control the shape of the flames in his left, as he did during his fight with Killer B, stopping B from being killed by the Amaterasu. Obito's Mangekyo both used different forms of Kamui, the left one he gave to Kakashi could uses a long range form that could teleport objects within the user's line of sight to the Kamui dimension. The right one he kept could only teleport himself and people he had physical contact with to the Kamui dimension. It also allows the user to become intangible, by teleporting the parts of themselves hit by attacks to the Kamui dimension. The full extent of Shisui's abilities are unknown, but both the eye that Shisui gave Itachi and the eye taken by Danzo could use Kotoamatsukami. The abilities of Madara and his brother were not revealed, but we know Madara was able to use Susano'o, meaning he unlocked the power of both his eyes.
However, Amaterasu and Tsukyomi are not generic Sharingan powers. While Sasuke had Amaterasu like Itachi, I believe that was due to them being closely related, and not because it was a generic power, because no other Mangekyo Sharingan user has demonstrated the ability to use either Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi, apart from Madara using Infinite Tsukuyomi, but I think it's safe to say that's a special case because of the Rinne Sharingan on his forehead.

From the Naruto Wikia site under Mangekyō Sharingan (Itachi Uchiha):

With the Mangekyō Sharingan, Itachi was able to use at least three powerful techniques. With his "left Mangekyō" he could use Tsukuyomi, an extremely powerful genjutsu that allowed him to distort the victim's perception of time, torturing their psyche for what seemed like days in a matter of seconds. With his "right Mangekyō" he could use Amaterasu, a ninjutsu which creates virtually-inextinguishable black flames at the user's focal point that continue to burn until the target is reduced to ash. The last of these known techniques was Susanoo, which allowed Itachi to summon a massive ethereal warrior.

As such we can conclude Itachi's powers are,

Tsukuyomi
Amaterasu
Susanoo

I guess, these powers can be used by any Mangekyo Sharingan user with little effort. And the question is about powers specific to Itachi's MS. Something like Kamui for Obito, Kotoamatsukami for Shisui etc.. But the question is not so clear.

@KaguyaOtsutsuki the question did only ask for Itachi's powers which the wikia only lists these 3 so it's possible he doesn't have any unique ability and i haven't seen as much of the series as most people (due to waiting for DVDs to buy in sets). it's quite possible Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan isn't actually all that special, or he just was never able to reach the stage where he would develop a unique power like Kamui.

Still I can think of one special ability, His susanoo has 'Totsuka Sword'.

@KaguyaOtsutsuki well under the data section on the right for the Susanoo and Totsuka Sword pages Sunasso's page lists it's classification (ie, being a Nin/Genjutsu) while the sword lists related tools and is listed in the same way on the page for Sword of Kusanagi while Amaterasu: Dual Layer lists Susanoo as "other jutsu" (being derived from it). i'd rather call Totsuka Sword a tool/weapon than a power, though on the other hand that might just make Itachi's Susanoo more unique

Isn't Tsukuyomi Itachi's individual power.  No other person seemed to use it.

The manga is not clear on this, but the idea many people seem to have is that Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi are two generic powers every Mangekyo user has and that Obito and Shisui had various bonus unique powers, but I don't think this is the case.
Neither Obito nor Shisui are ever shown to use either of these, my understanding is as follows:
Itachi, Sasuke: Amaterasu in one eye, Tsukuyimi in the other.
Obito: Kamui, close range in one eye, long range in the other (Kakashi's)
Shisui: Kotoamatsukami, perhaps in both eyes.
Madara: ?? I can't remember if this has been shown
And then any Mangekyo user who has awakened both powers will be able to use Susanoo.

Basically, I think there are a bunch of Mangekyo powers going around, and any Uchiha who awakens theirs gets two, Itachi and Sasuke share the same because they are brothers.

Itachi
Left Eye : Tsukuyomi (powerful genjutsu)
Right Eye : Amatarasu (black flames)

I could be wrong but I thought all mangekyo sharingan users had Amatarasu?

Could you provide a source? Also extend your answer a little bit than it looks alot better :3

@Quikstryke No, not all people house Amaterasu in their eyes. Only Sasuke does because Itachi invoked a time-delay spell in his eye for Amaterasu. It is unique to Itachi and Sasuke.


text:
How much of Otome Youkai Zakuro is adapted in the anime
On Wikipedia, it lists that the manga is still ongoing, with the latest volume released in March 2014. The anime however began airing in October 2010 and I'd assume it was on the works for a while.
After seeing the end of the anime and how things seemed to be resolved, I am wondering how much of the Otome Yōkai Zakuro manga was adapted into the anime? Did it deviate from the manga at any point in order to get a conclusion?

Actually, according to Japanese version of the article, there has been 9 tankoubon released, the latest being volume 9 in March 2014.

@nhahtdh i've corrected the latest volume release part. you evidence further strengthens my query as to how much was adapted into the anime and if it at all deviated to achive a conclusion in the anime

Combining the Japanese Wikipedia and Yahoo! Chiebukuro, it seems it's until vol.6, then the latter half is anime original. (not yet posted as an answer since I haven't confirmed it)


text:
When was Kite shown as a little girl?
When Gon talked with Gin on episode 146, he told him that Kite turned into a little girl.
I can't recall that scene anywhere in the series, can anyone tell me when/how it happened and where it was shown?

When: The first time the reborned-Kaito (or Kite) is shown in the manga is in Chapter 316 (picture shown below). This event takes place when Gon is still injured from his fight with Neferpitou and right before the King's death and end of the Chimera Ant's arc. Gon later meets Kaito in Chapter 337.
How: Some humans that were killed and digested by the Queen are reincarnated into her offspring (only some because the number of digested humans far exceeds that of the Queen's children, and not all of them have human memories though). However, Neferpitou kept Kaito's body instead of feeding it to the Queen and therefore does not fall into the previously mentioned category. From this wikia article:

Ging Freecss hypothesizes that Kite's survival has something to do with his ability "Crazy Slot"; whereby there is a number that will only appear when Kite has a strong will to survive and does not wish to die.

When a human was killed an fed to

As the asker may have seen in episode 146,

Ging told Gon that Kite's weapon had a special setting which only activated when Kite was in fear of his life.  The episode did not state this specifically, but implies this is what led to his reincarnation.

Episode 147 begins with a long metaphysical monologue from Koala

to the reincarnated Kite.  Koala, who also remembers his life as a human assassin, wanted to apologize and explain for shooting the girl who Kite now looks like.  He goes deep into his past history and his speculations on reincarnation itself.  Koala hopes that the girl's actual soul had moved on, past the cycle of reincarnation.    He suspects this is why Kite's soul now occupies what would have been her body.  Koala had likely been planning on suicide after talking to Kite.  Kite stops him and gives another option -- work for Kite and apologize every day.  I gathered that Kite was offering a path for Koala to build up some positive Karma.  He accepts.

Previous answers mentioned earlier episodes which described Kite was a girl.  Those were just quick mentions or a quick scene.  It was not until watching episode 147 that I understood the bigger picture.  The aforementioned Wikia article explains a lot of this as well, but watch episode 147 as it contains the main explanation.

Perhaps it might be more useful to furnish the details here. You may want to include spoiler tags if you feel that that might be the reason why your answer is short. A short description or the explanation may be helpful here.

Thanks for the advice; I'll add some more info.  I was wondering why my answer had been down-voted.  With the main question worded as "When was Kite shown ...", I thought an episode number would be adequate.

Interesting--my answer received a 2nd down-vote after extending it.  Could someone explain what they didn't like?  It is directly responsive to the "can anyone tell me when/how it happened" part of the OP's question.  It also added information not contained in the original answer.  Now that a third person has answered there may be overlap, but I believe the 2nd down vote occurred before then.

I didnt downvote at all. I think your answer probably okay. I don't watch the series though.


text:
What is up with Tsukihi and Karen's boyfriends' names?
In Tsubasa Family and Tsubasa Tiger, it was mentioned in a conversation between the Fire Sisters and Tsubasa that both Karen and Tsukihi have boyfriends[1][2].
Karen's boyfriend is named Mizudori （瑞鳥【みずどり】）.
Tsukihi's boyfriend is named Rousokuzawa （蠟燭澤【ろうそくざわ】）.
What is up with these ridiculous names? Has the author explained the names or expanded the story on who they are?
1 Light novel - Nekomonogatari (White) Chapter 059. Anime - Monogatari Series: Second Season Episode 4.
2 Light novel - Nekomonogatari (Black) Chapter 002. Anime - Nekomonogatari: Black Episode 1 (only Tsukihi's boyfriend's name is mentioned).

What's romaji for the second name? Rousokuzawa?

@user1306322: Ah, yes. I forgot to include the Romaji.

I read a doujinshi that had an elaborate theory based on the kanji and connotations of those two names, saying that the names refer to Karen and Tsukihi themselves. That is, the doujinshi was saying that they're each other's boyfriends, and they made up the names to hide it from their family. In general, Nisio Isin comes up with some pretty ridiculous names; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaregoto_Series#Characters and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medaka_Box_characters.

I think other family names in monogatari series

are also strange.This page say only one family use Araragi and no family use the name Senjougahara, Oshino or Hachikuji.

Should the comments of Torisuda and kumagaro not be included as answers?

The author likes to do word play on the character names. It might just be a Nisio Isin quirk.

From official source
I tried to find some comments from the author on the Japanese internet, but came up empty-handed due to my lack of knowledge of Japanese. I do have some very tenuous evidence that as of 2013, there was no such explanation even in Japanese, discussed below.
According to the Japanese Wikipedia page on the Monogatari series, very little is known about Mizudori-kun and Rousokuzawa-kun except that Mizudori-kun is shorter than Karen-chan and Rousokuzawa-kun is taller than Tsukihi-chan, suggesting that they look similar to Koyomi and adding evidence for the Fire Sisters' massive brother complex. Tsukihi-chan talks a little about Rousokuzawa-kun in Neko Black, during which she says he wants to fondle breasts in a set-theoretic sense, and also says during Tsukihi Phoenix that her relationship with him is chaste; she also says that Karen-chan and Mizudori-kun haven't been getting along. The Monogatari series wikia also has next to nothing to say about them. Since Koyomi, the viewpoint character, has absolutely refused to meet them, we've so far never seen them, and it seems that they're more a minor plot detail than anything; as far as I can tell, what I listed above is the sum total of our knowledge about them.
As for their names, Nisio Isin, author of the Monogatari series, has a history of making up bizarre names for his characters, usually ones full of pun and subtext, and it seems the more minor they are, the more bizarre the names get. From the Monogatari series itself, I submit "Kaiki Deishuu" and "Kiss-shot Acerola Orion Heart-Under-Blade" and the name "Valhalla Combi" for the combination of Senjougahara and Kanbaru; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaregoto_Series#Characters and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medaka_Box_characters for examples from his other work.
Fan's interpretation
The next part is a little tangential since it involves an unofficial doujinshi, but I take it as evidence that Japanese audiences also had no access to an explanation as of April 2013 (the doujinshi's publication date) since they were making up their own theories. I once found a doujinshi (a very, very NSFW doujinshi, which could get you fired if you happen to be at work, so I'm not going to provide a link, but the title is Sukimonogatari - SFW Cover) that offered a theory on the names "Rousokuzawa-kun" and "Mizudori-kun", along with a random sex scene. Here's part of a page (edited to be SFW) that explains some of the theory:

Note that in the doujinshi, boys named "Mizudori-kun" and "Rousokuzawa-kun" don't exist; "Mizudori-kun" is Tsukihi-chan, and "Rousokuzawa-kun" is Karen-chan. The upper-left panel gives a chain of transformations:
[月火]【Tsukihi】 (Moon | Fire)
→ [水]【Mizu】 (Water. Based on day of the week progression from Sunday to Saturday: 日月火水木金土)
→ [瑞]【Mizu】 (Good omen. A kanji with the same reading as "water")
→ [瑞鳥]【Mizudori】 (Auspicious bird).
[火憐]【Karen】 (Fire | Pity)
→ [燐]【Rin】 (Phosphorus. Take the second character and replace the heart radical 忄 with fire radical 火)
→ [燐寸]【Macchi】 (Match. Match head contains phosphorus)
→ [蠟燭澤]【Rousokuzawa】 (蠟燭 means candle. 澤 or equivalent shinjitai 沢 is a common character used in names)
Koyomi takes note of the terrifying coincidence in the names they give each other and the kaii that they are affected. Tsukihi-chan, called "Mizudori", is a bird kaii, and "auspicious bird" can refer to phoenix. Karen-chan, called "Rousokuzawa", was afflicted by a bee kaii, and candles can be made of beeswax. When Koyomi asked why they choose such names, the Fire Sisters explain that they chose those names because migrating birds and candle clocks are both methods of telling time, which aligns with the fact that the entire Araragi family has names with timekeeping and calendar themes1.
Conclusion
In summary, nothing much is said about these two in the novels or anime up through the end of the second season, and no explanation is given for their names up to that point. Although I didn't find anything official, the very scant information on these two, along with the (admittedly weak) evidence of the doujinshi, suggests that they're another example of Nisio Isin's famously bizarre punny names for his characters, and no, he isn't going to explain them (that would ruin the fun).
Footnote

[暦]【Koyomi】 means calendar.
[火憐]【Karen】 contains the prefix of カレンダー, i.e. calendar.
Tsukihi　（月火） can be rendered as 月日, which contains the kanji for moon and sun, which also means month and day.

@nhahtdh Thanks for the edits, it looks good. I'm sure this wasn't the kind of answer you were hoping for; maybe someone else can find an official statement or more definitive evidence that there isn't one.

I actually like the Fan Theory, kinda cute how to hide their incest relationship by giving each other a male-ish name and pretend to be each other's "boyfriend"

@Memor-X Me too. As a huge Fire Sisters fan (look who's on my profile pic), I went ahead and included it in my post even though the evidence it gives for an answer to nhahtdh's question holds up about as well as Koyomi's body does in every fight in the series.

@Torisuda: This answer is somewhat within my expectation, since I also read the same doujinshi before posting this question, and I think the theory is quite good, but you are right that I am looking for an official statement about this.

"a very, very NSFW doujinshi, which could get you fired if you happen to be at work" I didn't read this before I google :(

@ShinobuOshino Sorry about that. I hope I didn't get you fired.


text:
Why was there never a dub for Skip Beat?
I don't quite understand it - the manga is popular, ongoing and their are plenty of fans, and yet - from what I've researched - there was never a North American licence and never an English dub.
Why was there never a Skip Beat dub?

I've edited your question to remove the part asking about when will it happen (as these are off-topic), and left the part about "Why it doesn't happen?", which is on-topic. If you feel that my edit changed your question too much, feel free to revert or comment.

I tend to think this question is impossible to answer factually. We don't know why American distributors never thought any specific title was worth licensing unless they publish some statement. Also, this could easily go out of date if some company does decide to license Skip Beat, which seems plausible since it's currently on Crunchyroll, and quite a few shows were licensed after good runs on Crunchyroll.

One reason there was never a dub for Skip Beat is the industry at the time truly believed only magical girl shoujo made money. Even now (2016) when some companies are adding more shoujo titles to their catalogs, they are still more hesitant to invest in shoujo at the same rate they invest in shounen, and the titles to appeal to girls/women licensed lean towards reverse harem, its cousin the newer bishounen subgenre, and yaoi.
Good news, though. More companies are crowdfunding left-behind licenses, and Pied Piper, the company that rescued and released Time of Eve, is running a Kickstarter for a North American release of Skip Beat. The disc will have the original Japanese audio, with improved subtitles, and a new English dub. The campaign ends April 16, 2016. http://kck.st/1RooUS7

The information about the kickstarter is useful, thank you. Do you have any sources for the claims you make in your first paragraph?

The anime of Skip Beat was in 2008/09 , by Hal Film Maker. Shortly after the anime, Hal Film Maker merged into the parent company TYO Animations. There may have been some issues with licensing works from a company that didn't exist anymore.
This was also around the time of legal online streaming's emergence - so interested studios (possibly Funimation, who took on B Gata H Kei - Hal Studio's next production) had a lot of business decisions and work at this time.
Most dubbed anime go under a lot of cost analysis to see whether it is worth it to produce. Usually shounen works are the easiest of works to pull a profit on. Shoujo works are harder to sell, so perhaps it was decided by most companies that it just wasn't worth it.
Any of these could be potential reasons and this probably isn't a very satisfying answer, but unless there's an official announcement by a involved company, we won't know due to company secrecies.
The longer it remains unlicensed however, the less likely it is to be picked up as it slowly looses the target audience's interest.

I began this as a comment on Toshinou Kyouko's answer, and it's sort of a supplement to that answer.
US companies, in general, have become a lot more averse to producing dubs. In the days of Geneon (2003–2007), almost everything that came out had a dub. That is no longer the case; lots of shows come out with no dub, and it seems that, as Toshinou-san mentioned, any show that isn't going to make the sales doesn't get one. Shoujo anime typically doesn't sell that well in the US; only a small fraction of all the shoujo produced even comes out here. (Shoujo manga used to sell well, in the age of Geneon, which was also the age of Tokyopop.)
Why don't companies want to produce dubs? The economics of anime has changed pretty drastically. In the Geneon days, you bought anime as a series of DVD releases, usually six or seven of them, for about $30 each. That works out to about $180 to own a complete series, but the companies also sold a lot of individual copies of the first few discs. (If you think that's bad, the original release of Eva was on 13 VHS tapes, each with two episodes, and you had to pick whether to buy the dub tapes or the sub tapes.)
Legal streaming sites changed that. Whether you intend to buy the DVDs or not, it makes sense to watch it for free online so you know you're getting a good value. Everyone stopped paying $60 just to watch the first five or six episodes of a series to find out if it was good or not. DVD releases now are usually in box sets that contain 13 episodes. The US distributors have to assume that everyone who buys the DVDs has already seen the series online, which drastically limits the market for most shows. Also, US distributors today have seen Geneon and ADV fold because they spent too much money on fancy dub scripts and pop-up notes for shows that turned out to be unpopular. For shows like, well, about 80% of what I watch, producing a dub is a losing proposition.
I also believe dubs became less popular because the TV market for anime dried up. In the mid-2000s, TV networks were hooking up left and right with anime distributors. Cartoon Network was working with Viz and Funimation; Encore was carrying titles for ADV and Media Blasters; Geneon worked with TechTV (later G4) and even had a deal with MTV that resulted in a disastrous run of Heat Guy J. As far as I can tell, no one except Cartoon Network is carrying anime anymore, and they've scaled back quite a bit. The networks have also been hit by the Internet, and they've figured out that they can produce their own anime-like content, such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, and have full control over it, instead of having to work out some weird limited-term licensing deal with a US distributor who already has a weird limited-term licensing deal with a Japanese distributor.
Producing a dub is much more expensive than producing a subtitled translation; that's why you see lots of fansubs, but very few fandubs. That's also why streaming sites such as Crunchyroll don't produce their own dubs. And since anime is still fairly low-profile in the US, for a lot of shows, it just doesn't make sense to spend that money.


text:
Did Orochimaru release all the souls sealed inside Shinigami?
Orochimaru released the four previous Hokages from the Shinigami's stomach. Were there only four souls sealed inside its stomach? Or could the user choose to release only specific souls?

The Shiki Fuujin was invented by Minato, and taught to Hiruzen. That was said during Hiruzen's battle with Orochimaru.
It was only ever used two times, once when sealing the Kyuubi (which caused himself to be sealed in the Shinigami), and once against Orochimaru by Hiruzen (which caused Hashirama, Tobirama, Hiruzen and Orochimaru's hands to be sealed).
Because of that, no other souls were sealed in the Shinigami's stomach.

True enough, the author later contradicted what he said at the beginning of the series, and said the the Shiki Fuujin was invented by the Uzumaki clan, and taught to Minato (probably by Kushina).
In that case, it may be possible to only unseal the specific souls you want to.

i thought this sealing jutsu belonged to the uzumakis who were the masters of sealing jutsus..

@debal is right. http://www.onemanga.me/naruto_manga/619/4/

This part: The Shiki Fuujin was invented by Minato, and taught to Hiruzen. lacks substantial reference. Specially the 'invented' part.

I have corrected my answer.

It can also be that The sealing jutsu was never used earlier because of the extreme price they have to pay for using it. The uzumakis had a wider range of seals to chose from... and maybe that Minato was infact the first person to ever use the jutsu. However this too lacks substantial proof.. so its just speculations.

also while watching the episode, a thought crossed my mind, what if there are multiple death gods or shinigami and for each there is a separate mask, as seen in the Uzumaki shrine.. and since orochimaru chose from a list of  many, he may have chosen the one that was used to seal him.. as he had seen the face of the death god that was summoned to seal him.His main objective was to release the first and hokage and he knew that they were sealing by the same death god that sealed his arms. Maybe the release of the 4th was an added bonus.

During Uzumaki clan massacre, they would've got many chances to use it against powerful enemies inorder to save their clan. More speculations :)

@MadaraUchiha The sealing Jutsu  (Shiki Fuujinwas) was NOT invented my Minato, It is the specialty of the Uzumaki clan and since Minato married Kushina. I'd actually say Kushina taught it to Minato and then maybe Minato showed Hiruzen. Also, a ritual is needed to collect the souls that are already within the Death Reaper. Someone would need to be possesed by the Shinigami and then act as a vessel to draw out the souls that they want to


text:
Who was Black Zetsu created by? (Manga Spoilers)
Was Black Zetsu made by Kaguya this whole time? Or did Madara (being her reincarnation) accidentally create her will, which once fused with Madara became Kaguya again?

Is madara reincarnation of Kaguya? I thought, he is reincarnation of Indra.

Well Indra is the reincarnation of kaguya.

how do you say Indra is the reincarnation of kaguya??

Sorry got the names mixed up I know what your saying now lol.

Black Zetsu was created by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki shortly before she was sealed as the Ten-Tails by her sons. Black Zetsu was created from the will of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. With the goal of reviving Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, Black Zetsu manipulated Indra and his descendants, the Uchiha clan, along with Asura's descendants, the Senju clan, in an attempt to get one of them to awaken the Rinnegan. Madara Uchiha eventually succeeded in doing so, and Black Zetsu began secretly manipulating events to have Kaguya resurrected. He succeded when he had the rennigan and enough chakra to do so.

Black Zetsu was created by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki before she was sealed as the Ten-Tails by her sons, Hagoromo and Hamura.

When Madara was on the verge of death, he believed he had created
  Black Zetsu by imbuing his will into half of White Zetsu, and that the
  complete Zetsu was partially his clone.

It wasn't created by Madara. Zetsu only had it look like it. Zetsu is a living chakra manifestation of Kaguya's last resort, and he is basically a product of the black mass chakra that contains all elements + Ying and Yang chakra, which is basically the reason why he is capable of thinking. She created it as a self manifestation in a form of chakra, and he manipulated Madara into believing it was his creation so that he could set the events in motion that would later culminate in Kaguya's reincarnation.

Please include relevant sources/references to support your answer.

Black Zetsu was created by Madara but it is the manifestation of Kaguya's will. Its aim was always to revive Kaguya and hence it manipulated the Uchiha clan by making changes to the hidden stone tablet. Think of it as Kaguya's will to return while she was being sealed in by her sons which took up a humanoid form as over two generations.


text:
How complete is Juuni Kokuki?
Juuni Kokuki / The Twelve Kingdoms is based on a series of light novels by Ono Fuyumi. Considering the rather abrupt end to the anime, I'm wondering how complete it is when compared to the novels. Also, if it isn't in keeping with them, why was it axed?

I'm wondering how complete it is when compared to the novels
Youko Nakajima is the main character in the anime, while in the manga she is only one of many main characters and her story is focused upon in only two novels.
Most of the main characters are the same, although some were added as supporting characters, their role being to externalize some of Youko's problems that were internal in the novels.

Several events and existing characters in the series were expanded in the anime series, though the series general maintains the overall plot and themes introduced in the novels. Notably, the anime introduces the events of the fourth novel, The Twelve Kingdoms: Skies of Dawn, before the third novel, The Twelve Kingdoms: The Vast Spread of the Seas.

Also, if it isn't in keeping with them, why was it axed?

The original scope of the series included adapting the sixth novel, Tasogare no Kishi, Akatsuki no Sora (featuring Youko leading the Twelve Kingdoms to find Taiki); elements of the sixth novel had already been alluded to throughout the second arc of the series. However, the series was cancelled after the completion of the arc featuring Shoryu and Enki's past.

It does not state the reason for the cancellation though.

Source: The Twelve Kingdoms Wiki page on the anime


text:
Why couldn't Hashirama break through Edo Tensei like Madara did?
Hashirama Senju was the legendary ninja in the world of Naruto, he was also the only one who managed to defeat Madara Uchiha.
How come Hashirama could not break the seal of Edo Tensei (when Orochimaru, who was less proficient in Edo Tensei than Kabuto later on) much like Madara did with Kabuto? It seems silly that Hashirama who was stronger than Madara could not break Orochimaru's seal, while Madara was able to break Kabuto's more powerful seal.

My mind is full of wat.

I've edited it to make the actual question clear. If you disagree, please rollback.

@MadaraUchiha That's good. I wasn't sure how much I should edit, because I didn't know if editing too much would stray too far from the OP. But, you on the other hand, are editing your own post :)

Hashirama doesn't need to break the Edo-Tensei because it's already mentioned that Orochimaru (Jutsu owner) is not able to control Hashirama.
Which means he is already acting on his own free will. The only risk is if someone catches Orochimaru and undo the Justsu somehow (like Itachi did to Kabuto), all 4 Hokages will vanish. Even in that case, there is Edo-Tensei grace period. During that time, Hashirama can break the Jutsu and recast it on his own, same like Madara did (maybe 2nd also, he is the Jutsu creator).

Tobirama invented Edo Tensei not Hashirama.

How did Orochimaru summon the 1st Hokage?

Orochimaru used 4 Zetsu bodies as bodies for the 4 hokages. Then, recall how each one of them were sealed in the death god? The 4th sealed himself with part of the kyuubi, and the 3rd sealed himself along with the first two when fighting against Orochimaru at chuunin selection exam. Thus Orochimaru can pull them all out of the death god and put them in the Zetsu bodies.

Why couldn't Hashirama break the seal?

Madara stated that you can free yourself if you know the seals to Edo Tensei. Hashirama probably knew the seal (as his brother created the jutsu), but he didn't even need to use it. Orochimaru specifically stated that he couldn't even control Hashirama to begin with. This is probably due to Hashirama being incredibly strong as well as Zetsu bodies being made with Hashirama cells.

Why is there so much mystery about Hashirama's power?

Because he is considered the god of all Shinobi. And since Naruto takes place in an era where he is dead, no one really knows his true strength. Of course, the only person who would know his true power is Uchiha Madara.

If the 3rd and 4th hokage sealed their body earlier then why Hashirama Senju didn't sealed his one???

Because the 3rd sealed both the first and second in the chuunin selection exam arc.

if Hashirama is that strong why didn't he break the jutsu once Orochimaru fought 3rd Hokage?

then what about the time when the 1st and 2nd hokage fought the 3rd? why orochimaru was able to control them at that time?

Kabuto's edo tensei is different since he can keep the old mind of the deceased iam pretty sure orochimatu didn't do so when madara was ascending to heaven he had control over his body and was able to revive himself hashirama didn't get the grace period of ascending cause of sarutobi.

Hashirama (in Chunin Exam Arc under Orochimaru's Control was only at 40% and had a talisman inserted into him; Madara did not, and Hashirama, as I previously stated, was at 40%, thus weaker, and unable to use his full power). In Shippuden, once again revived by Orochimaru, easily breaks free from the seal due to to his immense strength and prowess.

Where'd they say that Hashirama was at 40% at the time of the first reanimation? I don't remember that.

When Orochimaru summoned Hashirama in part one, he was using the incomplete version of the jutsu and it took kabuto from the time of Orochimaru's death to the fourth great ninja war to perfect it. So the Hashirama that was summoned earlier was not a complete copy whereas Madara is the perfected version.