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How does Tomoe's father know who kenshin is or that they were even married?
In the manga Oibore in the fallen district (slums) ends up revealing who he is when asked why he helped Kenshin by telling the people there its his daughters husband who was there when she died.  But how did he know? Kenshin was a top secret assassin and his identity was kept secret to most of the public. How did he even know they got married (it happened in the mountains away from anyone) or Tomoe died while kenshin was there (the only people who would know, kenshin killed and maybe the higher up imperialists)?
It was stated he abandoned the family after his wife died so he wouldn't have had any contact with her or Enishi.  Enishi doesn't even meet him until after his fight with Kenshin, even then it is implied he doesn't really know who he is.

so Kenshin kills someone boyfriend and that married someone . . .
Yandere much :v

Tomoe knew that Kenshin was her fiance's assassin. She moved to Kyoto, desperate to find him. So we can assume that the rest of the family knew about Kenshin too.
When Kenshin kills, he delivers the "Tenshu", a signature for the crimes, that identifies the faction responsible for the murders. Kenshin's reputation among the Ishin Shishi and their ennemies was increasing (remember that the Shinsen Gumi has a physical description of him before actually meeting Kenshin).
So Mr Yukishiro knows that his daughter's fiance was killed by the Ishin Shishi's assassin, and later on, that assassin became famously known has a man with red hair and 2 scars across his left cheek. Even if Kenshin's name was unknown to most, his appearance and skill was becoming a legend.
Now, how would he know about Tomoe's wedding? She wrote to Enishi, once they moved close to Ootsu. That is why Enishi meets them in the mountain (and he already knows that Kenshin is responsible for her fiance's death). We can assume that Tomoe's father learnt about her wedding from Enishi.
Source: Manga + the OVA Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku Hen

Isika the guy who cleans up after Kenshin's assassinations is a spy.  He knows everything about Kenshin.  He also tries to weaken Kenshin emotionally to get him killed when he goes after Tomoe.


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What is that twiggy strand in hair of some anime characters called?
I remember there's a Japanese word for it, but I forgot.
Here's an image of Hachiman. That "twig" on his head.

"it's not a cow lick! it's my Tension Gauge!" - Lucius, Trinity Universe

Even if this question may have an answer, this question is more like an actual question. "What is this hairstyle called" doesn't specify anything for new visitors, neither is descriptive. They still have to peek in. I think instead of marking this duplicate, it should be considered more authentic. For example, when I searched for this question here, I never bothered to look inside the "What is this hairstyle called." No surprise in that.

@Abhimanyu Marking this as a duplicate doesn't mean that your question is bad or that the other one is better. The main purpose of marking duplicates is to avoid having the same answers in multiple places. I agree that the other title is rather vague and yours is more descriptive, which makes this question a useful duplicate for people searching. In the future we might want to edit the title of the other one to be more descriptive, but we'll still need to mark this one as a duplicate because the other one is already answered.

Oh I see. But still, it makes my question somewhat meaningless. And no, there's not too many views :3

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How does Obito use Kamui to move from one place to another
How do Obito use kamui to move from one place to another? We have already seen that inside the kamui space, there are big square stepping stones and nothing else. So, how can he move absorbed himself into the kamui space, and materialize again in different place in the real world?

Related http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/493/what-is-the-secret-behind-tobis-gps-like-technique

Except this isn't about the location, it's about the working of the jutsu. It's like asking how is goukakyuu no jutsu a sphere of fire. Instant downvote.

Obito doesn't need to move inside Kamui space to move in the "real" dimension. If he wishes to move in his "current" dimension (Kamui or real) then there are two ways: either he physically moves inside that dimension or he goes into the other dimension, and while coming back, he returns at a different place.
However, while using his ability to let things pass through him, the things stay in the same place in Kamui space and return to the same place in the real dimension as well (cause it'd hurt terribly if your stomach was to be taken out and placed over your head).

This doesn't really answer the questions

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What is Crocodile's secret?
In chapter 540 we can see Ivankov mention Crocodile's weakness. What secret weakness was he referring to?

maybe something about his scar?

Yes, any response would only be speculation.
Like my own.
Croc was a girl, she was turned into a guy by Ivankov.

Maybe Ivankov and Crocodile were lovers? o.O`

I like the idea of crocodile beeing luffys mother. It's a bit weird, like so many things in one piece :-)

@wAy You like how his mother almost killed him several times lol?! Was Crocodile jealous or something and wanted to take revenge for Dragon's actions? Did Dragon dump him for Ivankov or something lol?

@Peter Raeves When they first met, Crocodile didn't know that Garp was Luffys uncle and after that has been revealed, he helped him (Marineford Arc). Althoug he said, he did it, because he didn't want the Marines to succeed. I don't think, it will be this way, but I do like the idea. Yes. :-)

@wAy No please no lol. Well maybe you are right after all, who knows. Btw Grap is not Luffy's uncle, but grandfather.

as it is pure speculation, I would only post a comment... Croco being a woman transformed into a man would be okay, but not embarassing enough, I'd like to go with Croco and Ivan already making out in the past before Croco discovered Ivan was a hormone-fruit user

It was never stated so any response would only be speculation.  With that said, I don't think its the water weakness as Luffy already knows that and wouldn't prompt the reaction Crocodile had.  Most likely knowing Oda its something embarrassing/silly.


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Does Sugar remember who she had turned into a toy?
Waiting and waiting for the next chapter to come out, I was thinking that if anything would go wrong, Doflamingo would have an easy way out of all of his problems. He could ask Sugar to turn him into a toy and nobody would even remember why they were fighting in the first place.
The world government would turn against the strawhats and everybody would go on with their every day lives. Now this plan would be perfect if Sugar would still remember about Doflamingo after he had been turned into a toy, so she could undo her magic when all threats had vanished and go into hiding or something for some time to let is all pass over.
So was any evidence shown as to whether Sugar remembers her victims or not?

great mind game :D.

No, there wasn't any evidence. Yet she could just make notes for herself. Too bad that if they would have to do this then Sugar would be knocked out again.

@ytg Why would she have to be knocked out? She would just be a normal girl if that happens. There would be no such thing as the Donquixote pirates and Riku would just become king again.

@PeterRaeves: no. There would be Donquixote pirates. They would have no idea about their captain, or why are they there or why do they fight, but they would be there and nobody would forget about them. Only about Doflamingo.

I don't think Mingo will let himself turned into a toy

There is one ok piece of evidence (from the anime I'm not up to date on the manga) that says she cannot remember who she turns into a toy or even whether she did so. There is, however, even better evidence that she could communicate to her non-remembering self and turn him back.  I am not aware of any evidence that she could turn someone back at will but that is comparitively trivial as I don't believe (though they may I just don't see it) that they age while they are toys.
At the start of the arc, she had reportedly only ever let one toy free without a contract (Kyros).  She does the religously every time she uses her power (could be anytime she sees a new toy randomly appear in front of her).  When Robin is turned into a ragdoll, she makes no contract and does not try to find her to make one while Usoland is running away in terror. If she can remember, this could also be an oversight on her part, knowledge that she can't get to the toy in time anyways, or may be even an oversight by the animators (couldn't possibly be one by Oda...that is impossible).  If she could not remember Robin, this makes perfect sense and she would behave exactly like she did.
Whether she can remember or not, the statue of Kyros has stood since before he became a toy and communicates information such as his name.  The Toyfamino being contractually ordered to serve himself has free will and can walk her through whatever he needs (as long as he can get her to believe him for a second.  He cannot be the last of his "family" to be turned into a toy, however, or she would give him a different contract.
This all assumes, however, that she is loyal to him.  For a young? lady under constant guard by as slimey man she is constantly ordering to die, this might be a radical assumption.  Whether she is loyal or not if he does not age as a toy, has free will, and she will someday die (if he has to kill her to do it), he will likely survive the incident without being physically harmed.

In chapter 737, we can see Trebol say that he already forgot about Cavendish after he was turned into a toy. I don't remember Sugar saying so, could you provide a link or screenshot to proof? Anime proof would probably be fine too.

@PeterRaeves I didn't say she said anything like that...she doesn't say much.  I said the (weak) piece of evidence was that she didn't try to find Robin.

There's a way she can remember about her victims. It's mentioned in the manga chapter 738:

"Sugar is able to make a contract with her victims and control them,
  leaving them with no control over their own bodies."

Read about her abilities here:  One Piece Wikia - Sugar

Isn't the contract AFTER she turned them into toys and thus, she might have forgotten about the real person already before she could make the contract?

Nope, i don't think it works that way. Since we've already seen that she was able to control a whole army of toys, isn't it obvious that she knew who she was controlling.


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When are the annual breaks for Weekly Shonen Jump?
After looking for the new chapter of One Piece, I came across this site. Here they said

The second week of august marks the annual summer break from the publisher Shueisha.

Remembering the golden week from begin May, it made me wonder what other annual breaks mangakas have and when we shouldn't expect a new release to come out.

This would be the answer I was looking for http://anime.stackexchange.com/a/9484/6166


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Why is human transmutation illegal or that matter have alchemy laws?
Follow me here for a minute.  The state is controlled by the homunculi/Father who wants people to use alchemy to do dangerous research especially human transmutation to make philosopher stones.
Why would they have laws that forbid it in their country?  Seems counter productive to their goals.

Why is it illegal to kill, and yet it's legal to have wars?

@MadaraUchiha Everything is legal if there is nobody around to punish you.

@Madara basically hit the nail on the head here, but I thought I'd elaborate a bit.
Unmarked spoilers follow.
Father wants people making philosopher's stones for his goals. He has his end goal of the Nationwide Transmutation Circle, and he has a plan to get it. This plan involves the military laboratories (especially lab #5), as well as waging wars (such as the blood crest in the North), and a few other things.
But let's consider the very first episode of Brotherhood, in which Isaac McDougal, by way of philosopher's stone, launched an attack against the military, attempting to completely freeze over Central. This was clearly contrary to Father's goals, as its motive was to destroy Central by ice, beneath which Father lived.

And later in the series, the truth behind the military's law of, "you must not create humans," is revealed: they are not concerned with ethics, but rather to prevent people from creating an army which would oppose the government's, and subsequently, oppose Father.
So, like @Madara initially mentioned: killing people in reality is illegal, yet countries wage war because the governments have their own motives, which they believe are above those of the citizens. Yet, we can't just have citizens going around massacring others, can we? (Hint: The answer is no.)

Likewise you cannot transmute gold because that would create an economic instability.  While bad for the general populace, the resulting instability might make Father's goals more difficult to attain.


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How did Hisoka make the examinee's arms disappear?

Hisoka's Nen ability is Bungee Gum. It creates a flexible substance that sticks to objects and makes them pullable at demand.

I don't understand how Hisoka made that exam participant's arms disappear in episode 3 (2011 series).
Can you please explain it?


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What type of oil are on Kars' feathers?
During his aerial fight with JoJo, Kars fires off some feathers which are as hard as an armadillo's shell and covered in a bullet deflecting oil.

I've never heard of an oil that could deflect bullets, and I can't visualize how that would even work. Is this a thing that exists, or is it just something that the writer made up?

Maybe its a magical oil. :p - or maybe the oils just really slippery possibly as well?

I had read somewhere that the Zulu put some kind of oil on their shields that made them more impervious to bullets (no idea if it actually worked). Cursory internet search brings up nothing though.

This oil seems like some sort of oil made of a sponge-like surface that can take a lot of damage. We don't have such things in our world, but there is this sort of thread-like material used in new body armor that deflects bullets. This sort of oil could follow such physical rules possibly. Also, the anime just does things that are pretty bizzare, so it might be plot logic.

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Which of the Artificial Spirits creates the 4th Sakura Branch?
In Otome Yōkai Zakuro, when Zakuro, Susukihotaru, Bonbori and Hozuki enter a fight, the Artificial Spirits Mamezo, Sakura and Kiri pull out sakura branches to give to the girls. Susukihotaru, Bonbori and Hozuki just produce more sakura petals while Zakuro's turns into a knife.
However there's only 3 artificial spirits and we see each of them pull out one branch but there are 4 branches in total, who's pulling out a second?


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Does Hisoka know Gon is Ging's son?
I wondered if Hisoka knew if Gon is related to Gin.  Also if it contributes to his rating of Gon?  Do the Zoldycks know who he exactly is?

i don't think hisoka cares about gon's father. for him gon is like most tasty fruit which will ripen and then I'll eat it. Zoldycks must have knowledge about ging as they are also good detectives apart from being great assassins.

Yes, in the Hunter Chairman Election arc, it is clear that basically everyone who is a licensed hunter knows that Ging Freecss is Gon's dad, including Hisoka. It is also clear to everyone that Ging and Gon are not emotionally close, per Leorio's outburst in the Hunter Chairman Election. There is no reason to think that the Zoldycks would be in the dark about Ging and Gon being related since they keep tabs on a lot of things, especially where Killua is concerned. However, neither Hisoka nor the Zoldycks express any interest in Ging. Zeno and Silva Zoldyck got involved with Netero in the Chimera Ant arc, but as Ging couldn't be bothered to get involved with it, they have had no reason to have any interaction with or interest in him. Ging is portrayed as liking to play/goof off and being generally disliked by others, so other characters don't have much motivation to care what he does since it is unlikely to affect their agendas. Hisoka has never really evidenced taking personal interest in anyone other than Gon, Killua, Illumi, and Chrollo.

Thanks for the answer.  the only thing I will point out is Hisoka has interest in anyone actually powerful, and has shown interest in Gin when he was rating everyone at the election.

I think Hisoka knew from almost the beginning that he is interested in what Gon wants, and that is his father, so he must have looked him up. Plus, his name is Gon 'Freecss', so it was obvious. Let's not forget to mention that Ging is the best hunter in the world and Hisoka is interested in strong hunters, so, again, he must have looked him up even before meeting Gon.
Also, he's interested in Gon, Killua, Illumi, Chrollo, and Machi as well. Which means, he's not gay and a bae because he wanted to go on a date with Machi. Anyway, in general, he's interested in young people with an amusing behavior or strong people, and he's interested in hugging & cuddling Gon.

Hisoka is interested in very strong and powerful people he want's to kill them, so he's inetrested to Ging Freecss and Isaac Netero, Gon Freecss is he's most interested to, because Hisoka is very strong and powerful that he can see how strong and powerful a person is as seen in the election arc, Hisoka was just amazed in Kuroro Lucifer's power's abilities that's why he want's to kill him, so Kuroro Lucifer was just a killtime to Hisoka, Hisoka was only toying Machi so he has no interest to her, Hisoka was just outsmarting and toying the whole Genei Ryodan group and even this group unite and take on Hisoka they all will die in the hands of Hisoka...

So how exactly does this tell the OP if Hisoka knows that Gon is related to Ging?

Yep. Hisoka was right beside Gon during the dodge-ball game in Greed Island. He heard it when Gon asked Razor if he knew Ging.

authors: Олег Дубровка


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Who are the other two girls whose hair Araragi has cut?
In the last episode of Hanamonogatari, near the end of the episode where Araragi prepares to cut Kanbaru's hair, he said "You are the third girl whose hair I'm cutting".
Who was the other two girls that got their hair cut by Araragi?

One of the two girls is Hanekawa Tsubasa. Remember that during the events in Karen Bee1, she underwent an image change where her usual braided hair was replaced by bob cut, and her glasses replaced by contact lens. Her hair was actually cut by Araragi when she went out with him to karaoke in the short story Tsubasa Song2, which takes place some time after Tsubasa Cat and before Karen Bee.
I don't know who the other girl is. There are many characters whose hairstyle has changed between the First Season and the Second Season of the light novel series, but they are not cut by Araragi:

Senjougahara Hitagi: She cut her hair short between the events of Karen Bee and Tsukihi Phoenix to break away from her past and start anew3.
Kanbaru Suruga: She initially kept her hair short in Suruga Monkey. However, after she was saved by Araragi, she started growing her hair3 up until the end of Hanamonogatari.
Hanekawa Tsubasa: After Tsubasa Tiger, her hair became black and white stripes like that of the white tiger she absorbed4. This is only a change in color, though.
Araragi Karen: In Tsukihi Phoenix, she nonchalantly cut off her own ponytail so that she could piggyback Araragi as a punishment game4. Araragi does not cut her hair himself. In the anime, she seems to grow her ponytail back a little in Hanamonogatari (episode 5).
Araragi Tsukihi: In the anime, story-wise chronologically, she had mid-back level hair in Nekomonogatari (Black) (episode 1), then bob cut hair in Nisemonogatari, then very long braided hair in Nekomonogatari (White), then straight waist-length hair in Hanamonogatari (episode 5). However, she is said to change her hairstyle very often3, so it is very unlikely that Araragi has anything to do with it.

1 Light novel - Nisemonogatari Volume 1 - Karen Bee Chapter 011. Anime - Nisemonogatari Episode 4
2 Published in Bakemonogatari Anime Complete Guidebook. According to Wikipedia.
3 Light novel - Nisemonogatari Volume 2 - Tsukihi Phoenix Chapter 005.
4 Light novel - Nekomongatari (White) - Tsubasa Tiger Chapter 066. Anime - Monogatari Series: Second Season Episode 5.
5 Light novel - Nisemonogatari Volume 2 - Tsukihi Phoenix Chapter 005. Anime - Nisemonogatari Episode 9.

Nadeko Sengoku also went through a minor hairstyle change during Otorimonogatari when Tsukihi-chan cut off her bangs, causing her to lose her marbles. It's back to normal by the time Kaiki sees her in Koimongatari, though.

@Torisuda: that makes sense though - because there's a time skip of at least a month (iirc) between the point where Tsukihi chats with her and when Senjougahara asks Kaiki for help.

@Maroon Yeah, I think Tsukihi-chan cuts Nadeko's hair in late October (Otori takes place around Halloween), and Kaiki sees her sometime in February. I guess it says something about Nadeko that even though by this point she's a god who even beat up Shinobu, the most powerful kai in the show, she still wants to hide behind her bangs.

Any update since then?

Turns out the 2nd girl is Tsukihi; "Tsukihi Brushing" is set some point after Araragi graduates.
A brief summary of the story: Tsukihi steps on her long hair, wants to cut it, Araragi wants to do it, dumb shenanigans ensue, Shinobu gets fed up.
A translation can be found here.


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Does Peggy's speech in the Tokyo ESP previews follow some pattern?
The Tokyo ESP next-episode previews are pretty simple. They're just a mostly static screen on which the title of the next episode appears, and Peggy (the penguin) says something which seems to be the usual cute-sounding gibberish noises.

I noticed that Peggy seems to always say the same number of syllables as the title, and with a similar rhythm to how it would be spoken in Japanese. That makes me suspect that Peggy is actually saying the title of the next episode, but changes the syllables based on some pattern. Repeated syllables (like in the episode 6 preview shown above) are pronounced the same as far as I can tell, which seems to support this theory. Looking at a few English-language sources, I couldn't find any discussions of this, or even anyone suggesting that there might be some pattern.
Does Peggy's speech in the next-episode previews follow some set pattern? (As a bonus, does the pattern also apply to Peggy's speech in the episodes proper?)


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How do cursed tools identify their owners?
I see that cursed tools pass from a owner to the next when the owner relinquish ownership (like when Haruaki asked Kirika to give him the Tragic Black River belt) or when the owner dies and someone claims ownership (the The Indigo Vessel and Rawhide FCD comes to mind).
Since the curses normally affects their owners or people related to their owners, how exactly are the ownership given? Can tools decide to change ownership without killing their owners or with their owners relinquishing ownership?


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Who are these characters appearing during the talk about elder sister in Fate/kaleid episode 7?
At around 13 minutes into episode 7 of Fate/kalied liner Prisma Illya 2wei!, when Illya's mother Irisviel talked about the power of an older sister, there are a few characters appearing in the background.

To quote Irisviel:

Older sister. Yes, that is the one who is older and has more power. When it comes to domestic hierarchies, they can hold more power than even the father. And they have absolute sway over younger siblings, which can never be overturned. The quote one great man, "No little sister is superior to her older sister!"

Who are these characters? And how does these characters compliements her argument about the power of an older sister?

They are character from the Nasuverse (which Fate/kalied liner Prisma Illya is set in).
From left to right

Touko Aozaki - Kara no Kyokai, Mahou Tsukai no Yoru
She is Aoko Aozaki's older sister, the one you see in the screen shot is how she looks in Mahou Tsukai no Yoru as she looks slightly different in Kara no Kyokai.
Euryale and Stheno - Fate/Hollow Ataraxia
They are the other 2 of the 3 Gorgon Sisters, as such they are related to Medusa, AKA Rider.
Kohaku - Tsukihime
One of the Heroines from Tsukihime and Hisui's sister who both serve as maids for the Tohno Household. Kohaku normally serves Akiha. However, her romantic interest is Shiki.

Irisviel's quote would refer to them all being the older siblings and having some sort of power over the younger siblings:

Touko has a Sealing Designation and was seen as being the most powerful due to her superior Magic Circuits. However, her little sister Aoko was chosen to be the Aozaki Successor instead, which made Touko angry and caused the fight between the two (and thus the reason why Magus Families try to avoid sibling heirs). Touko was only defeated when Aoko used one of the 5 True Magics which was thought to be impossible. Otherwise, by specifications, she is still better that Aoko.
Euryale and Stheno often picked on and belittled their younger sister Medusa and fed off her blood. However, they both did care very deeply for her. Chances are, if they were summoned as Servants, they would be more powerful than Medusa.
After Medusa became the monster known as Gorgon, she devoured her sisters. However, when Perseus reflected the Nightmare of Breaker Gorgon back at Medusa, the "nightmare" Medusa saw was of the time she spent with her sisters, which made her paralyzed with joy of seeing them again, so they still hold power over her.
Kohaku is a master at medicines and is often comically seen experimenting with them, (e.g. making a potion to turn Akiha into G-Akiha in Melty Blood), being a Magical Girl or making Mecha of Tsukihime Characters in her Underground Dungeon beneath the Tohno Household.
In Tsukihime, she plots to get revenge on the Tohno Family due to her having been raped by Shiki's and Akiha's father as a child and later by SHIKI before releasing him (who then went to kill his father) because she (and her sister) are Synchronizers and resigned to this fate to protect her sister from suffering the same abuse.

The part about "[holding] more power than even the father" is strange, as none of them do we know the father of. If it's related, I assume it might refer to Kohaku as it was she who convinced Shiki's and Akiha's father to never touch Hisui when they were children and that it was because she was a Synchronizer who can keep him from giving into the Tohno Blood.


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Where to read from in Gakuen Heaven after the anime?
It's a very short question but where exactly do I start reading from in the Gakuen Heaven mangas with which follows straight where the anime series finished?
I don't really want to read the mangas from the beginning and just basically want to read from where the anime series left off/finished.
Does anyone know? Thanks. :)
PS: I watched the anime series some months ago and I want to now read the manga but I just want to read from where the anime series ended. I have searched but found no very helpful results.


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Which episode did Kyouko gave the charm to Tsuna?
In which episode did Kyouko gave the charm to Tsuna in Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn?

Welcome to Anime and Manga, please use correct tags when next you post a question rather that try and use popular tags to get more views

The episode is Target 55: Resolution. At 17:45 she gives to Tsuna. YouTube
In case the video is deleted, below is the picture where she shows the charms she made for everyone.

I wanted to add a screenshot when she was giving charm to Tsuna, but I cannot find Tsuna,  the charm and Kyouko all in a single picture.


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How rare is it to find an anime script from the late 1990s for purchase?
I'm interested in buying official Japanese-language anime scripts from Japanese online auctions, Japanese online shops, eBay, and/or American websites. How often are they listed? If I see one, do I need to act immediately because the chance of coming across it again is extremely low? If it's not my favorite episode of the series, should I hold out and wait because other episodes' scripts will likely go up for auction at some point (say, within this year)?  Or is it more likely that the one I see is the only one I'm going to be able to get my hands on?
I'm particularly interested in Sailor Moon scripts which date from the late 1990s. How many copies of these were printed?

Since I posted the question half a year ago, I've been tracking Sailor Moon scripts on Yahoo! Japan Auctions more regularly. If you are looking for a script of a specific episode, you should act when it becomes available, because there are always some scripts up for sale, but not scripts of most of the episodes of such a long series. At a given time, about 10~30 episode scripts are on auction. Scripts from the Sailor Stars season (season 5) rarely go up on auction (I've only seen 2 listed in the past year). The Japanese used (i.e. pre-owned) merchandise store called Mandarake (online shop, plus branches in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, etc.) sells scripts from a variety of series.


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How did Tepei draw his Livlaster without anyone noticing?
The summoning of a Livlaster has a distinct light effect. It is shown that even behind cover, you can see the glare.
Then at the fighting ring, Teppei is without the Livlaster when entering, but after Amara's entrance, Tepei is chastised by Daichi to hide it and "this is not the place to use that" stuff.
How could he summon the Livlaster (offscreen) without anyone in the audience noticing?

Well, realistically, it can be explained by "everyone is paying attention to the star on the ring and normally there is no reason to bother looking behind them". Or in tropes' term, http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PerceptionFilter


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Why didn't the Kill-T-Gang drain (and kill) Akari's Libido during the Oberon's battle?
Amara told Daichi that Capt. Manatsu (Daichi's father) died before crashing into his Kill-T-Gang form: he drained the Libido (lifeforce) out of the spaceman.
It is stated mid-series that merely approaching a Kill-T-Gang can have this effect, and its range is estimated in the 10,000 kilometers (because it could drain the whole planet by just landing on it).
It is also stated that the Neoteny are immune because of their connection to their Livlasters.
During the Oberon fight (ep.24), the four Knights are seen battling the Kill-T-Gang, but only three of them are Neoteny; Akari is just a ordinary human.
The Kill-T-Gang are far from the Blume (and Akari is pegged to the OUTSIDE of the ship), but at most a dozen kilometers.
Besides some trope being applied here to justify this Fiat, shouldn't Akari die?
What is protecting her?


text:
Naruto juubi's chakra
When the Sage of the six paths i.e. Hagoromo and his brother Hamura defeated the juubi.

Is it that after defeating the Jubbi, Hagoromo himself sealed the whole juubi?
If Hamura sealed a part of the juubi inside him too, does it mean that we haven't seen the full power of the juubi in the battle?

Both are unclear. It's currently assumed that the first option is true.

A couple of things to explain your question. Hamura never sealed any part of the juubi in himself, he was sealed entirely in hagoromo. Also, I don't know if you're talking about the anime or the manga. If anime, no, you haven't seen the full power of the juubi yet, as the resurrection was incomplete due to lack of the hachibi and kyuubi. In the manga, its full power is shown.

Hagomoro split the ten tails to 9 individual tailed beasts, while the juubi body is trapped into the moon. Thus when all the tailed beast are combined, the full power is obtained. Hamura did not seal any parts of the beast.


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Why did Kaneki's hair change color?
At the start of the series, Kaneki's hair is dark brown, except in the OP, where it we see an image of him with white hair. In episode 11, we see a final scene of Kaneki, his hair having turned white. This turns out to be a preview of things to come, his hair being brown at the start of episode 12.
However, during episode 12, we see a scene, theoretically taking place in Kaneki's mind, or as a hallucination, wherein his hair fades from brown to white.

After this scene, however, this color change seems to manifest in the real world, too. (Kaneki's clothes also seem to invert colors.)
What caused Kaneki's hair (and/or clothes) to change color in the actual real world during this episode?

also the fingernail turn black.

Sakata Gintoki?

You should read the manga. His hair turned white because of the stress of being tortured 2 or 3 times everyday for 10+ days.
The anime is wrong. Why? Because Kaneki's hair didn't change in a moment, in the manga they show us his hair gradually turning white while he also  loses his mind.

They don't explain why the hair turns white or the nails black (also they are not black black, they're more like super dark blood colored), but we can assume that the hair it's because of the Marie Antoinette syndrome, and the nails are because of the constant regeneration. Like I said before the nails are like dark blood colored, they're not pure black, it's like when you hit a finger really hard, and the nail falls off in a time? Well before that, it gets really dark blood colored, Kaneki's are like that.
I know you posted this a time ago but maybe if you can read it, or other people that has the same doubt will understand.

Your answer is the best in my opinion. Nice explanatiom

It seems that his hair turning white and his nails turning black was both due to the physical and mental stress he was experiencing during the torture and the forced regeneration of his toes. (Sources: one, two, three)
The whitening of the hair due to stress is also known as Marie Antoinette Syndrome. The condition got its name after Marie Antoinette's hair supposedly turning white the night before she was going to be executed.
Sidenote: Another anime I know of where Marie Antoinette syndrome appears is Gosick where Victorique's hair also change colour due to experienced stress.
The changes going on both in his mind and the real world (even though that is just my opinion) might be because what happened in his mind affected his behaviour in the real world as well (gave him strength to fight "Jason" while standing up to Rize) and vice versa. Another possible reason is to depict the change in him as a person (not just the physical appearance).

His nails, weren't those painted by Jason?

Might be - I did notice that his nails were black/dark way before his hair turned white. However, most of the sources I found state the nail color change together with the hair, and blame the stress and regeneration for that. As far as I know, in the anime, they didn't show Jason painting his nails, but maybe someone who read the manga might know more..

Interesting. Although, I could be confusing this with Terror in Resonance when Lisa has her nails painted by Five. Either way, I don't believe that Kaneki's nails changing color were part of the MA Syndrome or are supposed to be affected by something like that.

Definitely. The nails are not a part of the Marie Antoinette syndrome - it goes just for the hair changing to white.

"Kaneki's hair was white only for 10 days" - I think the Wiki is saying that he was tortured for 10 days, not that his hair color change lasts only that long.

@キルア You are right. I somehow saw a comma where it's not and misunderstood the meaning of the sentence. Deleted that bit. Thanks :)

Unlike stated in some of the other answers, it's not Marie Antoinette Syndrome. In the Tokyo Ghoul Re: manga, it is explained in Chapter 131: because the bodies cells are only able to divide a certain number of times before they fail, aka Ageing.
As Kaneki had to repeatedly heal his toes over and over and over, all the while being tortured and borderline starved. His body was basically getting weaker and weaker because the cells were wearing thin, which is why his hair turns white, as happens with people when they get old.
This is also why Takizawa from Re: had his hair turn white, torture.
For the same reason Kaneki's hair turns black again, because he was no longer undergoing torture.
It's explained in Chapter 131. Directly states that his torture has caused him to age at a heightened rate. Which seems to be an issue with human turned ghouls though... Same with Takizawa

His change in hair color is probably due to Marie Antoinette syndrome, a rare condition that causes the hair to suddenly become white in response to some great stress or shock. It's so named because Marie Antoinette's hair supposedly turned white after she was captured during the French Revolution.
Here's Wikipedia on Marie Antoinette Syndrome.
Here's a more reliable article from JAMA Dermatology, a site that archives papers in dermatology.

Could you provide a source? Go google it is not very nice. You should provide the answer here...

Even though I added sources to this answer to make it better, I still don't find it very helpful. The real question seems to be "Why did Kaneki's dream-world changes end up coming into the real world?", not "What could cause someone's hair color to change to white?"

I think another point might be that they wanted to show that kaneki changed not just mentally but physically. Using that syndrome as a plausible theory. Since his hair color did turn white which fits the syndrome's description. At the same time Kaneki also killed his the inner Rize it might have triggered something in his body to adopt to that change. I won't put this as an answer because its purely speculation. Hope it helps someone

TG:Re seems to back this up, as after losing all his memories and living a relatively stress free life for several years, his black hair has started growing back out. (1 year after the end there was a little black around the roots, now ~2 years after that it's a little over half black.

Having read the manga and kind of knowing the style of writing this author does I doubt it's due to some Marie-whatever syndrome. It's such a huge detail and having it be because "oops biology" doesn't seem very likely to me. I would bet that it's symbolic, either just for Kaneki's change in character (although that maybe wouldn't make much sense since the second time Kaneki gets black hair he doesn't act at all like he did the first time he had black hair) or for some deeper poetic or philosophical reason. The manga at the very least is very poetic after all. But what this symbolism means is a different discussion.

His clothes change colors probably due to the blood on his shirt drying. Usually, when blood dries and forms scabs, it turns black. That is also the basis for the suddenly darkened color in the fingernails.
His hair changes in color in response to extreme stress as pointed out by the others and is called Marie Antoinette syndrome.


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Why didn't Sugu recognize Kirito in ALO
When Kirito logs in to ALO with his SAO account, all his SAO skills and points and even Yui's heart are loaded; so we can conclude that the same thing must have happened to his avatar, too. If so, why didn't Sugu recognize him and if not, why is that?

Sugu was never in SAO - why should she recognize anyone from SAO?

@Oded In the first episode, we find out avatars exactly look like the players' real-life bodies in SAO, so Sugu should recognize Kirito's avatar.

But in ALO, they are not identical to their real-life bodies (wings, ears...). And nothing suggests they are identical to their SAO avatars.

Related: http://anime.stackexchange.com/q/24382/

because after event of original SAO , "Kirito" become a fad for IGN character name. . .
i bet there`s alot of "Kirito69","Kirito11" , etc etc

When people were trapped in SAO, their avatars became exactly similar to their real-life bodies, so recognizing someone from real life was possible there.
Kirito at SAO:

Kirito in real life:

But in ALO, it's totally different.
See Sugu and leafa as an example:
Real Life:

ALO:

Kirito's avatar in ALO may resemble his character from SAO, yet it's still different.
A player with that avatar could look totally different in real life. And people that play MMORPG's are not use to talk about their real life at the game.
So, Leafa didn't recognize Kirito because there was no reason for her to do so in a game like ALO.

Adding to this - on SAO, people started off with whatever avatar they wanted. At a certain point their avatars were forced to their actual real-life look (around the time that it was revealed they could not log off etc...). It is reasonable to think that this, original avatar, was what Leafa/Sugu saw.

@Oded: if you're referring to Kirito's avatar before the change, this doesn't seem quite right to me - Kirito's original SAO avatar looks very adult, whereas his Alfheim look seems based off more of his SAO appearance (although details, like ears, facial structure, etc. still look slightly different).

@Maroon - just adding a possibility. In terms of visuals, it would be rather jarring if Kirito would have appeared as he was before the change on Alfheim and was therefore represented using his later appearance.

I also remember when Kirito selected his race a voice said it was his appearance would be "generated" almost by random, either by total chance or from data confliction with his SAO Player Data Kirito looked similar to Post Death Game Start Kirito.

Also to reaffirm the "A player with that avatar could look totally different in real life" part, at the start of the Death game remember how 2 characters reacted seeing their avatars change, one was playing as a young girl. Sugu probably just assumed she was playing with a guy and not a girl in a guy avatar (if Kirito was actually a girl and Sugu was still crushing on...*faints from over exposure to cute Shoujo Ai/Yuri*)

ALO Avatars are randomly generated. Kirito created a new character, with a new avatar. A bug caused his SAO stats and items to transfer over, and overwrite most of his data; but his avatar didn't change. That said, the resemblance between his RL self and ALO Avatar is a result of the artists not wanting to confuse viewers. Even in Season 2, they didn't change the face of Kirito's GGO Avatar, even though the novels depict a VERY different face from his RL self. The similarities are to make sure people recognize him, but that clearly confuses some.

Additionally, Kirito would be an out-of-context problem for his sister.  Besides the low random chance of meeting someone you know, there's his previous experience with a VRMMO...  When you're not expecting someone, you can discount look-alikes.

When Kirito went onto ALO it said that his apearence will be randomised, however, since all of his data was transferred from SAO he looked the same as he did in SAO which was exactly how he looks in real life but when Sugu saw him she would not have thought it was her cousin because all the looks had been randomised.

Suguha didn't resemble her true self because it was a different machine in the anime but by the same creators... remember how they "asked them to touch themselves all over so they resemble the same?" Remember how there were mirrors and when they looked inside of them they looked exactly the same as what they look like in the real world? Maybe that's why. One, because f it's a different machine, then they might've forgot to make it so you had to touch yourself all over, two, because they didn't receive any mirrors in Alfheim.


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What is the meaning of Brook's 45 degrees technique?
As seen in the anime/manga Brook performs a technique called 45 degrees which seems to be funny somehow.
It's this some kind of Japanese joke or pun?

Apparently the move is a reference to Micheal Jackson.  His dancing style has, at times, included moves where he angles himself further than most people can using his feet as support.
Alot from the Thiller Bark arc references Micheal Jacksons Thiller music video.
Going beyond 45 degrees makes it difficult, if not impossible, not to fall over which is frequently mentioned.
When he needs to get stronger, he seems to think leaning more will somehow make him more useful.
The leaning against a wall makes the move much less impressive but, hey, that makes it sillier.

this seems like the right answer, but do you have any references to support it?

Unfortunately I didn't find one I consider a reliable source. Googling it leads to others speculating the same thing but, yeah,  I'm not going to cite that unless their idea is more momentous.

I realize this is a rather old post, but I thought I'd provide some further input for anyone else wondering about the same thing. Another possible reason this is found funny is because, when pronounced a certain way, "45" in Japanese can sound like "shigo", or "after death" (死後).
To expand on that, the Japanese word for four (四) can be pronounced as "shi", the same as the word for death (死). Completing the phrase, 5 (五) is pronounced as "go", making it so that 45 can sound like "shigo", which, as I said, means "after death". Seeing as it's coming from a talking skeleton, that's pretty hilarious.
4 can also be pronounced "yon," which is the only way I've heard him pronounce it in the subbed version of the anime. That takes away a bit of the hilarity of it, but I believe in the manga they leave it open to different pronunciations. Either way, he is standing at 45 degrees with his face against the wall, so whether it sounds like "after death" or not I'd say it's pretty amusing.
I actually got the idea for this by looking up tetraphobia, or the fear of the number four, on Wikipedia, but I verified it by looking up the translations and pronunciations of them. No specific references (aside from the not always reliable Wikipedia), but you can easily look up the translations and pronunciations to verify for yourself.

Shouldn't it be 四十五　though?


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Why is "Make Up" the transformation keyword used by the Sailor Senshi?
It's always seemed a bit odd to me. The best explanation I can think of is that it's a reference to makeup, which is itself (sort of) transformational. Just wondered if this is something Takeuchi ever explained somewhere.

TL;DR: Because the target audience for the show are girls. And girls are supposed to like makeovers.

An excerpt from the book Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination (Anne Allison) (emphasis mine):

In a property like Sailor Moon, these two words [romance and fantasy marriage] blend in a story line that incorporates both fighting and romance, (...) however the text still belongs in "girls' country" (...).
Girl heroes have powers rooted in magic or otherworldliness, they fight to help friends, their weapons double as fashion accessories, a princess or spirit empowers them, they "make up" when transformed, and "love" is their keyword. (...)
When girl heroes morph, however, the process is more a "makeover" than a "powerup". Apart from empowerment, that is, transformation also beautifies girls, fostering personal attractiveness, romance and dreams.

We can infer that the "make up" magic word in Sailor Moon is used to foster the identification process between the audience (young girls) and the characters.
In Sailor Moon Crystal, the protagonist is 14 years old. From the same Wikipedia article:

The audience is intended to mostly identify with the protagonist.

So, there you go.
This answer also answers: "Why is Tsukino (sailor moon) 14 years old?"


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Does Captain Earth borrow elements from Gurren Lagann?
As a viewer of both series from start to end, I can see several elements in Captain Earth that seems to "borrow" from Gurren Lagann, especially in the second half of both of the series:

In episode 23, just before the entangle link, Daichi was interfered by Planetary Gears and put inside a dream where he was tempted to keep on living his normal life, not involving with the whole saving-the-world business. However, he broke out of the illusion due to the memories of his friends in his heart. This is similar to how the almost entire crew of Dai Gurren-dan got trapped in Extradimensional Labyrinth in episode 26 of Gurren Lagann and experienced their dreams being fulfilled, but managed to escape from it with the help of Kamina.
Daichi and co. did an entangle link to jump from Earth to Uranus, similar to how Dai Gurren-dan jumped through dimension from Earth to Anti-Spiral's home world. They both missed on their first try and got ambushed.
In the final battle, Daichi charged into the transformed Blume while sacrificing the expansion layer (which is assembled as the smaller mecha is launched to Tenkaidou). This is similar to the final battle between Simon and the Anti-Spiral, where outer layers of the Gurren Lagann is left behind as Simon charged in with his Lagann and destroy the Anti-Spiral.
Kill-T-Gangs, the perceived antagonists of the series, don't have any libido (Orgone energy), therefore they can't reproduce, while all human has Orgone energy. This is similar to the Anti-Spirals in Gurren Lagann, who don't have any Spiral energy (since they purge it themselves), while human has Spiral energy. Both series feature clashes between one with the source of all-powerful energy and one without such energy.

Are these similarities normal for mecha anime, especially when the first 3 points are all focused on the last fight? Has there been any interview regarding this topic?

Gurren Lagann was like an homage to the entire shounen mecha genre, so my guess is that Captain Earth isn't directly borrowing elements from GL so much as from older shows.


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What manga chapter does Gokukoku No Brynhildr anime end on?
I want to pick up the manga from where the anime left off, what chapter or volume should I start at?

The anime ends at chapter 100 of the manga. Below is the last 2 pages of chapter 100.

The anime is generally faithful to the manga (the source material) in terms of important plot points. The anime is quite close to the manga for the first few episodes, then it starts to skip many events in the later half. Notably:

Mizuka arc, where Murakami and the girls tried to escape from Mizuka, a rank AAA magic user with precognition ability. Mizuka's power can project herself into the future, where she interferes with people's decision to make her vision comes true. The anime skips the whole arc.
Yuki Tsuchiya, debuting during Mizuka arc as a new employee of The Organization, is skipped in the anime along with Mizuka arc. In the manga, she serves mostly as an excuse to let readers have a look inside The Organization and their treatment towards magic users.
Kitsuka, who is Murakami's student and has a crush on him, followed Murakami and the girls on their trip to the beach in the manga. This is omitted in the anime. Although this detail being removed doesn't affect the ending of the anime, it is connected to the story after chapter 100 and may confuse you a bit.
Many details in the last few episodes of the anime are trimmed.

Therefore, I recommend everyone to take a look at the manga for the full experience.

Did the anime skip many chapters?

@NatsuDragneel: I didn't check (but I'm quite sure a whole arc is removed), but you should read the beach chapter (which is also animated, but with details removed). It is a bit related to the content after chapter 100.

According to this site the anime ends at chapter 100 of the manga
(left side, 8th entry)


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What is exactly a void?
In Guilty Crown, the void is said to be the physical manifestation of a person's "heart", but later on it is also said that it is a fragment of the soul of Mana.
What is exactly a void (besides a McGuffin)?

I can't quite remember where void is mentioned to be a fragment of Mana's soul. Would you mind citing the episode number?

@nhahtdh Roger wilco! I have to get home, streaming sites don't open here.

From the Void Genome page in GC wiki, a Void is said to be

a person's inner psyche taking physical form.

moreover,

A Void's form and function reflects the person's fears and or complexes, in other words it's like the shape of their heart, or personality.

The definition of void wasn't given explicitly, but from what can be read in the quotes above the Void is the shape taken by the personality of a person infected with the apocalypse virus after it has been "condensed" by the power of kings.
In the page dedicated to the virus, the stages of the disease are reported:

Stage 1-2: Virus materializes the mind in the form of a Void.
Stage 3: Small crystal protusions emerge from the skin and grow along the skin.
Stage 4 onwards: The person appears to have crystalline substances over some parts of their body. That continues to spread till their entire body is covered in crystals.
Final Stage: Once the body is completely crystalized the body begins to break down.

So the Void is some kind of temporary materialization of the genome of any individual, which forms after said individual contracts the Apocalypse virus. It takes a shape which mirrors the individual's personality and doesn't really exist unless it is extracted using the power of kings.
The fact that a Void is a fragment of Mana's soul should be a consequence of the fact that she was the first one who contracted the virus.


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Why does Ban call Hawk "Master?"
Is Ban just trolling or is there some hidden meaning behind that?

I believe that the reason Ban calls Hawk "master" is because none of the sins remember all the way back, and Hawk might have been a human who had been turned into a pig which explaining the talking pig part. And the "Master" part when Hawk was human, he was Ban's master which taught him so much about life and not to give up. (This is only my theory on why he is called master Ban)

Hawk is The Great Leftovers Knight. And at the party when Ban first joined, Hawk rams Ban and said "respect the The Great Leftover Knight". And Ban said (I think) "I'm sorry for not recognizing you, master". It's like when you're good at something, and I admire you and call you master.

Basically it's just trolling.
It's like calling some idiot "sensei" or adding "-sama" sarcastically.
But then it turns into more of an affectionate nickname than an insult, I suppose.

BOI.... Ban calls hawk master because hawk is the captain of the order of scraps disposal, and Ban wishes to learn from him or in this case his "Master".

Ban loves food as evidenced by his cooking skills.  Ban had never met anyone who enjoyed food as well as Hawk. Ban respects Hawk for this reason.

I always thought it was implied ban joined the order of scraps disposal corp after being impressed with hawks title as captain of such a prestigious order. I dont think hes making fun of him.


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What is the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga release schedule?
Very recently, the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga series resumed after its break with Chapter 71/72 (They kinda messed with the chapter numbers, weird).
I've tried to search for a release schedule, but couldn't find one. The official site is Japanese, and I haven't found it there either.
So when does chapter 73 come out? Is there an official release schedule somewhere?

71 was the last chapter before the hiatus. The manga resumed with chapter 72 in the October issue (8/27) as noted in Chapter 71.

@ʞɹɐzǝɹ It's already resumed. I read the latest today. But what happens next?

8/27 is when the next chapter was released. 71 was a epilogue that included the bonfire dance. Which latest chapter are you referring to? The Indian poker one was chapter 72.

According to chapter 72 the next chapter comes out on the Dec. issue on 10/27.

It was delayed for the author was under Mugen Tsukuyomi. LOL


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Was Meido actully talking about Kyokutei Bakin work?
During the Kabuki Play in Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress Meido reveals that her grandfather is Takizawa Bakin and the play is derived from his original novel and mutters to herself she sees how they've changed it.
The Film Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress is base off from Kazuki Sakuraba's book Fuse Gansaku: Satomi Hakkenden which is itself an adaptation of Kyokutei Bakin's Nansō Satomi Hakkenden
Now a portrait of Kyokutei Bakin by Kunisada, to me, kinda resembles Takizawa Bakin

So i am wondering, when Meido talks about the Kabuki Play being derived from Takizawa Bakin's original work was she actually referring to Kyokutei Bakin? and if so, was she talking about the Kabuki play or the entire movie itself


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Are the female appearing ants female?
By my understanding, the chimera ant "sexs" are as follows:

A Queen can eat any animal (plants seem to be excluded) and produce
children without mating.
A King can mate in order to produce a Queen.
All others are generally non-reproductive.  If the Queen or King
another ant is loyal to dies, however, they can go off to mate as the
King does to produce a Queen.

A generally non-reproductive ant can have a traditionally male or female identy and appearance but this can likely be due to the food source.  The original Queen does not have human female characteristics (as opposed to human male) besides those one would consider maternal.
Is there anything to indicate that the female appearing chimera ants any different from this pattern?  The wiki does not know. The only female besides the queen to "reproduce" was Zazan who used a non-tradition means of reproduction which seems at least partially to be her Nen ability as opposed to something the other "female" ants could do.
I remember one other ant saying she was going to run off and become a queen but I don't think any details were given. The male appearing ones greatly out number the females but this seems consistent with the show as a whole.

Is this really an anime related question?

@Re-L Yes, it is, as far as I can tell. Chimera Ants are a real species in Hunter x Hunter, and this question is essentially about their reproductive habits. There's some mention of real-world ants, but the question itself is very much about the in-universe ones. I can't say whether it's answerable or even makes sense in context (since I don't know much of anything about the series), but I don't see any indication that it's a fake question or not anime-related.

Their reproductive habits are very important to the show as they reproduce quickly and are the current (where I am) primary antagonists. All of the living ants were born in the current arc and several have stated their primary motivation is to become kings or queens. It seems to be pretty important to the story as a sjngle reproductive female caused the entire world theatening situation.

“Sex” and “gender” bear disparate meanings but many people accidentally conflate these words. In the technical distinction, “sex” is a neutral word referring solely to physiology including differences in brain chemistry and hormones, whereas “gender” refers to cultural constructions/assumptions about what personality traits best suit (or are innately connected to) a particular biological anatomy. The female Ants all seem to identify as female, meaning their gender is female, regardless of 1) whether or not they can reproduce and 2) whether or not they have any interest in reproduction of any sort. It is not clear whether or not they subscribe to a belief in gender essentialism and, even if they did, whether their brand of gender essentialism would include reproduction as the main, or even as a main, component of what "female" means to them.
The Queen and the other feminine Ants were all given female seiyuu (voice actors) and they speak in feminine Japanese. The Queen especially speaks in a very motherly, or perhaps, grandmotherly, fashion.
Hina (formerly known as Hirin) has a nen ability to remove curses that gives her the appearance of being pregnant. She does not comment on this visual appearance in regard to human pregnancy, but only to complain about her figure.
(As an aside, the feminine Ants do seem to roughly align with modern Western gender norms for females, but Japanese gender norms have historically differed significantly from Western ones. For example, the 11th century Heian era ideal man was a master of concocting perfume, wearing make-up, and penning love poetry, and in the present day you can often see young straight men styling each others’ hair in public, wearing numerous plushie Disney key chains dangling from their man purses, and dressed in pink and lavender — none of these practices are non-masculine in contemporary Japanese culture — whereas the culture does maintain extremely strict gender norms, copious self-segregation by gender, and rampant sexism.)
The fact that a Chimera Ant is female is not dependent on the prior human and/or animal who was/were eaten by the Queen also having been female. Many of them are an amalgamation from a number of humans/animals who were killed, which were likely a mix of males and females. The main illustration of this is Kite, who was a human male, was killed and apparently at least some part of him was eaten by the Queen (though much of his body was not eaten in order for Pitou to make her puppet), then was birthed prematurely as a female Ant, and insisted that her name was Kite from a young age. The characters specifically mention that the Ant Kite is a girl. Her appearance came from a random female villager killed by Koala, meaning it is likely that that girl's entire body was eaten by the Queen, but the resulting Ant retains the memories of Kite instead, even though only a small portion of Kite's body was eaten.

This is interesting input. It, of course, does not answer whether their sexes are different from the male gendered ants or I would have accepted it. What the hell would you call Kite? Gender: male; appearance since birth: female; reproduction: male?; sex: ....head explodes...

[I will have to use multiple comments for the length of my reply] Your comment seems to indicate that you may be conflating the words "sex" and "gender." The human Kite was male in sex (anatomy, and he could reproduce sexually with other humans, unless he happened to by chance be infertile as some people happen to be) and was male in gender (he considered himself male, masculine, etc., i.e. he identified as male). The Chimera Ant Kite is female in sex (the characters specifically state that she is a girl and all of her physical features support that claim), [to be continued]

is female in gender (she identifies as female) and she can reproduce - she is the new Queen, since 1) the former Queen is dead, 2) Meruem was either the King or was mistakenly presumed to be the King and as such he was assumed by the others to be able to reproduce, and 3) Kite is EITHER a twin of Mereum or is the true Queen (perhaps Mereum was not actually the King, although the other Ants presumed he was because they didn't know about Kite's existence as the youngest, newest of the Queen's offspring). It is possible that Kite is the Queen [to be continued]

(the child that the Queen intended to succeed her by giving her the best nutrients and traits) and that Mereum was not actually the King (that he was the most advanced of the royal guard, and that when he was born the Queen his mother assumed he must be the most special baby she had been nurturing, but she herself was unaware that she had conceived a newer child, which might be the one she actually input the most special traits into), since Kite seemed to be younger than him at the time of her premature birth, rather than his twin of the same age. [to be continued]

The Queen’s understanding had been that her newest, youngest child was to be her successor, and if that is what played out, it seems that Kite is that youngest one.  Whether Kite is the true Queen in place of Mereum, or is a Queen twin of Mereum, she should be able to reproduce according to her kind, which is Chimera Ant kind (a form of animal of which its reproduction may or may not normally involve sexual intercourse in order to procreate).  Her being female is irrespective of whether Chimera Ants use sex as a norm for procreation or whether that is not their primary or [to be continued]

even one way among a number of way that they procreate.  In real life, even plants can reproduce and are labeled in science as “male” or “female” or even “male” and “female” parts on the very same individual plant, but they do not reproduce by sexual intercourse of the human kind.  Nevertheless, using the words “male” and “female” for these plant parts makes their reproduction easier to describe.  On the other hand, some humans cannot reproduce sexually (infertile, or use in vitro fertilization), but no one is unwilling to call them “male” or “female” due to that limitation [to be continued]

alone, since that is not what verifies whether or not they are indeed male or female.  Likewise, Kite and other Chimera Ants do not need to demonstrate an ability to reproduce in a sexual way in order to be authentically male or female (it just so happens that Kite can indeed procreate in the standard way for female Chimera Ants).

I understand and properly use the terms gender and sex. I am, and thought I was clear, interested in their reproductive abilities. Is Kite a Queen or a female King?  Does she reproduce by eating and creating or mating with a female of another species? Are the other female Chimera Ants the same?  This is what I've been asking. The current explanation of their process does not allow Queens to give birth to Queens. How do those ants fit into that process? Note that female here means their appearance looks more feminine that masculine.

If the question you meant to ask is "Does a Chimera Ant reproduce by mating with another Ant?" then the question that you chose as the title for this thread does not clearly convey that. I did answer your question of "Are the female appearing ants female?" by explaining that yes, they are female: irrespective of their mating or non-mating abilities, habits, or interest in reproduction.

I ask "Are the female (gender) ants female (sex)?" for the interesting title and defined exactly what I meant by the sexes of the ants and asked if the female (gender) ones deviated from this in some way. Note that I define sex as biological sex the same way that the FDA and most scientists do.  In the future, I will have to avoid titles that more fully restrict what I mean by the question.  My comments are only meant to ask if you have anything to contribute to that portion of the question.

No, I think you got all the details in your post. From the information provided, as you say, the non-Queen females seem purely based on the fact that the humans they are derived from were female.
As to the one that said she was going to run off, if I remember correctly, it was more establishing a colony and asserting herself as the most dominant ant without any mention of reproduction.

I think you are likely right. I was just hoping someone here may know something from the manga or producer statements. I know nothing of these sources. 4 of the 8 known living ones (by my count) who could feasibly reproduce look female and 1's birth is closer to that of the king than a soldier.

authors: Bräđlęÿ Boôđøō


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What is the theme of Glasslip anime?
I don't get what the theme of the story is. Although I can follow the romance aspect of the anime, I don't get what the story is trying to tell us.
It may have been due to Glasslip being the first original anime that P.A. Works has made. Other series (which are adaptations) were not so confusing, and some were successful at sending their message to the viewer. Hanasaku Iroha was about self-discovery. Nagi no Asukara was centered around "Love brings people together".
So what was the theme of Glasslip? What is the story trying to tell us?

i haven't seen the anime but does it need a message/theme to it other than possibly Slice of Life? i'm not entirely sure YuruYuri has a message/theme

+1, I'd like to see more analytic questions like this on the site. I just hope the mods don't close it as too opinion-based. Unfortunately, I haven't seen Glasslip, so I can't contribute.

@Memor-X: YuruYuri is more of a gag-anime, so it's less likely to send any message. (Though not all gag manga/anime are void of messages. Hayate no Gotoku has several chapters that are very educational). In the case of Glasslip, it is a plain slice of life anime, so I expect there is some purpose in telling such story (since it doesn't employ much of fan service or moe to draw in viewers like most of the recent anime).

I think this question is opinion-based, but not to an extent where it cannot be reasonably answered. Anyway, that's a decision someone else can make.
Glasslip is about teenage life, but without many of the cliches that are in many shows - characters are uncertain about many things - love, friendship, future, and in general growing up.
This is why not much happens during the show - the characters are nervous about the fact that they can now date within the group, that a new person has disrupted their social circle, that they will soon be separated as they move on to new schools and new areas.
These uncertainties are shown abstractly in character's interations:

Touko feels 'invisible' in her vision of watching the fireworks where she is ignored by all her friends.
Kakeru has many internal monologues with different instances of himself, showing his internal conflicts. He also sleeps outside in a tent as it gives him a sense of safety and belonging, which he usually lacks because of his family's constant moving.
Yanagi takes up running in frustration of her unrequited love

It's interesting to note that Sachi and Hiro, who do not dwell on their friend's potential reactions to their relationship have an unwavering devotion to each other (apart from Sachi's misleading which causes a small stir).
And it is true that this was a turning point in all their lives: Touko's life was disrupted by the visiting stranger, Sachi & Hiro are now in a loving relationship, Yanagi has left for her modelling career, Yuki has stopped running and has split off from the group. Kakeru also has travelled somewhere new, but experienced the same conflicted emotions that Touko did over the summer
If one is looking for a meaning in Glasslip, I would say it is to not worry about other people's perceptions of you, that growing up is a confusing, emotional time and that you find who your true friends are during testing times.
I recommend reading these reddit analyses of the final episodes:
http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/2grlj5/spoilers_glasslip_episode_12_discussion/cklxbkn
http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/2hfo2a/spoilers_glasslip_episode_13_final_discussion/

Just wanted to point that Kakeru's family not as much moves as travels abroad for long periods of time. When Yuki visits Kakeru and is asked how he knew the address, Yuki shrugs with "Okikura is a very famous name in this town". So the Okikura family does have a fixed residence in town for quite some time. Also Kakeru's whereabouts are unknown as of the ending, saying he stayed or went abroad is speculation.

The meaning in Glasslip is specifically about the idea that relationships can be very disruptive to the dynamics amongst a group of friends, and more specifically, it’s a story of how dating can drive people in a group apart and that even with magic (such as Toko's ability to peer briefly into the future), dating and falling in love is so tricky that magic might not be too helpful [1]. The reason why these themes stand front and centre can be seen in the anime's opening, which portrays Toko and her group of friends as being very close. However, with Kakeru's arrival, things become much more messy as Toko considers dating him. To allow her to explore this possibility, Toko ends up dissolving the rule where her friends can't date. This action comes from a selfish desire to know more about Kakeru because of the mystery he seems to give off.
This action ultimately has unforeseen consequences on everyone, and this is where the magic of seeing into the future comes in. In spite of both Toko and Kakeru having this power, they are ultimately unable to foresee what happens in their own futures. In Toko's case, the power does not give her a full picture of what will happen to her group of friends. The reason why glass beads are chosen to act as a medium for these visions is because through them, the familiar world appears distorted, an image of the world but not quite reality.
These messages are shown time and time again in Glasslip's opening, which is beautifully done: hints of the group of friend's old status quo, and the inclusion of the visions of the future, all come together to show that things like relationships are always shifting, and it's tricky to predict what can happen [2]. This is what Glasslip is about: the turbulence and unpredictability of teenage relationships [1]. The messages of Glasslip are not just broadly about turning points, nor is it about worrying about what people think of one self: Kakeru's introduction into Glasslip acted as a catalyst to drive the Toko's friends apart, and the consequences are noticeable. As an aside, I've noticed that all of the analysis and answers out there, especially on Reddit, are incomplete or wrong because they completely omit what Kakeru calls the Fragments of the Future. The opening shows that they are a central part of the anime [2].
Sources

https://infinitemirai.wordpress.com/2020/09/25/worst-anime-challenge-the-themes-of-glasslip-explained-yet-again-and-revisiting-p-a-works-parvulum-opus/
https://infinitemirai.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/a-glasslip-analysis-deciphering-what-glasslip-intended-to-be-about-through-its-opening-sequence-and-its-impact-on-viewer-expectations/


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Why doesn't Trunks sense Cell when Cell uses Solar Flare just before absorbing android 18?
After Vegeta lets the incomplete Cell go to absorb Android 18, Trunks attempts to stop Cell. When trying to escape Trunks' onslaught and get closer to Android 18, the incomplete Cell used the Solar Flare technique to blind Trunks and the others.
Solar Flare is a good technique to be used when the fighter attempts a quick getaway. However, in this case, Cell is still in the same area and it is made obvious that he attempts to absorb Android 18. Why can't Trunks sense Cell's energy level at this point? Why can't he sense Krillin's energy level to judge where Cell will end up going and prevent Cell's completion?

You are right, Cell ends up using Solar Flare.
It is hard to get a definitive answer (because the question is pretty speculative), but I will argue that:

Solar Flare has been shown to be incredibly disruptive every time it was used - in the manga, everyone affected by it was made helpless for at least ten seconds - having Trunks stop in mid-air because of it is not inconsistent with previous uses of that ability;
I do not remember any character in Dragon Ball that could fight effectively while blinded, or without using his eyes - by implication, it means that there is nothing to suggest that ki sensing could replace eyes if someone was blinded. However, even if you find an example of someone that did fight without his eyes, you would still have to find something that Trunks would be capable of doing it;
The time that Cell took to absorb Android 18 was extremely short - I mean, if you look at the sequence depicted in the manga, it goes:

Trunks blasts Vegeta to distract him;
Trunks begins flying towards Cell, who is a few steps away from Android 18;
Cell uses Solar Flare;
Everyone is blinded;
Cell gulps Android 18 down;
The cloud generated by Trunks' blast around Vegeta dissipates;

I mean, damn, how long did it take Cell to absorb Android 18 after blinding everyone? 3 seconds? The disruption from Solar Flare clearly seems to be enough for this purpose.

However, I agree that the scene, as depicted in the anime, does not really make sense, as Android 18 and Krillin attempt to fight against Cell, while Trunks and Vegeta are completely forgotten about. It could be argued that they were affected more strongly because they were closer to Cell when he used Solar Flare, but that explanation seems dodgy.

Vegeta did attempt to get in Trunks' way - but Trunks defeated Vegeta. This is after Vegeta taunts him saying he is too weak to be tough with his own father. After that - Cell used Solar Flare when he finds Trunks is as strong as Vegeta and Cell will lose in a fight in his incomplete state

@mustard: I rewrote the answer after taking a new look at the anime and the manga. I have the impression that the manga scene makes a good deal of sense, but the anime scene is a lot more plot holey.


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What's the significance of apples in the OP?
In the OP for the Denki-gai anime, it seems that apples are the main theme.
Not only is the song called "Kajirikake no Ringo" (A Half-Bitten Apple), but apples are also seen several times:

I don't remember anything apple-related in the manga, so I'm assuming this is no reference to something that has happened there.
What's the significance of the apples?

The characters look pretty surprised, enough to say that maybe this was the expected effect on the viewers as well.

Apples are the new tanuki.

Not knowing the series, i can tell a bit about the significance of apples in general and you decide if it relates or not, so they are generally connected to temptation (adam and eve) and knowledge, forbidden knowledge. In snow white the witch (evil side of the woman) offers the apple tentativelty to Snow White (good side of the woman) and as she bites she dies, or takes the semblance of death, until the male rescues her, from herself, her evil self. In the biblical story the biting the apple also results in suffering, and punishment, again related to forbidden knowledge, or loss of innocence.

Hmm, I don't think that would apply to this series in particular. Or if it does, I can't see how. Also, on a totally unrelated and off-topic note, it is my understanding that, although generally depicted as an apple, the forbidden fruit was never explicitly stated to be one.

Well it is red. The color of desire and passion. Also you have eaten some apples...it's a pretty nice thing, pleasure.

The lyrics of the song give some clue as to what this could mean. Here are the original lyrics in Japanese. I've cut out all the verses except the choral ones which mention apples. The others are slightly relevant but not necessary.

あまくて切ない　わたしのココロ
  齧って逃げた子　だーれだ
  ゆらゆら揺れてる　わたしのココロ
  恋する気持ちは　齧りかけの林檎
傷つきたくない　わたしのココロ
  齧って逃げた子　だーれだ
  ふるふる震える　わたしのココロ
  恋する気持ちは　齧りかけの林檎
夢を見ていても　空を見てても
  想ってしまうの…君を
  キラキラ　ハジける　2人の季節
  待ってる気持ちは　齧りかけの林檎
ゆらゆら揺れてる　わたしのココロ
  恋する気持ちは　齧りかけの林檎

Here's an English translation of the above. I've prioritized literal accuracy in the translation, so it isn't particularly poetic and the lines are rearranged a bit to make them flow in English.

Who was it that took and then fled
  a bite from my sweet, painful heart.
  The feeling of love in my wavering heart
  is like a half-eaten apple.
Who was it that took and then fled
  a bite from my fragile heart.
  The feeling of love in my trembling heart
  is like a half-eaten apple.
Whether I'm dreaming, or looking up in the clouds,
  I can't help but think... of you.
  The sparkling, popping feeling of waiting for our season together
  is like a half-eaten apple.
The feeling of love in my wobbling heart
  is like a half-eaten apple.

From this, it's clear that, in the context of the lyrics of the song, the apple is a metaphor for the singer's heart. It is half-bitten because a piece of it was bit off by someone. Exactly who among the characters the singer is supposed to represent is unclear. The singer is Taketatsu Ayana, who is also the seiyuu of Fu-girl, but it seems like the lyrics could apply equally well to most of the female characters in the series, and indeed based on the animation it seems to be for all of them.
If we take this to apply to the scenes in the OP animation, the fact that the characters find apples seems to symbolize them discovering their love. The OP also features the pairings between Umio and Sensei, Hio and Kantoku, and Fu-girl and Sommelier, which seems to more-or-less reaffirm this interpretation. The apples they have in the OP aren't half-eaten, but I'm not sure there's any reason to read into that very far.
As for why they chose an apple as the object of the metaphor, I don't know. There could be a reference that I'm missing. This is perhaps a large part of the question, so I'm not convinced this answer is complete.


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Naruto's surname confusion
Naruto's father's name is Minato Namikaze, and mother is Kushina Uzumaki.
So, why is Naruto's surname Uzumaki? Shoudn't it be Namikaze?

Oh yes, I remember it now. The third didn't want to know him of his father. That's right. Thanhks @ton yeung

Wouldn't people think differently of Minato had they known Naruto was his son? Naruto was ostracized in the village because he had the 9 Tails sealed in him so it shows the kind of opinion people had with whoever ended up being the 9 Tails host, and i don't think a "hero" is the kind of person who would force that kind of fate on their own child unless they were an ass, not saying Minato was but his sacrifice may have had a different meaning otherwise

@Memor-X I don't think it's about 'image' of Minato. In my opinion 3rd wanted treat him like 'normal kid'. Ofcourse he wasn't normal, cause of 9 Tails inside him. Hmmm.. maybe it was said somethere but really remember :(

It's the trend. Bleach's Kurosaki Ichigo has his family name, Kurosaki, from his mother, not his father.

In Naruto "Ch.440: A Conversation with the 4th" it is stated that the third Hokage wanted as little information about the Kyuubi out in public as possible and that's why nobody, not even Naruto should know that Minato was his father. Thus he was given the name Uzumaki instead of Namikaze.
Page 5: "If anyone knew you were my son, you'd have been in constant danger"


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What Subject does the Iron Bracelet use?
In Baka and Test, an Avatar's power is determined by the test scores of the subject the field is in. the Iron Bracelet that Aki got allows him to create a field to summon his Avatar and because he is a probationary student, is the only one who can summon their Avatar and help with physical work without the aid of a teacher.
However when Aki's Avatar is hurt it looses points and in one episode in Season 1 when the guys are trying to peak on the girls (i think it's episode 5 where Yūji's eyes keep getting poked out by Shouko because the other girls are in swimsuits, the episode before Yūji's and Shouko's "Wedding") Aki's Avatar's points reach 0 and such Iron Man bursts in and drags Aki out of the hot tub to remedial class.
So i am wondering, since a student's avatar is based off their score of the subject the field is in and in the example above Aki used the Iron Bracelet, so what Subject does the Iron Bracelet use?


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Was there an animation mistake between 3:17 and 4:19 in the second episode?
In the second episode, at about the minute 3 mark (October 1st), Airi Hasekura lends Yui Furukawa a spare uniform she had in school. Airi's bow-tie is orange, and I think the bow-ties' colours have something to do with either the students' year or their class. If that were so, it'd be reasonable to assume that the spare Airi had would have a orange bow-tie. However, the first image we see of Yui shows her with a green bow-tie:

That would have been fine, if for the next minute or so the bow-tie didn't change its colour from green to orange and back four times:

So the bow-tie is green when first seen at 3:07, orange at 3:16, green at 3:30, orange at 3:44 and green again at 3:53.
On the next day (October 2nd) Yui's bow-tie is consistently green. I'm assuming the bow-tie was supposed to be orange on the first day and green on the second, presumably because she would've gotten a green bow-tie meanwhile. This assumption also comes to the conclusion that this was an animation mistake.
However, since there was a "time-quake" at the end of the first episode, it came to my mind that this could have something to do with the plot. But since that minute was the only one where this change was seen, I was more inclined to believe this was a mistake.
So basically my question is: Were the switching colours of the bow-tie accidental or were they intentional (thus being plot related)?

After watching the whole season of the series and reading some other viewers' opinions (namely on MAL fora), I've come to believe this and other (one in particular I noticed, but others may have occurred) "errors" are actually intentional, because of the fact that the series makes use of different timelines as a plot device.
On episode 10, for instance, we get to see the scene from the second episode once again, but this time the bow-tie does not change colours any time, being consistently orange:

On the scene shown on episode 2, the bow-tie colour change was actually accompanied by a rather "robotic" by the other characters. This was particularly noticeable on the exact moments the bow-tie changed colours. This other viewer suggests (on two different instances)that this was all done on purpose , so as to draw the viewer's attention to the "error" of the colour changing bow-tie (and of other particular scenes described on that post).
On episode 10, there was another particularly noticeable "error":

Notice how Yui's dress changes colours once she walks out the door. This viewer (incidentally, the same one from the other posts, though apparently more aggravated on this post) defends once again that this was all done on purpose, so as to show the viewer that several iterations have been made by Yui while trying to save Kaori (capitalisation from the original post, not me):

(...)YUI IS NOT TIME TRAVELING, SHE IS TRAVELING THROUGH MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS TRYING TO FIND THE COMBINATION THAT WILL SAVE KAORI. THE CHANGES IN DRESS (ALSO THE CHANGES IN HER TIE FROM THE SECOND EPISODE) WERE BOTH DONE ON PURPOSE TO SHOW THAT MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS HAVE BEEN MADE. THEY ARE NOT "MISTAKES" OR IN NEED OF QUALITY CONTROL. THEY ARE A CREATIVE WAY OF SHOWING THE VIEWER THAT WE ARE SEEING THE SAME EVENT FOR YUI OCCURRING MULTIPLE TIMES.

So, after all this, I've come to believe those "errors" are actually intentional, as explained in all of the above. However, I have no official word on this.

There were, in contrast, some minor inconsistencies on the animation/drawing quality sometimes, and these ones are (most certainly) not intentional. I refer these only to have some comparison between what seem to be intentional and unintentional "errors". Here are some examples (the faces are poorly drawn on the first one, and the distance between the hands and the body completely off on the second one):

You make a reasonably convincing argument, JNat.
But, here's the problem - they fixed these things on the BDs (at least for episode 2; episode 10 BDs aren't out yet). Which strongly suggests they were animation/coloring mistakes, not intentional artistic choices.
TV on the left, BD on the right. As you can see, her bow is consistently orange on the BDs.

Waremete wasn't exactly an exemplar of high-quality production. It's likely that someone just screwed the pooch at the studio, thereby causing all these inconsistencies.
(That said, I dropped the show after episode 2, so I'm not really in a position to evaluate whether ALL CAPS GUY's arguments make sense.)

I hadn't accepted my own answer because I was hoping for something more definitive, and here it is! Any idea when the episode 10 BD will be out, so we can compare them with the TV version too?

@JNat The episode 9-10 BDs (volume 5) go on sale Apr 22.

Did you ever get around to comparing the versions for the latter episodes?


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What happened to Kaiki in Monogatari Series?
We saw at the end of Monogatari Second Season that

Kaiki is apparently killed by one of the boys (or girls?, I do not remember very well) he scammed.

If I followed the storyline correctly, this happens just after the events that involved Nadeko, but before the graduation of Araragi and Senjōgahara.
Then, on Hanamonogatari, which is after the graduation of Araragi and Senjōgahara,

Kaiki is still alive and kicking, and without any evidence of the beating that he received.

Am I missing something in the storyline?

Because he should be dead by the beating that he received. Why he is not?

All we know is that he is not dead. How he survived is not really mentioned in the anime, though.

My personal theory is that the attack did not happen as we were shown, and Kaiki, a self-proclaimed unreliable narrator, lied to us. After all, Kaiki narrates Koimonogatari, and he starts the novel version by telling us that he's a liar and we shouldn't believe anything he says. Then at the end he narrates his own death, but later, more reliable narrators tell us he's alive. This is probably explained further in the third season novels, though.

That is an excellent theory! The fact that the author might have integrated us into one of Kaiki lies sounds awesome!

just wanna highlight that the anime series is not in chronological order as the light novels https://www.reddit.com/r/araragi/comments/1mezh0/the_orders_to_monogatari/

To sum it up pretty simply,

 Kaiki lived from his attack. How he lived, and what he's been up to after that point, we don't really know.

Chronologically, Hanamonogatari is the last story in the entire Monogatari series. So, what we see there is about all we get, unfortunately.
Edit (7 April 2016): It seems there is now a "fourth season" of Monogatari novels. I don't personally know yet where these novels fall chronologically, but it's possible that more information about what happened to Kaiki could be contained in these novels.


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Why Mayumi wears a sailor uniform, different than the other girls, if they are in the same class for such a long time?
She in not a transfer student, and while she is not Momoko's classmate for as long as Shibumi, it is safe to assume she is of the same age and is in the same class for a long time.
Why she is still using a junior uniform?


text:
Do the Madoka OST CDs have sensible musical notation printed on them?
Do these Madoka original soundtrack disks have some comprehensible melodies printed on them or are they just random notation signs? If it is possible, I'd like to hear what is written on them.

Looks pretty random to me. I can't quite figure out what the rhythms are supposed to be (since I can't figure out what the standard musical notation that corresponds to some of the symbols is supposed to be), but at minimum, the pitch sequences don't seem to resemble anything on the Madoka soundtrack.

i see Repeat signs every 90 degrees of the disk, it seems to indicate that the lines are an infinite loop, the only thing i can think of in the soundtrack which one could loop endlessly is Connect ~Game Instrumental/Installation~ though this is on my original basis that the track was the installation music for the PSP game (when actually it's the music Kyoko dances to)

It might be readable if there was some difference between the minims and crotchets and quavers, but due to the lack of time signature and bar lines, I would say that the design on these discs is just that, a design. Also, as senshin commented, it doesn't seem to resemble anything from the Madoka soundtrack anyway.


text:
Is there any other studio that is known for a quirk like how Shaft has its famous head tilt?
I think another example of a quirk could be when an anime sometimes has the same thing or idea appearing in many of its series that the studio has produced.

We're gonna end up with a million items in a list of all quirks and it's not allowed on this site.

Is it possible to have a clearer scope for this question? I am interested, but I do think you are right. This is probably better on reddit or a forum.

You could try narrowing down the list, but it's only going to get you very limited or no answers at all. Indeed, forums or comment-based message boards are a better place for these kinds of questions.

One example is Studio Gainax, who are famous for their 'Gainax Ending', which original stems from the Ending of the Neon Genesis Evangellion series.

An ending that doesn't make any sense, or does make sense but is hidden under enough Mind Screw to not have an easy explanation. This is usually a deliberate form of Mind Screw or intended as a Sequel Hook to a sequel that was never made. For whatever reason, after watching a Gainax Ending, you won't have any idea what happened.
After rewatching it, rewatching the entire series, discussing it with other fans, looking up the meaning of the symbolism, and subjecting the entire thing to a comprehensive literary analysis, you still might not have any idea what happened. If you're lucky, then there will be some kind of emotional or symbolic resolution even if it doesn't actually explain what happened to the characters, and you'll be left with the sense that the series as a whole was more deeply thought out than it seemed before.
If you're unlucky, then you'll be left with more questions than when you started and the sense that the series as a whole has been voided of the meaning you once read in it.

You can see this in Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, He Is My Master, Monchromatic, and many other series made by Gainax.
More recently however, Kill la Kill (by Studio Trigger - where many of the employees are ex-Gainax ones) has one of the protaganists hoping that "Gainax doesn't screw up the ending"

There's also a Gainax Bounce.


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What happens to the beast knights' animals after the ring holder dies?
In Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, some human beast knights die. What happens to the animal avatar when that happens?
The dog knight is not mentioned anywhere else, but during the swordfish knight, it is stated that the swordfish stayed besides the body for some time.

I tagged it with the Japanese title, because the english title is longer than 25 characters and I could not abbreviate it adequately. If you can come with a good english tag name, feel free to improve it.


text:
Is the birthday of Fuuka Akitsuki known?
In the latest episodes, Yuu regrets not knowing the birthday of Fuuka (ch37 pg 16). Digging wikia, wikipedia, MAL, or just straight googling, nothing came up on her birthday.
Since she made cameos in two prequel series already, is her birthday known?
If her birthday is not know, can it be at least narrowed down to a season or month from the source material?

I found out that Fuuka is born on the same day as Yuu. If you ask about Akitsuki Fuuka.

Where did you find that? Can you provide a source?

Here you can find a source for his statement. Just look in the section 'Trivia'.


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How Genjutsu works?
As I understand Genjutsu is, affecting the opponent's chakra network with your own chakra through some medium, and create illusions in their mind. It's basically 'Yin Release' through some medium. Incase of Sharingan users, it's done through eyesight. They can cast Genjutsu when the opponent see the caster's Sharingan. That way they imply their chakra into the opponent's body.
Incase of Sage Toads and Tayuya, It's through sound. So, whoever is within the range could be affected by the Genjutsu.
The question is, Is there any other way to cast Genjutsu ? How come Kurunei is able to cast Genjutsu? Is it through eyes?

Actually it can be thru anything. Itachi cast it using his finger too, other than his eyes. For more information, ask your grandson's reincarnation, @UchihaMadara. Lol.

@SakuraiTomoki It's obvious that you can imply chakra through physical touch. But could you tell me in which episode/chapter Itachi does that?

No, no touching. Just moving his fingers and Naruto saw that, then he falls to his genjutsu. It was when Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, adn Chiyo-baa-sama fought fake Itachi.

Sorry, I read it wrong :)

@SakuraiTomoki Actually Itachi was having a spare Sharingan in a ring in his finger. Naruto fell into genjutsu only after seeing that... So still that jutsu is cast through eye contact...

@krishna-Itachi'sfan, reference? Never heard that there is a sharingan in that ring.

@krishna-Itachi'sfan Also I doubt that Sharingan can be implanted on a non-living object like a ring.  The ring doesn't have any special abilities as per http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/5257/do-akatsuki-rings-have-abilities . Btw, Itachi is my fav too :P

Genjutsu was defined by Jiraiya as "an advanced form of Ninjutsu". It affects the chakra currents in the opponent's brain.
Chakra disturbances can be caused through any of the senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste or touch. Additionally, apparently, Yin type Genjutsu (genjutsu that involves creating things from nothing, like Kurenai's) can be cast on an opponent without apparent connection to the senses.
The Second Mizukage's Yin genjutsu used chakra infused steam to mess with the opponent's sense of distance, over a wide area (so lots of opponents affected at the same time).

I took this line from wikia. "According to the Second Mizukage, genjutsu fittingly falls under the broad category of Yin Release". Doesn't it mean that all Genjutsu's are some kind of Yin release ? What do you specifically mean by 'Yin Type Genjutsu' ?

The fourth databook explained that not all genjutsu is Yin, and not all Yin is genjutsu. Genjutsu that involved creating form from nothing are Yin genjutsu. At least, that's what I understood. The official translation for the fourth databook is not out yet.

All Yin is not Genjutsu, I agree on this. So far, we have seen sight(Sharingan),hearing(Tayuya,Toads),taste(Genjutsu pills). How do you say about Smell and Touch ? Any examples? Also, Do you agree with SakuraiTomoki's comment on Itachi casting Genjutsu by finger touch?

Itachi once casted a genjutsu on Naruto just by pointing at him.

What kind was that? Do you think it was Yin release?

The grandson shows up.

Itachi cast genjutsu on Kabuto by touching him... It is one of the ultimate dōjutsu of the Uchiha clan - Izanami

@krishna-Itachi'sfan Izanami is 'Yin Release'. Check Izanami