text:
Why is Nyanko-sensei a round, chubby cat?
Nyanko-sensei is supposedly a very powerful youkai named "Madara," but he takes the form of a round, chubby cat.
What is the significance of this form? Did he purposely choose this appearance? Why/Why not?
Why does Takashi call Madara by the name "Nyanko-sensei?"

What is the significance of this form?

 It's not simply a round, chubby cat, it's a Maneki-neko (lit. beckoning cat). Maneki-neko is a common figurine in Japan. Shops have it displayed to beckons customers and wish bringing more fortune in.

Did he purposely choose this appearance?

 Yes and No.

 Nyankon-sensei was sealed in Maneki-neko for a long time before Takashi release it by accident, it ordinary takes on the shape and just be that way.

 Ordinary people can see it when it is in the Maneki-neko form but not in the original Madara form. Still, we don't know if Nyankon-sensei like its form so much or on other purposes.

Why does Takashi call Madara by the name "Nyanko-sensei?"

 Nyankon-sensei requests Takashi to call him sensei and as an exchange, it becomes his bodyguard.

Wikipedia actually has a well-written article about the anime & manga including characters background, in case you want more details.

They have a form named after me? I'm flattered.

Where was it mentioned that Nyanko-sensei was sealed by Reiko?

Thanks for pointing it out, I have corrected my answer.
Yet there is no clues of who sealed Nyanko-sensei.
(I don't know why I put that in the answers QAQ)
In the anime, Takashi asked Nyanko-sensei once if its name is in the book, Nyanko-sensei replied "no" with a funny facial expression.
However, this piece of infomation is still not sufficient to tell who sealed sensei.

Just began watching this anime :) Is there an explanation as to why everyone can hear and see Nyanko-sensei in his lucky cat form? I quickly figured out that they could only see him in that form, but I wasn't sure why since he's still a youkai. Perhaps there is no answer to my "why" question though.

I know some youkai in the anime take human form to be seen, but there are others who take human form aren't seen as well. I was wondering if Nyanko does it on purpose since we already know he's a more powerful youkai...I have a feeling there is no definite answer though ●︿●

Madara-sama was sealed in a maneki neko (lucky cat). If you are familiar with maneki neko, then you know many of them look exactly like Nyanko Sensei.  This is from the first episode.
It is not known whether this was done on purpose or not.  Whoever imprisoned him put him in the maneki neko, put him in the shrine and he stayed there until Natsume tripped over the rope.  Book 1, No. 1.
Madara wants to be called sensei.  Natsume calls him nyanko already, which as I'm sure you know is a diminutive term for a cat.  Little Cat Teacher = nyanko sensei.
The anime is pretty faithful to the manga in this episode.
~nyan


text:
Is the term Otaku derogatory?
I know the term is widely used in America as a term for someone who has a love and anime and all things related to it. So in the US it's a term of endearment.
However in Japan the term is known more or less to be used to describe a shut-in / loner. But it actually originated from a few variations. One being the name of a stalker / murderer another just meaning someone with a love for Japanese culture.
So is the term really bad, good or more or less up to the individual to find a meaning?

So are you mostly/only looking for the Japanese perspective?

I am more or less looking for any answer. Its a Question that kinda has me a little flustered since one side is all positive the other is all negative. I want to know if there is a clear cut answer.

Related to http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/2953/do-otaku-tend-to-be-bullied

Relevant meta post: http://meta.anime.stackexchange.com/questions/524/what-sorts-of-questions-about-otaku-should-be-allowed (@xjshiya)

This is somehow related to my question which has been closed (and I wonder why but I respect the administrator's decision). As far as I know, in Japan, the term otaku isn't positive at all. It means the same as being a geek or nerd or someone who's obsessed with something. And according to TVTropes,

Otaku come in many flavors, but one thing can be said for each and
  every one of them. They've each staked out their own favorite thing,
  and they obsess over it relentlessly. Regardless of other
  intelligence, an otaku will have an obsessive, unhealthy, and almost
  encyclopedic knowledge of their chosen topic.
There are almost as many flavors of this type of character as there
  are things under the sun, but a few of the major ones are:

Anime or Manga Otaku
Cosplay Otaku
Gaming Otaku
Idol Otaku (wota)
Military Otaku
Technology Otaku

Essentially, someone could be an otaku about just about anything:
  politics, sports, history, etc. When otaku is used by itself by a
  Westerner, 99% of the time it will mean "anime/manga otaku".
Neither geek nor nerd is an adequate translation. However, in modern
  use, both words may carry a shadow of the right connotations of
  obsessive interest and/or social ineptitude. Think of the older, more pejorative senses of geek
  and you're on the right track - the British term anorak is also a
  close translation. In Japan, the term Otaku does not carry a positive
  meaning, at all.
A semi-related term is hikikomori, which refers to a teenager or young
  adult who withdraws completely from society for an extended period,
  typically isolating themselves within their parents' house and become
  psychologically fixated to particular hobbies; hikikomori in media are
  usually otaku of some sort. Hikikomori are also critically viewed as
  lazy and outright creepy, which doesn't help the perception of otaku
  much. Especially after 1989, when serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki was
  shown to be both an otaku and hikikomori, leading to a moral panic.

So I think the term otaku and being otaku yourself connotes something negative in Japan. Though, there are a lot of anime nowadays that features otaku characters. A major example is Lucky Star so I think they are somehow removing that negative connotations about being an otaku, though not generally.

I agree that it's a little bit strange that one question is allowed (assuming this one will be allowed) while the other one isn't. This probably deserves a meta post. I'll make it tomorrow, but feel free to make it before then if you so choose.

Both are very similar, but this one has the context of "Western culture uses the term Otaku to mean 'Anime or Manga Oktau" and contrasts that to the general use of "Otaku" in Japan for a multitude of interests. The other had a much weaker tie to anime/manga. Although I will agree that both posts are slightly off-topic because they are concerned with fans of anime/manga and not anime/manga itself.

@LoganM It has been over a year since these comments had been posted and I'm relatively new, but I was under the impression that Japanese culture questions unrelated to anime nor manga would be allowed? Was there ever a meta post about this?

Please see this question for more.

I'm surprised that none of the other answers here provide reliable citations regarding the Japanese language or Japanese culture.
Meanings of the Japanese Word "Otaku"
The Japanese Language SE has considered this question here, here, and here, pointing out that

The original meaning of 「お宅」(o-taku) is one's household/home/family/husband/organization and is, in this usage, employed by Japanese politicians or near-strangers to imply that the relationship between the speaker and the other person is not close and possibly estranged
The word is used as a passive form for politeness when talking to other members of your in-group about something that someone who is socially above you (such as a teacher) has done for you
In the context of a fanboy/fangirl, the word is not considered strongly negative by everyone in Japan, but does bear some connotations such as "narrow interest," "not caring about anything except for a specific topic," "not sociable," and "strong interest on a particular field and spend more time for knowing the subject or collecting the related goods" that many Japanese would view negatively.

Japanese people would not generally think to use otaku to refer to people outside of Japan who are passionate about hobbies.
Negative View of Anime/Manga Fandom in Japanese Culture
In general Japanese culture, an interest in anime and manga is looked down upon, as I posted here:

Unlike in many parts of the world where manga and anime are considered esteemed art forms, in Japan most parents consider manga to be junk and discourage their kids 1) from reading manga, since they should be reading literary novels instead, and 2) from becoming a mangaka when they grow up. So most Japanese do not read manga as adults, and most who had a dream of being a mangaka gave up on it. Teens and adults who are involved in subculture are generally viewed negatively by the general populace [...]

It is due to this cultural perception that anime/manga fans have a somewhat negative association, and as a result why some were derogatorily referred to as otaku by others and/or some took on the term otaku to refer to themselves. It is not simply that otaku is a rude term used by haters that got thrown onto anime/manga fans, but early anime/manga fans themselves felt some embarrassment/shame over being such and described themselves self-deprecatingly as otaku.
Current Perception & Japanese Anime/Manga Fans' Preferred Term
The current generation of young adult anime/manga fans in Japan are still viewed as oddball by others; they have not reached the level of acceptance by society at large that Western otaku enjoy (for example, the popularity of the TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory or that in American people could mention in passing that they're going to a con or RenFair this weekend and many others won't judge them for it). However, the demographic is not as negatively viewed as it was in past generations. Now, they might jokingly refer to themselves as otaku.
But the Japanese adults who are unabashed anime/manga fans do not usually refer to themselves as otaku, but rather prefer using the term 「サブカルチャー」(subculture) to describe their interest and what they are involved in. This term, rather than focusing on oneself, focuses on being part of a group that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs in particular, intentional ways. This usage of subculture is used not only for anime/manga fans but for other demographics of Japanese people, such as those interested in the occult, clubbing, or reggae, which are likewise not mainstream hobbies in Japan.
Otaku ≠ Hikikomori
In Japanese language and culture, the word otaku by itself does not include the meaning of 「引き籠もり」 (hikikomori, sometimes translated as "shut-in" or "acute social withdrawal"), which is a social and psychological phenomenon defined by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as those who people who refuse to leave their house for a period exceeding six months (further definitions have and are being created by researchers and mental health professionals). Some hikikomori have an interest in anime/manga/gaming, but others do not. Some became hikikomori after having experienced bullying at school, but the cause for others is unknown. According to the Japanese Constitution, children have a right to education, in other words, a right to attend school, but they are not legally required to attend school in order to make use of this right (this is why homeschooling is legal in Japan). As a result, becoming hikikomori is not illegal activity.

Article 26: All people shall have the right to receive an equal education correspondent to their ability, as provided for by law.
2) All people shall be obligated to have all boys and girls under their protection receive ordinary education as provided for by law. Such compulsory education shall be free.
Article 27: All people shall have the right and the obligation to work

When I joined the Manga and Illustration Research Society at my Japanese university, I was a bit surprised to find out that most members are strongly socially awkward in ways which I hadn't seen prevalent among American fanboys/fangirls. There is an overlap between social awkwardness and social withdrawl and the Japanese anime/manga fan community, but it is not a simple and well-understood correlation. It could be that the less-socially-adept veer toward niche interests, or it could be that when a hikikomori is in his/her bedroom for years on end, it makes sense that he/she would gain an interest in hobbies that can be done alone at home using the TV or computer for entertainment and for reaching out to fellows through the web.
It makes good marketing sense that the growing number of hikikomori, of whom a sizable percent are interested in anime/manga/light novels, has created enough consumers who would relate to hikikomori protagonists that the Japanese companies are responding to this market by producing more titles that feature hikikomori in a positive light. This may figure into a cycle in which people who are considering making the switch to being hikikomori feel more like it is not a terribly shameful that that only losers do but that there are a lot of other people in the same boat (it's still too early to know whether these titles have any effect on increasing the numbers of hikikomori).

Is Article 27 relevant to the discussion?

The English term "trainspotter" gives some idea of how otaku are viewed in Japan; a trainspotter is essentially a "train otaku". That is, weird, antisocial, and not really "like the rest of us". Phrases like "gun nut" carry a similar flavour of being obsessed with something in a not-entirely-healthy way.
Given the Japanese culture values conformity, being "weird" is something more of a social stigma than it is in most Western countries.
As such, in the Japanese culture, being described as an otaku is almost universally negative.

It may not be derogatory for people who describe themselves as "otaku" and who take pride in it, but it is without a doubt derogatory for other people.
Lots of japanese people who like anime/manga tend to avoid describing themselves as otaku, because to them it still carries the sense of that guy obssessed with anime who wears a collared plaid shirt tucked into their jeans, with a large backpack from which rolled posters can be seen.
For example, you could see the slang きもオタ (kimo ota = abbreviation for "kimoi otaku" = disgusting otaku) on various japanese websites, including those like nicovideo, 2ch or futaba, which are, even so, famous places where those same "otaku" (western definition) dwell.
I would suggest watching the semi-anime, semi-documentary "Otaku no Video", which is kinda old, but still a lot accurate about how "normal" japanese people are conscious of their hobby.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

sort: votes


text:
What is this anime or manga about "Leben Nicht"?
I'm not sure what it is or what it's called. The title seems to be in Russian but that got me nowhere... All it says is "Leben Nicht" at the top followed by "168cm" and "47kg".

It shows a girl with white hair next to a girl who I guess is her except the white-haired version almost looks like she went through a Frankenstein surgery with her skin having scars and such. It looked interesting to me but I can't find it anywhere. It had Japanese writing but I don't read Japanese.
Does anyone know what this anime or manga is?

Do you have an image of it? It'll be a lot easier for us to figure out what the series is if you do.

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8e/20/5c/8e205cd6bb25abd036196e38859e9705.jpg

sorry im having trouble posting the picture

the above url should take you to the picture

This seems to be an original character by artist 浦助 (Urasuke), sometimes known by other names such as "ursk420" or "tetsu420". It was posted to his pixiv account roughly a year ago (standard disclaimer: Pixiv links are not guaranteed to be work-safe since the content is dynamically generated). The character's name is Leben Nicht (German meaning roughly "not alive"). The caption for the picture and the tag "オリジナル" ("original", used when a character is not part of any series) both indicate that there isn't any anime or manga about the character, so unfortunately it seems you're out of luck on that end. However, the picture was released such a way as to allow essentially unlimited derivative works, so you may be able to find more images of this character.
I don't think this artist has been involved in any other professional manga or anime to date, though it's hard to tell. At the very least I couldn't find references to any such works after skimming his pixiv page, blog, interview page and twitter. He does have a sizable following online, but according to his pixiv profile he mostly draws original characters.

wow... I really wasn't expecting an answer, thank you very much haha. I had found this picture on a website for artists and saw this thinking it may be part of a larger series. But if all this person seems to do at the moment is original characters then hes got a great imagination and stunning work,its kind of a let down because the girl would seem to have potential in a darker-set story and filled with personality. But thans Logan M for researching that so thoroughly!

@MerrickDuBois You're welcome, and for what it's worth I agree that this artist has a lot of cool artwork which would make neat concepts for anime/manga. If you found this answer helpful, you might consider marking it as accepted by clicking the checkmark next to it. Once you get 15 rep you can also upvote any questions and answers. We generally give pretty well-researched and thorough answers here, and you're welcome to stick around (^.^).

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


text:
What was the inspiration for "Many copies, no original"?
In GITS SAC 2nd GiG, what was the original inspiration for the concept of "many copies, no original"?
Does the concept have a name in real life? Or was it just a concept the writers created just for the show?

It's too complicated for me to write about it in English, but it's based on Salingers short story "The Laughing Man" and the idea is called Simulacra which was investigated by Jean Baudrillard. Whoever wants to write an answer, can look it up. Maybe this question helps you, too.

Note: The term "Stand Alone Complex" is also used, but not very often. I've only seen it to describe Anonymous yet.

@looper: That answers my question. I thought it dealt with economics and how various people can solve the same problem without knowledge of one another. I was extremely off. If you want, you can just copy/paste your comments as an answer... so I can give you credit for answering the question.

This was a comment first, but converted to an answer.
The hole idea is called Simulacra and was investigated by Jean Baudrillard. The original inspiration was Salingers short story "The laughing Man".
The concept is now also known as "Stand Alone Complex", but it's not frequently used, except (for example) for the group Anonymous.
Also, this question may have some additional information.


text:
Why do producers translate some anime titles?
A lot of producers these days seem to change the original Japanese name to English alternatives. Why do they do this? Does this add any value to the name of the anime in other countries or is it just that it is easier to read for people outside of japan/otaku society?
Because some of the cases are really weird and in my opinion not necessary. An example of this would be "Ace of Diamond" also known as "Diamond no Ace".
Is there anything to gain from translating the title? Also, why don't all series do this?

IMO, It might be familiar for different persons especially who aren't very close to japanese and romanji

Keeping the Japanese names (usually if they are short) helps with SEO.

The producers underestimate the intelligence of the typical American viewer. It is not just restricted to the title or translation. Onigiri, for example, is always "replaced" by doughnut, burger, or some such, because there is no way an American would understand rice cake, right?

@Dimitri-mx As a point of clarification: the producers (the production that makes the show) usually have little say in how the licencors (they purchase a license to distribute the show elsewhere). It's the licencor that decide how to localize series (as evidenced by 4Kids butchering of certain popular anime for TV). They don't have much of a marketing budget so they rely the internet, social media, and word of mouth to spread the word. Keeping the Japanese name (or part of it) helps because it helps them piggyback on top of current trends people are currently discussing (or have discussed).

Since you don't specify who is "they" I would like to give some insight:
"they" the English Comercializator:

Promotional/Marketing desition which take into account the public, if the program/title has an extensive fan-base that knows the name by the Japanese title, it would be counter-productive to translating the title and maybe lossing buyers that don't know the "product" by the english title.
Attractiveness: some titles are more atractive if they have mixed/full english translation, again a marketing move.

There could be others reasons but most of them will boil down to marketing tactics to sell, through the Japanese trademark holders may like to commercialize under a specific name, or, at petition of the author, use a translation.
"they" the fan:
Fans most of the time are purist, and call series by the original Japanese pronunciation which in some cases is rather painful (any long/big title almost impossible to pronounce out there?). Short names are also used (ex. PapaKiki) but most of them are stablished by the Japanese fans rather than the english-speakers. Through, some fans knows the title both by the translation and original Japanese, when distributing/discussing the most popular name takes precedence over the other possible uses.
other cases:
Some titles are already in English (or attempt of English), so no translation is made and is pronounced with correct english. Example of this, english-speakers may use Death Note instead of Desu Nōto as they would know the correct pronunciation and was what the author tried to convey.
In this cases, english marketers normally just use the correct english spelling when commercializing, and the only exception I know is 'Cardcaptor Sakura' which was commercialized as 'Cardcaptors'.

My bad for not specifying They. I mainly ment the comercializator. But this clears up pretty much all the cases. Thanks

there is a weird example of the translation going in reverse between the US and Australia, NISA in the US has Bunny Drop but Siren Entertainment in Australia has it as Usagi Drop....though i have no idea if the anime itself uses the name change since i only have the NISA copy since they had the premium edition and if given the choice of a premium edition from the states or a standard one locally i would import


text:
Do the Yami Shibai horror stories have any background/reference?
Looking for a horror series, I found a new one called Yami Shibai. Each episode is a very short horror ghost story.
I feel like many of the stories in this series are too incomplete, as in, lacking any story/development - it almost seems as if the producer is just making up some random nonsensical stuff in an attempt you scare you off.
But maybe the stories presented do have a background story - like a reference to a well-known ghost story or something.
Some of the stories presented do seem to be somewhat self-contained. For instance, the third episode, "Family Rule", does explain the situation (the adults are offering their own laughter to please an evil spirit), but other stories don't explain what's going on (for instance, the photocopier episode - there's just this ghost haunting a photocopier, but we don't know why, or what for, etc).
Are the Yami Shibai horror stories based on something, or are they just made up for this series?
They might be well-known Japanese stories, but I don't know much about japanese culture so I'm not sure.

ANN writes the following:

A series of short horror stories based around Japanese myths and urban legends. The series is framed around an old man telling these tales to schoolchildren on a playground using kamishibai, a traditional Japanese storytelling method using paper scrolls.

The same goes for summaries on crunchyroll or other sites.
I guess that stories like "Hair" (the photocopier-one) are just urban-legends, so there isn't much to explain.


text:
What are Yasaburo and Professor eating in episode 9?
What are these huge donut-like things the characters are eating in the office? From the distance it looks like cylindrical donuts, but a closer look shows it's some sort of puff roll cake. I understand that the size is greatly exaggerated, but what kind of pastry is this?

(click images for full resolution)
This is from the episode 9. I remember this site had an event recently where the users were proposed to watch and then discuss this episode or something like that. I wonder if this was discussed there.

The size is not greatly exaggerated; Japanese baumkuchen is often rolled into the size pictured in these screenshots, though smaller versions are also widely available.

To me, it looks like Baumkuchen, a german cake.

As mentioned in the Wikipedia link, the “wood cake” is actually sold in Japan as well, and called baumkūhen. And they can actually be made fairly large.


text:
Why can't Oreki refuse Chitanda?
Oreki is a usually lazy and energy-saving kind of guy. After meeting Chitanda, Oreki is unable to refuse her requests. Why can't he refuse it? Is this because he is in love with her or is it a form of hypnosis?

What does the picture have to do with the question?

@kuwaly catch phrase used by the character might have potentional link to hypnosis. and watashi kininarimasu :|!

It means "I care/I am worried", so I don't see how that would make sense, but I guess it can't be totally discounted.

@kuwaly or as it is used in the series  "I'm interested in it "

First things first - no, it is not a form of hypnosis. Hyouka is entirely devoid of supernatural elements. The notion is absurd on its face.
Anyway, why can't Houtarou refuse Chitanda? There are a few reasons for this, and they change over the course of the show.

Chitanda's force of personality
Let's take a look at episode 1. When Chitanda asks Houtarou to help her find out why she got locked in the room, we get that scene where Chitanda's hair captures Houtarou. This is, of course, a representation of how Houtarou views the situation at hand, and suggests that there was something very persuasive about the way Chitanda asked him. If we turn to the novel's version of this scene, we find that:

千反田のその眼差《まなざ》しには、いい加減な返事は許さないというような一種異様な力があった。それに圧倒されて、俺の声は間抜けになった。
Chitanda's eyes held some sort of strange power, one that forbade me from giving her an offhand response. Her gaze overwhelmed me, and left me sounding like a fool.

As this suggests, at the very beginning of the story, Houtarou is spurred to action not out of love for Chitanda or anything, but rather by Chitanda's immense force of personality.
In episode 15, we see that Chitanda has more or less the same effect on Masashi Tohgaito when she's trying to get him to include the Classics Club in the next issue of the wall newspaper. (Irisu suggested that she use her feminine wiles, but Chitanda didn't really manage to pull that off.)
Houtarou is a pragmatic person
In the second half of episode 1, Houtarou has Satoshi help him fabricate the story of the secret club. Why? Because, as he himself notes, if he hadn't, Chitanda would have dragged him off to the music room to investigate the so-called ghost that supposedly appeared there. In a sense, he chose the better of two bad options.
While they wait for the librarian in episode 2, Chitanda becomes curious about why the
school history book gets loaned out every day. At first, he tries to get Chitanda to stop pestering him, but soon realizes that refusing her any more would actually be more costly than just acceding to her demands.
Houtarou, being a very pragmatic sort of person, will sometimes do a small amount of work in order to avoid having to do even more work.
Chitanda is pretty pushy
In episode 2, Chitanda actually grabs Houtarou and drags him to the library to search for the club's archived anthologies, thus justifying his fear in the second half of episode 1 of being forced to go all the way to the music room. Later in the episode, with the mystery of the frequently-returned book, Chitanda shoves the book in Houtarou's face until he finally gives in.
Point here is, Chitanda can be a pushy kind of person.
Sometimes, Houtarou just doesn't have anything better to do
As his sister notes in her letter from Varanasi, Houtarou should join the Classics Club because (if for no other reason) he isn't doing anything better with his time. In episode 3, when Houtarou agrees to help Chitanda out (to a certain degree) with the matter of her uncle, he thinks back to his sister's letter and figures that indeed, there's not really any good reason for him to say no - as long as it doesn't involve going too far out of his way.
In episode 20, when Chitanda invites Houtarou to visit the Arekusu shrine on New Years', he again agrees, mostly because he doesn't have anything better to do. (His thought process is elucidated upon a bit more in the novels, making it clear that this was mostly why he agreed to go.)

These are more or less the reasons why Houtarou does anything towards the beginning of the show. As Houtarou develops, though, he starts developing other motivations.

Houtarou actually starts wanting to do things
In episode 18, Houtarou decides he wants to look into Mr. Ogi and why he was struck by lightning thrice, and hence goes out of his way (all the way to the public library) to learn more about the matter.
This is presumably a result of Chitanda's influence on him over the preceding months (not that Satoshi, Ibara, and others didn't play a part either). He's different now than he was at the beginning, when he was wholly devoted to his tenets of energy conservation.
Houtarou probably develops feelings for Chitanda
In episode 21, we see Houtarou flustered when when Chitanda tells him that, in her family, it is customary not to give gifts to people who they are truly close to. Later in the same episode, Houtarou's anger with Satoshi over the stolen chocolate incident by and large is due to the fact that Chitanda was hurt by the incident.
And, of course, in episode 22, Houtarou imagines telling Chitanda that he'd be willing to take on the business side of things to help her out. He then realizes that the way he felt as he thought about that might have been how Satoshi felt when he chose to break Ibara's chocolate in the previous episode. This can be interpreted in various ways; one possible (and common) interpretation is that he realizes he's fallen for Chitanda.

So yes, towards the end of the story, it's possible that Houtarou is motivated by love for Chitanda, but towards the beginning, he's more pragmatically-motivated than anything.

Amazing answer, I like it. And covers all parts of my question and if the potential questions I could of gotten of your answer.

Chitanda possesses a pure and almost childlike curiosity which helps to unlock Oreki's, which he suppresses.

Senshin's answer is great and covers all the basics very well, but I think there is a more subtle element in Oreki's mind that doesn't allow him to refuse Chitanda's adventurous nature.
Note: I haven't read the novel, and my point of view is based solely on the anime adaptation.
Throughout the series we see how Oreki starts out as a passive chill guy who seemingly doesn't waste his talents on anything bothersome, although he actually often does some things that are evidence to the opposite.
Whenever Chitanda says she's interested in something, it looks like she is voicing Oreki's own thoughts. She does it so avidly, in fact, that he is unable to resist his own will boosted by Chitanda's personality.
At the beginning, Oreki doesn't try to do anything, and suppresses his inner voice calling out for him to go on an interesting investigation. But as the series progresses, he learns to listen to that voice (or rather through listening to Chitanda's voice, he learns to listen to his own).
In my opinion, Oreki never was that much opposed to interesting things. Look at him read stuff all the time. And he's pretty knowledgeable, too. How could a person disinterested in everything know that much? And with Chitanda's help he could finally unshackle from his chains of passivity, become who he was truly meant to be − a detective. Of course he couldn't resist Chitanda after she helped him through all that.


text:
What's up with the gravity on board of Bebop?
This is the final scene of the first episode of Cowboy Bebop. Right before this gif starts, Spike was gazing into space from the window.

The following events depicted in this gif are contradicting:

First, Jet rather slowly floats down from the ladder to stand on the floor steadily. It's because they are in space that he was floating, but his approaching footsteps can be heard, which means he's wearing some magnetic boots which let him stick to the floor.
Jet is holding a cigarette, from which the smoke goes off vertically upwards, away from the floor (like it would on Earth).
Jet has a pair of sunglasses hanging downwards from his apron. So there's either artificial gravity on the ship, or the glasses are being held really tight in this position.
Jet then throws the cigarette to Spike, and it floats in the air like it would in space, smoke still going towards the ceiling. Maybe the ventilation is designed so that the air flows from the floor towards ceiling.
Spike then catches the cigarette and its smoke continues going upwards, whilst the smoke cloud that Spike exhales just floats onwards without changing its general direction This means it's not the ventilation that makes smoke go where it goes.

This is really confusing. I get that such stuff can be easily overlooked in anime, but the cigarette was clearly floating just now, flying in a straight line, so I'm not buying all of it. What is known about the gravity on Bebop?

For the record: this came up on TVTropes (Ctrl+F for "inconsistent gravity") and nobody seems to have come up with a satisfactory answer. I doubt there's going to be any consistent explanation for why gravity on the ship works the way it does.

I guess that's my answer.

The Bebop uses centrifugal force to generate "gravity". It has a rotating cylinder which is where the crew spend much of their time when in space. It is shown from both inside the ship and outside the ship, and in a few episodes, it is shown that when the cylinder stops spinning, the people inside that portion of the ship suddenly start to float.
Presumably, there would be no apparent gravity in the portions of the ship which do not rotate when the ship is not thrusting. When the ship is thrusting (accelerating), then the entire ship would experience a force similar to gravity along the axis of thrust.

Not sure, but I think in this case the cigarette's flight in a straight line should make sense. I'd like to try that sometime in zero-g.

The gravity on the ship is somewhat inconsistent. However, it is useful to keep in mind that there are actually two systems used on the Bebop for attachment to hard surfaces; gravity and magnets (Such as seen in "Honky-Tonk Woman").
The Bebop, at least in theory, generates apparent gravity by rotating, at least part of the ship (see "Toys in the Attic"). How this fits in with the stationary appearance of the Bebop in orbit, I couldn't really say.
Gravity on the command deck, as you alluded to, is somewhat inconsistent in the show. In the opening episodes, only Spike and Jet appear to have gravity.  As the show went on however, more objects on the bridge appear to experience gravity - shogi pieces, and Ein being prime examples. However, looking at the Bebop, the command deck is actually in the opposite orientation to be experiencing apparent gravity due to centripetal force - if this was the cause of the gravity in it, Spike/Jet would be walking upside down, and there would have to be two control consoles; one on the ceiling and one on the floor, for when landing on a planet.
Here's my rather generous theory:
The Bebop has artificial gravity in the living quarters of the ship, which it accomplishes by rotating its interior fore-deck independently of the rest of the ship, explaining the lack of apparent rotation of the Bebop itself. In the rear of the rear of the ship however, "gravity" is generated by magnetism. This explains how Jet's tendency to fix the ships in 0-g conditions in the hanger deck (if not Faye's ability to jump and land on her ship, and Ein); it also means that during "Toys in the Attic", Spike was disabling a magnetic system of artificial gravity in the rear, as well as the rotation of the front living quarters, to float the fridge out of the airlock.
Fun Fact: Based on this, the nuclear reactor powering the Bebop is either in the (rotating) foredeck; or Jet does 0-G Bonzai. Personally, I'm hoping for the latter.
This has clearly bugged me more than I thought. :P

The gravity is generated by a centrifugal force. The floor pulls objects to its surface. The smoke from the cigarette is drawn to the center of the centrifuge.
But when the cigarette is thrown, it becomes free of the simulated gravity, and begins to act as if it was in micro gravity. This is also why when he jumps to the floor from the ladder, he appears to be in micro gravity. Until he makes contact with the floor and thus the centrifuge, he is in a micro gravity environment.
The smoke rising from his cigarette is an indication of him spinning.

If you google "cowboy bebop ship" you'll see that it doesn't have a ring shape, nor does the bridge, where they are in this scene, rotate around the ship on any axis while in space, as you can see in the gif (The stars are stationary, and yet there is centrifugal force? Probably not). Additionally, how do you explain smoke being drawn to the center of the centrifuge, and so to the top of the bridge room, if Spike and Jet are standing with their feet going in the opposite direction, towards the floor of the room?


text:
How did paradox work in Kurugaya's route?
In Little Buster Anime Season 2 (Refrain) and Kurugaya route, there is a certain paradox which is stuck in 20th all the time. I played Little Buster but I forgot most of it. In anime, It seems like that paradox is created by Rin. Is there any difference between Anime and Visual Novel? What is the cause of paradox?
As far as I remembered, When Little Buster found out Riki interested to Kurugaya, Rin didn't show her jealous in Visual Novel as it is described in anime season 2.

The reason behind the paradox was only implied in Kurugaya's Route, but was made much more obvious in the anime.  Kurugaya wanted to keep the world intact forever, and to keep Rin and Riki from waking up, keeping the Little Busters! together.  However, this went against Kyousuke's plan of doing what he could to save them.  The time paradox and the snow were caused by the conflict between Kyousuke's willpower and Kurugaya's wish.  In the anime, it is shown that Kengo and Masato are much more exhausted as the days repeated, as well as Kyousuke altogether disappearing.  This implied that Kyousuke's will alone was not enough to beat Kurugaya's wish, and that the others had to help.


text:
What type of Pokemon is Beedrill?
I've been arguing with my friend for a while about this.
But is Beedrill classified as a wasp or a bee Pokemon?
Its name is indeed "Bee"drill, but its shape is one of a wasps'.

Its "species" is identified as "Poison Bee Pokemon" in both English and Japanese for what that's worth. See its Bulbapedia article for more details.

If you are trying to relate this to real life, then surely we must go back to the roots http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weevil

Beedrill is a bee. It's classified as such in the Pokedex and its in the name as well.

Beedrill is called Poison Bee Pokemon, but Kingdra is called Dragon Pokemon when it's clearly a seahorse. I'd say it's based off a wasp, due to the fact that its main feature is a sting. Bees sting once then die, but wasps can sting as many times as they want, just like Beedrill. Hence the 3 stingers.

Kingdra isn't a seahorse, but a close relative called the seadragon. Dragalge is also based on one (specifically, the leafy seadragon).

Beedrill is a dual-type Bug/Poison Pokemon. In your form of question of if he is a Bee or a Wasp, he is indeed a Bee.


text:
Who are the masters that are being held in jail?
In History Strongest Disciple Kenichi, the masters of Ryozanpaku and the One Shadow Nine Fists are about to have an all-out war. They mention that there are 2 masters trapped in a jail and that they won't get out because of their pride. Who are these two masters and in which manga episode where they defeated?

They're talking about:

Alexander Gaidar  and

Diego Carlo, both members of the One Shadow Nine Fists and incarcerated at the "Big Lock". Alexander was defeated in Battle 304 and Diego was defeated in Battle 333.

Please can you add in which manga chapter they were defeated?

@Washu Sorry, missed that part of your question.


text:
When do animes get subsequent seasons?
I was wondering if a studio is told that it has X amount of seasons to tell its full story, or if there's some other situation where their time is extended based on ratings and similar statistics.
I would imagine that the first way wouldn't be great, as if the show doesn't do very well, the producers don't get much money.
But on the other hand, the second situation would mean studios would have to hold back plotlines and etc. until they have more confirmed time.
Perhaps it's neither of these two cases. Does anyone know how seasons are allocated to anime?

I would expect similarly to Western television. There are some unfinished anime because they were not successful enough; the writers probably hoped (and planned) for X seasons but only got Y (for Y < X) because it didn't make enough money or have enough viewership.

I don't have a complete answer, but generally animation studios are only willing to animate what they'll turn a profit based on. In the case of very popular series that would be hard to make a deal with they sometimes will allocate more than 1 cour in the initial deal, but usually future seasons are based on how well the anime sells (and occasionally how much it improves manga sales).

In short: Money, it makes the world go round.

In this particular case, anime is not different from any TV-series (if you want an example, take caprica, which was canceled mid-season due to low ratings). Let's start with some simple points:

The production of anime episodes costs money.
To get your work aired on TV, you need even more money.

Actually, you could check this question which approximately shows how much does it cost. It's a lot of money.
So, obviously, when you make an anime, you want your incomes to be larger than your expenses. How can you achieve that? Commercials. And, of course, the more popular is your show, the more people will see it. The more people will see it, the more people will see the commercials. So, basically, the more popular your show is, the more money you make from ads.
The second way is to sell different merchandise like t-shirts, figurines, and stuff. Once again, the more popular the anime is, the more people will want to buy this.
The above explains how things go if everything is fine. Sometimes everything is not fine. If your show is not popular enough, and the incomes do not cover the expenses, you bear losses. So, if you ended up loosing money after making the first season of an anime that was supposed to have 2 seasons, will you risk making the second one? I doubt that.
Now, as for the point on how the story is divided into seasons, it may also matter. For example, if a manga is very popular, then you might expect the anime based on it being popular as well, and plan X seasons in advance. On the other hand, if you are not sure, you may plan the first season only (with enough episodes for the story to reach some point where it can be stoped), and see how things go.
It also depends on the genre and the plot itself. For example, if each episode tells a small story which is not-so-strongly connected with the previous and the subsequent episodes, you may end a season at any time. But if episodes are closely connected story-wise, you may only stop when the plot comes to some kind of a logical conclusion (note, that doesn't mean "the plot ends", it just means that there is a point in the plot when you can end one season, and start another one without breaking the story and without losing viewer's interest, e.g. Code Geass).


text:
Was Shogun artificially aged?
Was Shogun artificially aged? I got the feeling that he had to be because Nanami is his real sister and she is not that old. Also the nurse "Grim" was performing some king of operation on him. Before that operation he appeared to be young as he lacked all of the wrinkles on his face. Also if he was aged how was that done? What was the yellow goop that "Grim" scooped out with the weird spoon?

Are these questions based on what you saw in the anime? I played the visual novel and can't remember anything about yellow mulch being scooped, but it could just be my memory...

As seen in the anime (carefull this contains spoilers).

 Towards the ending shogun reveals that he actual is Takumi Nishijo His original. and the main protagonist was just a fantasy of him. In this part he also reveals that he has a rare disease which causes him to age when he uses his power (believe this information is given spread over episodes 10-12). They do not go into details about how he got this disease

With this the answer to your question would be No, Shogun was not artificialy aged.

Answer of the last question : I think it's the brain which was scooped out by Grim with the weird spoon. It was just another case of New Generation murders.

'I think' does not really make for a good answer. We encourage factual answers, preferably backed by credible sources. I'd suggest you take our tour to familiarize yourself a bit with the way we like answers/questions to be.


text:
What's the design on their aprons?
On the aprons (at least I think they're aprons) of the people that work on the Horse's Bone, a weird design can be seen:

Is this supposed to be a (weird) horse or something like that, which alludes to the shop's name?
Or is it something else?

It's a horse's head eating a carrot, with crossbone in the background.

"Uma no Hone" (Horse's Bone) is a parody of the popular real-life chain of doujin shops under the "Tora no Ana" ("Tiger's Den") name. ("Mikan Books" is a parody of "Melon Books")


text:
Is there a site which has lists of anime/manga/novels and has up-to-date information on release dates?
I was watching Bodacious Space Pirates and finished it last night. I know there is a movie coming out in 2014 but it feels as if the anime was an adaptation of something.
I searched Anime News Network and it only has the anime and upcoming movie. I looked up on wikipedia and found the anime was an adaptation of the light novel series Miniskirt Space Pirates (ミニスカ宇宙海賊(パイレーツ) Minisuka Pairētsu). However it doesn't list the volumes that have been released or if any has been released in English, the same with the manga.
I am wondering if there is a site which has more complete information than Anime News Network or Wikipedia.

It's not a compendium of anime/manga/novels but there's LNDB for novels.

@JonLin show can i tell if any have been released in English as i only know Kara no Kyoukai, Miniskirt Space Pirates and Accel World and none of those to my knowledge have been released in english

Baka Updates (for anime) and MangaUpdates (for manga) constantly update with newly subbed and translated series.
For a chart of all anime releases by season, check out The Cart Driver.
And last but not least, to keep track of all the series you have viewed, use My Anime List.
This answers the question in your title, however I don't know of any site that particularly keeps track of only English releases. Myanimelist does have the info on English series though, as it will tell you all the voice actors (Japanese, English, etc). This site is probably your best bet for all the information you would want from a series and it definitely has more than wiki and Anime News Network.
For your situation, however, there are currently no manga released as well as no English light novels. The only light novels that exist are in Japanese. Baka Tsuki was looking into translating it, but nothing has been done yet.
I should probably also add that light novels in general are usually not published into an English version. Translators like BakaTsuki will normally take on those projects and if they do translate the series, it is normally posted in the serie's respective wikia.

when you say Baka Tsuki, are you talking about that baka-updates url you posted?

Ahh sorry I didn't clarify. BakaTsuki is group of people that translate Japanese light novels into English. Baka Updates is primarily an updates website. It will let you know the latest translated chapter/episode that has been released as well as link you the group that translated it

Please do not post links to illegal fan-subbing or scanlation sites, unless they are absolutely needed to complement your answer (they don't, in this case). We have removed the links on purpose (a second time now).

Ahh sorry. I didn't realize those links were not allowed as well as them being purposely removed.


text:
How did Shimada Die?
He was shown killing Tatsumi, the detective, then the flashback was over.

Nowhere in the anime did it show how he died (and came for judgement). How did he die?
Canonical answers would be appreciated!

On the reddit thread discussing the episode, the same question popped up, to which there was this reply:

He got stabbed by the guy who assaulted his sister. We saw the latter grab a knife from the kitchen sink and stab him in the hip/back. You can also see blood staining Shimada's shirt from under his knapsack after he stabs Tatsumi. Actually, he probably could have survived if he didn't overwork himself killing the detective.

Pictures replicated here in order mentioned:

So basically, he got stabbed but passed out after killing the detective, then bled to death from his earlier injuries.


text:
When and where can we order/buy region-free DVD/Blu-Ray of Digimon Adventure tri.?
According to Wikipedia:

The first film, Saikai (再会 Reunion?), was released on November 21, 2015 and will be released on region-free DVD and Blu-ray in Japan on December 18, 2015.

When can we buy this movie, and where can we order the movie franchise online? Since this will be released in Japan, is there a company that sells and provides international shipping?

Retagged with [digimon-tri], but I don't know jack about Digimon, so somebody who does should come here and change it back to [digimon] if Digimon Tri isn't different enough to warrant a separate tag.

@senshin Digimon Tri is a movie of the digimon anime Franchise. thanks for retagging and editing my question :)

Amazon Japan does ship to the US (about $10-12 shipping for a single BD, with 2-3 day turnaround, in my experience). For one-off purchases, Amazon Japan is a fine option; for larger purchases, proxying through a service like Tenso is likely to be cheaper, albeit slower.

@ton.yeung hope they release it soon.

@senshin how about other countries like in asia? would you kindly post your comment as an answer and provide some references so that I can Accept your answer :)

@senshin uhmmm as of now ,are these titles already available in amazon.jp?

@MikeAgustin See answer - movies 1 and 2 are currently available for preorder.

@senshin didn't notice it the first time. thanks for editing your answer :)

Amazon Japan ships to the US, and I assume to most other places where Amazon does business. Even if you don't know Japanese, it's fairly easy to purchase stuff from Amazon Japan - when you go to the website, you should see a link that says "in English".

Click on it, and most (though I don't think all) of the interface gets changed over to English. Product descriptions and stuff don't, though.
Once you've done that, you'll need to make an account, even if you have an account on Amazon US or Amazon UK or whatever. The process is the same as making an account on any other Amazon site.
The product you want to purchase is either this one for BD, or this one for DVD. In either case, you can pre-order it. If you do place a pre-order, the product should leave Amazon's Japanese warehouse on release day and get to you probably less than a week later.
As far as I know, there is only one option available for global shipping from Amazon Japan. You will be charged probably $10-12 for shipment to the US. I don't know about other countries. If you are in the US, you should choose to pay in USD, so as to avoid foreign transaction fees on your credit card.
Incidentally, you can also preorder the second movie (BD, DVD) for when it releases on 2 Apr 2016.

Much of the advice above is generally applicable to purchasing any BDs and DVDs from Amazon Japan. Amazon Japan isn't always the cheapest option, but it is definitely the most convenient, at least for US-based buyers. However, if you are planning on purchasing a large number of items in a short period of time, you may be able to save on shipping by using a proxy service like Tenso. (I assume there are other such services, but I haven't really looked.)

note: If your using chrome, just press right click and "translate to english" to translate the page from japanase to english.


text:
Does Yuu Otosaka remember everyone at the end of episode 13?
At the end of episode 13, Yuu is shown to reunite with Takajo, Yusa, Ayumi, and Nao. Does he actually remember them or did he use one of his abilities to regain his memory?

i think no, maybe he was waiting too see everything in his past memory in the nao camera and he is looking toward to it (sorry for bad explain)

Sadly, he does not.
From the Charlotte Wikia:

"Plunder" has a side effect. The more people he loots abilities from, the more memories he loses.

After absorbing tens of thousands of different abilities from people around the world he lost all of his memories.

The only thing he knows is how precious the phrasebook was to him during his journey, thus why he could never get rid of it.
The title of the episode itself, Memories to Come, foreshadows the idea that he will now be living for the memories he's yet to create. At the end of the episode he's reunited with the student council and his sister but is lost for what he should say because he doesn't share the same memories as them.

And with that, the foreshadowing from the episode title is underlined with when Takajou prompts him to be honest and Yuu responds with, "I'm looking forward to what's to come."

That explains alot. Thanks for providing your insight, it really helped me understand the ending now.

Loved this answer :)

Oh hey look, another Yuu that becomes disabled doe to saving the world. Those shonen protagonists these days, they be no longer over 9000, it seems


text:
How many people knows about Kazehaya Kamito's secret?
How many people knows that Kamito was Ren Ashbell?

At the end of the anime only one living person besides Kamito knows that he is Ren Ashbell, and that's the princess Fianna Ray Ordesia.
Ellis's older sister Velsaria Eva Fahrengart found out during the fight in the last episode but dies right afterwards.
Ellis and Clair both suspect that he is Ren but both are put off by various things. The principle being that as Ren he fought with a black blade in his left hand and now he fights with Est (a white blade) in his right hand.
While the relationship between him and Greyworth Ciel Mais (headmistress of the school) isn't stated in the anime, in the light novels she was the one who taught him how to fight with a sword before the first Bladedance he competes in, and so also knows that he is Ren Ashbell.

WARNING SERIOUS SPOILERS AHEAD read at your own risk
In the anime only Greyworth, Fianna and Velsaria know that he is Ren Ashbell (also, Velsaria didn't die after her fight with Kamito. He liberated her from the cursed armament seal implanted in her heart, which saved Velsaria's life but made get unable to use spirits again. She appears many other times in the novels). Meanwhile, in the light novel there are more characters (most of which aren't introduced in the anime) who know his secret.
So far, in the light novel the ones who know are:

Greyworth
Restia (his contacted spirit)
Fianna
Jio Inzagi
Claire
Velsaria
Rubia Elstein (Team Inferno's leader and Claire's older sister)
Reicha Alminas (current Fire Queen)
Muir Alenstarl (former Instructional School teammate)
Lily Flame (former Instructional School teammate)
Sjora Kahn (Alphas Theocracy's princess and Team Inferno's witch in the Blade Dance)
Lurie Lizaldia/Yggdra (Numbers member and winner of the Blade Dance before Kamito)


text:
Why did Kishi draw the One Piece symbol in the last page of the last chapter of Naruto?
Why did he put a One Piece skull and crossbones (along with the straw hat) on the very last page of the last chapter of Naruto? Seems odd, as the authors differ in both manga (Kishi - Naruto, Oda - One Piece), and I don't understand why.

Because ninjas want to be pirates when they grown up.

Good point @ʞɹɐzǝɹ..:D

Oda also made a reference to Naruto in the latest chapter (766):

Notice Nami's dress with Konoha's symbol on it, and how there's a fox eating ramen with a whirlpool on its back.
It's just a way for them to acknowledge each other's work.

Incidentally, we made a post about this on Facebook

The title also has three separate references as well. More pertinently, they're friends and long time coworkers.

the menu items in the background spello out a secret message... in Japanese

Take note that the I in the One Piece logo is not Luffy but Naruto :P
Plus Konoha symbol for O and a shuriken on the E

And Naruto is the one eating with Luffy as well

Also note the characters in the image are ナミ (NAmi), ルフィ (RUfi), and トニートニー・チョッパー (TOni toni choppaa). Take the first kana in each of their names to get ナルト - NARUTO!

Funny how Naruto is having meat and Luffy is having ramen.

Bolt draw a pirate skull with a hat, a reference to the One Piece series, part of a wink between authors of both sleeves on the cover of Chapter 766 of the manga several references appear to Naruto series:
Luffy and back with a fox Uzumaki clan symbol eat ramen and Nami wearing an outfit with the symbol of Konoha, covering with a plate at the same Naruto eating next to Luffy. Besides the logo of the series has been changed and the skull that forms the O has been changed by the leaf symbol, the E has a shuriken, and figure that usually is Monkey D. Luffy (star of One Piece) has been replaced by a silhouette of Naruto.
And yes, it's just a way for them to acknowledge each other's work.
Reference: Bolt Uzumaki


text:
What is the block used to symbolize the end of a chapter called?
What do they call this bar? Is there official terminology for it?  Sometimes they add filler text to explain the predicament the heroes are in inside of it or surrounding it.   It also somewhat seems like a stamp to me.
Examples:
One Piece

Bleach

Toriko

Since the chapters are usually published in magazine format where many (20+) series are bundled together, and the beginning of the chapter does not necessarily start with the logo, it's something like a visual indicator to indicate the end of the chapter. Not sure how it's called, though.

@nhahtdh Yeah, I know, I was just looking to find an official name for it

I don't believe there is one I've seen them referred generically as 左下隅 (bottom left corner) and/or 四角の囲 (four-cornered enclosure). The reason it's placed there is because that's where your eyes end when going through the panels on a page (right -> left, top -> bottom)

I'd like to add that all of the examples (One Piece, Bleach, and Toriko) are serialized in Shonen Jump magazine. Looking at this reference in Japanese, while it's not on the same place, it just looks like "the indicator for the series' title". I'm not sure if there's an official name for it...

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


text:
What happened to Claus in Last Exile?
Near the end of Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing, we see our former protagonist Claus...

 ...in a wheelchair.

Is there any official explanation as to why?  He's never featured in Fam the Silver Wing, so we don't know how this happened from that series alone.

I don't think they explain in in the anime. They most likely are doing to get you to read the Travelers from the Hourglass manga that runs between the original and the sequel.

I've read through that manga, and didn't see any explanation as to why the above would be the case.

It hasn't been revealed yet, as the manga is still ongoing.

@Krazer we should discuss this on meta, no ?!

@MichelAyres:  The mini-series which focuses on the protagonists from the original series is slated to be complete in Japan, so I don't know if this would quality as one of those "the series isn't complete so we shouldn't speculate" types of questions.

... There's a portion of one of the later episodes (can't remember which one), where he and Lavie show up for about 1 minute.  They end up getting chased and fired upon by another vanship - I simply assumed Claus was in a wheelchair from injuries he received.

Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing - Aerial Log, documents Claus in the time between Travelers from the Hourglass, and Fam, the Silver Wing. Claus sustained serious injuries in a one on one confrontation with an amnesiac Dio, when the latter arrived on Earth tracing his faint memories. While his resulting injuries have confined him to a wheelchair, Claus has forgiven the recovered, and deeply remorseful Dio. Claus' confident promise to heal and find his way back to the skies has comforted Dio. In return, this allowed Dio to find a renewed purpose to make sure the skies will be there to welcome Claus back


text:
What exactly is a dango?
I recently finished watching Clannad and the ending song is about dango and Nagisa, the one that wanted to start the drama club up again, always seems to be talking about or drawing dango. But, what exactly is a dango? We know it's a food of some sort because the main male character goes and buys them from a gas station and then Nagisa eats them, but what exactly makes a dango a dango and why is there a "big dango family" anyway?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dango   It's a sweet dumpling.

A dango is "a Japanese dumpling and sweet made from mochiko" according to Shawn Balestracci's Wikipedia link. Mochiko is mochi flour, which is made from pounded rice. The Wikipedia page lists several varieties; some of these are mentioned in the song, such as the "peaceful an dango" source.
The Clannad anime is kind of unclear about where the song and characters come from, but within the world of Clannad, it seems to be some kind of mascot merchandising franchise similar to Hello Kitty. Nagisa has a dango daikazoku pillow, for instance. IIRC, Tomoya mentions early on that the dango daikazoku is old and unfashionable, but Nagisa herself is somewhat unfashionable, so it fits her.
Dango are somewhat commonly mentioned in anime and are even part of a saying, hana yori dango, which means "dango over flowers" (i.e., put food over aesthetic pleasures like flowers) and was punned on as the title of a shoujo manga. (The manga title uses different kanji to write "dango" that can also be read as "otokonoko" or "boy"). The sense I get from other anime is that dango are a common snack among Japanese young people, so they would be attractive as a mascot character for children and teenagers, leading to the idea of the Dango Daikazoku.

I think she mentioned it about it being a tv show she sayed it used to be popular, it's mentioned in episode 2, it's kinda after half of the episode, it's when they are making a poster to recruit members, and then he says the poster is missing something and he says she can put anything on the poster and then she asks if she could put her favorite picture and he said yes that's when she starts singing the Dango song after that then she starts talking about it.

@mirroroftruth It is an answer, it just lacks some detail. Andres, please try to add some details to your answer, when does she mention that? Can you provide with a reference?


text:
What does it mean to be a poster child of type B blood?
In the first episode of Ping Pong the Animation, around 9 minutes in, Peco called Smile a poster child for B type blood. What does this mean, exactly? What significance does this have? How does this relate to his personality?

Related (but not specific enough to be duplicate): http://anime.stackexchange.com/q/3275/274

@キルア I would vote as duplicate. The answer fits this question, and the Japanese culture around blood types has no relation to the anime in hand.

@Mindwin Except that the character in the show will have some, but not necessarily all, of the traits in question. The traits Smile shows may also not show direct overlap with any of the B-type traits in that question. Knowledge of the character in Ping Pong would basically be required to answer this properly.

@キルア わかりました、先輩　(roger, wilco)

First lets gather all elements. From this answer:

Blood type carries a significant weight in Japanese culture, so much so that Japanese are often surprised when people of other origins are not familiar with their blood type. In their culture, they associate every blood type with a certain personality and demeanor.
Type B

Independent
Agressive
Optimistic
Friendly and open
Humble
Afraid of being alone
Flexible thinker
Like to play

What does being a "poster child" means?

The definition of "poster child" has since been expanded to a person of any age whose attributes or behaviour are emblematic of a known cause, movement, circumstance or ideal. Under this usage, the person in question is labeled as an embodiment or archetype. This signifies that the very identity of the subject is synonymous with the associated ideal; or otherwise representative of its most favorable or least favorable aspects.

About the character

Yutaka Hoshino/Peco (星野 裕/ペコ Hoshino Yutaka/Peko)
  One of the protagonists and Smile's childhood friend. Peco is loud, cocky, and carefree. He is initially considered one of the best players on the Katase team, but begins questioning himself after a couple of surprising losses. Peco is frequently seen snacking on various junk food items.

So he is saying something in the lines of

"you could put a picture of Peco in the encyclopedia entry for blood type B's personality."
or
"Peco is a living example of a blood type B's personality."


text:
What is the difference between the ending in the anime and in The End of Evangelion?
Are the endings shown in the anime series and shown in The End of Evangelion different/alternate or are they same but in different places?

To answer your question, yes they are the same ending.
But I'd like to say that I agree with Mindwin's answer to some extent. This work did not give definitive answers and left room for interpretation. I personally abhor such behavior from any creative work (and especially its creator), but that's how it is. I do not believe that "Western minds have trouble coping with a lack of closure" though. Its a personal preference.

Correction.  Series ending was how Anno wanted it.  Then he got death threats from pissed off fans that wanted a concrete ending.  Enter End of Evangelion.  Everyone got their concrete ending..........All the characters were turned into.........well......you know.

Also, I think many minds, not just western minds, want an absolute finale, in which nothing is left open.  Another way of saying they want to be spoon fed as it is less work for the mind lol.

First the history of the endings.
Gainax studio went through a huge financial crisis near the ending of evangelion. They decided to end the series anyway, and went for a low-budget ending (the episodes 24-25).

The television series takes a very avant-garde approach and focuses on a first-person psychological account of the instrumentality process from the perspective of its main characters (primarily Shinji Ikari). ref

The fanbase reaction was brutal. From death threats to graffiti, hatemail and the likes. Anno's take on that:

On Evangelion's last two episodes , which upset many fans...
ANNO: I have no problem with them. If there's a problem, it's all with you guys. Too bad.
(emphasis given because of verbal cue given by Anno himself during the interview

Later they decided to do the feature animation "The end of evangelion", retelling the ending.
You have to take in mind that Anno's style of storytelling is very fluid. He would only work on a new episode when the previous was finished:

Toshio Okada: But--the last scenes were never fixed. When I talked to Mr. Anno a month ago, he said he couldn't decide the ending until the time came. ref

Anno comments on the development of the series:

Hideaki Anno: “The development of Evangelion gives me the feeling of a ‘Live’ concert. Whatever the story or the development of the characters, I made them without a plan. During the production, whether listening to various opinions or analysing my own state of mind, I kept questioning myself. I got the concepts from this personal stocktaking [self-assessment]. At first I had intended to make a simple work featuring robots.
But even when the main scene became a high school, it did not differ compared to other productions in the same style. At this point, I did not really think of creating a character with two faces, two identities: one shown at school, and the other inside the organization he belongs to [Nerv]. The impression of ‘Live’ concert that gives me the birth of Eva, was the team joining me in developing it, in the manner of an improvisation: someone plays the guitar and, in response, the drums and bass are added. The performance ended with the TV broadcasting ending. We only started working on the next script once the previous one was done. ref

So they made the film with the new ending, re-telling the story from another perspective. Some classify the first ending as the personal instrumentality inside Shinji's mind, the other as the external instrumentality.
Anno, in the best "death of the author fashion", said (and I am sorry I couldn't find the source) that the "true" ending lies with the viewer. When he started to make the new movies (the rebuild of evangelion), he is simply telling another evangelion story. Like folklore, the true story is nowhere to be found, all of them are true, depending only on the viewer's impression.

Hideaki Anno:
”Eva" is a story that repeats.
It is a story where the main character witnesses many horrors with his own eyes, but still tries to stand up again.
It is a story of will; a story of moving forward, if only just a little.
It is a story of fear, where someone who must face indefinite solitude fears reaching out to others, but still wants to try.
We hope that you look forward to the 4 new retellings of this story.ref

So the truth is that the real ending is all / any of them. The interpretation of what you saw on the screen is intentionally left open.

Great answer, except I disagree with the last sentence. Many works of Western literature, including the dystopian works 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale, leave the ending up in the air; this isn't peculiar to Japanese works. It would be more accurate to say that those whose expectations are adapted to popular works with a clear ending, regardless of culture, have trouble coping with the lack of closure of certain kinds of literary, avant-garde works such as Eva.

@Torisuda sorry if it seemed biased against Japanese works. I was just putting it in context since it was an anime Q&A. Correcting it now.

I actually took it as somewhat biased against Western works, as if you were saying that all Western works have clear, simple, unambiguous endings. That is pretty much true for popular works, but Eva is more of an art house work, so I felt we should compare it with fine literature and more art house-type films like Children of Men (highly ambiguous ending, by the way) rather than popular works like, say, Harry Potter or Return of the Jedi. All that said, I wasn't offended, I just thought it would be useful and somewhat interesting to talk about that.

Here is another article which echoes many of the same points in this answer.

The endings are actually the same. The series ending shows how humans perceive the human instrumentality in their minds (their loneliness erasing and all their minds merging). The movie ending shows the events that happen in the outside world (the physical events).
Really, the movies were result of pressure from fans. :D

They are different.
In the original series, Shinji ultimately accepts human instrumentality and joins the rest of the human race in the pool of LCL, surrendering his fear, and by doing so also sacrificing his individuality and personhood, to become part of a singular superorganism.
In EoE, he rejects human instrumentality, unable to let go of his fear of becoming one with everyone else. He ends up on a beach, alone except for an unconscious Asuka beside him. Everyone else is gone. Earth is devastated. The chances of rebuilding civilation are slim but not non-existent. At a loss for what to do, Shinji walks over to Asuka and chokes her. She wakes up and expresses her disgust. Credits roll.

Since the ending is left open for the viewer to interpret (so all answers are right), I like your interpretation and I think it's the most correct

I have to go with cantthinkofacoolname...  they are the same ending.  In both, Shinji rejects instrumentality.  The film elaborates and shows how it looks in the real world, and in the anime, it was how it worked in Shinji's mind.

I personally like the same ending theory. I feel like while Shinji was in instrumentality he worked through his issue through ep. 26's sequences as instrumentality intends to do, but since Rei is a clone of Shinji's mother and instrumentality happened with him as the center point inside the Eva his mother fused with, he was pulled out of it by Rei/Lillith enough to understand what instrumentality was and rejected it after having experienced it. Choosing to instead endure the pain of attempting to find the connections he's looking for properly, rather than being a single being to have those connections effortlessly.


text:
What happened in the final episode of the Evangelion TV series, titled "Take care of yourself"?
What actually happened in the last episode of the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series? It is episode 26, entitled "Take care of yourself"?
I have read different wikis about the plot of the episode, but I still don't understand it.

It's a little disguised, but the overall meaning is not too complicated.

 Thought the whole series, Shinji was struggling, because he has made a
 shell to cover himself, not to expose his feelings and fears. Shinji
 had (as we all do, probably) a lot of things that were bothering him
 inside: the relationship with his father, the desire to find a place
 in this world, and so on and so forth, questions like "who am I?",
 "what am I supposed to be?", "what do I want to become?", "how other
 people see me?".
 Finally, Shinji views the world, and himself, in thge comedic high
 school setting with other characters talking to him, trying to help
 him answer all those questions. It's something like a visit to a psychotherapist, where the role of the psychotherapist is taken by all the people he knew. Finally, they help him to destroy his
 shell. He realizes his self-worth. He realizes that he can live the
 life without Eva, and make it worth living. He manages to acquire the
 will to live, which he was lacking before.

I think the same... now i understand it.

The Human Instrumentality Project was occurring. As evidenced by the tel-op in Episode 25 stating "And then...The instrumentality of mankind begins" after Gendo fetches Rei and other lines. Another example is an Episode 26 tel-op that reads "In other words, the instrumentality of souls was still ongoing".
There's a lot of existentialism presented in the final two episodes.
Because of similar "real world" scenes in both (Misato and Ritsuko dead in Episode 25, Eva-02 under the lake), some fans take the final 2 episodes as being a variation of what's occurring (e.g. metaphysical events vs in the real world) during the The End of Evangelion.
Regardless of your opinions on how both endings fit, what's happening in the final episode is Shinji's personal experiences of Instrumentality and how he views himself (and how the cast views him) as an individual; Shinji struggling to find his own self worth and reasons for living. The alternate reality sequence near the ending is an example of another possible reality, something to help Shinji realize he can find self-worth in the real world without clinging onto Eva/his identity as an Eva pilot.
If you have a copy of the Platinum (Renewal in Japan) release of NGE, the translations should be pretty clear on what exactly is happening.


text:
What is the origin of the names of the walls?
Attack on Titan has lots of Germanic features such as the music and wall names. In the case of the walls:

"Rose" was the East Germany's secret codename plan to build the Berlin Wall.

Where does the other wall names Sina and Maria come from? Are there any references to the walls' names inside the story-line?

Sina in latin means China. There was Sino-German Co-operation

Possible duplicate: http://anime.stackexchange.com/q/11682/6166


text:
What's the song that is played in episode 11 of One Piece at 21:54?
What's the song that is played in episode 11 of One Piece at 21:54?
I have been dying to find out the name to the song, and I really like it.

The song is Overtaken (Japanese title: 追いつめられた), and it is recorded as track 13 in ONE PIECE MUSIC & SONG Collection 2.
You can listen to it on YouTube or a sample of the song on Amazon.


text:
Can a Demon Weapon also be a Weapon Meister?
So I just started watching Soul Eater and have the basics pretty much and u was wandering. Could a Demon Weapon also be a weapon meister? This got me thinking when watching the Thompson Sisters defend themselves against an army of mummies can someone shed some light on this? I know the sisters are just weapons belonging to Death the Kid.

The Weapon ability in Soul Eater is basically determined at birth. You either can transform into a weapon or you can't. There's no confusion about that. But the Meisters are a bit different.
To be a Meister basically means to be able to perform well in pair with a Weapon. Not everybody can do that, but even among the Meisters, not all of them can perform well enough to be considered a serious threat or a great combo. You could say that a successful combo can do the Soul Resonance thing and unleash their full battle potential. And it doesn't really matter if there's more than one Weapon in a combo or no Meisters (non-Weapon) at all. Thompson sisters show that they can do just fine both in the role of a Meister and a Weapon.
So all members of a combo can be Weapons, but the Soul Resonance best occurs when there is a specialist non-Weapon Meister in it. At least that's what can be concluded from the series.


text:
Where can I legally stream or download Ninku?
I want to know details about Ninku. It's a very old ninja anime. Anybody knows from where I can legally get raw or subbed links or online streams or even a manga?
When I was little, a TV channel named "Animax" used to telecast episodes of Ninku. This was about 10-12 year ago.

There are DVDs available, if you keep an eye out. Here's one ...at 750$ :(
The manga seems to only have been published in French
It doesn't look like its been touched by any English groups apart from the original broadcast so I'm afraid you're out of luck.
ANN doesn't mention any Japanese streaming download sites, so I think your best bet is to try and get the DVDs somewhere and import the manga if you read Japanese.


text:
What are the squinting faces (>_<, >o<, >△<, etc.) called?
The squinting face that anime characters make can express a range of expressions. Here are two examples:

From this alone we might be inclined to call it the "cute crying face." However, consider the next picture:

The character (Rokka from Shoujou Yokai) still uses the same face, but does not display sadness. For context, the character was being used as a weapon to punch a villain in the manga and was happy to be able to defeat the villain.
From sadness to happiness to frustration, it cannot be pinpointed to one particular emotion. They do have cuteness in common, although it's not always used to emphasize cuteness.
What is this face called exactly? Does it even have a name?

that eyes is just one of "closed eye" to looks more cutesy. Can you imagine both of those picture using Gin's(Bleach) or Hazama(Blazblue) "Closed eye" ?

I like to call it rekt face

Notice how this face is NEVER used in serious situations... (at least from what I have seen)

The second one looks like "agony" to me.

In the media/anime-verse, they do not have any specific name for themselves.
The eyes themselves form a part of the Wingding Eyes:

For animated characters, the eyes are the windows to the soul—literally. So literally, that their eyes become their innermost thoughts projected in very clear symbols for all to see.

For example, the common ones mentioned include:

X or +: Dead or knocked out. Comical depictions of corpses or ghosts will have their tongues sticking out as well as this.

Spirals: Dazed, confused, terrified, dizzy, or knocked out.

Stars: Excitement, determination and dreaming of fame and fortune

In the real world, these >_<, >o<, >△< are a part of Kaomoji:

Kaomoji (顔文字) is a popular Japanese emoticon style made up of Japanese characters and grammar punctuations, and are used to express emotion in texting and cyber communication.

As mentioned on the site:

Japanese emoticons are extremely diverse. Some of Internet sources state the number of 10000 but, in fact, there are much more of them. Such diversity may be explained by at least two factors:

Unlike Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, which are usually written in single-byte character sets, Japanese writing requires a minimum of double-byte sets with a wider scope of characters;
Kaomoji can express not only individual emotions, but also complex actions, objects, and even whole stories.

>_<, >o<, >△< and other expressions can be interpreted in different ways in the anime, depending on the scene being depicted, the character, the Wingding Eyes and their combination with the expression put on the characters' face.
The most common uses in anime are to depict:

Anger
Excitement
Embarrassment
Frustration
Jealousy
Pain (or to brace yourself against an incoming impact)

I don't know of a particular name for  >_<, but if we take a look at the emoticon Unicode block we can see the following emoticons with > and < for eyes:
    U+1F606    SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH AND TIGHTLY-CLOSED EYES
    U+1F61D    FACE WITH STUCK-OUT TONGUE AND TIGHTLY-CLOSED EYES
    U+1F623    PERSEVERING FACE
    U+1F62B    TIRED FACE
    U+1F627    ANGUISHED FACE
    U+1F62C    GRIMACING FACE

I checked these on Chrome and Firefox, but note that not all of them are always drawn with > and < for eyes. For example, the last two are drawn with round eyes  for the Twitter emoji project.
From this, we can gather that at least the Unicode name for > and < eyes is "tightly closed eyes", although "persevering face" is also pretty appropriate for some situations.

(Side note: reverse image searching the first screenshot causes Google to suggest "anime sad face")

I think it would be more correct to call >_< wincing or bracing, based on our real world expressions:

Wince
make a slight involuntary grimace or shrinking movement of the body out of pain or distress.

It's usually a face you would make if you are bracing yourself for something bad, trying to hold back some pain.
I'd argue that the first face is more like >△< which is slightly different. This is more of a complaining/moaning face:

The subtle difference is that the former is bracing for something unpleasant, the latter is complaining about it.
There are several other related emoticons for different expressions, such as feeling shifty
>_> <_< >_>
elated
^_^
or restful
v_v
as well as combinations of other eyes and mouths
^_~

Lots of thing in anime are based on the real world that may not be immediately obvious - see the teardrow or cross symbols that anime characters often have for example. To me at least, the second image looks like she is bracing herself for impact. I haven't seen the show in question but as the OP says, it is a crying face, so she's in some sort of discomfort - even if that discomfort is embarassment, etc

The symbols you typed are called kaomoji. According to Symbol Go, kaomoji are Japanese emoticons. These are text symbols, which are different from emojis (e.g., ⛄).

Unlike emoticons such as :-) kaomoji can be read without tilting one's head to the left; rather, they are read horizontally, such as ( • ‿ • ). Emotions can be expressed by changing how the eyes, mouth, and face are represented. For example, eyes can be represented as ^_^ for joy, O_o for confusion or -_- for shrug or a whatever feeling. Arms and hands can even be added. For example, ᕙ( •̀ ‿ •́ )ᕗ has flexing arms, while ( •̀ ‿ •́ ) does not.

Source: Symbol Go


text:
Is it possible that Goku is more powerful than Beerus in Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form?
In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013), Goku becomes Super Saiyan God, and he makes Beerus use up to 70% of his energy. So, is it possible for Goku to defeat Beerus in his Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form?

Wasn't he got trashed by Beerus even in this form?

He was trashed by Beerus in Super Saiyan God form not in Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form

There is difference in Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan??

@SakuraiTomoko should also point out that during the fight Goku reverted back

@Buzka91 yes there is, Super Saiyan God is red/pink hair, Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan is Blue hair

There are differences @Buzka91, and here is your answer: What are the differences between Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan?

There is no clear answer.
But according to the Wikia article on SSGSS:

The form exceedingly surpasses its predecessor, Super Saiyan God, and
  all of the other Saiyan forms.

This source also mentions that SSGSS will appear in Dragon Ball Super, so there might be a chance, but we can't be sure unless we watch Dragon Ball Super..

Actually, you can derive a conclusion from what Whiz said. The part I'm talking about, is mentioned in the Wikia article you provided :)

Yes, but not for sure :p

Yeah, but its worth a mention since its been technically stated :p

No.
Based on an interview with Akira Toriyama (creator of Dragon Ball) and Toyotarou (artist of Dragon Ball Super) for the release of Dragon Ball Super Volume 1, as translated by the fansite Kanzenshuu and reported in an August 2024 Screen Rant article, it seems impossible that Goku, even in his Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form, could defeat Beerus.
The article provides several key points that suggest Beerus remains significantly more powerful than Goku.
Akira Toriyama has explicitly stated that he doesn't intend for Goku and Vegeta to surpass Beerus and Whis:

Toriyama replied, "Well… First off, right now I don't have any plans for Goku and Vegeta to surpass Beerus and Whis."

Toyotarou notes that Beerus and Whis are meant to represent an "unsurpassable wall" for Goku:

Toyotarou mentioned Beerus and Whis as an "unsurpassable wall" for Goku […]

Even with Goku's significant power-ups throughout Dragon Ball Super, including Ultra Instinct, the article suggests that Beerus remains far beyond Goku's level:

Beerus and Whis are so far above Goku and Vegeta in power that there's still plenty of room for the Saiyans to grow without being at risk of measuring up to the God of Destruction.

The article also mentions that there are other characters who are still stronger than Goku, including Frieza in his Black Frieza form:

Frieza's new Black Frieza form let him kill Gas in one hit and easily overpower Goku and Vegeta in their strongest forms.

Given these points, it seems that while Goku has certainly grown much stronger since his initial encounter with Beerus in Battle of Gods, he still has not reached a level where he could defeat Beerus, even in his Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form.
Beerus remains a benchmark of power that Goku is not intended to surpass within the current scope of the series.

As he is right now Goku is weaker than Bearus (it was said in the universe 6-7 tournament that maybe the 2 of them together could give Beerus trouble).
The 70% stuff was changed. In the anime Beerus just says he didn't use his full potential (otherwise Goku would already be several times stronger than Beerus).
So yeah, he may reach him by the end of the anime

I think Vegeta could defeat Beerus. After all, he did unlock Super Saiyan Blue evolution which cuts through the energy of destruction, something Goku hasn't been able to do yet.
Goku could take on Beerus in Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken times 20 since Toriyama did confirm SSJBK and SSJB evolution to be at the same level. Super Saiyan God? Maybe if Beerus was already at 100 of his power and ran out of stamina and stuff and Goku uses it at the right time and beats him somehow. Or maybe even go SSH God Kaio-ken to save stamina since Super Saiyan God Blue drains more ki than the regular Super Saiyan God form.

Well now we know the answer is no. In the tournament between universe 6 against universe 7, Hit was at the level of Goku Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken x10 (Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Kaioken x10) . And Hit was threatened by Champa who is in a similar level than Beerus. Goku wanted to help Hit, because he knew Hit likely wouldnt be able to defeat Champa alone (and probably he wouldnt be able to defeat him at all). So if Goku super saiyan blue Kaioken multiplied 10 times might not even be at the level of Beerus-Champa, even less super saiyan blue with no multiplier. Plus in the manga they say Vegito (Goku and Vegeta fusion) seems to be in the level of Beerus. And Fusion adds the power of both fighters and multiplies it "tens of times" (according to Vados). So most likely Super Saiyan Blue is "tens of times" weaker than Beerus. Ultra Instinct Goku might be in the level or above Beerus, since Beerus didnt master Ultra Instinct (and Goku sort of did, he could use his full power/abilities but for a while)

No it is not. Since way after the Gold Frieza Saga in the manga, around book 5, Vegeta and Beerus fought, SSGSS vs Beerus base, and Vegeta lost easily. The only way Goku could beat 100% Beerus is with MUI or some crazy form like limit-breaking Super Saiyan 4.


text:
Did Tsunade like Jiraiya?
I would like to know if Tsunade loved Jiraiya. Did she have feelings for Jiraiya?

I really don't think she's in love with Jiraiya. As it was revealed on this episode, Tsunade was in love with Dan Kato even after he died. So Tsunade only likes Jiraiya as a friend.
However, she was very sad when Jiraiya died.


text:
What is this move/attack by Gogeta called?
In Dragon Ball Super: Broly, we got a superb fight between Broly and Gogeta, which ends

 in a Perfect form Gogeta Blue, which does not take a single hit from the moment he transforms into Blue.

I searched the Internet and was unable to find a name for one of his final moves, where Gogeta charges at Broly and loads him with energy by punching him, before backflip-kicking him into the air. He then crosses his hands, arms straight, before pulling them up in the air and provoking somewhat of a nuclear blast. I cut the extract as a GIF because it's really cool:

As far as I searched, I didn't find any official name. Is there an official name for this move?

I looked it up online, and it appears to be called Meteor Explosion in multiple video games of the franchise, per the Dragon Ball Fandom wiki, so I would think that is the official name of the move. I know that wikis aren't perfect, but some of these are video games run by Bandai Namco themselves.


text:
Why didn't Rem kill L?
I'm currently watching the 16th episode of Death Note, and this question is bothering me a lot about how the story is going. Why didn't Rem kill L when Misa was under police custody and instead chose to erase her memories? Even Light chose to go by Rem's choice. In the 15th episode, Light chose to kill L using Rem's help. I wonder why they didn't do this.

If you're only on episode 16, you might want to unfollow the Death Note tag and hide the rest of the site's questions about it, as some of them contain some pretty big spoilers. At the very least, don't look at the related questions list.

To put this shortly without spoilers, Rem knew Misa isn't gonna  die because she's seeing her life span. The only reason she made Misa forfeiting the Death Note and lose all her memories, is because she couldn't see her suffering and trusted Light to help. Misa would never say anything about the Death Note or Light anyway.
For more detailed answer with spoilers (beware if you haven't watched episode 26):

 To answer this, there's need to remember 2 important points about Shinigami: 1. That Shinigami can know each person life span. 2. That if Shinigami helps human to extend his life span, he dies. Following that, we can surely assume that Rem knew that Misa lifespan wasn't in danger when she was in jail, or she would Kill L as you said. If it wasn't like that, we can assume otherwise that she would kill L and die in the process, as it happens on ep26.   What changes the situation between when Misa was arrested and after then Yotsuba arc, is Misa's life span. Misa life span got shortened twice, one when she got the Death Note, she had done the deal of the Shinigami eyes. Second, after regaining memories of the Death Note and made the eye deal again (following Light's order to make that happen). This made Misa's life span shortened to quarter of what she had before gaining the Death Note in the first place. Rem seeing that, she understood she's gonna die very soon, and that what made her to kill L in that moment. Unlike when Misa had been arrested, when she wasn't at her end.

Because Rem agreed with Light that Misa should feel happy and safe. Once Rem trusted Light with that promise, he would do it. Else, Rem would kill Light instead.


text:
Do Big Mom's homies feel pain?
In the whole Cake Island arc, Big Mom has a feast with the Vinsmoke family. (Episode 809 is when the Vinsmokes first meet with Big Mom to discuss the wedding.) All of the food were homies during the scene.
My question is, do the homies feel pain, and why do they not display it if so?

Episode 809 is when the vinsmokes first meet with big mom to discuss the wedding

There's a complex underlying philosophical question here about the "absent qualia zombie." The idea is: you could have a being that acts like it experiences things, but doesn't actually experience anything at all. So homies might act like they experience pain, or like they don't, because Big Mom wants them to behave that way.

Homies have displayed pain, or some signs that might suggest it, in several occasions. Covering as many cases as I can think of, but with no pretense of listing everything:

chapter 846: Kingbaum, while being slowly cleaved in half by Amande, describes his situation as unbearable pain and begs for death.
chapter 849: a few animal-based homies scream in pain when they are hit in a fight (a somewhat obvious case).
chapter 853: Prometheus laments that a seemingly minor injury received from Brook keeps hurting.
chapter 890: Prometheus screams right before and right after being hit with water, and Zeus screams after he's been cut in half by Brook.
chapter 1001: Prometheus screams after being cut in half by Zoro.

Homies in chapter 845/episode 809 do not seem to feel pain, so it's debatable whether they don't altogether or they do but don't show. They might be sharing with the croquembouche homies from chapter 826 a psychological mechanism that has them crave so strongly being eaten by a person who would praise their flavour, that it overrides their self-preservation instinct.
As for the reason why either of these options might be, it's the rabbit hole of how the Soru Soru no Mi works. It's apparent that some homies - chiefly the ones based on animals, the special homies made using Big Mom's soul and some strong regular ones like Kingbaum - have a deeper psychology, while most of the others have the bare minimum amount of sentience that enables them to perform their task. I find it obvious that much of it should depend on how Big Mom designs the homie upon its creation, although I can't rule out the possibility that limitations in the raw material play a role. I am unaware of a conclusive, detailed description of this mechanic, and I would refer you to fandom wiki https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Homies for a few reasonable suggestions that may or may not agree with my opinion.