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Are Logia types overpowered?
Logia types seem overpowered. Excluding the fact that they are practically invincible to anyone who is not a Haki user (if they can reflexively turn into their element), they have many more advantages:

Think about how outrageously powerful some of the Logia types could be if they were creative. Almost every other strong character in One Piece (Devil Fruit user or not) is strong because they were either creative as hell, had sheer strength and technique (Zoro), are Haki users with some sort of fighting ability or a combination of all three (of which Luffy is a perfect example). My point is, they all had to be creative or strong and skillful, with Haki to boot (sometimes). Let's be honest, most of the Logia types are so powerful because of their Fruits, I am not denying that their own, personal skill didn't attribute to some of their strength, but let's be real; you've got people like Enel, Kizara, Sakazuki and Ace. Pre-timeskip Ussop would be a formidable opponent with any of these Devil Fruits. It takes a lot of Logia types no physical training, and very little creativity to be a dangerous person to face. If these guys had creativity and didn't completely rely on their Devil Fruits' sheer power, very few people in the OP universe could beat them. Sakazuki could make his opponent's entire stepping ground a field of lava, he could simply make lava "minions" like mannequins made out of lava that could smash into his opponents. I'm sure there are more things he can do, I just made that off the top of my head. Anyways, there seems to be so much they could potentially do, that could wreck their opponent, but they are too comfortable in their abilities to even fathom needing more variety to beat someone.
A Logia can produce limitless amount of their element, this screams overpowered. Someone as formidable as Hawkeye Mihawk could be rendered useless to Ace if he simply chose to send an island-sized fire ball, after all Logias can produce an endless amount of their element. Even if Hawkeye is very fast, Ace could simply use the fire ball if he neared him or if he moved out of sight, and nuke the entire area with it. I doubt even Hawkeye is fast enough to get out of the destruction the attack would cause. Or take another hypothetical situation, Enel verses Shanks. Shanks is one of the strongest characters in One Piece, but if Enel uses his supercharged mantra plus his ability to travel at the speed of sound, he would own Shanks within moments.
This is a bit of a combo of my two points above, if they can control and manipulate their element in any fashion and use it limitlessly, couldn't they just create a repetitively powerful attack? Okay, some of them would need time for these attacks, but what about the extremely powerful ones that don't? Enel can easily send 200,000 volts into someone. I realize this won't immobilize some of the heavy hitters, but it would slow them the fuck down after he hit them with it for a second time. Kizara could just lock someone in a light cage and shrink it until they combusted inside, Ace could lock someone in a fire sphere and shrink, I am going off on what I read on Logias, that they can manipulate their element in any way, so they don't have to touch it to control it. Why hasn't anyone done this?

I would bring up other situations that a Logia could have dominated in a split second if they had simply thought of said tactic, but that would take too long. I know some Logia types are more restricted verses others, and don't follow the exact definition, but still most aren't. Logia types could easily destroy islands and kill strong people in moments, it is ridiculous considering Paramecia types and Zoans being on-par with them, some but not many. If we follow the Logia's definition, Logias should be dominating everyone, only challenged by other Logia types. It is the only way (that I know of) in which a weakling or complete idiot can become one of the most dangerous people in OP, maybe the idiot would die, but think about how easily he could decimate a town. And the weakling is worse, they could strategize with power and beat the shit out of anything. I know even the extremely powerful Logias can easily lose, but a lot of that is up to circumstance and they still have a better chance at winning unless they are fresh newbies.
Seriously, everyone else has to work their ass off to just compete with Logias, and they use almost non of the creative end of their powers and just rely on its sheer destructive nature, and I think Oda knows this. Oda probably knows almost no Logia uses their abilities to its fullest, not even a tenth of its potential, and is still extremely strong. It might be a long running joke.

Are you asking a question, or are you writing an answer? If you are writing an answer, would you please self-answer the question and move the "answer" part in your question to the answer?

Welcome to [anime.se]! Please note that we are not a forum! We're a Question and Answer site. You posted this as a question, but it doesn't look like a question. If you want, you can ask a question and answer it on your own (yes, that's acceptable). What you should do for this post: Post an answer containing all of the relevant information you wanted to share, then [edit] the question to only include a question that goes with that answer. As it currently stands, your question is likely to be put on hold soon.

Yeah, I'm finally starting to get that, sorry.

I disagree with your idea that they're overpowered, but I do agree that they're very powerful. Remember, One Piece is not a game, it's a story, and there's no need for balance, so if there were a few characters who were unbeatably strong, they're not necessarily over powered, just unbeatable. I don't think logia users are unbeatable at all though.
It's repeatedly stated and shown that Logia are the rarest and most powerful devil fruit. Smoker, Aokiji, Crocodile and Kizaru all effortlessly crushed Luffy the first time they met, while simply ignoring his attacks. If you took a random villager from anywhere in One Piece, almost certainly the best way to give them a lot of power very quickly is by feeding them a logia fruit. Coby's transformation took everyone by surprise, but if he had skipped all the hard training and missed his growth spurt and just eaten a logia, other than lucking out with elemental weaknesses, Luffy, the Strawhats and everyone else on Water 7 would have been powerless against him.
Most logias also come with amazing offensive capabilities, as well as almost complete invulnerability to anything other than haki and maybe an elemental weakness. In particular, Enel and the Admirals have very destructive fruits, that aren't complicated or hard to use.
However, they aren't as invincible as you make them out to be. I disagree with both of your examples, I think Mihawk would defeat Ace and Shanks would defeat Enel. I don't think logias work quite how you think, rather than controlling the element, the logia becomes the element, and can then fire it off sometimes. I don't think any character has been shown to control their element after it's left their body, so I don't think Ace or Kizaru can do the kind of attacks you say they can.
But even if they could, again it's not that simple. If Ace hits you with a fireball, your burnt but there's no guarantee that you're defeated. Many One Piece characters are very tough, and some have such good haki and reflexes that they're almost impossible to hit. Ace tried to kill Whitebeard many times and never left a scratch on him. If Ace were to hit Mihawk with a big Fireball, and Mihawk ran through the fire and gave him a haki-imbued slash, I suspect Ace would be in much worse condition.
In theory logias can produce an infinite amout of their element, but not necessarily all at once. I doubt Ace could flip out and burn a whole island/the world on a whim, in the same way Law claims that having a room up for too long exhausts him, I suspect logias work the same way. Enel wanted to destroy Skypiea, but rather than just point his finger and blast it away, he had to use his maxim to do complicated things with storm clouds.
And for your final point, Enel and Kizaru can travel at very high speeds, probably much faster than any character relying on their legs to travel like Shanks or Mihawk. But they can't necessarily think and react at those speeds, if Enel turns to lightning and shoots over to hit you, but you predict it with your haki and dodge, I don't think he could change course and hit you. As well, the transition from human to light/lightning form is not instantaneous, with Kizaru having repeatedly been stopped once he started trying to beam himself somewhere.
So in answer to your question, I think yes, logia fruits are very powerful, but no they aren't everything. You can't just eat a logia and wait around to be made a yonko/admiral.

That helped, I wasn't completely grasping how far a logia could go in manipulation and quantity with their element. I have another question about logias, so maybe you'll be able to answer when I make it.

You are correct, devil fruit users are inherently overpowered over regular humans and within the devil fruit powers their is indeed a power ranking, with Logia users being on top in most cases, unless they fight their natural enemy (Luffy vs Enel). So in a world where not much experienced or strong fighters are available, like East Blue, every devil fruit user will become a ruler and would seem like the most bad-ass person around (Eg: Buggy).
Considering Logia users, I don't understand how you didn't mention Smoker. Smoker is the only Logia user we have seen that completely relied on sheer devil fruit powers. Pre-timeskip he lacked in every other field of combat. Enel and Ace had physical power and creativeness, while the government admirals had Haki to boot.
So, while I completely agree with you in the four Blues or on Sky islands, I completely disagree with you on this in the New World. In the New World, having Logia powers means nothing. First of all, your examples are not consistent with your statement and basically answer your own question. You say that Logia powers are overpowered regardless of training, which is not true. Considering your example of Ace vs Hawkeye. Ace will never be able to throw a fireball that big, just by eating the fire fruit. He would have to train first to make this happen. He would need to train his power and speed. If he doesn't create the ball fast enough, Hawkeye would just cut Ace in two in no time. Also, even if Ace would have been able to conjure such a fireball, Hawkeye would just cut the ball to pieces and move on. Remember how Fujitora threw a meteor on Law and Doflamingo? They just cut it, like it was nothing. So unless you are well trained, you will not survive the new world, regardless of what powers you might have.

Okay, thanks I am not completely grasping how far a logia can go. But thew definition says that they can create a limitless amount of their element, they never said that you needed training. But logias still do not need to train nearly as much to reach effective standards of power. And as for the manipulation aspect, if they can control their element without actually being in contact with it, they should be having a field day on others. And the amount of creativity in a logias attack is fodder in comparison to a peremica, or non DF user. It's usally blasts or some sort of blade.

they could do a lot more with the powers given to them

But i understand what you mean, there are lots of tactics around logia types and even they are weak if they are against an expierenced person who can deal with DF users. I just wish the anime how far the general logia could go, cause it seems like they have a well of dangerous power that can be manipulated like no other DF users can do their own, yet it is not nearly as capatilized on like paramecias and zoans do. A case of taking advantage of the badassery that be a logia devil fruits capabilities.

@HellionCazzy You should see the Marineford Arc again, the destructiveness of logia powers is shown pretty well during that arc.

But if they can manipulate their element how ever they please (meaning with or without it being in physical contact) and have limitless power to produce more of said element, they could do so much. Couldn't they mold things out ofthere element and force there opponent to doge everything that said mold sends at them? It seems as if a Logia type does not even have to move to fight, they could do a Gara type thing and have a shell of there  element around to guard offf haki users attacks other logia attacks.

@HellionCazzy Three things I believe where you really overestimate logia powers. First I don't believe they can manipulate things they are not in contact with. Could you give me an example when this happened? Second, what you are suggesting is exactly what Sakazuki did during the war. He threw lots of lavafists at the pirates, yet many survived. Third, they could indeed form a shield around their bodies, but before you think it makes them invincible, look at Trebol and tell me how his shield worked out for him ;)

Additional to my first point, logia users can just create destructive balls and can throw them at others, but as far as i know, they can't manipulate them after they are thrown. Unless you could give me a counter example?

I don't know if they can but the definition dose not say that they can not do such things and Oda has never stated a logia couldn't nor the anime. So i may just be overestimating logia. Still, putting a shield up would give them a way better chance of not taking damage, maybe they don't do it because of their fighting style or because that certain logia doesn't allow them to but it doesn't  since as to why more aren't using a shield.

@HellionCazzy Trebol is a logia user who put up a shield like you said, yet he was defeated easily. Law just cut right through his shield, so I don't think it would really help them as much as you think.

I get what you're saying. I think I am thinking of the non DF users as having regular peoples limits. When they do not. I wish more creativity would be used by them though (logias).

First and foremost, the Logia devil fruits are not the rarest anymore. The Mythical Zoan are. (Only two mythical Zoan confirmed, Marco's Devil fruit and Sengoku's Hito Hito no Mi: Model Daibutsu, versus 11 Logia Devil Fruits confirmed).
Second, there's a reason why Oda added Haki and Rokushiki. Everybody can learn Busoshoku and Kenbushoku Haki to the point that all Vice-Admirals can use both Colors, and any person that trains hard can learn Rokushiki (a good amount of Vice-Admirals complement their fighting styles with Rokushiki techniques, hell even Coby can use Soru and Rankyaku).
A Logia devil fruit user has to train a lot in order to properly harness his power (remember that Luffy had a lot of problems with controlling his body after he ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi) and to reflexively turn into the respective element (although Kenbushoku Haki may help in this regard), and then train and improve both his Busoshoku Haki in order to be able to defend against Haki users and his Kenbushoku in order to be able to predict incoming attacks. This takes a lot of training time. At the same time, a regular rank-and-file marine can train himself to become the next Garp in terms of raw power and strength of Haki.
Also, your statement holds true if we're talking about the Paradise part of the Grand Line, because in the New World, Haki is common knowledge. (Hell, even Haoshoku Haki is way more common in the New World than in Paradise: Dolflamingo, Don Chinjao, Big Mom and Charlotte Katakuri, all have it so far.)
So, in summary, Logia Devil Fruits' seemingly overpowered-ness is balanced by the common knowledge of Haki.

Yes, at first it looks like it's overpower and we think nothing can stop him. But remember, how powerful a devil fruit's power can be is based on how powerful the person who ate it is.
You may think Luffy's powers are great because he is rubber so you can punch anyone as hard as you can without worrying you will hurt your arms, but remember he cant even beat Sabo or Ace at first, simply because two of them are stronger than he is.
Another example is when Smoker easily caught Luffy in Logue Town or in the Marineford War arc, which is because he too is stronger than Luffy. But in the Punk Hazard Arc, Smoker loses twice when he fights Law and Vergo, because he is far weaker than Law who has the Paramecia power and Vergo who hasn't eaten any devil fruit.
I know there are some characters who relied on his devil fruit so much like Enel and Caribou, but according to Pekoms, anyone that thinks they're superior just because they eat logia fruit can't survive on New World.


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Why did Arren kill his father?
This was the biggest question I had for Gorou Miyazaki's debut animated film Tales from Earthsea. Was the motivation for Arren's murder of his father ever revealed in the anime or in the original Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin? Or was it just a projection of the inner feelings the director had toward his father?

Gorou Miyazaki had denied that Arren's murder of his father was a reflection of his own feelings; rather, it was more or less the feeling of the young Japanese generation:

On Earthsea, Goro denied that Arren’s oblique patricide reflected the director’s own feelings in an interview at the Venice Film Festival. “I do not have much relationship with my father; because of that, I have never felt like killing him. I decided to start with the son murdering the father because I understand that’s more or less the feeling of the young Japanese generation. When I worked in the Ghibli museum, most of the staff there were young people with common problems. I wondered about why that was and tried to come up with reasons, which are reflected in the film. I purposely didn’t explain why Arren stabbed his father because I wanted the audience to think about it, and reach a broader idea of why these problems exist.”

Source: "Tales from Earthsea and family feuds", UK Manga Entertainment Website
However, as Gorou purposely didn't explain the why, it proved to be a challenge for many viewers to figure that out for themselves. For what it's worth, Ursula K. Le Guin thought the murder was committed without much reason:

The moral sense of the books becomes confused in the film. For example: Arren's murder of his father in the film is unmotivated, arbitrary: the explanation of it as committed by a dark shadow or alter-ego comes late, and is not convincing. Why is the boy split in two? We have no clue. The idea is taken from A Wizard of Earthsea, but in that book we know how Ged came to have a shadow following him, and we know why, and in the end, we know who that shadow is. The darkness within us can't be done away with by swinging a magic sword.

Source: "Ursula K. Le Guin: Gedo Senki, a First Response", ursulakleguin.com

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A novel where the main character is reborn and killed right after birth 26 times due to his silver hair
The main character is not reincarnated in a different world. Rather, he is reborn so far in the future that his legend is but a myth now. Every time he is born, he is born with silver hair (although he fixes it later). Due to the religious influence "kill all silver haired babies, reincarnation of the demon", he was killed right after birth 26 times. On the 27th time, he was saved by his poor parents who refused to let his son be killed.
He attends a magic school. Normally, people don't even know they are magicians until 15, but he, a little kid, starts learning intermediate class summoning in his 1st year of school (although it's still nothing for him).
At first sight, he may be a kid, but when angered, the blood thirst that is released freezes everyone through pure fear. The cool and awesome, yet merciless main character is the best part of this light novel. The writing style brings out the best of the hero's character.

Light novel is on topic here.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it appears that the thing you were looking for is just some random person's fiction on the internet - not a light novel or anything else anime-related.

I believe you mean the fiction Forgotten Conqueror, which is published on Royal Road.
Here a piece of the novel from chapter 2.

Twenty-seven.
That was the number of times he had been thrown back into this world, only to be promptly dispatched and returned to the empty void to wallow in his own regret at how powerless he was when it truly mattered, and his sorrow.
Memories that the Entity otherwise known as Rhultal did not want to remember yet could never forget flashes through his mind.
Broken and bleeding parents even before he had yet come of age. His life growing up in the hands of those who would step on him and use him for their own purposes. Watching those he love and cherished in agony and mercilessly slaughtered. His hatred that sought out power. his lack of control allowing the darkness to slowly overpower him, his pain at what he had become when that was all over, and the people who allied with the monsters and brought him to his death.
Yet for some reason he did not die. His body may have lost all functions and the body has rotted with the passage of time, but his spirit can recall everything he’s done, and the knowledge of his past remains solely his without dispersing into the ether. unable to move on, eventually his spirit would merge into a being for the cycle of life, but upon birth, for reasons unbeknownst to him, he would most definitely be culled upon the sweet air of freedom; excruciating pain, followed by death.
Over and over this event has already occurred twenty-six times, and this was the twenty-seventh. He had already understood that this was his own private hell for everything he has done.
Bracing himself for the inevitable fate that follows, the thing that was once known as Rhultal falls silent relinquishing his will and anticipation at the prospect of finally being whole. He silently waits for the hands of death to drive him back. He heard shouting and yelling, and at some point it felt like the hands of death were upon him. For what felt like eons, he waited with abated breath. Yet death did not follow. Instead, what he felt were two wavering hands full of warmth, grasping holding onto him. The entity remained in silence, unwilling to make a sound. After an eternity, the hands holding him start shaking, and he felt the atmosphere change. A soft cry could be heard. Suddenly, the arms were clinging on to him as if clinging onto its dear life, and a loud wailing noise erupts.
Surprised at this turn of event and the possibility of life, the entity opens his mouth and starts crying with all the strength that his tiny body could muster.
As if in accordance to his cry, the wailing stopped and a sound of sobbing delight could be heard.
Confused yet elated, he sought to use this chance to once again walk upon Lovis.

What makes this "fanfiction" as opposed to just plain "fiction"? This doesn't appear to be set in the universe of any existing work of fiction, as near as I can tell.

Now that you mention it, you are right. This is an original work of the author.

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Where does the manga for Beyblade original series end in comparision to the anime?
I found on the web that there are some differences in the storyline of the manga and the anime (English) of Beyblade (original series). In my quest to know the differences I tried to find the manga online (legal), but I've yet to know for certain how many volumes/chapters (of the manga) are available for the original Beyblade series. Wikipedia shows that there are 14 issues available. But the description about Vol. 14 here is the source of confusion for me. It says:

It's down to the final battle in the G.B.C.--the ultimate test to see which team will earn the title of Beyblade world champions! Tyson's grandfather and friends start celebrating victory before the final battle even takes place--but will the BBA Revolution actually win?

 I just completed the series and the aforesaid description fits into Episode 30 of the Season 3 G-Revolution where BBA team stands victorious in final round of Beyblade World Championship. Also, Season 3 ran for 52 episodes and the episodes after Episode 30 dealt with a challenge named BEGA.

This is exactly my confusion. If I consider the description then it means almost 40 p.c. of anime aren't present in the last issue, Vol. 14 of manga series, and this seems to be a major difference.
Now, it all comes down to the following points:

Am I missing something about manga of the said series?
Could it be that the said description is incomplete or wrong?
Where does the final issue of manga end?
Would manga be enough to reflect the complete storyline of anime? Meaning, does there exist mini-series too?
Optional: where can I buy/get the complete manga for the said series?

I assumed you wanted the beyblade tag but you do have the rep to make tags, remember that we're still Beta so Rep levels for most privileges are actually lower that graduated sites like Stack Overflow and Arqade

The Bakuden Shoot Beyblade manga by Aoki Takao is the basis for seasons 1 to 3 of the original anime series. Episode 51 of season 3, G-Revolution, correlates to chapter 3 (the final chapter) of volume 14 of the manga. Chapter 3 of manga volume 14 does not correspond to G-Revolution episode 30.
Spoiler for final pages of manga chapter 3 and episode 51:

 Taichi and Kai stand poised to battle one more time, but the battle itself and its results are not shown.

G-Revolution episode 52 features

a giant vortex crisis and then wraps up with showing images of every team and major character that appeared in the entire 3 seasons.

The contents of that episode are not covered in the manga.
Manga volume 14 includes a manga version of the Bakuten Shoot Beyblade The Movie: Gekitou!! Takao vs. Daichi direct-to-DVD anime film.
Volume 14 also features an epilogue one-shot manga about the children of the main characters (who are now grown up). This epilogue was not animated.
Finally, Aoki Takao commissioned novelist Tachimori Megumi to write a Bayblade gaiden (side story) short novel titled Bakuden Shoot Beyblade Gaiden -Yuriy Ivanov- for which he provided the illustration, which is free to read on his official website. Fans have made an English translation of it here. This novel was not animated.
There was also a spin-off manga from the original series titled Seidoushi BLADERS -Beyblade Battle Story- written by Miyazaki Masaru and illustrated by 印照 (whose romaji name I can't find anwhere. It might be pronounced "Shirushi Shou" or "Shirushi Teru"), collected into 3 volumes. Its content is not depicted in the anime at all.
Fans have discussed some differences between the manga and the anime in this forum.
You also mentioned the English-language version of the anime. Since the English dub contains a large amount of edits from the original anime, the dub version does not match the original manga closely. You can see the dub changes from the original anime listed here.

Exactly what I was after regarding manga! In fact that wiki link of "Cuts and Changes" is a bonus for comparison between two animes. I thought Beyblade anime (English) was good, but after reading that wiki I now see Japanese one stands higher. Thanks again.

I think a correction is needed here. I just checked Vol. 14 here and none of the chapters has any content related to episodes after Episode 30 of season 3. It seems that season 3 of anime was extended beyond manga. Besides, Episode 51 is the battle between Brooklyn of BEGA and Tyson of G-Revolution team which I didn't found in Chapter 3 of Vol. 14.

@Firelord, could you tell me which episode of season 3 you think correlates to the end of chapter 3 in manga volume 14, and, for both that and for episode 51, could you tell me who is involved using their original names (since I do not keep track of any English dub names)?

I think no episode precisely correlates with Chapter 3, Vol. 14 of manga but chapter 3 is all about the final battle between Demolition boys and Team BBA for World Championship. Once can see the gist between  Episodes 25-30 of Season 3. In Episode 51, Brooklyn of Team BEGA fought against Tyson of Team G-Revolution. Nothing about BEGA is mentioned in Chapter 3, Vol. 14 of manga.


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What is Fairy Vearth?
The 'Fairy Vearth' that God Enel keeps talking about, the continuous land.
Is he talking about the moon?

Please don't ask different unrelated questions in one post. If you wish to ask a separate, unrelated question, please ask it in another question.

I will keep that in mind

Short-term concentrated cover series no. 9 "To the Fairy Vearth"

Fairy Vearth is a legendary land that Enel mentions throughout the Skypiea Arc. Enel wanted to travel to Fairy Vearth after he destroyed Skypiea. For this purpose he built his ship, Maxim.
After being defeated by Luffy, Enel headed off to Fairy Vearth, which turns out to be the Moon. There he found a group of alien like creatures - who have wings similar to the Skypieans - which Enel befriended.
Source

Fairy Vearth refers to the Endless Earth. In de Enel's mini series (chapter 428-474) you can read his story. It's a reference for the moon where he wanted to travel with his specially build ship Maxim.
As for Montblanc Noland, despite the fact that he is known as the world's largest trickster and liar, he was also a very skilled sea man. At the point he was stronger than Zoro and Wiper by a lot at that time.

I removed the link, because linking to illegal hosting sites is not allowed here (see this meta post)

My bad, wasn't aware of that post, thanks for removing it :3


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Why in World Trigger do the characters have times when their faces get blank during dialog?

Why is it that the characters' faces do this at various points in the dialog and what is it meant to convey? I wonder if perhaps this is a Japanese culture or anime culture expression that I have not seen before?

I think its a "Ohh, I get it now." face for expressing the characters's psychological state of understanding an explanation, especially Yuma's understanding of the situation.

I think I must agree with "r zark" that the 3-face i.e. 口が3 (frequently seen on Yūma Kuga) may indicate a lack of expression or an intentionally inscrutable face, not puckered lips! See his comment at http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/23328/is-there-a-name-for-this-manga-anime-mouth-expression-3

Based on the actions of the characters and Yuma's unique personality, I believe it's more of a "I get the reason, but not the logic" like understanding that the kettle is hot without understanding why, or rather not caring why.
The little kid in Tamakoma does the same face, as Yuma when it come's to our world may as well be a child.
he also frequently say's "naru hodo" which roughly translate to "now I get it" but in reality he doesn't.

This is a stylized squint.  It is not specific to World Trigger or Yuma's personality.
This stylized squint is a variation on using horizontal lines to indicate eyelashes. This was popularized in shoujo manga, where the eyelashes were originally very thick.

Over time, eyelashes have generally become thinner.

And over time, increasingly abstract versions, such as a sketch of horizontal lines, have emerged.

Yuma's 3 horizontal lines is an abstraction of the standard horizontal-line eyelashes, which in this case conveys acting like one is trying to understand or agree: squinting indicates thinking so hard that you end up squinting from the strain on brain power and/or on account of focusing by shutting out your surroundings. Sometimes it is used when a character is thinking 「なるほど」 (naruhodo = "Oh, I see..." or "Oh, so that's what that means") whether or not he or she actually understands what happened/what was said. Here you can see Teruo from Ore Monogatari!! doing the same thing with an abstraction of 1 horizontal line.

Sometimes it is used for squinting for vision purposes, such as when a character takes his/her glasses off and cannot see clearly. This is based on real Japanese people imagining that squinting improves long-distance vision when they do not feel like wearing their glasses or if their glasses prescription is too low (a very frequent occurrence in the Japanese school classroom). The 3-shaped abstraction is a development in which the horizontal lines become a very stylized scribble (the artist does not pick up the pen between each horizontal line, so the squint is connected into a single line).

Sometimes it is used to indicate sleeping with closed eyes.


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What anime is this figure of a white girl from?

What anime is this girl from? I found this on Facebook and I'm just curious. Thanks.

From KanColle, one of the ships girl of the Abyss (the antagonist).

That is from Kantai Collection.

Kantai Collection (艦隊これくしょん Kantai Korekushon, lit. "Fleet Collection", subtitled as "Combined Fleet Girls Collection"), abbreviated as KanColle (艦これ KanKore), is a Japanese free-to-play web browser game developed by Kadokawa Games

The game was adapted into a TV anime series in Spring 2015 season.
The girl the figure is modeled (including her pose) after one of the Abyssal Bosses, Aircraft Carrier Princess

Wow. this really answered my question. Thanks


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How can a clock stop working at 99 o'clock?

Yuru Yuri Season 2, Episode 4, 12:16
It stopped working but at 99 o'clock. If it's just the reflection (image) shouldn't it be 88:88? Even if it is inverted it will be 18:66, 66 min, but it is not inverted and after repair it shows the time as 15:49. So is that a mistake or there is something really funny which I am not able to get?

9 x 9 = 81? Apart from that, no clue.

It's rather simple, actually − the electronic controller must have experienced a failure and the memory module ended up with unexpected remaining electrical charge when it started working again, but the clock was not designed to counter this possible error, so it does not reset the memory, which results in impossible time, like in this Russian Elektronika-6 clock:

You could probably get more technically correct answers at Electronics.SE

yep, it could be set to go back to 0 when it hits 24, but not when it is >24


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Questions about the Korean dubbed Aria series and OPs
After viewing the Korean dubbed OP of Aria the Animation, I have come up with three closely related questions I want to ask, which I decided to put together in one post.
Question 1
I have noticed that in the Korean dub of the Aria anime series, the OP and ED songs are not only subtitled, but also sung in Korean.
Is it common for the OP and ED songs of non-mainstream anime to also be dubbed?
And does that require more licensing than just subtitling the OPs and EDs?
Question 2
In the Korean dubbed OP of Aria the Animation, why was the katakana アリア removed from the title logo?
Does this kind of editing also happen in other dubbed anime OPs and EDs?

Original title logo in the Chinese dubbed OP.

Altered title logos in the Korean dubbed OP.
Question 3
What is it about the Korean dub of Aria the Animation that requires a director and an editing staff?
In contrast, the Italian staff includes: a dubbing director, a coordination staff, a mixing staff, a post production staff and two sound engineers.
Are these roles synonymous to the director and editing?

I don't have sources to cite for all of these, I can maybe come back later and add them if I find them.

The reasons songs aren't dubbed are because of the cost of a singer and the additional costs of licensing the rights to re-record the song. There's licensing the rights to simply translate the lyrics but redubbing the vocals would be a completely different recording. Re-recording often happens when the localized dubbed version is intended to be released, so people can buy the localized dub opening theme music (full length versions, etc).
As for the katakana missing from the title screen, this is probably entirely an artistic decision. The original 3 katakana fits nicely between the 4 western letters, but in the Korean version, there are only 3 Korean characters which only provides 2 slots for the dots inbetween the characters. They probably decided to make all the dots the same for both the English and Korean for consistency, instead of making the dots in the English word filled in with katakana and have them changed to just dots when the title screen transitioned to Korean. Additionally, they probably didn't want to people to think the katakana was really tiny Korean characters.
The director credits for localized versions usually mean the director of the acting. There's a director for the voice acting for a localized dub, just like there's a director for the voice acting in the original Japanese. And just like the recorded acting needs to be edited, mixed, engineered, etc into the final sound tracks in the original Japanese, the same thing needs to happen for a localized dub. I'm guessing that's what the director and editor credits are for.

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


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What are the paintings in the Anti-Angel Headquarters and what do they mean?
There is a partial list available on Fandom and a full list of the symbols without explanation on a Japanese wiki site. What do the ever-changing paintings mean and how are they connected to the episode's or the overall plot?

Directions are relative to Yuri as she sits at the principal's desk facing the entrance.
For the sake of completeness, I also include the paintings that are fixed across episodes.

All episodes

Front: School song of the Heaven Academy.
The song lyrics reproduced below reference this yahoo answer and this wiki page.

校歌
緑豊かに広がる丘に
光輝く我らが母校
大いなる大地と
天のかけ橋
真実を知る時天に登らん
心のままに戒めなくは
かけ[●●●●●●●●●]【し希望にひるがえる】
千里離れた空を思へば
遠く忘れし思いはいづこ
真実を知る時天に登らん
光あふれる月の夜
耳をすまして聞き入れば
天使の歌声高らかに
思いを胸に登る[●]【時】
真実を知る時天に登らん
天上学園

Back: Portraits of all past principals of the Heaven Academy.
The portrait of the current principal has been replaced by Yuri's.
Left: During the operation meetings, the banner of the SSS Brigade is hanged on this side of the wall.
Right: Smiley face painting.
Unknown artist.

Episode 1

Front: [危]【き】 — Danger.
Left: テトラポット — Tetrapod.
Right: [南紀]【なんき】みかん — A brand of mikan from Nanki, Mie Prefecture.
Note that Jun Maeda, the creator of Angel Beats!, is from Mie.

Episode 2

Front: [毒]【どく】 — Poison; short for [毒舌]【どくぜつ】, or sharp tongue.
I believe it's also intended to invoke the expression 「[お気の毒に]【おきのどくに】」, meaning "my condolences", as said by Angel about Hinata in episode 5.
By Jun's arrangement or by coincidence, Hinata is forced into sacrifice in an arithmetic progression of episode numbers 2, 5 and 8.
Left: [悦]【えつ】 — Rejoicing.
"Why does Yuri smell so good?"
Right: [松阪牛]【まつさかうし】 — Matsusaka beef, another food product from Mie.
A jab at Matsushita's fate in this episode?

Episode 3

Front: [嫁]【よめ】 — Wife; bride; daughter-in-law; to pass the buck ([（転）嫁する]【（てん）かする】).
Left: [諭吉]【ゆきち】 — Yukichi Fukuzawa, the guy on the 10,000 yen banknote.
Yukichi is a nickname of Yuuki Hashimoto from the 2010 eroge Koiiro Soramoyou who is also voiced by Harumi Sakurai, Yurippe's voice actress, under the alias Kazane.
Moreover, "Farewell, Yukichi" is the defining quote of Kyousuke Natsume from Little Busters!, another visual novel written by Jun Maeda.
Right: マニア — Mania.

Episode 4

Right (OP): [鎮魂歌]【ちんこんか】 — Requiem.
Alludes to both the album Requiem for Innocence by Sad Machine that has had a profound influence on Masami Iwasawa as well as Iwasawa's passing on at the conclusion of the last episode.
Front: [脇]【わき】 — Supporting character; the second stanza of a renga.
At this point in time, the story has entered its second phase in the hokku→waki→daisan→hiraku→ageku renga structure, or the introduction→development→twist→conclusion kishoutenketsu structure.
Left: (Not shown).
Right: [逆鱗]【げきりん】 —  A scale grown upside-down below the chin of a dragon that will anger the dragon when touched; imperial wrath.
Yuri's underlings incurred her wrath by failing their mission of defeating Angel's team in the baseball tournament.
There is also the angered dragon conjured up in Otonashi's mind in episode 7.

Episode 5

Front: [謎]【なぞ】 — Mystery, i.e. Ayato Naoi the usurper.
If you turn up the volume just after Yuri throws her second tantrum, you can also hear a "mysterious voice" saying "what's with her?" (「なんだこいつ」).
This is documented under the 謎の声 section here.
Left: コテンパン — Beaten black and blue, i.e. Angel and Hinata, and Ooyama and Takamatsu, in this episode.
Right: バミューダ — Bermuda, one of the endpoints of an area known as the Bermuda Triangle, famous for the disappearance of a number of aircraft and ships within this region under mysterious circumstances.

Episode 6

Front: [乙]【おつ】 — The ordinal "second"; a prefix meaning young and charming, e.g. [乙女]【おとめ】.
Also resembles the "Z" mark of Zorro.
Left: (Not shown).
Right: [猫大陸]【ねこたいりく】 — Continent of cats?
Presumably the same painting appears again in the second panel on page 4, chapter 30 of Angel Beats! The 4-koma: Our War Front March Song:

In this panel, Yusa is explaining the term "marriage hunting" ([婚活]【こんかつ】) to Hinata.
Starting this episode, Otonashi began to hit on Kanade, and Naoi even arranged for their "marriage hunting" activities to take place inside the reflection room for maximum privacy!

Episode 7

Front: プラ — Recycling symbol used in Japan for plastic.
Left: [濃厚]【のうこう】 — Rich in flavor, color, odor, etc.; probable; passionate and sensuous.
Right: [●●ック]【ファック】? (Not legible).
Could be the f-word.

Episode 8
Front: (Not shown).
Left: (Not shown).
Right: (Not shown).

Episode 9

Front: ♨ — Icon for hot springs.
Left: [部族]【ぶぞく】 — Tribe; clan.
Right: マグロ? (Not fully shown) — Tuna.

Episode 10

Front: (Not shown).
Left: ●ロス? (Not legible).
Right: [赤福]【あかふく】 — Akafuku, a wagashi shop in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, known for their Akafuku mochi, or [赤福餅]【あかふくもち】.

Episode 11

Front: (Not shown).
Left: (Not fully shown).
Right: [極上]【ごくじょう】 — First-rate.

Episode 12

Front: [心]【こころ】 — Heart.
Lots and lots of hearts on the computer screens.
Left: (Not shown).
Right: [土]【ど】● (Not fully shown).

Episode 13

Front: [魂友]【たまとも】 — Soulmate.
A possible play on words of Tama-Tomo, or best friends in the Tamagotchi Planet.
Left: (Not shown).
Right: (Not shown).

Special: Another Epilogue

Front: (Not shown).
Left: (Not legible).
Right: [東]【とう】●? (Not legible).
It would make more sense if the character is [転]【てん】, though, as that means "change in pronunciation or meaning of a word".

OVA 1: Stairway to Heaven

Front: (Happy face).
Left: (Teeth-gritting face).
Right: (Happy face).

OVA 2: Hell's Kitchen

Front: [再]【さい】 — Again.
Left: ボンレス — Boneless.
Right: [久々]【ひさびさ】 — (in a) long time; long time (ago).
It's been almost 5 years since the last Angel Beats! episode was released.

Kaginado (Season 2)

Front: [鍵]【かぎ】 — Key.
Left: [暴君]【ぼうくん】 — Tyrant.
Right: [生徒会長]【せいとかいちょう】 — Student council president.
Right (Episode 3): カオス — Chaos.
Right (in place of the smiley face painting): A Keropii painting annotated with the year of Key's debut game, Kanon.
Keropii is the favorite frog plush toy of Nayuki Minase, one of the five heroines of Kanon.

Episode 7, the front one is the recycling sign for plastic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling_in_Japan

Epi 9, front, is the icon for hot springs.


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Is there any humor or meaning to the conversation about Yuri's dream and how many Hinatas there were?
In episode 5, Otonashi and Angel had a conversation about Yuri's dream and how many Hinatas there were, which seemed totally random and out of nowhere. When I first watched that episode, I didn't get the humor and meaning that I suspected were there in the conversation. Are those remarks just some disposable lines, or are they foreshadowing or references to something?

The curious conversation between Otonashi and Angel

音無：「すまん！ゆりの調子が不安定だ。 原因は、昨夜夢に日向が出てきて……」
日向：『今日の俺と明日の俺が同じ俺だと思うな。気を付けな。』
音無：「……と忠告してきたことによる。そして今、その忠告が事実であることをゆりが証明しちまったところなんだ。」
天使：「日向君は二人いるの？」
音無：「あ、ああ、そういうことになる。」
天使：「三人以上いるかもしれない？」
音無：「え？ああ、ありえる。」
天使：「お気の毒に。」

Otonashi: Sorry! Yuri's a little emotionally unstable. Because last night, Hinata showed up in her dream and—
Hinata: Don't think that the me from today and tomorrow will be the same. Watch out.
Otonashi: That's what he said, and Yuri just proved it.
Angel: Are there two Hinata-kun's?
Otonashi: Y-Yeah... that's right.
Angel: Is there a chance that there's more than three of him?
Otonashi: Huh? Oh, uh... it's possible.
Angel: I'm sorry to hear that.

Anywhere we can see the original Japanese? Sometimes the joke is not understandable if you translate it into English.

If there are two Hinatas, of yesterday and of tomorrow, then there surely is a third one, of today.

Nether your question nor your answer makes much sense. What problem is you question referring to? How does your answer address this problem? None of this is clear to me. Your question and answer just seems to be a continuation of one another.

The conversation actually foreshadows a future event where Angel makes an aggressive clone of herself using Guard Skills: Harmonics.

Are there two Hinata-kun's? Is there a chance that there's more than three of him?

In episode 8, Hinata reciprocated this saying to Angel, which is in itself a gag.

Don't think that the me from today and tomorrow will be the same. Watch out.

This is what the SSS members were worrying about in episode 9: which "Angel" would wake up from the coma after Kanade had absorbed all her clones?

I'm sorry to hear that. (お気の毒に)

The second kanji character used in Angel's expression of pity, 毒 ("poison"), was actually shown right at Hinata's face in episode 2, the last time he was made to be sacrificed by Yurippe. In episode 5, he had to make his sacrifices again at the coercion of Yurippe, but don't worry, the maxim "people die if they are killed" doesn't apply in the Afterlife World.

The joke here, I think, is that before this conversation, Hinata showed up in front of Yuri and behaved very differently from yesterday (before Yuri dreamed about him), so Otonashi said that the warning came true: Hinata really changed. Since Hinata said, "don't think that the me from today and tomorrow will be the same", tomorrow, he might change again, making Kanade say that there could be more than three of him.

Okay...so it is just a kind of silly conversation? I thought there are references or inside jokes made.

Yep. That's about it, based on the Japanese text you posted.

Angel: Is there a chance that there's more than three of him?
Otonashi: Huh? Oh, uh... it's possible.
Angel: I'm sorry to hear that.

The humour here is that Angel's basically saying having one Hinata is bad enough and she is sad to hear there is more of him.

Hinata: Don't think that the me from today and tomorrow will be the same. Watch out.
Angel: Are there two Hinata-kun's?

There's a misunderstanding here where Hinata is saying that how is personality is one day is different to how it is another day. Angel has mistaken this as being two distinctly different Hinatas .


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What does "I will be back" mean in Shingeki no Bahamut?
At the end of the series, one of the characters said "I will be back," then the credits started.  Was that just a cool way to end the show or was that saying that there might/will be another season?

i haven't seen the Shingeki no Bahamut and can tell if it does match but it sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature line from The Terminator. in the Movie Schwarzenegger says this line but he actually never does come back to the person he says this too (if i recall right it was when he steals a biker's clothes and bike after arriving from the future). it's normally used as a cool line but if i rembered it right it could be a sign that there isn't going to be another anime season since Schwarzenegger while he said he'll be back to the biker never did come back

There is no green-lit at the moment for a sequel of Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis. It's based on a card battle game for iOS and Android, so there's an endless stretch of coverage to adapt here.
The best we could assume is that it's "prophetic" for anything Shingeki no Bahamut-related since it is peculiar enough there are no explicit green-lit announcements yet. Anime usually do make the green-lit announcement after the series ended with a hint for a sequel. I take it they meant for something coming, but that's the best everyone (I've searched around) can count on. It could be a sequel, a spin-off (since it's wrapped up), movie, or OVA.
I'm confident, however, that in no way would they be making a senseless "I'll be back" hint without actually following up anything. Not once, in the hundreds of anime I've watched, would that happen. They could, however, announce a termination of whatever project they originally intended to continue the Bahamut hype.

My best guess is this is a tool used by the animators to ensure a connection whether (or not) they'd still get a second season. I see this in many series, they almost always put a cliffhanger or at least a promise of a next season just in case the show becomes successful enough to earn its season 2. fingers crossed for Shingeki no Bahamut: Season 2.


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What is spinning a girl in yukata like a top a reference to?

From left to right, top to bottom: Nisemonogatari, Midori no Hibi, Is the Order a Rabbit? and Mawaru-Penguindrum.
In the case of Midori no Hibi, why is Midori calling Seiji "governor"? Is this a reference to something?

The name of this meme is Obi spin, from the Japanese term 帯回し obi-mawashi.

An old jidaigeki-related meme wherein someone (usually a middle-aged man) pulls on the obi of a young woman wearing a kimono, causing her to spin around as it unravels. Usually accompanied by the tugger saying "It's fine, isn't it? (よいではないか、よいではないか)" in a sexually suggestive tone, while the young woman says "ohhh myyyy~! (あ～れ～)" as she spins.
This is, of course, an inherently voluntary game the two are playing, as simply putting her arms down would stop the young woman's obi from unraveling.

In the samurai movies and TV shows, the tugger is usually an 悪代官 or aku-daikan, an evil governor, hence Midori's addressing Seiji as "governor".
There is even a whole series of video games based on this premise, conveniently named Akudaikan.
TVTropes has more to say (and more examples) about this meme:

A little-known gesture of implied rape in Japanese culture involves the Shogun grabbing the waistband of his consort and ripping it off so hard that she spins several circles and falls on the bed with her clothes splayed open.

In some rare cases, the obi spinning is done to a male.

While this guy calls the obi spin an "ozashiki-asobi" technique, I am not too sure if he meant it as a satire or a deformation of a Geisha entertainment activity.
Obi spin is even featured in shows by the famous comedian Ken Shimura.


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Is there any canonical evidence that the winged being curses were really lifted?
About the anime version of Air:
Some sources on the net state that Kanna's curses were broken, and her next reincarnation would be a happy one.
Some say that the pair of children playing on the beach were the reincarnations of Misuzu-Kanna / Yukito-Ryūya.
What is the canonical explanation of this ending? Did the curses really get lifted? Please include sources in your answer.

According to this page, which cited a study of Air's ending:

From: "Colourful Pure Girl" in the March edition.
"The author declared that those two kids were not the reincarnation of any of the characters and he doesn't want people think of air like that."
The author also says that those two kids were more of outsider view point. It's like themselves (KEY) are watching the story.

How to get to the study's page:

(The text is taken from Key Fans Club.)
In more detail: the study said there were three curses that were cast on Kanna:

Restriction on reincarnation. This was the direct result of the sealing a thousand years ago, and the effect was that in a set period of time, Kanna's soul could not be reincarnated. This curse was automatically lifted after about a hundred years when the power of the seal had weakened.

Solitude. This curse was an indirect effect of the sealing of Kanna, caused by Kanna's sadness and guilt over Ryuuya's death such that she became unable to form a close relationship with anyone lest she suffered great pain. This curse was lifted by the development of a close bond between Misuzu and her aunt, Haruko, made possible because of Yukito's sacrifice, which prolonged Misuzu's life by temporarily saving her from dying by the third curse.

Dreams. Dreams were the manifestation of the memories of the winged beings in their reincarnated bodies. Both the vastness and accumulated sadness of the memories of the winged beings could damage a human's body. Yukito offered his mental storage capacity to Misuzu so that she would be able to live long enough to break the second curse, which prompted his own memories to be transferred to Sora. With the second curse gone, Sora flew to the heavens to bring the last happy memories of Misuzu to Kanna so that she could be released from Ryuuya's shadow and returned to Earth, and blend the memories of the winged beings with the Earth's. From then on, no one needed to bear the memories of the winged beings alone anymore, so the third curse was also lifted.

The children playing on the beach at the end should not be seen as the reincarnations of Misuzu-Kanna/Yukito-Ryuuya, but as the all-knowing Key staff and you, the viewers.

http://www.keyfc.net/bbs/showtopic-19688.aspx has more links that discuss this topic if you're interested and can read Chinese.


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What exactly happened when a person passed on?
After watching the final episode of Angel Beats, I saw that, after the credits,

 both Otonashi and Angel found each other again after being "reincarnated".

But is that all that happened when everyone passed on? Did they just lose their memory and get reincarnated as a human with a similar look?

i think it is related to What happened to Otonashi and Kanade in the last episode?

In the Angel Beats! universe
The anime didn't tell us much about what happened to the people who passed on, except for the ambiguous scene at the end. There is a chance that the visual novel will explore this topic a bit, if they ever release anything past the first volume. For now, we can only refer to side materials, such as the third drama CD released with the sixth limited edition BD/DVD volume. In the drama CD, everyone reincarnated as a human being with a similar look (except one guy), but not with a similar personality (except a few). They all met in the Afterlife World for the second time after dying again, and they were able to recognize each other and remember their previous lives.
In the Keyverse
SPOILERS ahead for the following series: charlotte, clannad, little-busters and one.
There are recurring themes and concepts that connect together the worlds of Angel Beats!, Charlotte, Clannad, Little Busters! and One. Note that One is generally considered to be part of the Keyverse because

Much of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel brand Key.

In Clannad, there is the Illusionary World:

This world is later revealed to have been created by Ushio, who died regretting having left her father alone. She, therefore, became the girl in this world with the hopes of meeting her father again and collecting enough light orbs to make a miracle possible. . . .
In theory, the Illusionary World is the after-life; when a person dies they are still connected to the real world, yet they are free to create their own world.

In Little Busters!, there is the Artificial World:

The story's main part takes place in what seems to be a normal high school, but in fact all took place in the school term previous to Little Busters!, and Riki and Rin are reliving it in an artificial world created by Kyousuke. They, and the other main characters, were involved in a bus accident during a school excursion, and only the two of them will survive. Kyousuke created the artificial world to make them strong enough to deal with what will happen when they awaken in the real world. The world loops, but though they forget what happens, Riki and Rin do grow stronger, and Kyousuke hopes that they will eventually be strong enough to leave the world. They do manage to survive and get away from the crash site before Riki collapses due to his chronic illness, narcolepsy. Riki vows to fight against his narcoleptic condition, which was the reason why he was only able to save Rin and merely get away from the explosion before collapsing.

In One, there is the Eternal World:

The Eternal World is a place similar to the afterlife where a person's "other self" awaits. Anyone can access it, though it is only accessible once one has lost his or her grounding in the real world. It may be necessary to form a pledge with someone in the real world as a guide to the Eternal World, but one's memories surrounding the pledge become vague. A grace period can be granted between when the pledge is made and when someone goes to the Eternal World. Once the process has started, nothing can prevent someone from going to the Eternal World, and returning to the real world is difficult. Someone about to leave to the Eternal World starts to be forgotten approximately one week before going, and the amount of time before someone forgets differs based on how much someone thinks about the person leaving. However, he or she is remembered the moment that person returns. If a strong emotional bond is established in the real world before leaving, a person in the Eternal World can be returned after approximately one year.

In Charlotte, there is The World that is No Longer Here, which is a world where people with superhuman abilities exist, and regrets ensue. Otosaka forms a pledge with Tomori to loot the abilities of everyone in the world in exchange for her love, but eventually loses memories of the world with ability users.
Then recall that the main setting of Angel Beats! is the Afterlife World:

Despite the numerous enigmas that surround the world, it serves as a sort of second life for teenagers whose lives were filled with despair and pain. They are brought there after they have died and, alongside others, try to live there with fulfilled existences to make up for their pain. After, they disappear as their happiness has been granted. . . .
Or, it could be simply said that time does not exist in the Afterlife and teenagers who died with regrets can go there, regardless what time of death or time period said person is.

In summary, all these worlds are for people who have regrets and lost memories surrounding the regrets.
So what happens in the Keyverse when a person "passed on" from one of these worlds? They return to the real world, and in the case of Tomoya in Clannad, he returned to a past point in time after collecting enough light orbs to grant his wish.
Based on the recurring themes and concepts in the Keyverse, this is the sequence of events that unfold after Kanade and Otonashi passed on from the Afterlife World:

They had established a strong emotional bond before leaving to the Afterlife World, which ensured their eventual return to the real world. [One]
They had been helping people achieve happiness by fulfilling their goals, so the light orbs that appear in the OP and in episode 13 granted their wishes and brought them back to a time before the point of no return so they could meet each other and be together. [Clannad]
Since coming to the Afterlife World, Otonashi and Kanade had grown stronger and opened up their heart more, so they would be in better shape when they return to the real world to overcome their tragedies (abdominal injury and heart failure) and change the outcome of the adversities favorably for them. [Little Busters!]
They were able to recognize each other thanks to a song of a certain musician, which they somehow retain the memories of. [Charlotte]

Interestingly, Otonashi Yuzuru (音無 結弦) means "no sound" and "fastened strings", respectively, while Hatsune (初音), the name of Otonashi's little sister, means "first sound", like the first sound of a heartbeat of a person long thought to be dead, and Kanade (かなで/奏) means "to play an instrument". Playing the Meaningful Name trope, Kanade plays out the tunes of her romantic encounter with an Otonashi whose love strings had been fastened.

It appears that Jun Maeda is continuing the development of the Angel Beats! visual novel scenarios in the gacha game Heaven Burns Red via collaboration events, and so far both Miyuki Irie and Hisako of Girls Dead Monster have their scenarios explored in the two recent collaborations; Yuri and Kanade also appeared in the game as well.

There's no information about the next life of these present on the afterlife, but, if you think on the series there's some moments they talk about reincarnation.
As you can read on Wikipedia:

In old Japanese legends, it is often claimed that the dead go to a place called yomi (黄泉), a gloomy underground realm with a river separating the living from the dead mentioned in the legend of Izanami and Izanagi. This yomi is very close to the Greek Hades; however, later myths include notions of resurrection and even Elysium-like descriptions such as in the legend of Okuninushi and Susanoo.

Because of this, there's a generally accepted theory about reincarnation. They think on this, but, not on reincarnation on a person, because they can reincarnate as any other thing (Remember these chapter talking about reincarnating in a barnacle? (I don't remember now).
At the end, you can think who Otonashi and Tenshii (Yuzuru) have a lot of luck and got reincarnated on persons, in the same time and place, and they meet again. There's only a ideal situation, not the default form of this.


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What is Sakamoto doing holding those rods?
On page 3 of chapter 9, Sakamoto is walking while holding two rods in his hands. What is he trying to accomplish doing that?

Sakamoto is holding the L-shaped dowsing rods, which are used to

locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites, and many other objects and materials.

The rods enable Sakamoto to:

physically locate the trap set up by Acchan and his gang
spiritually locate "points which require adjustment".

I'd say, in the end, it's similar to how a divining rod works. They often also have the symbolism of finding things other than water.


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What type of Sage Mode does Hashirama enter?
We all know that the following people are capable of entering Sage Mode:

Naruto
Jiraiya
Orochimaru (learnt but couldn't use because of his body, or rather his vessels)
Kabuto
Hashirama

Naruto and Jiraiya learnt it from the Toads (at Mount Myōboku), hence they go into the Toad-style Sage Mode. Orochimaru and Kabuto learnt it from the Snakes (at Ryūchi Cave), hence they go into the Snake-style Sage Mode. But what type of Sage Mode does Hashirama enter? I read a lot about the Sage Mode and Senjutsu, but couldn't find any info about Hashirama's Sage Mode.

While reading the wiki, "The method of learning the other styles of Sage Mode are unknown, as the only one shown was the toad's style.".

Chances are it is related to his summon

I think he learned it naturally since he can use Wood Style. Any thoughts?

One logical choice is that it comes from Slugs, since that species is the only one left of the trio. Moreover, his granddaughter has a Summoning contract with slugs.

Yeah, that's possible. Like how his counterpart Madara was the first to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan (at least in "our" times), then awaken it further into a Rinnegan. It is suitable for Hashirama to also have done awesome things which no one knew of before.

@Happy, good thought about the Slugs, however nothing in manga nor in anime showed Hashirama uses summoning Slug. My theory is that since he inherit the body of the Sage of Sixth path, maybe it comes naturally and Hashirama learn it eventually.=)

The good news is that with Obito now being either defeated or "won over" by Naruto's speech, Hashirama v/s Madara is likely to come up pretty soon, and there is a very good chance his sage mode would be explained at the time.

@R.J., I think turn into "wood" not "stone".. LOL.

@NaraShikamaru Well, yeah, that's why I didn't post it as an answer, but Kishimoto likes to use "themes" from mythology and legends (like Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo, Izanagi, Izanami), and there's also a legend about "Snake, Slugs and Toads", so for completeness, he is might have planned for a Slug Sage Mode. Right now, there is no other character with whom he can display it. (unless Sakura learned Sage Mode during the timeskip. :P)

Yeah, you might have to wait for the answer, but you certainly don't need to wait for an upvote. :)
What's wrong with the site these days? Why are people so reluctant to vote? :(

Pure speculation here: I believe it is the snail type sage mode (which wasn't revealed, but is highly likely to exist), since the family connection to Tsunade, who uses snails (or rather, snail). Again, pure speculation.

FWIW , take a yonder at this thread. The original thread was on NF, but this guy took the theory and expanded it even more. http://narutobase.net/forums/showthread.php?t=331340

Before I deliver my answer, we must ask ourselves what Sage Mode is.
What is Sage Mode?
From Sage Mode article:

Sage Mode is the empowered state humans enter when they learn to draw natural energy inside them and blending it with their chakra. By doing so, the human creates new senjutsu chakra that allows them to enter Sage Mode.

The next question is: Where do shinobi learn it from?

Thus far, Sage Mode has been shown to be taught in two places: at Mount Myōboku by the toads, and Ryūchi Cave by the snakes.

The articles clearly states that Sage Mode is achieved when the user learns to draw natural energy and mixes it with their chakra, and Mount Myoboku and Ryuchi Cave are two known places where they can learn to do so.
Now, the requirements for learning Sage Mode:

According to Fukasaku, only those who already possess "extreme chakra levels" can utilise natural energy to invoke senjutsu.

Hashirama Senju's Sage Mode
Let us move onto Hashirama Senju.

Because of his large chakra reserves, Hashirama is able to use senjutsu by entering Sage Mode, a feat he could perform instantaneously; it is not known where he learned it.

If we look at his abilities section:

He is similarly knowledgeable of skills he has no training in, being able to recognize the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique.

Taking into consideration the aforementioned details, in conclusion, it is possible that Hashirama learned Sage Mode by himself. Since it is self-taught, it is not animal-influenced. Hence it would be something-like a "Normal-Without-Animal-Influence-Sage-Mode".
What led me to this conclusion?

Learning Sage Mode at Mount Myōboku or Ryūchi Cave grants the user with a toad and snake-influenced Sage Mode respectively,

That is the explanation for the toad/snake techniques used by Jiraiya/Naruto and Orochimaru/Kabuto.
However, Hashirama's Sage Mode hasn't shown what animal-influence it possesses so far. Therefore, he couldn't have learned his Sage Mode from Mount Myōboku or Ryūchi Cave.

His Sage Mode strengthens his Wood-Release techniques and his overall performance drastically.
From Naruto manga, Chapter 657, Page 08:

Madara-sama's line: "Only this much power... This will be easy to handle.", shows that an experienced and powerful shinobi can use Senjutsu within mere moments.
Wrapping up
Since there is no official details about what Sage Mode Hashirama uses, my conclusion is classified as a possibility.
Another possible conclusion is detailed in this answer: Is there a slug based Sage Mode?

I Think Hashirama enters into "Bull Sage Mode", as the Bull Sage was one of the original 5 Sages which were

The Eagle-Owl Sage,
The Scorpion Sage,
The Bull Sage,
The Salamander Sage
The Toad Sage

And it happens the Bull Sage specialises at Wood release which was Hashirama's specialty

Interesting! Where did you get this information from? Can you provide a cite link?

this is invalid as kabuto and orochimaru has dragon/snake sage power.

Don't forget the slug powers

This is fan fiction: http://narutofanon.wikia.com/wiki/The_Five_Great_Sages_of_The_Ninja_World

Hashirama Senju has the Forest Sage Mode. It says in the wikia, that his Sage Mode is a special type that only he can use. Thats fitting since he would need the Forest Style to increase the effect of his Wood Style.

more then forest i think it is Wood type as he is the only person to know wood release technique and in his sage form he makes the wood seal as explained by yamato.


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Whereabouts of Senju clan
Among the descendants of the Sage of Six Paths only the Uchiha clan seems to be alive. Where is the Senju clan (except Tsunade)? Were they eradicated during the wars? Or are they still alive?

It has not been revealed. The list of Senju clan members shown in the series are very few and almost all of them are dead (with the exception of Tsunade):
Here's the list of Senju clan members who are known:

Nawaki
Butsuma Senju
Hashirama Senju
Itama Senju
Kawarama Senju
Tobirama Senju
Tōka Senju
Tsunade

From Senju clan article:

It is unknown if the Senju clan still exists as an independent clan since it neither became one of the four noble clans of Konohagakure nor is there are any known people with the last name "Senju" — with the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, being the only possible exception. Their legacy however, lives on strongly in the hearts of the people of Konoha.

From Clan Guide article:

Senju (Thousand Arms) of the Forest were one of the founding clans of Konoha. Under Senju Hashirama, they allied with other clans including the Uchiha, to found the Fire Country's ninja village. It is unknown if Senju retains a clan structure in the current Konoha. Tsunade is the only known living descendant of founding clan of Konoha.

Apart from the Senju and Uchiha, the Uzumaki clan also has roots leading to the Sage Of Six Paths.
From Uzumaki clan article:

Descendents from Asura Ōtsutsuki, being originated from the Senju clan,

Therefore, the Uzumaki clan is also one of the surviving descendents of the Sage of Six Paths, along with the Uchiha clan.


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How can All Might still fight using One For All in the latest movie?
In the rematch fight with All For One, All Might had used his last embers of One For All and told Midoriya that he couldn't fight anymore, but in the latest movie we saw that All Might was using One For All and I wanna know how? How can All Might still fight and maintain his muscle form for that long?

You are right, All Might has weakened significantly after his fight with All for One. It would be contradictory to show that he can still fight a powerful villain after that. However, the movie happened before his fight with All for One. As quoted from Horikoshi here,

"Yes, the events of the movie happen before the battle with All For One, so I want everyone to be able to watch and look forward to this since you will never see their duo move in the manga."

The movie is set after the Final Exams, so roughly between Episode 38 and 39, while the fight between All Might and All For One happened in Episodes 47 to 49.


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Is Yamori's change of hair color caused by torture?
Yamori (Yakumo Oomori) has undergone torture before. Did the torture really cause Yamori to change his hair color?

In the wiki,

In Tokyo Ghoul: Jack, Yamori was slimmer than he was in the Tokyo Ghoul manga and had black hair.

In the Tokyo Ghoul manga, he already has blonde/white hair. Since he was also subjected to torture similar to Kaneki, and since he was also depicted in the manga standing over his torturer with blonde/white hair, it can be said that the same thing that happened to Kaneki's hair also happened to him. Might also be useful: Why did Kaneki's hair change color?


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Why didn't Eraser Head just cancel out Kurogiri's quirk when he attacked the USJ?
Eraser noticed pretty quickly that someone was warping in so why didn't he cancel out Kurogiri's quirk as soon as he saw him and take him out when there was only one or maybe two of them? He and Thirteen shouldn't have had much of a problem fighting two villains when only one has a power, and he noticed almost immediately that something was wrong.

From the scene (the ending of episode 9), Aizawa noticed the warping of villains immediately, however,  his main priority were the students who he was responsible for.

He firstly had to alert everyone  because, apparently, no one else noticed until the first batch of villains started to came out. He was also smart enough to call for backup and instruct N0 13 to protect the students right before the decided to engage the enemy.
I'm pretty sure that the element of surprise worked against them, and since he was with a bunch of newbie students, his thought process was much more conservative.

A lot of times, while under pressure with little time to react, the best options might not come to our minds until way after such event has occurred. Nevertheless, his call was still very good since his students were his number 1 priority.

An example that compliments this; imagine a Samurai fighting while protecting his students compared to that same samurai fighting without any clear distractions. The exact same setting, moreover, you can expect his thought process to be very different in those 2 situationns.

I understand that at the time it may be harder to think of the best solution, but using your quirk when you see danger seems like the most obvious choice. Besides this, he is a professional hero so it seems like using his quirk to protect civilians would be the first thing that comes to mind, since thats the only way he could really protect people.

It seems pretty easy for people to always complain about what could and could not have been done. And sincerely speaking, I also do sometimes, but you'll be surprised how different situations make people act differently. I do agree that he could have ended the situation immediately, but then if that had happened, would we have actually enjoyed the arc as much? Most animes would usually tend to prolong it quite a bit and that dynamic is also a factor. Because lets be honest here, things don't always go the way we'd expect them to @user30104

I guess we could coin it as an error on erasers part, or a plot convenience for some splice of action, either way, both are justified. @user30104 Even police officers and judges make mistakes that could negatively affect innocent people, despite the huge amount of experience, and its actually relatable in a sense. We are NOT PERFECT and on a daily basis, the mistakes we make surely proves that. It could also have been more of plot convenience, to make the story-line more interesting and longer.

Because he want actually visible yet for Eraserhead to actually see in order to use his quirk on him. When the villains started warping in, it was just a portal, not actually Kurogiri himself. He didn't show himself to the students and 13 until Eraserhead had already jumped down the stairs to take on the mob in the plaza. So Eraserhead probably wasn't even aware of his presence until after Iida had escaped, had dealt with 13 and joined Shigaraki and the Nomu in the plaza. Eraserhead would not have been able to lay eyes on him until at least this moment anyway.

+1 i really like this answer, its possible he could not directly tell whose quirk it was, although in both anime and manga kurogiri's form was still visible as the core of the portal, but yea considering the element of surprise and how quickly villains began to flood in, it makes sense that past the portal opening it would be difficult to pinpoint the quirk user


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What's it called when anime and manga chooses not to show nipples but make it as erotic as possible
What's it called when anime and manga chooses not to show nipples but make it as erotic as possible? I recall in No Game No Life, they did this in their match-up against Jabril the Mugol.

Here's what I think:
I believe that would depend on the extent of eroticism being shown, although I think the word you're looking for is simply 'censored'. If they are

Anime that contain a lot of sexual humor but no outright pornography

then they can be classified as an Ecchi anime that is censored. No Game, No Life is one of them.
This might be confusing as some ecchi anime like Araiya-san!: Ore to Aitsu ga Onnayu de!? are still classified as ecchi yet one who does not know its classification might say that it is hentai. If you watch it, you'll see what I mean. In which case, I think it would be less confusing to use borderline hentai for ecchi anime which is almost but not classified as hentai. 'Borderline hentai' anime which censors nipples include Kiss x Sis.
Both terms, ecchi and borderline hentai, may or may not censor nipples depending on the anime. As far as I know, there is no specific term for an ecchi or borderline hentai anime that is censored.


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What is the proper romanization of the wolf-girl's name?
There is a debate between fans as to the romanization of the name of the wolf-girl character in Spice and Wolf.
Some claim it should be romanized as Holo, whilst others say Horo.
Is there official word on which is correct?

According to Yen Press (the English publisher of the Spice and Wolf novels), they were instructed by the Japanese licensor to use "Holo".
Source:  This comment at Yenpress.com
There was also a scene in the anime, season 2 episode 4, showing a hand-written letter that included "Holo".

Poor writing, but I think it's obvious that it's an L not an R.

Korbo? Are you sure that is right?

@Euphoric Not sure if you're joking ("Korbo" is a fairly popular joke within the English-speaking S&W community) or not, but yes that is the right screenshot. :P

Screw "official" translations. :| I personally like "Horo" much more. +1 though for the research.

Btw, we've all been reading it wrong all along! I just had an epiphany - it's "Horlo"! Remember how they always say the "r" of the kana sounds like a mix between l and r? It all makes sense! /sarcasm

Although it looks more like Kalo to me

According to one episode in 2nd season and official translation of light novels it is Holo.
But Horo has been used for so long, that it is hard to fans to accept the official romanization. Also, in many languages, the official japanese dubbing too sounds more like Horo than Holo.

This indeed splits Spice and Wolf fans into two as ホロ is "Horo" in romaji, but in official English translation it's "Holo".
For Japanese viewers, the name is "Horo" (ホロ). For English viewers, the name is "Holo".
Which of the names came first? You know the answer to that already. In the end, both are official and valid names for wolf-girl protagonist
It's also known that HorribleSubs used term "Horo".

I don't think referencing HorribleSubs (or CrunchyRoll) is a good argument since they might not have known the official English name in the first place...


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Is manga censorship in Western countries always done with author consent?
Censorship is usually seen as an act against the author's will. Talking with an editor in my country (Italy) working for a publishing house in the erotic manga market, he tells me that censorship for erotic manga is done in two verses: removing censor bars and obfuscation necessary in Japan (decensorship) and removing elements not suited to Western audience or in a gray legal area, e.g. child nudity. Both of those censorship and decensorship are done with the author consent, becoming a self-censorship and generating a new derivative work featuring important changes.
Shortly: is censorship of manga always done with author consent both in erotic and mainstream publications during localization? Is there a common practice around the world on this topic about manga localization? Are there any cases of censorship of manga publications done without author consent in Western countries?

The correct answer would be: Maybe, as nobody can say it for sure. However, I doubt it.

I'm more of the influence of, 'If the author wants their work in a certain area that doesn't like such-and-such scene in the series, then it'll get edited/removed.  They don't really get to say much about it.'  Take Pokemon (lost episodes), Freezing, Naruto, and Bleach for instance.

@Makoto here I'm talking about manga. In the talk with that editor, he tells that he will not publish anything that cross the lines I described above. So it seems more like "take it or leave" in manga localizations. The author was ok to rewrite himself the scene to adapt to a different audience though.

You are over-thinking it. I guess we only talk about official localizations here, since in non-official ones, anything can be done.
When an official localization is made, some kind of contract is being signed between the possessor of rights for the manga (the author, a publishing house, doesn't matter), and the company that is going to make the localization.
Since this contract is an legal document, it covers, among other things, the limitations (if any) that will be set for the localizer. Obviously, since different countries have different laws regarding nudity in press (as in your example), the contract should probably have clauses that regulate such possible changes (censorship or decensorship).
Whether or not the author himself is aware of this, depends. Sometimes the holder of the rights will inform him, sometimes it will not. For example, when official localization of Spice and Wolf into Russian was being made, the author himself didn't know about it, since it was the publishing house who was holding the rights on the manga, hence it was regulating all the localization aspects.
And after all, if the laws of some country forbid, for example, nudity in press, then there is no choice. You either change the manga to meet the laws, or it is not going to be published.

Yes, I'm talking about official localizations. Could you cite a source about the Russian localization of Spice and Wolf? It seems an interesting case of study.

@chirale, I could try to find it, it was a thread on that company's official forum. But it's in Russian, so will it be useful for you?

@chirale, I found this, it is a screenshot of Isuna Hasekura's (Spice and Wolf author) response to a letter sent by one of the forum users. I don't know Japanese, but I've seen the translation, and somewhere in the middle of the letter he is asking "what is Istari comics?" (Istari comics is the name of official localizer here in Russia; it's a publishing house) and says that he only knew about Spice and Wolf being localized in Taiwan, South Korea and America.


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Why have Soul and Maka got 0 souls in chapter 001a?
In the intro chapter 000-1 of Soul Eater, it's stated that Maka has fed 99 human souls to Soul (the character), that's why they have gone after Blair (a seems-to-be witch) to collect the final soul for Soul (the character).
In chapter 1 on page 20, they were forced to take extra lessons with Black☆Star because both of them didn't collect a single soul. Additionally, you can see Blair from the intro in the first few pages.
So my question is, why are Soul and Maka punished for not collecting a soul, when in the intro it's stated that they have collected all their 99 souls already?

There are quite certain conditions that need to be met in order for a weapon to become the Death Scythe. As looper mentioned in his answer, they need to collect exactly 99 souls + one witch soul. However, "human souls" is not a quite correct definition for those 99 souls. They are, of course, never encouraged to take innocent humans' souls, but rather 99 souls "that are on Shinigami-sama's list" (in manga), or 99 souls that are "on the way to becoming the Kishin" (in anime). So basically, those have to be "bad" souls.
After that, just one soul of a witch is needed to complete the transformation. Usually the witch's soul is collected last, but if it's collected before the 99 other souls, it's kept within Shibusen until the 99 souls are gathered, and then gets taken out and consumed.
Now, if any other soul other than a witch's soul is eaten last, then all the souls that were eaten before it are lost, and the quests starts over again. In this case it doesn't matter at all that Blair

 was a cat, or anything else. The only thing that matters is that she was not a witch.

That's why the 99 souls are reset.
Source: Death Scythe (Weapon)

The goal is "exactly 99 human and a last witch soul". After soul ate Blair's soul,

 which was a cat's soul, because Blair's a cat, not a Witch,

they lost all human souls and needed to restart from the beginning.

 Blair makes notes that when Maka and Soul defeated her, Soul only ate one of her souls (in the anime, she mentions she has nine). This likely to be a reference to the saying of cats having 'nine lives.'

Almost, The last soul was must to be witch soul to complete the test.

From which we also understand that cats have 9 souls each. Seems unfair to give so many to just 1 person, although their cuteness balances things out.


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Are there other known public security sections other than Section 9?
We're all aware of Public Security Section 9, its operatives and scope.
The question is: are there other known sections, and if so, what are their scopes/mandates?

Yes, there are other sections, first mentioned in the first movie.
Section 1
Also known as the Special Service Squad, it acts like a special police unit (compare: SWAT)
Section 2

Section 2 is under the control of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, in charge of conducting law enforcement matters regarding unauthorized experiments and patents take place without the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's consent.

Section 3
Enforces the anti-drug operations in Japan.
Section 4
A special unit in the Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces, also known as "The Rangers".
Section 6

Section 6 is an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance unit under jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs known as the Treaty Council.

Qoutes are from the Ghost In The Shell-Wikia.

Section 1
Also known as "Special Service Squad". This section investigates very serious crimes, and its reach is limited to Japan only.
Section 2
Enforces law in the area of biomedical experiments (un)authorized by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Also enforces patents.
Section 3
Works the drug-related crimes in Japan.
Section 4
Special forces unit called "The Rangers". Batou is an ex-ranger and has cyberized eyes like the rest of his former colleagues, as seen in GITS:SAC.
Section 6
Surveillance and Reconnaissance unit. They are not very cyberized and they don't see much action.
Source is Wikipedia plus my own recollection of the events. It is currently unknown what sections 5, 7 and 8 do.


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Are anime budget and worldwide gross data publicly available?
On Wikipedia there are two lists about box office bombs and highest-grossing films. On nearly every movie page on Wikipedia, there are two values: budget and box office, showing how much a film costs and how much it yields.
Is there something like this for anime, considering home videos, worldwide licenses and/or merchandising?

I would actually expect this information to be available for the analogue of the american films (anime movies), but not for television series. For one thing, it's so much easier to calculate for movies, since you have a simple single release and easily calculable box office receipts. (I do note, however, that Summer Wars has box office, but not a 'budget' entry on the wikipedia page)

Right, here weekly results for Japan on Box Office Mojo (Imdb), here yearly results. As of 2012, One Piece Film Z, Evangelion 3.0 and a Smile Precure film are listed as #1 movies on a weekly basis. The budget part remains obscure for most titles anyway.

I doubt that the budgets are available for every series. Studios rarely have any incentive to release these numbers, and it could make fans angry if they think the studio isn't giving their favorite series a big enough budget.
I was able to find some information. A single episode of anime generally costs around 10 million yen (see here or here, roughly $115,000 USD), though the exact number varies depending on production quality, voice actors, licensing fees, and other factors. The best I've been able to find is this, which really only has a few anime series from 2005 and earlier, and also includes a lot of western animation.
As a note, sales figues, unlike production figures, are widely reported. This forum thread has a lot of data related to that. This gives a sort of upper bound on the production costs, but it's not usually very accurate. For instance, the first season of Fate/Zero sold 52,133 bluray boxes at 39,900 yen each (roughly $496 USD), so the total revenue is about 2 billion yen, which for a 13 episode show corresponds to 160 million yen per episode. That's certainly way more than they actually spent.

To summarize: the rough equivalent of box office data for US movies are Oricon rankings like these, listing how much DVD / BD are sold weekly? This would cover the domestic home video market almost entirely. Are these data about sells public or confidential? It seems that Oricon has a contractual service on http://biz.oricon.co.jp/ so I'm concerned about the publicly part of my question. Thank your for your answer.

@chirale Technically, reproducing the rankings is violating copyright (see disclaimer at http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/index2.html), but they tend to be widely quoted and easy to find regardless. I'm not sure whether they are freely available, but I haven't managed to access anything other than the TV drama rankings on the site itself (http://biz-m.oricon.co.jp/feature/2012autumn_drama/index2.shtml#seasonlink)...

... However, I do know that most of the services they provide are quite a bit different. Specifically, they are intended for marketers in the content industry who want to use Oricon's data to analyze their sales figures e.g. to see what demographic groups they are reaching. Since the data they take is quite a bit coarser than what they publish in the rankings, this is still useful for marketers.

Logan M's answer covers most of the points. But you're unlikely to find numbers like this easily available because studios really like to keep these things under wraps and in-house. A recent article on ANN about licensing anime mentions how even in these contracts, costs are entirely covered in non-disclosure, so not even U.S. licensors are allowed to talk about how much they spent on a particular title.
There are cases where a gross or profit margins are published, or even production costs. But it seems mostly with titles that are screened in theatres (e.g. movies) where box office stats are tracked by multiple sources, and less likely with a TV series or OVA.


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Why does Porco Rosso inspect every round?
In Porco Rosso, Porco can be seen inspecting every round that he just purchased. He discards some and keeps others.

I would assume these are left over from WW1, and as a result they are a bit old and potentially no longer good. Perhaps he is checking to see if the bullet is pushed in, if there's any cracks or rust, perhaps they are just low quality.

He is likely checking ammunition for oil or grease. Oil or grease on the cartridges can produce excessive chamber pressure leading to personal injury or death and/or damage to parts of the gun.


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Where is Tobi's teleportation space location?
While battling with Tobi, I have seen ninjas getting teleported to a place, which is kind of a dark room, having floor made up of blocks.
Is it a real place like a cave somewhere far? Or is it Tobi's subconscious mind?
Justification is required when considering a fighting scene between Tobi and Kakashi-Naruto.
When Kakashi is teleported into that place, Kakashi counter attacks with Kamui making Tobi bleed (cough blood). And Kakashi manages to return back to battle field.

It's explained in more detail in the manga. Anime viewers wouldn't know exactly what Tobi's power is.
That location is an alternate dimension, unique to him.

 Actually, since Tobi has the same eye as Kakashi, their dimension is shared. Tobi can freely insert and extract objects to/from his dimension. Kakashi can apparently insert things from a distance, and extract them directly from his eye.

 Kakshi's counter attack happened because Tobi used his Kamui to teleport a part of him (that was going to get hit in the 'real' world), to the alternate dimension. Kakshi was waiting in that alternate dimension and hit him from there (in the stomach, causing him to spew blood). Kakshi later returned to the real world with his own Kamui.

Tobi has the same eye as Kakashi, their dimension is shared. that explains about Kakashi's counter attack .. accepted

Congrats on 2k :P

It's another dimension. With his Mangekyo, he can teleport objects into a different dimension.

 Kakashi did this with Deidara's arm and his explosion, but released it somewhere else because of chakra-usage. Tobi seems to have the ability to keep objects in other dimensions as long as he wants.

so it's a real location?

@Sai: Yep, that's right.

That's actually inaccurate. Itachi's is a different technique, which takes place in the victim's mind. It's not a real location, unlike Tobi's.

@MadaraUchiha: Indeed, Itachi's is a genjutsu and Tobi's is not. Right?

@JNat: Correct, Tobi's is a space-time ninjutsu, a ninjutsu bending the space-time continuum. Itachi's however, is a genjutsu, it manipulates chakra in the opponents brain causing him to hallucinate.


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What kanji is this, and what's its meaning?
In the anime Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (精霊の守り人), when the Star Diviners are speaking and do not wish for the contents of their conversation to be heard, they say something like "There is no-one else in this room." or "This room has only empty vessels." (depending on the translation, I guess). Then, these other guys in the room (generally people who only light candles and the like) pull a piece of cloth that hangs backwards from their 'hat', and cover their faces. This piece of cloth has a symbol, that I guess is a Kanji (I do not know many Kanji, so it is only a guess).

What Kanji is this, and what is its meaning?


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What is meant by "finished with a super 'DAH'"?
In chapter 196 of Beelzebub, after beating Nasubi, Oga buried Nasubi's doppelgangers into the ceiling, as shown in the image below.
Is there a meaning in the position of the bodies (with the reference of "super DAH")? Or is it just meant to be random?

The corpses form the Katakana character "ダ", which is pronounced as "Da".

The scene before this where he's going against all the Nasubis is probably a parody of Kenshiro's so-called "dadada" warcry.