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Why is a fleet of two aircraft carriers, two torpedo cruisers, one battleship and one destroyer an impossible fleet?
Near the end of episode 5 of Kantai Collection, Kaga said that a fleet of two aircraft carriers (Kaga and Zuikaku), two torpedo cruisers (Kitakami and Ooi), one battleship (Kongo) and one destroyer (Fubuki) was originally an impossible fleet, so they go along with assigning Fubuki - a destroyer - to be the flagship of the fleet.
Why is such a fleet an impossible one in the first place?

I imagine because fleets were mostly made up of the same type of ship? This new fleet is a mix of short range, long range, and recon instead of excelling in one area

Maybe the fleet composition (CV|CV|CLT|CLT|BB|DD) is inherently a flawed fleet in terms of the game or possibly a particular stage as Standard Aircraft Carrier (CV) can't do Night Attacks and i remember a stage or 2 which are entirely that, or in Stages which you only face Sumbarines you can only do any damage unless you have girls equipped with AWS (Anti-Submarine Equipment)

If you're willing to impose a certain level of realism on the show, then such a fleet would indeed be absurd by WWII-era naval warfare standards.
In WWII, the biggest source of firepower for a navy was large ships, primarily battleships and aircraft carriers. Such ships required a huge amount of resources to operate - Kaga, Zuikaku, and Kongou each had well over a thousand personnel on-board. They could be used effectively in a variety of situations, from naval combat, to blockades, to bombarding enemy troops anywhere near water.
But, such large ships had a fatal weakness, which had been known since the 19th century: torpedoes. A battleship could easily sink weak enemy boats from a long distance away. For example, Kongou's 356 mm guns had a maximum range of 35 km (the effective range was somewhat lower, but still quite far). However, if the enemy forces had a large number of small boats, each armed with torpedoes, it would be difficult for the battleship to take down all of these with its relatively slow weaponry. Certainly, it could hit some of them, but with enough numbers it wouldn't be able to take them all down effectively. Aircraft carriers fare a bit better in this respect, but they too had to worry about any sort of armored torpedo-carrying vessel or submarine, and enemy fire could prevent aircraft from launching or landing, which would basically cripple their offensive capabilities.
With enough ships, the enemy forces could easily advance to within the effective range of torpedo fire (which depended on the model of torpedo, but was around 4-8 km for one common torpedo used by the U.S. Navy). It would not take long to deal heavy damage to the large ship, possibly even sinking it. Small enemy vessels (such as cruisers) could also quickly approach to get in range of their own guns, at which point the main advantage of battleships and aircraft carriers (long range) is lost. If this seems like a poor strategy, keep in mind that torpedo boats could be very small (at some points even converted merchant/fishing vessels were used for this purpose), and operated by only a few people, yet a small number of them would pose a serious threat to much larger battleships and aircraft carriers. Thus, the big ships need some way to deal with smaller ships approaching them too quickly for the large ship to deal with.
This is the reason destroyers were invented. Destroyers were relatively heavily armored (given their small size), highly mobile small ships which were primarily used for short-range tactical combat and to escort larger ships. While torpedo-boats and other swarms of small ships could out-maneuver large ships with enough numbers, they weren't a threat if you could intercept them before they got in firing range and take them out. A destroyer like Fubuki would generally only be used in combat against other naval forces. Their medium-caliber guns could still easily outrange (maximum range of over 18 km) torpedoes, and would be a threat to approaching cruisers as well. A destroyer only required around 200 personnel, and more than just destroying enemy torpedo boats, they were generally pretty versatile: they could be used for holding tactical positions, reconnaissance, torpedoing enemy ships, attacking enemy submarines (essentially just underwater torpedo boats), and anti-air attacks, depending on the needs of the mission and the available equipment. Even in the worst case scenerio that the destroyer sinks, this still buys time for the (much more important) large ships to escape, fight back, or wait for reinforcements.
Generally, any larger ship during WWII would be escorted by at least one destroyer. Especially important ships might get more than one destroyer escort. So, for a fleet of 2 aircraft carriers, one battleship, and 2 light cruisers (Kitakami and Ooi are described as torpedo cruisers, but this is just a type of light cruiser armed primarily with torpedoes), we'd expect at least 5 or so destroyers, and possibly even more. For a real-life example, the Japanese fleet at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons had the following numbers, which were reasonably typical for a battle of this size:

3 carriers
1 seaplane tender (essentially a light carrier)
2 battleships
16 cruisers
25 destroyers (more than the above 22 ships combined in raw number)
Several smaller/non-combat boats

A fleet of 2 carriers, 1 battleship, 2 cruisers, and 1 destroyer is rather absurd in comparison; it's putting far too many resources in the large ships, and not enough into protecting them. A swarm of small ships would pose big problems for a fleet like this. While such a fleet would have excellent offensive capability given the number of ships, they wouldn't have especially good defensive capabilities, and would be an attractive target for enemy attacks (basically a glass cannon).
In addition, the flagship was the most important ship in any operation. The commanding officer of the operation was on the flagship, and crippling or sinking the flagship would not only damage enemy morale, but also their communications and strategy. Making a ship that was designed to be relatively expendable, like a destroyer, would be a bad idea. The enemy forces would likely all target the destroyer, and the fleet would be in serious trouble if it sank, usually forced to retreat.
Typically, the flagship was one of the largest ships in any given operation, being difficult to sink, well-defended, and powerful enough to boost the morale of other ships in the operation. A small ship being the flagship would probably have problems with respect as well as being an easy target. While there were a couple cases where a destroyer was used as the flagship for an operation, these were generally only in cases that the whole fleet consisted of only destroyers, or when the original flagship was too heavily damaged to continue (such as in the Battle of Guadalcanal).

With all that said, none of this really applies very well to the Kancolle universe, at least in the game. Destroyers had a predominantly tactical, defensive role, but the game's battle system doesn't do much to emulate this. In game, most of the advantages of destroyers (evasion and speed) aren't particularly unique to them; one can replace destroyers with larger ships without much loss. This will incur larger ammunition and fuel costs, but it isn't necessarily a bad strategy or one that the enemy forces will have any way to exploit.
Indeed, once one progresses far enough in the game, even more unbalanced fleets become commonplace. Later missions require more and more firepower, which is increasingly hard to meet with weaker ships like destroyers and cruisers. The game is also generous enough with resources that the fuel and ammunition consumption become relatively unimportant. Since the number of ships you can bring to a battle is limited (as are your enemy's, preventing any kind of swarming strategy), it's often better for high-level missions to only deploy battleships and carriers. If you're well prepared, it's relatively rare that such large ships will take any serious damage, and with some strategy there's essentially no risk of them sinking. If anything, the single destroyer would be the weak link defensively, and unlike in the real world, where losing a single destroyer in an otherwise good battle would be seen as a big victory, in the game you can't afford to throw away experienced destroyers regularly.
Making the destroyer your flagship would offer it some protection, since in-game flagships can't be sunk, but if it reaches a heavily damaged level (which is quite plausible) you'll be forced to retreat. There are other benefits for the flagship, such as increased leveling and a chance to have attacks hit other ships instead. There are strategic benefits to both large and small ships being flagship, but in any case it's not crazy to make a weak ship like a destroyer the fleet's flagship.
I suspect there's no good in-universe reason to consider this strategy crazy or impossible, at least based on what we know now about battles in the Kancolle universe. In the game, it wouldn't really be at all, given the right circumstances. The anime hasn't presented us with any explanation, and it has an original story (since the game has almost no story), so we can't really find any answer there. But in the context of actual WWII-era naval battles, it would indeed be a crazy, illogical decision to make a fleet like this, and there are no historical examples of such a fleet.

Actually, it was early on that carrier power was shown to be more than a match for battleships.  What with the British sinking the Bismark with the   Fairey Swordfish.  Yamato and Musashi were done in by carrier borne forces, albeit it took a while.  Battleships while awesome, were more or less useless in battle, just too slow.

@DavidNazzaro I don't think it disagrees with what I am saying. The main point of my answer was that large ships like battleships were simply not mobile enough to be worth deploying without an escort of smaller ships because they could easily be sunk by torpedoes. Certainly the battleships were not particularly effective in combat compared to carriers, but they'd have fared even worse in a fleet without smaller ships escorting them...

That said, WWII-era battleships probably would have been more effective at bombardment of enemy settlements, but this was not especially relevant and in high-seas combat they were simply not a match for carriers.

I just checked the service record of each of those 6 named ships. And the end conclusion is that this was a double pun (sorta). They were deemed "impossible ships some ways or another". And they never served with each other...sorta?. Which makes the squadron utterly impossible.
IJN Ooi and IJN Kitakami

On 12 January 1942, Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki inspected Ōi, and expressed strong disapproval of the Navy's plans for the use of the newly remodeled torpedo cruisers and urged a revision to the Navy's tactics. While the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff debated the issue, Ōi was assigned to escorting transports between Hiroshima and Mako, Pescadores Islands from the end of January through mid-April [1941].

The end result of which both becoming troop carriers and occasional attachment to patrols based around the Malaccas'. Rather uneventful career until Ooi was torpedoed off HK in 44. Kitakami survived and also was converted for Kaiten suicide operation which was also a botch.
IJN Zuikaku and IJN Kaga
I think they wanted to use Taihou instead of Zuikaku. Zuikaku was never an armored carrier
(outside of Pearl Harbor 1941 which both, Zuikaku and Kaga, had participated with and hit different airfields from each other).
Zuikaku was remodeled (in-game) into an armored carrier, [Taihou, the only armored carrier of her class] blew up when exhaust gases...
Kaga was a part of an experimental program with Akagi, as the losing bet.

As a result, Akagi and Kaga were given different exhaust systems to evaluate in real-world conditions. Kaga's funnel gases were collected in a pair of long horizontal ducts which discharged at the rear of each side of the flight deck, in spite of predictions by a number of prominent naval architects that they would not keep the hot gases away from the flight deck. The predictions proved to be correct, not least because Kaga was slower than the Akagi which allowed the gases to rise and interfere with landing operations. Another drawback was that the heat of the gases made the crew's quarters located on the side of the ship by the funnels almost uninhabitable.

That and the impractical idea, that should she find herself in a duel with ships, she was equipped with ten 20 cm/50 3rd Year Type guns. On her second remodel she was modernized with more and better guns. This was before the realization that carriers were not meant at all for any gun duels.

Kaga was part of the 1st CV Div 1 and later the CV Div 2 from 1935 onward. Sunk 1942 Midway.
Zuikaku was part of CV Div 5 after returning from Pearl Harbor 1941. Served in Battle of Coral Sea in 1942 with Shoukaku around the same time Midway was happening.

IJN Kongou
Now this one was tough.
Under the 1922-1930 Washington Treaty, Japan was limited to certain tonnage/armaments limits and certain amounts of capital ships. Kongou exceeded both of those limits after her remodel from Nov 1929-March 1931 and was a full battleship. She should not exist according to the treaty that Japan wasn't due to renounce until 1934.

Met Zuikaku probably for Operation J as Kongou was mentioned to have escorted 5 fast carriers for capture of Java island (Feb-March 1942), which Zuikaku and Shoukaku later fought Battle of Coral Sea for Operation Mo (April 1942) in the same general area.
Escorted Hiryuu, Akagi, and Soryuu in Easter Sunday Raid, Ceylon April 1942, No Kaga.
Kongou met Zuikaku again June 1944 along with IJN Taihou. But then again like Pearl. This was a throw together of all mobile surface fleets. As taking the Mariana Isles would give US land based bombing range of Japanese home islands. Zuikaku and Taihou lost with all hands after being torpedoe'd by subs after battle.
Sunk Nov 16 1944 after being torpedoed while en route to Kure with remnants of 1st fleet.
(Note the were in separate divisions commanded by a different rear admirals)

IJN Fubuki
11th Destroy Div stationed around Hainan 1941, very active during Malaysia and Indonesia operations between Dec 1941 and her sinking on 11 Oct 1942. May have met any of the above ships for one operation or the other...Truly the mystery as why she would be included.
However she had been the black-sheep for the longest time for a friendly fire on Feb 29 1942 that saw a spread of torpedoes sinking 1 minesweeper and 3 troop ships, which was later attributed, post war, to the Mogami. Maybe that? I'm not sure how Japanese language can use the word impossible. But no doubt the captain refuted that some way or the other.
>>
Call me cheap for using Wikipedia, but cross referencing this took around 2 and a half hours. With some conflicting sources that I had to double check via another source. No, I did not try to outdo the current upvoted. I just wanted to dig a bit deeper, see if there was any other reason why. I play this game, and the history does interest me. Whew, I lied when I said it would take 48, now that's 150 min wasted. BTW in KanColle game a fleet can only have 6 ships. And there's no objectionable reason why this couldn't happen, it wouldn't be very good but with some tweaking, maybe a powerful glass cannon.


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What's the name of the music in One Piece filler episode 406?
In One Piece's episode 406. Whats the name of the music that starts playing on the 2:30 mark after the opening?

Could you give a link to the music? There does not seem to be any music at the 2:30 mark?

This song is called Master Usopp from Baron Omatsuri and The Secret Island OST.
Episode link:Episode 406
Music link:Song

I have removed the link to the illegal steam site. in futrure please refer to this list for legal sites to link to

source: Stack Exchange

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

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Can a person die before their lifespan ends?
So we all know, that everyone in Death Note has a lifespan and one day, they'll die when their lifespan runs out. But doesn't that mean, that the victims who get killed by a serial killer are destined to being killed by him? Or are their deaths destined the moment a serial killer decides to kill them?

If it's written on a Death Note that this would happen, yes. The Death Note affects the causality of things. If the victim were to live for 20 more years, the Death Note changes/rewrites if so they die.

The people can be killed before their lifespan ends using Death Note. The lifespan of a person is decided by fate and doesn't keep on changing, like when a serial killer decides to kill that person, his lifespan changes. No, the lifespan is already decided, so if the lifespan is already short the serial killer succeeds; if it isn't, the serial killer fails. Also, if a Shinigami writes someone's name which in turn increases the lifespan of others, that Shinigami dies. Humans don't have this problem while using Death Note.

There's their regular lifespan which is when they are going to die for whatever reason like serial killer, or bus accident (this reflects in their lifespan).  BUT they can be killed before their time using the deathnote, which then sends the the difference in lifespan to the shinigami to extend their life.

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


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What happens when an evil con-hollow dies?
Aaroneiro and Szayel Appollo go to hell in an episode meant to promote The Hell Verse movie. Logically, they should split into individual souls and the evil souls go to hell and the rest are reincarnated judged on what they did before death.
Is this a canon depiction the fate of such beings? If so, how can it be explained? Why is the conhollowfied form judged for its sins?

Since it's about a movie, I would guess that no, it's not canon.


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What happened to Yin' spectre by the end of episode 14 of Darker than Black?
Her spectre was captured and used to lure her right? What happened in the end? Does she get her spectre back? Or do I just keep watching to find out? What exactly does capturing a spectre do?

It's returned to her at the end of the episode. to quote Episode 13/14 on the Wikia

 Itzhak tries to make a run for the car, but he gets shot in the back by Huang with a sniper rifle. Huang then aims for Yin, however he notices first that the dying Itzhak has started to glow. Itzhak begins emanating outward all the surveillance spectres that he took in, and they soon cover the sky in a beautiful swirl. In his final words, Itzhak tells Berta that this is the light of the moon, a moon filling in silvery white. Both Hei and Huang are shocked to see Yin crying, and although Huang still takes aim, he can’t pull the trigger.

It's implied that she got her Spectre back as in future episodes we also see Yin's Spectre

 in Without Dreaming Shallow Dreams, and Falling Drunk... Huang has Yin use her spectre to keep an eye on Hei and Shihoko which blows their cover and exposes Shihoko as traitor to Alma's organization.

and

 in The City of Regulations Is Moistened by Tears... Yin's spectre appears in Mao's water dish when Hei, Yin and Huang go to rescue Mao who ended up in Evening Primrose hideout

Also Yin's Spectre makes appearances in Gemini of the Meteor as she tried to reach out to Hei

 however Hei has lost his Contractor Powers to the Meteor Core Suou wears and only Suou sees her evolved specter appear from puddles

As for what capturing a Spectre does the Dolls seem to become "lost" without their Spectre

he then notices another surveillance spectre - one belonging to Yin - out on the water and tries to suck it up too. His action causes Yin to suddenly fall down in the dark alley where she’s standing ... In a hotel room somewhere, the Contractor whose name is Itzhak tells the fat woman Berta that the Doll he shocked last night is adrift somewhere as if sleepwalking.

there is also the lost of their observational power, however aside from this there is little to go on as most Dolls used for observation are normally kept confined like the ones used by Evening Primrose during their attack on Hell's Gate or the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and all of these seem to be without wills similar to how Sakurai was originally. the only 4 who seem to have "wills" and have Spectres are Yin, July and Ariel and Bernice.


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Biologically speaking, is it true that there are no parasites in Parasyte?
Watching the anime "Parasyte - the maxim" I can't really see any of the organisms shown as real parasites, from a biological/ecological viewpoint.
Can any of the different kinds of alien parasytes shown be classified as a bona fide parasite?

It's because in the show they aren't actually biologically represented as parasites. The focus is more them being parasites in the sense that they leech off of human beings, not in the sense of actual parasitism. Also the below answer is perfect.

@FatalSleep originally the question was much longer, then I realized I was answering myself, and it ended as a FAQ.

I will use "parasite" (lower case, with an "i") to refer to the ecological relationship, and "Parasyte" (upper case, with an "y") to refer to the manga creatures.

From Wikipedia on parasitism:

Parasitism is a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species, where one species, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. (...) Unlike predators, parasites typically do not kill their host (...)

Then, on decapitation:

This form of injury invariably results in death (...)

So, on the three kinds of Parasytes:

The ones that "eat" the brain and take over the head, they already killed their hosts upon infection. So they are not parasites because they first kill the host, then inhabit the corpse. Parasitism is a kind of symbiosis, meaning that both organisms must be alive.

From Livescience:

A person is considered brain-dead when he or she no longer has any neurological activity in the brain or brain stem — meaning no electrical impulses are being sent between brain cells.

The head of those bodies is the Parasyte, the original human head long gone, consumed by the Parasyte larvae. So there is no ecological relationship between living organisms. The Parasyte simply took over the corpse of the human they killed. Such is the case when a Parasyte changes bodies too, like when

 Shinichi's mom is beheaded by the car crash Parasyte, because it needed a female body to inhabit.

We can then infer that these head-Parasytes are not parasites. The relationship between them is called Metabiosis.

The co-inhabiting Parasytes, like Migi and Joe, they are really either mutualist symbiotes because the Parasyte provides his host with augmented abilities and protection from a predator (other Parasytes), and even if we think of a co-inhabiting Parasyte that stays dormant on his host, it would still be a case of phoresis or inquilinism commensalism.

The human in the case of a commensalist symbiote would not be harmed or hindered, because the Parasyte emulates the body part it "ate" and the commensalist Parasytes are not too eager to kill their host since their primary drive is survival, and as Migi states, without eating the brain they do not know how to control a whole human body.

The colony Parasytes, like

 Miki and Gotou

are a colony of same-species organisms mimicking a human body. They are also not parasites.

From the bullet points above, we can say that none of the Parasytes shown in the manga or the anime (so far) are not really parasites.

+1 This would make for an interesting biology lecture. Even though I think whether, biologically speaking, "Parasytes" are parasites or not is not really the point of the story, I want to raise two concerns (actually just emphasizing the points): 1. "Unlike predators, parasites typically do not kill their host" and 2. Can the situation of Migi wanting to kill the detective be a case where he benefits at the expense of Shinichi who doesn't want that to happen? By the way, in the last sentence, you probably meant to remove the not.

@GaoWeiwei killing the detective would not hinder Shinichi as an organism. And in the last sentence, I blame the language barrier for the extra NOT, if that is the case. When parasites typically kill the host, it means they cause the death of the host after a long time of infection, not right after.

There are Parasites in Parasyte, and they are called Humans, they are Parasites for Earth, I think a Parasyte told Shinichi and Migi this in one of the earlier episodes, I never saw the Parasytes as Parasites, honestly... I even felt sad when they died cause they did not do anything wrong, its like a lion getting shot because he ate a deer :/ Humans can make these choices for other creatures, and then say they are the most humane thing on the planet, and claim everything on earth is equal, yet eat animals, its hypocritical and the series (IMO) is trying to show Humans are Parasites.
P.S. "Can any of the different kinds of alien parasytes" Did you watch the Anime even? They are from earth... The end they say "we are all born here"

Thank you for your answer. We look for factual answers that can be supported by external links, if possible. Any opinions should be put in the comments. Please refer to how to write a good answer in our help section for more information.

"Parasyte told Shinichi and Migi this in one of the earlier episodes" SOURCE! wth are you people being little babies for, this is just an answer and w/e delete it if you want to, its an OPINION, how can I provide SOURCES for OPINIONS and THEORIES... the source is my BRAIN! The other source is just the Anime, I never googled anything, everything in this answer came from my brain, I made it up, no source, stop asking for sources!!!!

@FonZ [anime.se] isn't a discussion forum. It's a question and answer site, we don't accept opinions in answers, we accept answers that answer the question as it's written. When things are up for interpretation, or the answer to the question wasn't explained, then providing an educated guess along with points to support it is OK. For opinionated discussions, feel free to use [chat] once you reach 20 reputation points.

A good start would be citing the episode the conversation took place, to people can go back and rewatch it.

Parasytes might not be parasites as they are defined in our world, because they are (from space or not) alien creatures. They did not evolve here and don't share our roots and typical mechanics. @Mindwin made good points about this and why our current definition don't include them - although I think we would adapt it so that they mach it. The human bodys may be brain dead but they still have traits of life (See Wikipedia):
Homeostasis: still sweating and so on
Organization: still made of living cells
Metabolism: Still need nutrients - human flesh or regular food
Growth: We can't be sure here but there is no reason why a child's body should stop growing after be infected by a Parasyste (maybe the Parasyte could stop growth by not mimic the thyroid but still the human body is able to grow). At least we know, that the human body will grow old and die. (see Mr. B)
Adaptation: Hard to prove but I think we can agree that they e.g. grew scarf-skin.
Response to stimuli: Of course the nerves are still working, autonomic nervous system is at least partly independent of the brain.
Reproduction: Not reiko and A had a child but their human bodies. It would be possible to maintain human population if there were so many Parasytes that they ate all of us and than started to make human babys themself
But I want to stress another point most people are missing and which (imho) is one of the most important in the entire story (It is not pointed out as such but I do care about it more than about others):
Humankind is an organism itself!
You say that human are parasites to earth - a single Human is not, Human kind might be. Reiko says that a single human is weak compared with Parasytes but that Human have another consciousness and when Parasyte attack it, they will lose. If we understand human kind as an organism, Parasytes are parasites to it. The organism "humankind" grew too much and now Parasytes appear, consuming some of it's ressources like a tapeworm and slowing it's grow without killing it. After beeing overrun by the Parasy/ites, humankind's immune system started to gather forces against them and became mostly immune to them. If there would be a new wave of parasytes, we could easily detect them and know what wapons kill them - they would be ways less effective but still some of them will allways stay in the organism. It is a perfect match to an upscaled infection.


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What is the significance of the lottery box in Yuru Yuri Nachuyachumi! OVA? And why are some of the words crossed out?
In Yuru Yuri Nachuyachumi!, in the scene where the girls draw lots from the lottery box, the lottery box is shown with some characters crossed out:

Searching for めだちた leads me to the dictionary entry for 【目{め}立{だ}ちたがり屋{や}】, which means "attention seeker". However, it feels a bit out of whack here.
What is the significance of this box? And why are the words crossed out?

This is a pun on the suffix -がる -garu (the one you attach to the -たい -tai form to express that someone else wants to do such-and-such), which sounds very much like ガール gaaru "girl", so that what we effectively have here is 目立ちたがる medachi-ta-garu "to want to stand out" being crossed out and replaced with 組みたがる kumi-ta-garu "to want to join together". Haven't gotten that far in Yuru Yuri, though, so I dunno what exactly the joke is.

@senshin "to want to stand out" might be a reference to Akari as during the serious she always express how she wants more presence. as for the box i'm quite sure that's the Suggestion Box Kyoko made which gets reused a couple of times for different purposes

@senshin: Would you mind expanding that into an answer? I think the question would be more fully answered with the information in your comment.

I believe this is the same box that was used earlier in the series for drawing lots. It's a running joke that Kyouko kept on pulling out the box, crossing out what she originally wrote on it, and writing something new.
The first time, in Episode 1 of Series I, everyone put in things that Akari could do to try and stand out more as a main character, which is probably what "めだちた girl" refers to. The manga translation that I read translates the word as "star wannabe girl". Yui thinks that it sounds pretty horrible when she sees it, so it seems like that out of whack feeling was intentional; it was supposed to be Kyouko--intentionally, since she's always messing with Akari, or possibly unintentionally--using a term with the negative connotation that Akari was trying to draw attention to herself.

Another time, which seems to have only happened in the manga, Kyouko filled the box with conversational topics like "Club activities" and "I'm hungry" and penalties like "Say 'Shazam!' at the end of your sentences" and "Talk erotically". (Akari had to say "Shazam!", while Chinatsu had to talk erotically.) There were other instances across the manga and anime where Kyouko pulled out the box and wrote something new on it; being Kyouko, it wouldn't be too surprising if everything she wrote was some kind of pun on the original
"めだちた girl".

I do remember Kyouko pulling it out a second time in the anime (though i don't remember when) as i haven't read the manga and i remember someone noting it was the same suggestion box and i remember the club activity suggestion "i'm hungry" as it was Kyouko and Yui retorted her for it not being a suggestion

@Memor-X Kyouko uses the box several times in the manga, and probably several times in the anime, but those were just the times I could remember. I feel like she also used it to make pairings in the first anime when everyone paired off for Christmas dats.

At nhahtdh's request, here is a brief explanation of a Japanese pun that is happening here. It probably doesn't make much sense if you don't know Japanese, but oh well.
First, note that the box reads medachi-ta-girl, with the medachi-ta crossed out and replaced with kumi-ta.
This is a pun on the suffix -がる -garu (the one you attach to the -たい -tai form to express that someone else wants to do such-and-such), which sounds very much like ガール gaaru "girl". So, what we effectively have here is 目立ちたがる medachi-ta-garu "to want to stand out" being crossed out and replaced with 組みたがる kumi-ta-garu "to want to join together".
Perhaps the notion is that rather than being "girls who want to stand out", they are "girls who want to join together". I haven't gotten that far in Yuru Yuri, though, so I dunno what exactly the joke is; see Torisuda's answer for more information on that.

I haven't seen Nachuyachumi, but according to the Wikipedia summary, the girls pair up for a test of courage, and Kyouko tends to whip out that box in situations like this, so that's probably what the pun is--they want to join together into pairs for the test of courage.


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Is there any "Word of God" or solid references proving that Parasytes cannot reproduce?
Throughout the series, the more scholar-inclined Parasytes (Reiko Tamura and Migi) state that the Parasytes cannot reproduce (and they do not know their own origin).
Is there any canon reference or proof that this is indeed true?

...isn't those characters saying it proof enough? Also they don't have the anatomical necessities required to reproduce - they are just "intelligent muscle" if I remembered the quote right.

@Tsugumori-704 I expect the answer to go beyond what was provided in the question.

The fact that it was mentioned in the show means that it is canon reference. So in fact, no, parasytes cannot reproduce. At least technically so...
If you remember, Tamura Reiko did in fact reproduce via the human body and gave birth to human offspring. However, what about parasytes? Well, no, parasytes cannot reproduce, however, there isn't anything against them splitting into multiple organisms.
The below answer is contradictory to the show, see the answer below by Mindwin.

For example, Tamura Reiko can split into two separate parasytes. So let's consider that if a parasyte split into two separate parasytes and both latch onto two separate organisms, or parts of the same organism. Both would cultivate and grow from the nutrients, and both would have different experiences, and thus develop different personalities. In this sense, parasytes can multiply like cells via cell division and in the process creating successful offspring. Sources? None for this, it's hypothetical, however highly possible and an interesting concept.
What supports this idea though? Both the fact that Tamura Reiko split into two separate parasytes with two separate personalities, and the fact that the parasytes can indeed grow - as seen when a parasyte infects a human and takes over that human or part of that human's body.
The parasytes are made up of cells which is explained by Dr. Yui. In this sense, this supports my hypothesis since cells can perform cell division, which ultimately is a form of reproduction. So we can't necessarily rule out the fact that parasytes have the ability to divide.

In case you're wondering, reproduction is covered in episode 15. Tamura Reiko splitting into two happens in episode 17. Dr. Yui explains the neuron idea in episode 10.
Short Answer: No, parasytes cannot reproduce, and there is nothing that supports that they can reproduce via sex organs.

Though the hypothesis is interesting, I don't think splitting and multiplying is a possibility for parasytes. I think Tamura Reiko could not have reproduced by multiplying, since she was fully matured. What I mean is, though she could split into two, those two halves (most likely) could not grow back to full size, since they were two matured halves. Plus, we saw that once she split herself into two both half were kinda dimwitted, and could not retain the same level of consciousness as she had had as a single parasyte.

Totally agreed after looking into the show more. I also marked off my answer as it is contradictory to the show.

I have to disagree with @FatalSleep on one point:
It seems Parasytes cannot grow new cells. Since they are alien in origin, and the series cover only a couple years (Shinichi high school life), we have no info on the lifespan of parasyte cells. But we have info proving that parasytes cannot grow new cells:

Migi's 30% lost inside Shinichi.

If Migi could grow new cells (and we can believe he can have a precise enough cell count, or he would not get to this 30% figure), he would not be too concerned with the retrieval of those cells. Also the fact he has to sleep for 4 hours out of every 24-ish is caused by being not whole anymore.
And indeed, it is shown several times (his invading of Shinichi's dreams for example) that he is very concerned about this loss of cells. Since there was more than an year between the current anime episode and the heart wound, if he could perform cell division like animal cells he would have done it.

Reiko's burrowing split fighting technique

Reiko would also have split into several copies during these years if she was able to grow new cells (and given her personality, she would act like Agent Smith in Matrix II if "Me, me, me... Me too!" If she could make clones of herself. But when she splits in two during her fight with the other parasytes, it is shown that her intellect is greatly diminished.
A parasyte brain power is dependant on his cell count. When Migi splits in several smaller versions to show the ability to Shinichi, he clearly says so that each smaller portion is dumber, and if he did not give straight orders to rejoin after a few moments, that portion would be lost forever, just like the 30% inside shinichi. Also there is the fact that a split strand of hair is only able to panic while it writhes without nutrients.
Parasyte cells can diferentiate back and forth from stem to specialized cells. The degree of fine control the Parasyte has and this fact may be a pointer to a infinite lifespan to the parasyte cells (contrary to animal cells that have finite lifespan).
So from the facts above, it is very unlikely that parasyte cells undergo mithosis. This leads to an incapacity for assexual reproduction, aside the incapacity to sexual reproduction exposed by @FatalSleep's answer.

Awesome answer, thank you for the information. I didn't take into account Migi's 30% cell issue, which would have changed my answer drastically.

The fact is, Migi seems rather desperate to recover those cells, during those dream sequences.


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How did Minori and co. get back to Akiba at the end of S2E21?
Towards the end of season 2, episode 21 of Log Horizon, as Minori and the rest of the gang are walking home after getting some wyvern skins, they run into Nyanta, who "happens" to be flying by on a griffon. In the next scene, everybody is back in Akiba.
But how did they get back? Don't griffons only have a capacity of 2 riders? Did Nyanta make multiple trips, maybe?

Maybe Nyanta only went there to tell them they did good, and it was time to go home, and they all used Call of Home to get back to Akiba.

After looking through the skill lists on the Log Horizon Wikia I could not find another skill that would allow them to fast travel back to Akihabara but according to the Adventurers abilities page they can use Call of Home to return ref(Adventurer Abilities). So it would make sense that they either used Call of Home or just traveled back on foot with a time lapse that wasn't noted. ref(Skills)


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How is Embyro "Thousands" of years old, if the destruction of old earth happened only 534 years ago?
Embyro self proclaimed to be thousands of years old. But he is shown in a flashback as a scientist in the 22nd century, and the destruction of old earth happened only 534 years ago.
How can he be that old?

Embryo could have been alive for thousands of years on old Earth, no? He's clearly not a regular human, after all.

He could be cain for all we know. But I was wondering, since he lives in a non-deterministic universe (as Tusk says in ep21) that he could be thousand of years old by living the same era more than once... but maybe it will be answered in the next chapters.

I thought that he was the one that destroyed the dragon's Earth by introducing the Rangamail there, which to me implies he had already crossed into the interdimentional rift, and so perhaps had hundreds of years to create the weapon.  So I don't think the mana earth was the first time he meddled with a universe.


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Why is class 3-3 still open?
I was wondering why would the school keep a cursed class open for more than 20 years when people are dying.
I think they Misaki mentioned in the anime that the school tried to change the class name to "3-C" or something similar, but was there a reason why they just didn't remove the class entirely so they go "3-1","3-2","3-4","3-5",...etc.
Is there a canon explanation of why the school is just ignoring the deaths an leaving it to the simple "ignore one student" strategy? Moreover why do students openly join a cursed class instead of moving to another class? another school? another city?

I do not think there is a canon expanation, but there are several factors to take into account to explain the fact that class 3-3 is still open:

The society believes the curse to be a superstition. There is no scientific proof of the curse existing (even the members of the class have a hard time believing it with people BEING MURDERED in front of hem), and the very curse has effects to hide its occurence (modifying memories and written records).
Schools in Japan have to meet demand. The school board for their town might have determined that there must be three third year classes because of the population size in the neighborhood. Removing one class would mean transfering kids to schools further away, and would make the school administration seem lazy (almost a sin in Japanese culture). Remember kids walk to shcool in Japan, so they usually attend school near their homes. For further reading into the japanese school system, click here.

These boards are responsible for making recommendations on teacher appointments to the prefectural board of education, choosing textbooks from the MEXT-approved list, conducting in-service teacher and staff professional development, and overseeing the day-to-day operations of primary and lower secondary schools.
The curse might be self-sustaining. A curse that can change written material, delete people's memories could very well act every time someone in charge thinks of closing the class and modify their heart about it. You might even think of it as having some sinister intelligence.

  From our outsider perspecive, watching the story from a 3-rd person omniscient narrator, it is easy to reach those logical conclusions, but to the limited awareness of the characters (specially the stakeholders that are unaffected by the curse, or only receive the news after a time, already filtered down) it is almost impossible.

Also there is no evidence that making the school have only 2 classes wouldn't make the curse move to class 3-2 instead. Who said it was bound to the THIRD class of the third year and not the last one in the rooster.


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Did anybody feel Gon's Nen?
When Gon transformed against Pitou, his Nen increased a lot. Why didn't we see any reaction of people feeling it like The King, the other Royal Guards, or Netero (if they were still alive) ? In the Election Arc, we saw everybody feeling Alluka's power, as it was very big.
I could say the same with the King's birth, because he was born with Nen.

There are multiple factors to it:
1) Distance: Gon and Pitou were a substantial distance away from the main combat areas.
2) The varying use of In and En by the users.  During combat scenario this is very crucial vs the election which was a more friendly environment. Most of them were in their own active battles concentrating on either sneaking or fighting.
3) I believe they tend to pick up the largest active source of nen.  When the king was born, Pitou was on the look out and used her nen (En) to channel it out in a defensive grid surrounding the nest.  Everyone was so afraid to get near the nest that they wouldn't have been close enough to feel his nen in his passive state. Pitou could also have potentially masked or partially masked Gon's nen in their fight since she was fleeing away from him towards the others.
4) Gon in an enhancer, they fight by concentrating their nen into their own bodies, along with everything else on the list this would contribute to why they couldn't feel it since he tends to concentrate his nen more inwards.
And I maybe be wrong about this last one (been a while) but I thought Killua who was closest did feel the difference.

Gon never used Nen against Pitou. He uses On (怨, Malice) http://hunterxhunter.wikia.com/wiki/On, which is fueled by hate and vengeance.
'On', used in the 'Last Mission' movie, does not alert other Nen users when emitted in great volume.
Gon felt used and lied to by Pitou since she revealed that Kite was dead and unable to be revived. He summoned this malice and hate to mature and kill Pitou.
Gon's aura after and during this transformation is a combination of yellowish/orange and black, exactly the same as his eyes when he fought Jed in the 'Last Mission'.

I don't think he did use On, which is exclusive to that movie. To use On, you need to make a contract with Jed and absorb his blood somehow, neither of which Gon did. There was never any suggestion that he used anything thee than Nen.


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What should I know if I am to watch Fafner Exodus without watching the prequel series and movie?
I watched the two first episodes of Fafner Exodus, but it was very confusing, as the story is ongoing. Not much intro.
There were a prequel series, and a movie. What should I know from this prequel material in order to understand Fafner Exodus?

There was a prequel series, an OVA and a movie, and they do all need to be watched (and in that order) to understand Exodus.
Fafner's plot is pretty complicated. You may even need to watch the original series twice to understand it (the first half was done by a different writer and isn't as good, but makes more sense on a second watch).
It's a good series (and Exodus is brilliant so far), but it does require a fair bit of time investment, and the plot isn't for everyone.

This really does not add anything towards answering the question. "Without watching" is the keyword you are missing.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but basically my answer is the plot is too complex and the show relies on long term character development too much to be able to understand what's going on without watching the original series.

You can watch the prequel if only:

You want to see a first generation fight Festum.
You want to know why Mark Sein & Mark Nicht are so unique; after all, Mark Sein was born from Mark Nicht.
You want know the identity of Miwa's father.

If you think these things are not important you don't have to watch it.


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Where does Hamelin's Pig Theme come from?
I understand where Ding Dong Dell's and Al Mamoon's Animal Themes from from given their rulers are a Cat and a Cow but Hamelin's past and current Emperors aren't pigs and everyone only started to wear those pig suits when

 Marcassin was Brokenhearted and lost his Belief

So where does the Pig Theme for Hamelin come from?


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What happened to Yuki and Inaho's parents?
Yuki and Inaho are orphans by the time Aldnoah.Zero opens. Do we know what happened to their parents? Or are we just to assume they died in the mess surrounding Heaven's Fall?
Some have speculated that Saazbaum could somehow have been Inaho's father (given that Saazbaum and Orlane descended to Earth right around the time of Inaho's birth). Is that plausible?

Volume 3 of the Aldnoah.Zero Blu-rays came with a collection of four short narratives about Inaho and Yuki's life well prior to the events of episode 1.
In the second of them, 「春の遠足」 "A Trip in Spring", we learn that Inaho, Yuki, and their mother had been on a train to somewhere when Heaven's Fall occurred. Their mother was killed immediately, probably because a meteor landed near their location (though the story is mostly told from Yuki's point of view, and she, being five-ish years old at the time, obviously doesn't have the best recollection of events). Somehow or the other, Inaho and Yuki both survive, and she, carrying Inaho, follows the crowd of evacuating people, eventually ending up in an underground shelter afterwards.
Their father, a military man, was deployed at the time; a short while after Heaven's Fall, while Inaho and Yuki are still living in the shelter, Yuki receives a letter from the government indicating that they have been deemed war orphans. The implication being, of course, that their father, too, is dead.
The Saazbaum hypothesis is clearly implausible.

yes, his parents died in the first mars-earth war.
and my best guess is that the authors killed off the parents to make his sister look for "motherly-like" and that they had a good bond, and so when she was in trouble, saving her (which is at episode 1) would be better.

yes, his parents died in the first mars-earth war Citation needed, since the question directly asks for the fate of their parents.


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Are the 3 idiots in the Recruitment arc the same ones in the beginning of the series?
In the recruitment arc, there are 3 idiots that resemble closely the school bullies in the beginning of the series.
Wikipedia lists them as the 3 new idiots:

New 3 Idiots (新３バカ?)
Voiced by: Ryosuke Kanemoto (Kōda), Ryohei Arai (Saotome), Yusuke Handa (Hinoe)
  A Trio of C-Class agents who were seemingly made to believe that Arashiyama Unit has no real strength. They're frequently trying to show off, but get constantly beaten up. According to Replica, they seem like idiots. The credits give them the surnames: Kōda (甲田), Saotome (早乙女), and Hinoe (丙) in the anime.

and right below lists the old 3 idiotslink:

3 Idiots (３バカ?)
Voiced by: Mitsuo Iwata (No. 1), Kōta Nemoto (No. 2) and Hiroaki Miura (No. 3)
  A trio of bullies from Osamu and Yūma's classroom. They bully Osamu and Yūma at first, but start fearing them after they find out Osamu is a Border agent and after Yūma scares them away.

Their seyuu are different, but the characters seem the same ones.
Are they the same?

Where are they similar? Old Bakas | New Bakas.

As ʞɹɐzǝɹ mentioned, they are not the same three idiots.

The first set of three idiots had no idea that Osamu was in border. On top of this they are not in border either. You can check this in episode 01 where they run from the neighbors rather than trying to fight using triggers (normal/training).
The second set of three idiots basically replace the first set since the first set is never mentioned again. The second set of three idiots become part of border as class C agents—trainees. You can tell by the white/orange uniforms.

While all six of them are idiots, they still play different roles. The first three being Osamu's bullies, the second three acting as superiors of Osamu.
You can check their personalities and appearances via episode 01 for the first set and episode 17 for the second set.

Due to the fact that actual names of the characters are different I do not believe they are the same. They are very similar groups, and this could be on purpose to provide some sort of comedic similarities. They are merely taking the spot of the "3 idiots" from the school because of the frequency that the scenes are going to be in the Border setting and not the school setting.


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Can only men pass on the will of D.?
So I was wondering how the will of D. is passed on. We have seen three cases where the will of D. was shown to be passed on and they were all from generation to generation by birth. Luffy got it from Dragon, Dragon got it from Garp and Ace got it from Roger (and Rouge?). In each case the will was passed on along with the last name. Now this made me wonder. Is it merely in a name? Or is there more to it?
Ace would probably be the best example. He chose to go through life using his mother's name Portgas D. Now what if Ace's mother would not have been a carrier, would Ace have not have had the will of D because of his name? Or what if Ace's mother married some other guy who didn't have the will of D, would she be unable to pass it on, because children are given their fathers name? This sounds pretty sexist to me, so it made me wonder whether just having the right surname is enough for someone to have the will of D or if there is some other way to become a D or to pass on the will of D?
If there isn't, the will of D will probably die out pretty soon...

the will of d isn't bound to the name itself. They have it in the blood, So Ace could have named himself how ever he wants and still whould have the will of D.

@Mintri So how would we know if he had the will of D and whether he would be giving it along, if he was called Ace Doe for example, if rouge had married mister Doe? According to that theory there could be many more D's we just dont know about.

nobody know what actually will of D mean, only thing explained are that they can dominate God. Almost all part of D is mystery and will be raveled in coming chapter till then it will be hard to say anything related to D, meaning , passing , history .

@PeterRaeves yes thats the point. I believe that somehow the blood of every D person is connected. that in that blood lies a hidden power. maybe dragon or garp does know somethign about that or vegapunk or it's written on a super hidden porneglyph. But imo to believe that the D alaone in a name gives any power is a bit too dull compared to the story twists in one piece :D

OK, this is a hard question and not much is released about it till now.
Here's a short summary:
There are multiple characters in the One Piece universe with the letter D in their name:
Monkey D. Luffy, Monkey D. Garp, Monkey D. Dragon, Gol D. Roger, Trafalgar D. Water Law, Marshall D. Teach, Portgas D. Rouge and more.
In the Wiki, I found this:

Whitebeard noted that killing the bloodline of a D does not put out the flames that they (a person carrying the "D") carry and someone else simply will pick it up one day

So there, the "D" is linked to someone's name and not to the bloodline itself. So this would mean, you can't wipe out the will of "D". It will appear somewhere else in some other family.
Law said:

What's the Dark King thinking this time? The Will of the D. will almost certainly call up a storm again

and also the Gorosei mentions:

"D" means danger

So we can say this question is not surely answerable right now. But I'm quite sure this "D" is not just about bloodline. I agree that in the Monkey family the will is given to the next generation, but I don't think it's just about the blood, it's more than that.
Update: I also found a pretty interesting where "the will of D" could mean "the will to die". Reddit

Gol D. Roger, gave himself in the arms of death to inspire a new generation of pirates. Portgas D. Ace, fought for the honor of his captain and died saving his brother.
  Let's take a look at Marshall D. Teach. While fighting with Whitebeard he showed clear signs that he feared death. Minutes later we get a speech from Whitebeard telling us that he was not the man Roger is waiting for, and that he was also not a true D.*

You can find this in chapter 576.

At this point, Whitebeard speaks also about the "bloodline" and not just about the name. And you also never know how correctly translated this mangas are.
I know its not a clear answer, but maybe you found some aspects which helps you.


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What are the 9 mountains and 8 seas?
So we have all seen Zoro boast.

Over the 9 mountains and 8 seas... Throughout the world itself... There is nothing I cannot cut.

Now it made me wonder, which mountains and what seas was he referring to?

Wow this is a quality question

Some of Zoro's attacks are named after Buddhism like 36/72/108 Pondo Hou
One Piece Wiki:

the 36/72/108 Pondo Hou, is a reference to the 36 passions of Buddhism

So most likely Zoro is referring to the Buddhist legend of Sumeru the central world-mountain in Buddhist cosmology.
I'm not an Buddhism expert but in the Wikipedia article about Sumeru you see a list of 9 mountains and 8 seas, so since Zoro likes Buddhism and Hindu references in his attacks, it's most like Oda made a reference to this.

Mintri's answer is right, but for the sake of having an in-universe/joke answer:
8 Seas:

North Blue
South Blue
East Blue
West Blue
Paradise (Grand line, 1st half)
New World (Grand line, 2nd half)
Left Calm Belt
Right Calm Belt

9 Mountains:

Reverse Mountain
Drum Rockies
Marijois' Mountain Range
Mt Colubo
Punk Hazard's Mountain Range

With the remaining 4 yet to be seen.

well isn't the redline a mountain too :D

I would argue that, since the redline is one continuous mass of land, it wouldn't be considered a mountain. Possibly a mountain range at best, but more like a really high continent otherwise.

@Thebluefish Actually, although it's a single mass of land, it has high areas, low areas and certain parts are considered to be 'islands' that in fact have their own climates, just like those along the grand line.

@Mintri Both reverse mountain and the mountain marijois is located on are a part of the red line, but they're the most significant because they exist where the grand line crosses the red line.

I'm genuinely surprised this was accepted as the answer.

yeah, beat me <.<

@Mintri I enjoyed and upvoted both answers, but I was indeed looking for an in-universe answer, that's why I accepted this one. Doesn't mean yours was wrong though.

@PeterRaeves but this answer is nowhere proofed right and as Pharap said, more of a joke answer than a real one. I thought this network has the goal to be as correct as possible

@Mintri ofcourse it is. But unless zoro tells us himself this seems to be a legit answer as Pharap mentiond the 8 seas previously mentioned in one piece and 5 (out of 9) mentioned mountains. I dont see how one could be more correct than that (unless he wrote all 9 mountains). Or am i missing something?

@PeterRaeves hm okay, we enter the realm of interpretation now :D
IMO an answer should be more reasoned and proofed by sources.
also in a logic ways it doesn't make any sense for zorro to refere to any in universe places which some of them he never saw when all other attacks are clearly reffered to religions things. Do ou really think, oda would break this rule after 18 years?

@Mintri I guess. I completely agree oda refers to bhuddism, while Zoro might not cos I dont remember buddhism being specifically mentioned. But since this is a community driven site, ill unaccept and let the people decide which answer they like best.

That and tbh when I asked the question I was just curious about the geography of the OP world, not about Oda's symbolism. But we will see.

@PeterRaeves i never said that zorro is a buddhist, just that his attacks are named after some budhhistic references but not all, for example Asura is name after a Hindu demon. i don't know any explanation why zorro knows all these name references but oda knows them for sure und uses them for his attacks.
i could make a list with all attacks that have religion references to prove them :D
also when you are curious about the one piece world, then that answer would answer you're question, but i think that it is somehow asked unluckly then :D

@Mintri I know what you were saying. The point is that in-universe Buddhism has not been recognised as a religion despite the fact it is referenced by Zoro's attacks and Sengoku's Epithet. The same for Hinduism. The OP said that he was after an in-universe explanation, and the attack names' true origins can't be easily explained in-universe. Besides the true explanations for all the references in Zoro's attacks can be found on the Wiki: http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Santoryu

Nine mountains and eight seas ［九山八海］ ( kusen-hakkai): The mountains and seas that constitute the world, according to ancient Indian cosmology. The nine mountains are Mount Sumeru at the center of the world and eight concentric mountain ranges that surround it. Eight concentric seas separate these mountain ranges. According to The Dharma Analysis Treasury, the eight circular mountain ranges are, from the innermost out, Yugamdhara, Īshādhāra, Khadiraka, Sudarshana, Ashvakarna, Vinataka, Nimimdhara, and Chakravāda-parvata. All these mountain ranges are made of gold except the outermost, Chakravāda-parvata, also known as the Iron Encircling Mountains, which is made of iron. Mount Sumeru and the eight mountain ranges are each separated from one another by a sea. The distance between Mount Sumeru and Mount Yugamdhara is eighty thousand yojanas. The inner seven seas are of fresh water, while the outermost sea, just inside the iron mountain range, is salty. In this sea are four continents—Pūrvavideha in the east, Jambudvīpa in the south, Aparagodānīya in the west, and Uttarakuru in the north. See also four continents.
From: http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/N/68


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What are metaphysicals, and where do they come from?
The series forgets even to introduce the strikers team members (we reach the summer vacation episode and you have to pick up their names on the go), and sadly there is no intro on the metaphysicals.
So, what are the metaphysicals (aside from being huge mithical monsters) and where do they come from?

Considering how little of that show actually gets explained at all, I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was literally "They're just the BBEGs".


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Can a person do the shinigami eye deal without losing half of his lifespan?
Let's say, Bob has a death note. He gives up ownership, so that another one with shinigami eyes can tell him his lifespan. Bob is a genius, so he can calculate his death date. He writes his own name in it.
Bob Hyrule, Bradykardie, 2.3.2034.
He set his death date, by killing himself with a disease. Now he makes the shinigami eye deal. Will he die earlier?

This will not work due to the 23 day rule.

How to use XXVII

If you write, die of disease for the cause of death, but only write a specific time of death without the actual name of disease, the human will die from an adequate disease. But the Death Note can only operate within 23 days (in the human calendar). This is called the 23 day rule.

Now lets say the person's lifespan will end in 23 days or less. Then the question could be rephrased as What would happen to a person whose name is written in a DN, but whose lifespan is recalculated to be before the date written in that DN? This could be caused by both the shinigami deal or by indirect influence of other people's deaths by DN. In this case we would again end up at the situation where a person's lifespan is before the date set in the death note and as we know from this answer, it is impossible to increase your lifespan by killing yourself with the death note.
How to use VLII

In the Death Note, you cannot set the death date longer than the victim's original life span. Even if the victim's death is set in the Death Note beyond his/her original life span, the victim will die before the set time.

Therefore I'd assume Bob to die within 11 days and a half.

If you write die of disease like before with a specific disease's name, but without a specific time, if it takes more than 24 days for the human to die the 23 day rule will not take effect and the human will die at an adequate time depending on the disease.

@darkyagami you did specify a specific date though.

@DarkYagami If you don't specify a specific date, the answer is obvious, because a person will never die after the end of its lifespan, so the person would again lose half of its lifespan

but rule LVIII says that the death of a human can somtimes manipulate the life of another human and lengthend his life span.
for example, if someone dies today by a murder und u kill the murderer with the DN before the murder happens, than the lifespan of the victim will expand

@Mintri yes. Thats true, but at the time the deal is done, his lifespan will drop to half. It can increase again later, but it will still drop to half.

i didn't say that this wouldn't be the case, since you can always die from a hearth attack :D

@mintri i didnt understand your comment then. Was something wrong in my answer according to you?

no, in the case with the deseas your answer is right, but i think with the rule LVIII you can expand you life time after the deal, if you deas isn't a heart attack or similar. i just felt like to add this here :)

Well it was after all a Shinigami's book so probably not but lets go the logical way. If you set your death date at 22 days after this day then you die 22 days later. Then you make the Shinigami eye deal. Your current lifespan is 22 day because you set it at that day so then after making the deal you lose half so that means 11 day out and your left with only 11 days to live. So judging by this logic I think that you can not make the eye deal with out losing half your lifespan.


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Is Marika the only one unaware of her father's true fate?
We learn in the final episodes of Mourestu Pirates that

 Marika's father Gonzaemon is alive, and goes by the name of Steel Beard, an imperial pirate captain of the Parabellum

But we also learn that Ririka, Kane and Misa also knew this secret, because

 Ririka is in the Parabellum crew, Kane switched places with his twin brother, and Misa nonchalantly scolds Kane for the switch.

We can infer that the rest of the crew of the bentenmaru also knew, leaving Marika as the only one in the dark.
Is it so?

Also by re-reading the question without mouseover, I see that my attempts at avoiding spoilers were futile. Deal with it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I heard, the last arc of the anime is anime original piece. There is nothing in LNs that would suggest Gonzaemon is alive.


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Why is Nakuru Narumi so dark skinned?

As we can see Nakuru Narumi has dark skin compared to other characters. So why she has dark skin tone ?

She actually does not have dark skin tone. It is fashion called Ganguro.
As MAL Describe her character as:

The cat-eared ganguro student that is spying Konoe and Kinjirō.

Below is the defination of ganguro as described by Wikipedia.

Ganguro (ガングロ?) is an alternative fashion trend among young Japanese women that started in the mid-1990s, distinguished by a dark tan and contrasting make-up liberally applied by fashionistas.

Did she or anyone ever mention that she's a Ganguro girls?

@OshinoShinobu it is already mention in MAL's introduction so i did not added in answer. here it is.


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Does the anime adaptation of Absolute Duo deviate much from the light novel?
From a quick scan through translated volumes of Absolute Duo on Baka Tsuki, it seems that the anime adapted up to Volume 5 - Chapter 2 (or a few more chapters ahead). However, looking at the illustrations, it seems that some content are not adapted in the anime.
What are the chapters missing from the anime adaptation? Within the adapted content, does the anime adaptation have any major deviation from the source material?


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Can shape corrosion of an Initiator's body be reversed, or only contained?
Shape corrosion is the term used in Black Bullet to define how much of the host body the Gastrea virus has taken hold. If it gets over 50%, the human turns into a Gastrea monster.
It is specially important for the Initiators, because they are infected at birth, and there is always a risk they turn into Gastrea in the middle of an operation. If an initiator is injected with more virus (by monsters, for example), shape corrosion can increase in a very short time.
During the series we learn that

 Aijara Enju's Shape Corrosion is well over 40%, putting her almost on the death row, should the virus spread more.

There is special medicine all initiators have to take regularly to halt the spread of shape corrosion, but is there any method mentioned in the black bullet manga or anime of reverting this index?

The corrosion rate is not reversible, it can only be inhibited

The Cursed Children were constantly taking massive doses of corrosion-inhibiting medication to control the Gastrea inside their bodies, but it still only inhibited and did not stop the corrosion completely. Because the girls carried the inhibiting gene, they did not turn into Gastrea immediately like normal people, but if they suddenly used a lot of their power, or if Gastrea bodily fluids got inside them, then their corrosion rate would slowly increase. And then, like a normal person, if their corrosion rate went above fifty percent, then the corrosion would start, and they would not be able to keep their human form any longer. There was nothing that current medical technologies could do to change that limit.
Kanzaki, Shiden. Black Bullet, Vol. 1: Those Who Would Be Gods (pp. 211-212). Yen Press. Kindle Edition.

It is also the reason why Rentaro shot Kayo

Kayo Senju could not be saved. She had to die right here, right now.
Kanzaki, Shiden. Black Bullet, Vol. 1: Those Who Would Be Gods (p. 212). Yen Press. Kindle Edition.

In a conversation between Sumire and Rentaro it is also mentioned that the Cursed Children cannot be freed from the shackles that is their corrosion rate

Rentaro shook his head slowly. "That’s impossible, Doc. I can’t think of a life without Enju and Tina anymore." "But they will fall like leaves one day. Rentaro, don’t chase after falling leaves. The lifespan of Cursed Children is bound by the shackles of the corrosion rate of their body, which they cannot be freed from."
Kanzaki, Shiden. Black Bullet, Vol. 3 (light novel): The Destruction of the World by Fire (p. 81). Yen Press. Kindle Edition.

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


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Is Jiggly Jiggly Heaven a reference to an existing series?
Jiggly Jiggly Heaven is the series that the animation team in Shirobako worked on previously that was notorious for a disastrous episode. Specifically, the ninth episode.

It became an internet sensation (in the Shirobako universe), but for all the wrong reasons.

I know the show likes to throw in references to other production studios and works - Is there any particular work that is being referenced here?

Perhaps Girls und Panzer? There were a lot of significant production issues and they same they director (Mizushima Tsutomu)...

It looks like that had significant delays - but the animation wasn't a problem

I wouldn't be so sure.... A single production issue in the twelve episode series cascaded into production hell:  two recap episodes, a three month delay in broadcasting the last two episodes, and delays for Blu-ray and OVA releases.


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Why is Hoshimiya Kate's Seifuku Jikan weak against Tobacco?
During the series, whenever Kate tries to use her Seifuku Jikan on smokers, the attack fails to conquer the target.

There are several other moments when smoke and smokers are shown to have an effect on the Zvezda team:

One theory is that what the enemies are smoking is quite not tobacco...
what is going on?

I think it is a natural weakness of Udo or anything that runs on Udo.

Didn't watch the anime at all, but researching suggests that it's Zvesda's weak point (or natural weakness, or..). The discussion on 2chan also suggests "a battle between smokers vs anti-smokers team" (probably reflecting ep. 3).


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Can women be Makai Knights?
We know that both men (e.g. Mendoza) and women (e.g. Ema) can be Makai Priests. And, of course, men can be Makai Knights (Leon, Alfonso, Germán, ...).
But can women be Makai Knights? In episode 24 of Garo: Honoo no Kokuin,

 Jiruba says that Germán's child with Ximena is going to inherit Zoro. This prompts Leon to ask Jiruba if that means that the child is a boy.

This seems to suggest that women cannot be Makai Knights. Is this in fact the case? Supporting information from the tokusatsu series would be very welcome here.

Taken from Garo wikia

The Order required self-sufficient/independent warriors that's highly adept in martial arts (stronger than their priests and greater combat strength against Horrors), strong mental and emotional discipline (to handle their emotions, manage against potential dark energies, and see through illusions), and mastery over Soul Metal (due to its dangerous nature); creating a full-fledged Makai Knight is a lifetime of training. Because males are physically stronger than females, the order decided to exclude women from ever becoming a knight.

I'm not sure about other armors, but in Golden Knight's case, one day in every month, the knight won't be able to fight as Zaruba is taking the knight's whole day. Also, women has to face menstruation every month, and that menstruation didn't last just one day and disappear tomorrow. A female Makai Knight would be unavailable for more than one day a month, which is a totally bad idea. Thus, while technically they might be able to become one, it is undesirable.

It is implied that there have been and in fact are female makai knights within the Garo many universes, although it is very unlikely that we will ever meet any of them or get any names except perchance possibly maybe in an anime or more likely in a novel where it can be self contained. Sad but true

Welcome to Anime & Manga Stack Exchange. It's interesting to know this. Do we have any references for this implication, like the series name and its timestamp?


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What are the names of the characters in Gurren Lagann derived from? And how do they relate to the characters?
The second DVD of the first movie Gurren Lagann The Movie: Childhood's End, and also one of the disc in Complete Bluray Box Set feature a quiz session between the voice actors for Youko (Inoue Marina), Shimon (Kakihara Tetsuya) and Kamina (Konishi Katsuyuki) about various details in the anime.
In the first quiz of the show, it is mentioned that one of the special features in Gurren Lagann is the names of the characters: [シモン]{Shimon} comes up [下]｛Shimo｝ (down), [カミナ]{Kamina}　comes up [上]{Kami} (up), and the answer to the quiz reveals that [リーロン]{Leeron} comes from [論理]{Ronri} (logic).
How about other characters in Gurren Lagann? What are their names derived from, and how do they relate to the characters?
Feel free to explain the relation between the names and the characters already mentioned above.

Nia

Nia's name has multiple potential origins.

Her name in Japanese could also be read as Near. Referring to her relationship with Simon.
Nia's name by itself can also be seen as a short version of other feminine names ending with Nia such as Antonia or Stefania.
Her name is also present in the Swahili language, where it means purpose. Referencing her role as the Anti-Spirals' messenger. It could also possibly refer to the fact that, in one way or another, she motivates Simon (and by extension, the rest of Team Dai-Gurren) to overcome impossible odds time and again.
Nia's name could also be considered as a Welsh variant of the Irish name Niamh (pronounced "neev"), which means bright or radiant. Possibly referencing her appearance and/or her personality prior to the Anti-Spiral War and during her captivity on the Anti-Spiral homeworld as well as events that follow. The name Niamh, in turn, originates from the Irish mythological figure Níamh Chinn Óir. (Also known as Niamh of the Golden Hair, and known by the Welsh as Nia Ben Aur.) Who, according to legend, is said to be the daughter of the Irish sea god Manannán mac Lir, the wife of Oisín, the mother of Plor na mBan and Oscar, and one of the queens of Tír na nÓg, The Land of Youth.

Viral

Viral's name comes directly from the word "viral", tying in with the Beastmen's genetics theme, but there are other theories about his name's origin.

One is the fact that it can also be an anagram for "rival", referring to his constant rivalry with Kamina, which transferred to Simon throughout the series until near the end.
Another possible theory comes from the Nikopol Trilogy of comic books written by Enki Bilal, as Enki is the name of Viral's first Gunmen and "Bilal", pronounced in Japanese, sounds like "Viral". Supporting this theory is Viral's theme song, which is titled "Nikopol", on the anime's soundtrack.

The name of Viral's Ganmen may be tied to the Sumerian deity Enki, though it is much more likely that there is a deliberate connection between his second Gunmen, Enkidu, and the character of Enkidu from the Epic of Gilgamesh. The myth consists of Enkidu ('Enki's creation'), a man of the wild who seeks to challenge King Gilgamesh, a mighty warrior, but who later befriends him and assists him in in his travels, which may be a reference to Simon and Kamina, as he initially wanted to beat them but later joined Simon to save the universe.

Lordgenome

Lordgenome's name comes from the English "lord" (a male noble) and "genome", the blueprint for an organism found in its DNA. For this reason, many people spell his name as "Lord Genome". The name is meant to tie in with theme of biology for Lordgenome's inner circle with each of his generals getting his/her name from one of the nitrogen bases that make up DNA, as well as reflecting upon his position as a king on Planet Earth. Lordgenome's name was combined by Gainax to reduce confusion among Japanese readers about "lord" being a title, rather than a part of the character's first name.

Kiyal Bachika

Kiyal's name comes from yaruki meaning 'willingness'

Thymilph

Thymilph's name is based on the DNA chemical thymine and the elemental Sylph. His Ganmen, Byakou, is based on the mythical White Tiger, Byakko.

Adiane

Adiane's name (pronounced "Ah-DEE-NAY") is based on the DNA chemical adenine and the water elemental, Undine. Her Ganmen, Sayrune, is based on the mythical Azure Dragon, Seiryū.

Cytomander

Cytomander's name (pronounced See-toh-man-dra) is based on the DNA chemical Cytosine and the elemental Salamander. His Ganmen, Shuzack, is based on the mythical Vermilion Bird, Suzaku.

Guame

Guame's name is based on the DNA chemical Guanine and Gnome, the earth spirit. His Ganmen, Gember, is based on the mythical Black Tortoise, Genbu.

Source: Gurren Lagann Wiki.


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The Chuunibyou crew wants to do what to "this world", exactly?
In Chūnibyō Demo Koi ga Shitai! the crew always yell

*anishment this world

during their "transformations".
What are they saying? Banishment or Vanishment?

There are several sources over the western web (just google it - I just did), and there is nothing conclusive, so if you can point to some canon or other eastern sources, appreciated.

You can explicitly see "Vanishment" in the Season 2 ED. Vanish and Banish are pretty similar, so it's assume that they want to do away with "this world."

It's probably "vanishment", though I think the evidence is a bit too sparse to be 100% sure.
The season 2 ED does explicitly say "Van!shment Th!s World" in Latin script (which is also the title of the ED song) :

For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, people on the Japanese internet mostly appear to think that the word in question (バニッシュメント banisshumento) is from English "vanishment" rather than "banishment" (see e.g. one, two, three). Perhaps this points to greater awareness of English "vanishment" than "banishment" among speakers of Japanese? If this is in fact the case, it suggests that Rikka's catchphrase would have been intended to use the word "vanishment". Then again, perhaps the ambiguity was intended?
Though, to muddy the waters a bit, the B-side on the season 2 OP album is titled "PunIshment this worLd-VOICE-Episode.Φ".
While we're at it, apparently Japanese sometimes transliterates "varnish" as バニッシュ banisshu, so I suppose it's not entirely impossible that Rikka is actually saying "varnishment this world". Crazier still, the most recent Kuroko no Basuke opening (S3 OP3) displays the phrase "Burnishing Drive" for a move that everyone would think was called "Vanishing Drive" (バニシングドライブ banishingu doraibu). With Japan, all things are possible.
(Incidentally: I've only read snippets of the light novel, but as far as I'm aware, this particular catch phrase is anime-original, so that's a no-go for getting clarification.)

For the benefit of the reader who may be confused about why this is confusing, Japanese did not historically have a "v" sound, so borrowings of words from English that do have a "v" typically had the "v" replaced with a "b". This causes a bit of confusion in this case, since "banishment" could be from English "banishment" or from English "vanishment" with the "v" changed to a "b".


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What was the source of inspiration behind the character Sasuke in Naruto?
Like the title says, where did Mr. Kishimoto got the idea of the character personality, backstory, name etc.?

According to Sasuke Uchiha article on Wikipedia, Sasuke's name comes from Sarutobi Sasuke, a fictional ninja featured in Japanese children's stories. Kishimoto also once said that Sasuke's character was influenced by Hiei from YuYu Hakusho.

Here i thought they were inspired by goku and vegeta. doh.


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How much of Teekyuu is actually about Tennis or the Tennis club?
The premise for the Teekyuu anime says it's about 4 girls in the tennis club, and during some of the episodes of the first season they actually play some tennis, but it seems after that nothing revolves around tennis or the club. It could have been about any 4 girls in any school who were friends.
Does the source material (manga) have more to do with sports and tennis? The manga doesn't look like it's 4-koma and seems kind of a weird to adapt it as 2 minute long episodes as an anime.

It's mostly gag, as mentioned in one of the episodes. Since the cost is low, and it sells (enough for them to make some good profit), they keep making it (currently at season 4 + a spin off).

Agh, I didn't read the question fully. The following answers the question for the anime series - not the manga:
Not much. It's hard to definitively say how much, but let's give it a go based on the CrunchyRoll descriptions. Because they're so short, they're pretty comprehensive of what happens.
This will be a reasonably loose attempt at collation - the actual times they play an entire game is much less.
Season 1 (5/12):

Teaching Yuri how to play tennis is harder than herding cats. YES
Takamiya Nasuna has returned to play tennis, but first they have to harvest the court. YES
Bando Marimo means well, but she has a soul of an old man… a perverted old man
Kanae has invited the club to her house... things get awkward from here.
All jokes aside, Nasuno decides to get serious and play at her full strength! YES
The girls enjoy a day at the pool by themselves.
The club needs new members! YES
Nasuno wants to create something "special" for her father's birthday.
Marimo gets a... job?
The showers at school are broken so the club visit the public baths.
Let’s go to a festival!
The club is finally back to practicing but when they lose their only ball… YES

Season 2 (4/12):

The four members of tennis club are asked to help with a bean throwing event by Kanae's cousin, who works at a nursery school. Concerned the children are frightened of her, Marimo receives advice from the principal, but...
Kondo-san from the newspaper clubs asks to interview the tennis club. Can the excited upperclassmen properly show off the activities of the tennis club?! YES
At Nasuno's suggestion, the four girls go on an overnight trip together. However, as expected, there's something strange about the method of transportation and lodging arranged by Nasuno...
After finishing practice on their overnight trip and recharging themselves in the bath, the four girls hold a hot springs table tennis tournament. How will the gradually escalating battle end? YES
On the final day of their trip, the tourist spot the manager told the girls about turns out to be a silver mine! And what event occurs on the bus on their way home...?
When Nasuno suddenly declares she wants a pet, she and the other members head to the pet store where they find unbelievable animals!
The day of the sports festival has arrived. Having entered a club relay race, the members come together to try to win, but...
When Kanae becomes upset over her short stature, Nasuno takes her to a ranch. Will milking a cow make her taller!?
One day, the four girls take on the base ball club with their right to use the tennis court on the line. Certain character appears to fill their roster, turning it into a white hot battle! YES
At the bottom of the first inning with bases loaded and two outs, batter Kanae breaks out a certain pose! And finally, the conclusion! YES
One night, a mysterious flying object crash lands at Marimo's house. From the dazzlingly bright light appears an alien who calls himself "Tomalin!"
Kanae and Yuri go to an udon restaurant with coupons they received from Kondo-san. However, there's nothing ordinary about this udon restaurant!

Season 3 (3/12):

Nasuno-senpai takes everyone skiing. On what kind of course did the four skiing beginners end up?!
When it starts pouring rain, everyone seeks shelter at Kanae's house. On their way home, Kanae is struck by a bolt of lightning and uses her superpower "Kana Kana Wave"...
Nasuno is saved from a group of seemingly terrifying hooligans by a high school student named Yota. However, another group of assassins appears!
At the suggestion of a long-haired Nasuno and short-haired Kanae, Yuri accompanies them to a salon. What NEW hairstyles does she see during her trip?!
The group heads to the shrine for their first visit of the New Year. After drinking some amazake, Yuri runs out of control and things turn dire!?
Nasuno's bakery is 300 million yen in debt?! The girls try coming up with a new menu for the reconstruction of the store, but...
A story of Yuri as a third year middle school student. After making it into Kameido High School, Yuri tries to join the tennis team, but... YES
When Kanae's strings break the gang heads to a tennis supply store. The store stocks nothing but unusual strings. Which strings will Kanae choose? YES
Yuri encounters the lingering spirit of her uncle at his funeral. Somehow her uncle takes control of her body, and...
While Marimo is playing games at home, she is suddenly sucked into the game world through her TV. Will Marimo make it safely back to her own world?
The national tennis tournament has begun! What secret strategy does Kanae use against the formidable Usagikame High?! YES
The fearsome final exams are approaching. The girls gather at Kanae's house to study.

There is 7 seasons of this and also 11 tankobans - so I think I will stop before I waste my entire evening - but I think it's clear that the majority ( > 50% ) of time is spent on non-tennis-related items.


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Where was Shinji Matou during Fate/Zero?
In Fate/Zero, we see that the Matou don't really have a proper candidate to participate in the war. So Zouken adopted Sakura. Then Kariya comes up and participates. In exchange for winning the grail, Zouken will release Sakura from her fate as a mage (?).
Then Kariya loses. Therefore Zouken still needs Sakura, does he not? Zouken will continue training her to participate in the next war.
But, in Fate Stay/Night and UBW, this is the situation:

Sakura is a normal girl with no apparent knowledge of magic.
Shinji Matou is the master fighting for the Matou family.

Then, my question is:

Where was Shinji Matou during Fate/Zero? Why did Zouken need Sakura if he had Shinji?

Where was Shinji Matou during Fate/Zero?

Shinji was overseas at the time. He is only mentioned by his father Byakuya in the original Novel.

He was briefly mentioned by Byakuya in the original Fate/Zero novel, his only child was sent overseas in the name of studying.

Source: Shinji Matou - Other Appearances

Why did Zouken need Sakura if he had Shinji?

The original reason Zouken adopted Sakura was because Shinji was inferior as a magus due to their declining bloodline and wasn't fit to be an heir. Shinji stated in the Fate Route that this was because the Matou didn't properly adopt to the land, as they were foreigners to Japan, unlike the Tohsaka.
Furthermore, since having two heirs would weaken the inheritance (magic) that is to be passed down, and raising both as magi is always believed to cause conflict between the siblings down the track (as was the case with the Aozaki family), the Tohsaka's, like any other magus family, can only choose one heir.
Because the Tohsaka's and Matou's were ancient allies back from when the 3 families were tutored by Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, Tokiomi Tohsaka put Sakura up for adoption to the Matou.

Like most magi, her father chose only one daughter to carry on his family's tradition as he believed raising an additional child would introduce competition. Zouken Matou, an ancient ally of the Tohsaka House, offered to adopt Sakura with the intention of training her as the successor of the Matou's magecraft as his own heir, Shinji, was incapable of sorcery.

Source: Sakura Matou - Background
The reason why Rin was chosen over Sakura was because Rin's Elemental Affinity was all five, while Sakura's was Imaginary Numbers. However, it was during her "training" which forcefully changed her Elemental Affinity to Water (Matou standard) that Zouken saw her potential as a Master.
As for Shinji Matou being a Master, he was a fake Master. From the beginning, Sakura was the Matou's Master. The book Shinji is shown to hold when he commanded Rider was the Book of the False Attendant, which was created from one of Sakura's Command Spells. Because the book cut Rider's Prana supply from Sakura but didn't change the source to Shinji, Rider needed other ways to gain Parana to stay manifested, thus the set up for Blood Fort Andromeda. Sakura made the book for Shinji to use, as she did not want to fight in the War because

She could hurt Shirou (at that time, she was not aware that he had become a Master)
She would hurt Rin (despite being told by Zouken to think of her former family as dead, she still recognized Rin as her sister)

Sakura was only forced to fight in the war in the Heaven's Feel Route when Shinji splashed something on Sakura during the Blood Fort's activation, causing the worms inside Sakura to go crazy. This forced her to fight in the war and put an end to it, lest she be consumed by the worms.

Sakura was aware of Shinji's magic barrier trap thing in school? Why did she stay inside (and became a victim) knowing this? Did she even try to save Shirou? (I remember she insisted Shirou to visit the dojo, but I think the dojo is within school grounds anyway so...)

@Omega i'm not sure, i don't remember Sakura being in the school during the Blood Fort's Activation (but i'm reaching that part in the Visual Novel) but remember that Magi like Rin can resists for a small amount of time. even then i would assume Shinji would have threatened Sakura not to interfere with the same threat he uses in Heaven's Feels when he is about to rape her, threatening to reveal the years of abuse to Shirou and claiming that Shirou would be disgusted with Sakura and no longer associate with her

(cont.) though the way he says it makes it sound like she wanted it and it's the fear of loosing Shirou that makes her complacent (though this has the opposite effect in Heaven's Feel). also as senshin  mentioned in his comments, Shinji hates Sakura because he thought he was to be the heir and him raping her over the years was because Sakura took pity on him but he mistook it as her submitting to him. Shinji still believes he is to become the heir but even if he had won the war Sakura was going to be the heir

Where was Shinji Matou during Fate/Zero?

Well, he was five years old at the time. I guess that during Fate/Zero, he was hanging around the Matou residence or something.

Why did Zouken need Sakura if he had Shinji?

Heaven's Feel spoilers (I think?):

 Shinji is a non-mage, like his father (Byakuya), and thus essentially useless to Zouken. This, again, was the whole point behind having Sakura adopted in from the Tohsaka family - Kariya was unwilling to cooperate, and Byakuya was a non-mage (and so would all his offspring be).

 But, you say, Shinji is a Master in the fifth war! How can that be? Well, it turns out that Rider's actual master is Sakura. Basically, Shinji torments Sakura until she surrenders provisional control of Rider to Shinji by means of a magical book that behaves like a Command Spell.

 So anyway, Shinji, like Kariya, did not really factor into Zouken's plans. With both of them, it would have been nice if they won the war, but Zouken's ultimate plans revolved around Sakura. During Fate/Zero, his plan was for Sakura's offspring to win the fifth war; but when the fifth war came around fifty-ish years early, his goal was to have Sakura herself win the war on his behalf. This obviously doesn't work out well for Zouken in Fate or UBW, but he comes pretty close to getting what he wants in Heaven's Feel.

This whole confusion you're having is one of the big reasons why watching Fate/Zero before Heaven's Feel makes for a somewhat subpar experience - knowing in advance that Zouken has all these sinister plans, you can't help but wonder what he's been up to in the first two routes and what the whole deal with Sakura and Shinji is and so forth.

Sakura is/was Rider's master in Stay/Night and UBW? So she is indeed a trained mage the whole time and knows about the war etc? In that case, why did Zouken approve of Shinji taking her Master status? Surely she is at least more useful than Shinji, having been trained with the insects.

@Omega. It's safer that way. If the enemy knows Sakura is the master, they can target her. As long as they believe Sakura is a normal girl and Shinji's the actual master, they'll try to kill him and reveal themselves in the process. This would allow Sakura to deal with them while they believe they've won and still don't know who she is.

@Nolonar that makes sense. But when Shinji triggered the mana-absorbing barrier trap thing in the school, why was Sakura a victim as well? Supposedly the barrier was Zouken's idea, so surely Zouken would not want Sakura to get trapped or even hurt in it (since she's the real master). Did Shinji just do it on purpose? He could've told her not to come to school or something.

@Omega. I'm not too sure myself. From what I've seen, I think Shinji is jealous of Sakura. He might've simply not cared about her at all.

@Omega "why did Zouken approve of Shinji taking her Master status?" - I don't remember the details, but I believe Zouken had some sort of Batman gambit going, wherein Shinji's participation in the war would somehow lead to a better outcome for him. Of course, Rider's early death in Fate and UBW (to Saber and Kuzuki, respectively) must have put a wrench in those plans.

@Omega "Did Shinji just do it on purpose? He could've told her not to come to school or something." - Shinji hates Sakura. This comes across more strongly in HF than in Fate and UBW, I guess.

@Omega "So she is indeed a trained mage the whole time and knows about the war etc?" - Yes. Recall the scene near the beginning of UBW (and I think also Fate?) where Sakura is at Shirou's house and Shirou notices a bruising/discoloration on one of Sakura's hands. Shirou assumes this is because Shinji was beating her, and most readers probably assume the same. That's not what it is, though - the discoloration there is from her command spells being diverted from her hand to the book that Shinji has and uses to control Rider.


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Why is the title Punchline?
Why is the title Punchline? How does it relate to the series itself?
According to dictionary.com, punchline means

the climactic phrase or sentence in a joke, speech, advertisement, or humorous story that produces the desired effect.

So do we have to wait until the end of the series to understand the meaning of the title?

The title Punchline in Japanese パンチライン contains the terminology [パンチラ]{Panchira}, which means "the instant of miracle granted by the god of chance when the panty becomes partially visible" according to Nico Nico Pedia, or simply panty-shot according to Wikipedia.
This is inline with the theme of the show, where the main protagonist has to avoid all those moments when the girls inadvertently expose their panties, or he will become excited and somehow cause an asteroid to collide with the Earth.
The relation between the title and the term panchira is prominently displayed in the OP of the series, and also in the lyrics of the OP 「しょこたん♥でんぱ組」:

パンパンチラ　パンパンチラ　パンパンチラ　パンパンチライン
  パンパンチラ　パンパンチラ　パンパンチラ　パンパンチライン
[...]
Why not look at my panty line?
  女の子に恥かかせないでね

The line before last in the lyrics also gives rise to another interpretation of the title: Punchline = Panty Line, since the sound of panty and punch in Japanese is very close （[パンテーィ]{Panti–} vs. [パンチ]{Panchi}）.