text:
Why didn't Naruto help Nagato?
When Nagato reanimated everyone who died in the village, Katsuyu was with him.
Couldn't Naruto use Katsuyu to help Nagato, or is it for some other reason?

Can you please word this more clearly?

That small slug could not save Pain lol

please rephrase your question, it is very unclear

Or can you show us references, images or proof that can support your question?

I think you mean either: 1. Naruto could have donated his chakra to Nagato, like he did to Chiyo in the Kazekage rescue arc, and that could have somehow saved him from the after-effects of Rinne Tensei. OR 2. Katsuyu could have saved Nagato similar to how she did to the others when Nagato used the Shinra Tensei earlier. NOTE: I am neither confirming nor denying either is possible, just trying to clarify the question for the others.

When Naruto returned to Konoha, Tsunade ordered one of its smaller
  clones to stay in Naruto's pocket and keep him informed of Pain's
  abilities. naruto wikia

First and foremost, Tsunade didn't intend to heal Pain from the start but just wanted to located naruto instead. Even if Katsuyu implied to do, I think smaller clone are smaller in ability like healing and other. Probably, the Katsuyu in Naruto's pocket can't have enough chakra to heal Pain.

Furthermore, Katsuyu's clones are extremely resistant to high amounts
  of damage, as seen during Invasion of Pain Arc. Katsuyu is also able
  to absorb people into its body, thus protecting them from physical
  impacts like the large-scale Shinra Tensei using its own high
  durability. naruto wikia

Aside from that , Katsuyu seem to absorb physical impacts only and it can't do nothing to chakra overexertion from as far as I watched.

1st, Chakra IS Life Force
2nd Nagato didn't have enough chakra at the time to revive the whole village as stated in Chapter 449
While Nagato died, it should be noted that it was when he revived a whole bunch of people, and when Obito said he die if used it on Madara (chapter 614) who was dead for over 17 yrs, both were extreme cases..... it can be assumed that if you don't have enough chakra, then you'd die if you used Rinne Tensei and the more extreme the case but you could survive if you had enough chakra....
going there, that could mean that the longer the person is dead, the more chakra it'll take to revive them, so if he took time to rest, then it'd have taken even more chakra to revive each person
then Nagato did his jutsu before Naruto knew what was going on so once the jutsu was done and all, then Naruto couldn't help him
while Naruto was able to help Chiyo, Pein's revival jutsu seemed to be even shorter than Chiyo's and Naruto didn't have much of Katsuya and Tsunade used up almost all her chakra so she couldn't transfer chakra to Nagato even if she wanted to...

Chakra is most certainly not life force. Chakra is a combination between Physical Energy (Yang == Life force) and Spiritual Energy (Yin == Comes from training). Some techniques, such as the Rinne Tensei, drain the life-force from the user. That's in addition to the chakra requirement.

As revealed by later chapters, Gedo: Rinne Tensei is a Tensei Ninjutsu, meaning, it transfers the life-force of the user onto another (or others).

 This was confirmed by Obito by saying that to revive Madara, he would need to throw his life away.

No amount of chakra in the world could have saved Nagato, just like Naruto's chakra didn't save Chiyo back then (only helped her complete the technique).


text:
Does Suisei no Gargantia have a manga?
After watching Suisei no Gargantia, I have been looking like crazy for the manga, but have been unsuccessful in doing so. Is there a manga version of this anime?

acoording to Myanimelist , yes it is

can you provide a link?

Thx for edit @Eric

Yes, there is. According MAL, it seems like it started publishing on Jan 10, 2013.

A manga adaptation began serialization in the January issue of the Newtype Ace magazine. It is produced by the Oceanos team and drawn by Wataru Mitogawa. (Wikipedia)

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Who is Tao Ren's wife?
In the original Shaman King, in the ending chapter, grown-up Ren already has a kid, named Men. Who is the mother? As when Lyserg wants to reveal it, because it's obvious from the kid's hair color and name, but Ren doesn't allow him to.

It's implied to be Iron Maiden Jeanne, based on the (silver) hair and (red) eye color.

excellent reference, and nice image, +1!

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


text:
How does a Poké Ball work?
Is it ever explained how a Poké Ball works? I know that you throw it a Pokémon, and if it is weak enough, you catch it. But is the process ever explained? Does it work on humans? Do most Pokémon like being held in a Poké Ball?

A pretty clear answer is given here.
To summarize it,
The Pokemon is absorbed into the Poke Ball, and will try to fight back unless it likes the trainer. That is why the Pokemon needs to be weakened: if it is too strong, it will break free. If the Pokemon does break free, the Poke Ball will break and become unusable.
It was programmed to not catch humans, though it sometimes might accidentally catch other things it is thrown at, such as the rice ball Ash throws a Poke Ball at once.
The Pokemon becomes loyal to the trainer once they are caught, and they will generally follow the orders of the trainer.
To quote the page:

The inside of a Poké Ball is "designed to be as comfortable for the Pokémon residing within", although this is not necessarily true. The Pokémon inside may simply be sleeping, or completely unaware of its own existence. Pokémon are, however aware when inside their Poké Ball — by calling their name, the Pokémon will emerge from its Poké Ball almost immediately.

Edit:
Not all Pokemon will stay in their Poke Ball, however. Pikachu refuses to stay in the Poke Ball, and in the game Pokemon Yellow, Pikachu follows behind the player. Pokémon Soul Silver/Heart Gold let the first Pokemon in a party follow the player.
The Pokemon are shown to be transferred on data chips when being moved to the Pokebox, and only one Pokemon can be stored in each Poke Ball.

you may want to add that not all pokemon like to stay within the pokeball. A good example of such a pokemon is Pikachu. That is why Pikachu always stays out of a Pokeball

"It was programmed to not catch humans" Do you have a specific quote / source for this ?

The mechanics in Pokémon Legends: Arceus give us an explicit explanation for how a Poké Ball works, so a new answer to this question is necessary. In this game, rudimentary Poké Balls are made from only a tumblestone and an apricorn. The apricorn is simply a tough fruit that is hollowed out, though what the tumblestone is and what it does is a bit of a mystery. The tumblestone is presumably used to make the latch, the air hole on top of the ball, and all other mechanical-looking components. As far as I can tell, apricorns have appeared in previous games, but tumblestones have not.
The real wonder of this new game, though, is what it tells us about the Pokémon themselves. Early on in the game, it is stated that Pokémon have the mysterious power of being able to become smaller. Knowing this, we can determine that Poké Balls need not be some kind of wonder technology, because the tough part (the shrinking) is done by the Pokémon! And since presumably humans do not have this ability to shrink, that explains why they can't be caught by Poké Balls.
The quote from Professor Laventon is as follows:

You'll recall, of course, that Pokémon possess the strange power to shrink themselves down. With the Poké Balls we craft, we can make use of that power to catch them!

There's still some question of how it works exactly. Do the Pokémon simply shrink into the ball because they're surprised, or does the tumblestone or apricorn stimulate them to do so somehow? How do the Poké Balls open and close like that?
But even with all these questions, this would seem to be the most complete explanation for how Poké Balls work, as far as I'm aware. There's the capture net thing in the Adventures manga, but that doesn't really explain much.
Some fans are kind of partial to the theory that Pokémon get turned into energy or data or something, because of the bright light when Pokémon get hit by Poké Balls (I never liked this theory, to be honest). Under this new explanation, I would presume all the light seen when a Pokémon is hit and captured is due to light and heat being released during the miniaturization transformation.
Another cool thing about this new explanation from Pokémon Legends: Arceus is that it can be used to neatly explain why you can't capture a fainted Pokémon. If turning small is a conscious process, then a Pokémon would need to be conscious to be put into a Poké Ball. Alternatively, when knocked out, the Pokémon might turn small so that a trainer is unable to find them. It doesn't seem an incorrect notion, as some Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus such as Chancey run away from the player and eventually disappear, and this is presumably because they're shrinking to get away.

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


text:
What does "SDF" stand for in Robotech?
I knew that the Robotech series was adapted from three other anime: The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. However, I always thought that when it came to the "SDF-#" it was either referring to "Space Defense Fortress" or "Space Defense Force".
However, when I was watching Episode 78 ("Ghost Town"), the old guys referred to the crash warship as a "Super Dimensional Fortress".
What does "SDF" actually mean in Robotech?

Is there some reason you thought SDF might mean "Space Defense Fortress" or "Space Defense Force"? I haven't seen the show, but unless the show references either of those terms, it seems pretty obvious that SDF stands for "Super Dimension Fortress".

@senshin they dont actually say Super Dimension Fortress until episode 78 in the third season to my knowledge and SDF is commonly used as Space Defense Force but since it was a warship that only ever got that name i thought fortress, maybe it was a bad assumption

@MemorX Ah, I see. I suppose that could cause some confusion.

According to the Robotech Saga wikia, "SDF" in the "SDF-#" stands for Super Dimensional Fortress.


text:
Who is the magical girl who becomes Walpurgisnacht?
Since witches are actually magical girls who, when their soul gems are fully tainted, become witches, that means that Walpurgisnacht was a magical girl. Since Madoka in two realities became a witch that could destroy the world/universe, that would mean there was a magical girl who was, at the time, much stronger than Madoka (before Homura's trips to the past compiling Madoka's fate and power).
Which magical girl became Walpurgisnacht? Were they like Madoka, and had their fate compiled from overlapping timelines?

what if the shadow magical girls are part of her? maybye walpurgisnacht is multiple witches, just a theory but those shadow magical girls are pretty suspicious....

@whakamole Could you explain What are shadow magical girls, for those that might not be familiar with the plot of series?

Worth noting that there can be more witches than magical girls, because familiars can be promoted to witches if they kill enough.

There is no information about who it was that became Walpurgisnacht. All we really know is that Walpurgisnacht is, in some sense, a fusion of multiple witches (or magical girls, I guess).
Official description from July 2011 Megami interview with Urobuchi:

In the last episode we saw the "Walpurgisnacht", but what kind of witch is it specifically?
It has the destructive power to bring about natural disasters powerful enough to blow away an entire town, but originally it was a single witch. It's a witch that has grown from the combination of countless other witches. Walpurgisnacht combines with other witches in the same way two powerful tornadoes are able to combine and become larger. It's essentially a "conglomeration"-type witch. Because it's so powerful, it rarely shows itself.

See the Madoka wiki for more details.

It may be possible that the last Madoka movie sheds some light on it

It turns out that the third Madoka movie does not, in fact, shed any light on this issue, so this is answer is still the best we have, as far as I know.

An interesting question... a late answer...
I strongly disagree with the interpretation of Homura Akemi herself being the Walpurgisnacht witch. The circumstances during her wish themselves prove that Homura's not the witch.
Homura wished to re-live the time period when she met Madoka for the first time and protect her, instead of it being the other way around. She wished for this, only after Madoka (in the original timeline) died fighting the Walpurgisnacht witch. So, it is evident that Homura was not even a magical girl at that point, so forget the possibility of her being the Walpurgisnacht witch.
Also note that the Walpurgisnacht witch cannot be Homura from the "future" either, because each of the altered timeline universes created by virtue of Homura's wish are independent of each other.

In actuality, the Walpurgisnacht witch is an amalgamation/(coalesced
  form) of multiple witches/familiars. This can be supported by the
  scene where the witch disintegrates after Madoka's wish. It seems to
  suggest that it had resulted from 32 individual magical
  girls/witches...

I did a bit of research, and found that Walpurgisnacht is the conglomeration of many witches into one. Akemi Homura may be a key element in Walpurgisnacht since Walpurgisnacht appears out of nowhere. This could possibly be time travel, and the witch that Homura turns into could have eaten/absorbed other witches until she became Walpurgisnacht.

Just so you know, your "research" is already explained in this answer. Interesting theory though.

Oh, sorry about that, seems I looked it up for nothing :-P

Witch form of Homura (Homulilly) was presented in the PSP game and it looks nothing like her witch form from Rebellion. One can say that this means that depending on the circumstances witch form can change. Plus, Madoka's witch form (Kriemhild Gretchen) also looks slightly different in different timelines.
Nutcracker Homulilly lacks top of the head and on the concept art for Walpurgis Night you can see that Walpurgis also does not have a top of the head. Nutcracker Homulilly also has oldee-european style dress similar to dress that Walpurgis has. Gears/clock theme that Walpurgis and Homura share, similar conical silhouette, two streak hair (braid on PSP Homililly, just streaks on Nutcracker and two-hat thing on Walpurgis), plus production notes that say that "Walpurgisnacht's and Kriemhild Gretchen's silhouettes are supposed to make a pair and they are meant to look like an hourglass". All this pretty much cements Homura as Walpurgis. Regular designs of Homura and Madoka are also make pair, with Homura being black and purple and Madoka white and pink (purple being basically pink with a lot black and gray added to it).
Also, facts aside, thematically there is no reason for Walpurgis to be anyone else beside Homura. If Walpurgis is Homura it creates dramatic irony of Homura fighting with herself and more she grows stronger the stronger her enemy becomes. And trying to save Madoka from her dark side Homura more and more corners Madoka into basically suicide. From the literary stance Homura being Walpurgis makes perfect sense, especially after "Akumura" is created. "Trying to fix everything you only make it worse and probably things would be better if you leave them alone" seems to be a theme with the series in general and especially Homura.

All of the imagery associated with Walpurgisnacht is the same imagery associated with Homura specifically.

When Homura turns into a witch and fights Kyubey, the images of her upside-down smiling is exactly the same as Walpurgisnacht's entrance.
Walpurgis is a fusion of two gears with two magical concentric circles surrounding her. Homura is always surrounded by gears, clocks, etc. because she is a machinist and a time traveler.
Walpurgisnacht appears in every timeline at the exact moment that Homura gives up on her quest to save Madoka. Bearing in mind that Sayaka's imagery was the same as a magical girl and witch (trains, music, swords, capes, mermaid transformation sequence, etc.), it would be logical that Walpurgis is either Homura or that Homura contributes the vast majority of Walpurgis' power with the inverse of her wish to change fate.

we know from the rebellion movie that Walpurgisnacht is not Homura and that Homura's witch form is Homu-Lily, the same witch she becomes in the game, the part about Homura contributing to Walpurgisnacht's power is about the only thing that could be plausible but it would be good if you provide some sort of evidence to back this up (observations in the anime/movie, site references)

I'd assume it was someone who had a lot of ties of fate, maybe one of the queens of England, since her outfit would fit their attire. I'd also assume it could have been the same situation that Madoka and Homura had, or she could have wished to be the most powerful magical girl of all time, and turned to Walpurgisnacht.

Basically, Walpurgisnacht is a Witch that is to be blunt like a Cluster of Witches and it came to be from a single witch that was just either left to its own devices until no solitary Magical Girl could handle it.
That is to say she appears and at that point she also attracts Magical Girls to kill her as she is a reference to the gathering of witches. She is never really explained but we know she isn't Homura nor has she been seen as a Magical Girl. We do know that she could be like Madoka and have made a wish so selfless it made a wish with a curse equally as big as her wish. For example, a queen wishing for her countries prosperity and then she is hung or beheaded by the very people she made a wish for.


text:
How many SDF-#'s are there?
From my understanding, there are three SDFs:

The SDF-1 which was the major focus of the first season.
The SDF-3 which is the flagship of the Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF), where Rick Hunter is.
The SDF-2 I wasn't too sure about, as at first I thought it was a separate ship built, but it was apparently destroyed with the SDF-1 in the final episode of the first season. (Not entirely sure if it's a separate ship or the repaired SDF-1.)

However, in Episode 78 ("Ghost Town"), the communications from the REF were coming from the SDF-4, so I'm wondering: How many SDF-#'s are there, and are they all the same as the SDF-1 (minus the aircraft carriers which were just a patch job)?

The Robotech Wikia has a list for SDF-1, SDF-2, SDF-3, SDF-4 and SDF-7. It includes a listing for SDF-M, but I don't think that was in the TV series (it's mentioned in the Robotech comics). Wikipedia also has a list of Robotech vehicles that has a lot of detailed information of 1-4.

SDF-1: Robotech TV series
SDF-2 Megalord: Robotech TV series (starting from episode 26)
SDF-3 Pioneer: First appeared in "Crystal Dreams" promo and in the Robotech II: The Sentinels series
SDF-4 Izumo/Liberator: Last episode of the original series
SDF-7: Robotech II: The Sentinels novels
SDF-M: Invid War: Aftermath comics

The SDF-7 was a Horizon Class T ship, so it's not like SDF-1.

Haven't watched the show, but Japanese Wikipedia identifies some other things called SDFN-1, SDFN-4, SDFN-8 as "first-generation Macross-class", whatever that means.

@senshin The Japanese Wiki for "Robotech"? I see it mentioned but only referring to the associated character from Macross.

The article for Macross (fictional weapon), actually.

@senshin - I believe that's an entry for Macross (マクロス), the original anime that Robotech was spawned of. While both have the same initial story (more or less) they have vastly different continuities afterwards.

Yeah, Harmony Gold bought the rights to 3 different shows, heavily edited them and rewrote the script so that they can syndicate it in the states (which requires something like 63 episodes) and called it "Robotech". There is no SDFN nomenclature in Robotech.

@SystemDown Oh, I didn't know that they diverged. My bad.

What is canon and what is non canon in Robotech is a mess, but basically the Robotech series, and the Robotech Shadow Chronicles and Robotech Love Live Alive movies are canon and the rest of movies (Robotech The Sentinels and Robotech the Untold Story) and novels and most comics are not
There are 4 canon SDF that you could count as "real". There are more in novels and such but they are non canon versions.
The canon SDFs are SDF-1 and SDF2 which appears in the canon Robotech series (well sort of, the SDF-2 is mentioned but never seen in the series) . The SDF-3 appears in the non canon Robotech The Sentinels movie so because of this it shouldnt count, but it also appears in the canon SDF-3 Shadow Chronicles movie, so you could count it as "real" because of this. The SDF-4 appears in the canon Robotech series and in the canon Robotech Shadow Chronicles movie.
Also what is canon might change over the years, the first 2 Robotech movies when they were made were meant to be canon (and they had its creator involved) but they were de-canonized later.


text:
How does the 3D maneuver gear work?
In Shingeki no Kyojin, the soldiers use the 3D maneuver gear to attack the Titans and cut the back of their necks. In the last episodes, I have seen that they use a balloon of gas as the power to release the chains to climb the walls and trees. How does this exactly work? Is the gas the only power supply to release the chains?

There's several components to the 3D gear that are separate and operate independently. Not all aspects of the mechanics have been revealed in intricate detail, but there is a pretty good idea of the overall operation.
The short answer is that, yes, it is essentially all gas-powered. The trigger causes the gas to shoot the wire out, and a gas compression is also what shortens the wire to pull the device's user forward.
Operating device
The operating device is what the user holds (where the triggers are located). The mechanics of this are not known, and are described as being a black box.{2} Use of this component is what allows the others to function.
Grapple piston
Once the user pulls a trigger, it activates a piston{4} within the main device. This piston uses a quick spurt of compressed gas to fire forward the grapple hook toward its target.{nt.1} No other power source is necessary for this to happen due to the intense compression release from the piston.
Propulsion
The user's grapple hooks fire from a coil{1} which is located in the device itself. When the user wishes to move forward, their gear must quickly pull the cable back into the device. This is done via a fan mechanism{3} that is also gas-powered. Basically, when the user wants to wind back up, the compressed gas blows into the fan, spinning it rapidly and coiling the wire back up, pulling the user forward.

References and reading

Episode 8, card 1
Episode 8, card 2
Episode 9, card 1
Piston at Wikipedia
3D maneuver gear at the Shingeki no Kyojin Wiki
Note 1: Episode 8's second currently disclosable information states that the gas is "compressed ... and injected"{2}, but this appears to be a grammatical error; see comments below.

About the note on "injected": The corresponding Japanese does not say about ejection. A more literal translation is like "Gas is injected into the cylinder, under compression." (No surprises there, actually.)

@Asa Fair enough, my note was an assumption (considering that's how it's expelled from the tank to be useful in the machine).

For the Black Box mechanism (grips) the curved trigger (shaped like a brake lever on a bicycle) located on the outside of the grip is used to fire the grappling hooks towards the target. The top trigger within the grip is used to release the grappling hooks or to reel them back towards the user pulling the user towards the target. The bottom trigger within the grip is used to activate the gas propulsion system that helps the user move around with speed on the ground or in the air. The sliders placed near the top of the grip are used to change the angle and position the shooters on the users hips are facing letting them target where to fire a grappling hook.
SOURCES: NO REGRETS OVA- Levi using ODM Gear.

I've been looking into this and I do consider it feasible. The retraction system checks out but some issues I have thought of (and are pretty obvious) are that it would be very heavy with the compressed gas on you, (practical use you wouldn't need the sheath or the blades cause titans don't exist).
To shoot a hook out with just compressed gas you wouldn't get very far especially if it's steel you would have to use something a lot lighter like carbon fiber. (I hadn't thought of pistons till I read one of these answers though). How much gas you can release out of the pressure tanks at once is pretty small with current technology so you couldn't get much of a boost from it but if you found a way to release gas faster without blowing yourself up then that would solve a lot of problems.
That all I really have on the subject, I really want to build some 3DMG but it will be a very drawn out project because it will cost a lot. I don't have and links that really would help describe any of this.

I have a good idea on how the black box works. The top trigger is used for the hook and the bottom trigger is used to activate the gas with the one fan on that side therefore turning the operator. The two switches on the side are used to extend and reel in the operator on the wire that is attached to the hooks. If you have any other ideas please let me know, I saw Levi do this in one of the OVA's that is how I figured it out. If you want the link just let me know.  http://watchsnk.net/2014/09/shingeki-no-kyojin-ova-gaiden-kuinaki-sentaku-no-regret/ This is a simple theory since it was only for aprox. 10 seconds, it starts at 17:47

You should include the link in your answer as a reference.


text:
Why do Saber and Rin sound disappointed when they see inside Shiro's shed?
In the anime (and also in the visual novel when you make the correct choice), Shiro walks out and overhears Rin and Saber talking. They sound disappointed (maybe even angry) about a discovery they make in the shed Shiro practices in when he does reinforcement on stuff.
Is this in relation to his Unlimited Blade Works Reality Marble and how he has been unknowingly been doing something very wrong when he uses Reinforcement/Projection? Or, is there something else in that shed that Kiritsugu left, and never told Shiro about (like the Crest on the floor which activated when summoning Saber)?

Tohsaka is probably disappointed because the shed is like Shirou's workshop. Tohsaka is a professional magus; her workshop probably has magical items and books and scrolls, but Shirou has broken junk.
Maybe, it's the same for Saber (but we do not know if Saber knows what a workshop should be like).


text:
What's a good entry point for Touhou?
I've been wanting to try and get into Touhou. However, just looking at Wikipedia, there is a crap ton of games and most seem to be for very old systems; they aren't listed in chronological order by store (rather, by release date).
So, I'm wondering: Is there is a game/anime/manga which is in English, in one form or another with games, it would be either official English releases or fan translation patches; anime would be either English dub or sub; and manga either localized or scanlation), which would be a good entry point into the series?

The thing that matters to me from Touhou is that I know all the characters (from Akyu to Yuyuko) and nothing else. I don't have to play the games or get into the convoluted lore to love Touhou.

The biggest difficulty with getting into Touhou is the number of characters which are present. The bulk of the canon story material is really not that large.
The main Touhou games are released in chronological order. This is rather irrelevant because the stories typically are not closely related anyway. However, newer games do involve characters from older games. This shouldn't really stop you from understanding what's going on, because the characters are all pretty easy to understand, but you may miss a few things if you go out of order. Note that these are really essential to understanding Touhou well, since they serve as the introduction for most of the characters and almost all of the major plot points which are referenced elsewhere are from the games.
Typically, it's recommended to start with the beginning of the Windows Touhou games, Touhou 6 (Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil). The Windows Touhou games have only occasionally used characters from PC-98 era games, apart from Reimu and Marisa (the protagonists). However, it would not really hurt anything to start with any of the other games either. If you find the games too difficult, many people who are just interested in the story watch replays of them online or read transcripts of the dialogue (which are available on Touhou Wiki, e.g. here). There are fan-made patches available for all of the main Touhou games.
If you want an official source, Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red (the first Touhou fanbook) has a great deal of information on the characters up to Touhou 9. Touhou Wiki typically serves as a fine alternative as well, though it has a lot of fanon as well. Neither of those are really stories though. To be perfectly honest, you can read almost any of the canon manga releases if you're willing to occasionally look up who a character is. Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth might be a particularly good choice simply because it only involves a small number of characters.
In any case, once you know the very basics (the major characters and plot of the main games), you can pick up pretty much anything canon or fanon with relative ease. The biggest difficulty is just learning all the characters in the first place, and I don't think there's any better advice for that than just to play the games (or at least read the dialogue from them).

There's a good introduction to Touhou in this blog post by rabbiteclair, which gives some background on what exactly is Gensokyo, some perspective on the media and fandom, and also lists some games and manga that are particularly good starting points.

The fandom is so damn big that it was very efficiently self-perpetuating for a long time. There’s no common canon entry point, because half the English fandom just stumbled upon this thing ten years ago and got curious enough to try figuring out what in the hell it meant.

Even just looking at official content, there are >27 official games, a bunch of manga series, a music CD series that has its own independent story in the booklets (fun Secret Sealing Club shenanigans). But here are some possible starting points:
Games:
The stories for the games are fairly straightforward and self-contained, so you can jump into any of these in any order without needing to worry about other games.

Embodiment of Scarlet Devil: The 6th game of the series, and the first game to be released for Windows. The start of modern era Touhou; this game effectively soft-rebooted the continuity, so you don't need to worry about the previous 5 games (the older PC-98 system games). It introduces a lot of major characters, including Cirno, Patchouli, Sakuya, Remilia, and Flandre.
Perfect Cherry Blossom: The 7th game of the series. The Cherry mechanic makes it one of the easier games. Really great music. It introduces a lot of major characters, including Alice (well, if you ignore Touhou 5), the Prismriver Sisters, Youmu, Yuyuko, and Yukari.
Mountain of Faith: The 10th game of the series. Introduces major characters like Nitori, Sanae, Kanako, and Suwako. It's considered the first game of the "2nd Windows Generation", using a new engine.
Ten Desires: The 13th game of the series. Relatively recent. There are a few really good songs in this game. The Trance mechanic helps make the game easier to play, but only if you remember to hit C.

Manga:

Forbidden Scrollery: The story of a normal human girl from the human village as she starts getting entangled in the supernatural and youkai politics. Also, it has an official English release!
Sangetsusei (the Three Fairies series): The story of three pretty normal fairies as they do fairy things. Very slice-of-life-y. Lots of cameo appearances from other characters, so it's also a nice way to get introduced a lot of characters.

Incidentally, I first played the games in this order: TH06, TH08, TH10, TH13, and then TH07. So far, the only games I've been able to finish without any continues (on Normal!) are TH08 and TH07 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


text:
Why do airing shows have times listed beyond a 24-hour clock?
I know of the time notation for some anime—between 22:00-27:00. I know that this indicates that the show airs at a particular time, and likely targets a particular audience.
Why would this notation be used, and be preferred over a more traditional 24-hour format?

This is a hypothesis: The time goes beyond 24 hours in order to make it easier for the viewers to identify which day of the week they should stay up late to watch the show. For example, "Hayate no Gotoku! Cuties is aired on Monday 25:35" informs the viewers that they need to stay up late on Monday.
If we write in standard 24 hours format Tuesday 01:35, it may cause some confusions:

Is the show aired at 01:35 in the afternoon, or some hours past midnight?
Some people only take note of the day of the week, but not the time: "Since it is on Tuesdays, there is no reason to stay up late on Monday".

In Japan, both 24-hour format and 12-hour format are used in everyday life activity. Therefore, a time without any indication of the period of the day such as Tuesday 01:35 might be confusing. The confusion may also be partly attributed to the cultural perception about the hours of darkness.
Quoting the Wikipedia article1 (emphasis mine):
1 The Wikipedia article lacks citation, though.

Times past midnight can also be counted past the 24 hour mark, usually when the associated activity spans across midnight. For example, bars or clubs may advertise as being open until "26時" (2am). This is partly to avoid any ambiguity (2am versus 2pm), partly because 8the closing time is considered part of the previous business day, and perhaps also due to cultural perceptions that the hours of darkness are counted as part of the previous day, rather than dividing the night between one day and the next.

There is another notation that is commonly used, where the day of the week is the day that the viewer has to stay up late, and the time is clamped to 24 hours with some text to clarify the time. Using the same example as above, in this notation, it will be Monday, late night at 1:35.
For the purpose of reference, I do a sampling from the anime of Spring 2013 season (late night shows only):

Beyond 24 hours:

Ore Imo Season 2: チバテレビ4月6日より 毎週土曜 24:30～ 予定
DATE A LIVE: TOKYO MX 4月5日より 毎週金曜日 25:30～26:00
Hataraku Maou-sama: サンテレビにて　毎週木曜日 26:00～
Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince: テレ玉 4月4日より、毎週木曜 25:05～
Kakumeiki Valvrave: 4月11日より　毎週 （木） 25:35　放送開始
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S: TOKYO MX 毎週金曜日 24:30～
Shingeki no Kyoujin: ＭＢＳ 4月6日より 毎週土曜 25時58分～
Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride (it uses both syntax): AT-X リピート放送 (火) 28:30～29:00
Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko: MBS 毎週土曜日 26時28分～

Clamped to 24 hours, but the day of week is the one before:

Arata Kangatari: テレビ東京 2013年4月8日（月）から 毎週（月） 深夜 2時5分～
Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W: テレビ東京 4月7日スタート 毎週 （日） 深夜 1:05～
Hayate no Gotoku! Cuties: テレビ東京 4月8日 （月） 深夜 1時35分～
Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge: TOKYO MX 4/3 (水) ～ 毎週 （水） 深夜 0時30分～
Karneval: ＡＢＣ朝日放送： 4月3日より毎週水曜深夜 2:43～
PhotoKano: TBSにて毎週木曜日 深夜 1時58分～ 放送中！
Yondemasuyo! Azazel-san Z: TOKYO MX 毎週土曜日 深夜1:00～1:15予定 2013/4/6予定
Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride (it uses both syntax): TOKYO MX 2013年 4月8日 (月) 深夜 0:30～1:00
Oregairu: TBSにて毎週木曜日 深夜1時28分～ 放送中

The usage of the 2 notations are more or less equally common. We can also observe that it is more common to specify only the starting time, than specifying both starting and ending time. The data might be skewed by the fact that all the shows here are late night shows, and the sample size is quite small (17 shows).

+1, was going to post a similar answer, but you were faster :P Also, when the time listed is "22:00-27:00", you immediately see how long will the show be, it's more convenient than trying to calculate the duration of "22:00-03:00".

@SingerOfTheFall: It is indeed easier to calculate, but do they ever specify time range? I have only see the start time in the advertisement text.

not sure, it's just a guess.

I don't see how using a standard 24 hour clock could cause confusions, as Tuesday at 01:35 is pretty straightforward to me.  However, your answer does make plenty of sense, and you've provided canonical answers in which it might be used, and it might not be.

@Makoto: In Japan, both 24-hour and 12-hour format are used in everyday life, so I think this is one possible source of confusion. There is also this text in the Wikipedia page (no citation, though) This is partly to avoid any ambiguity (2am versus 2pm), partly because the closing time is considered part of the previous business day, and perhaps also due to cultural perceptions that the hours of darkness are counted as part of the previous day, rather than dividing the night between one day and the next.

Just as a side comment, at my job I've had to process ticketing data for movie theaters, and they tend to serve data for midnight and after showings as 24:01, 25:00 etc the previous day.  So it's not just for TV showtimes, movie theaters use that notation too.

From Wikipedia:

Time-of-day notations beyond 24:00 (such as 24:01 or 25:59 instead of 00:01 or 01:59) are not commonly used and not covered by the relevant standards. However, they have been used occasionally in some special contexts in the UK, Japan, Hong Kong and China where business hours extend beyond midnight, such as broadcast-television production and scheduling. They also appear in some public-transport applications, such as Google's General Transit Feed Specification file format or some ticketing systems (e.g., in Copenhagen). This usage prevents a time period reported without dates from appearing to end before its beginning, e.g., 21:00–01:00.

I can't recall whether time period is used in anime advertisement (I only checked a few recent ones, and they only include the starting time). However, many anime airs after midnight, so the reason This usage prevents a time period reported without dates from appearing to end before its beginning doesn't really apply here.

@nhahtdh Maybe not for an individual program, but when you see the entire schedule it would be confusing to see a show at 23:00-25:00 followed by a program at 01:00-01:30.

That's true for a whole schedule, but the anime is just a single show, though. I have looked through the official website of several shows in this season to see how they specify the date. Turn out that half of them uses a slightly different notation, where the time is not beyond 24 hour.

Whist in Japan, I've seen this happen in other places outside of anime. The opening times for one onsen was 18:00 - 20:00 for women, 21:00 - 25:00 for men.
I'm pretty sure it's to avoid the break that happens when switching days. It's easy to see that the men's bath is open for 4 hours, but 21:00 - 01:00 isn't so obvious at first glance.
It's also related to waking hours - if you're up at 1:00 it's more likely that you've stayed awake rather than woken up early. In that vein, keeping the same day's hours could potentially be less confusing


text:
Why does Li hate Mizuki?
We know that Li is attracted to Yukito because of their magic alignments (Moon), and he blushes every time they meet.
From the moment Li meets Mizuki, he distrusts her, giving her lots of angry glares.

But Mizuki is the bearer of the Moon Bell; why is Li not attracted to this magic, like he was with Yukito?
Sakura seems to be attracted equally to both characters, feeling "hanyan" around them both.

As far as I know, there wasn't much of a revelation about why Syaoran acts that way in front of Miss Kaho Mizuki. Though for me, it would really make more sense if Syaoran would find himself attracted to her powers just like how he feels with Yukito. Nevertheless, Syaoran felt worried when Miss Mizuki is around, maybe, that's how Syaoran shows his alertness because of Mizuki-sensei's mysteriousness.

Yeah. He probably can't read if Mizuki is a friend or a rival so that's how he reacted towards her. I know Mizuki was intentionally sending moon powers signal to Cerberus for her to lure away Yue's alter-ego, Yukito. So it's still a mystery as to why Syaoran reacted differently the way he reacted with Yukito when it's the same moon power signal.

Perhaps he acts' strongly' to moon power, rather than positively


text:
Does the "flower's name" myth have a real-world basis?
In episode 6 of Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki, several stray kittens suddenly turn up at Moe's house, and her family nurses them until they can find a foster home. They also decide to give names to the kittens.
So, Moe suggests they name the kittens after flowers. Hide, her brother, replies that he thinks death comes sooner to those who have a flower's name.

I've never heard this legend before; even Moe seems surprised (replying, "Do they?"). Is this based on a real legend (Japanese or otherwise), or is Hide misinformed?

I can't find anything.

In the manga, Hide says:

Which roughly translates to "but doesn't that sound a bit untimely?" Which probably refers to the fact that flowers lead short lives. Perhaps drawing indirectly from what Lord Capulet says in Romeo and Juliet?

"Who said death lies on her like an untimely frost upon the sweetest flower of all the field?"

Luckily, the dad suggests:
"Fruit would be better." Perhaps referring to the kittens being young, while keeping with flower subject.


text:
Why is the name "Harkonnen" used on Seras' cannon in Hellsing?
After reading an interesting post on the "anti-midian" meaning of Seras' battle rifle/cannon thing, I would like to know what the motif of Vladimir Harkonnen from the "Dune" series has to do with her cannon?
Let me give you an example:

Alucard's awesome pistol "The Jackal" symbolizes Walter's future betrayal of Alucard because, in the Fred Forsyth book "The Day of The Jackal", the character The Jackal kills everyone who helped him make his forged documents and weapon as a way of covering his tracks as he tries to kill Charles De Gaulle. In the dream sequence where this motif is introduced, The Jackal comments, "Never trust the man who makes your own weapon," which foreshadows Walter's betrayal.

So since Seras has two huge cannons that bear the Vladimir Harkonnen name and she even talks to Harkonnen in a trippy dream sequence, what kind of symbolism or motif does Harkonnen have in relation to the Hellsing universe?

Just an FYI to others: This was originally posted at http://scifi.stackexchange.com/q/35743/13099

this is hellsing ultimate, right?  because i sure don't remember seras talking to her gun in hellsing, or walter betraying alucard either.

It is Hellsing Ultimate. If you haven't seen Hellsing Ultimate yet and liked the original TV show Hellsing, drop everything you're doing right now and watch it. Ultimate is a million times better than the TV series and is probably one of the best animes in existence.

If you recall from the OVA and manga, during dream sequences, the appearance of the gun's so-called "spirit" bears a strong resemblance to Baron Harkonnen from the David Lynch adaptation of Dune. This is strongly implied to be a tribute/reference to the Dune series (or at least the movie).

I gotta hand it to ya, you have a pretty solid answer. But I would also like to know if Harkonnen somehow ties in with any of the themes in Hellsing. Is it just a shout out to the movie "Dune"? I don't know, what are some specific things about Harkonnen that might have made Kouta Hirano decide to name Seras' cannon after him?

Seras Victoria experiences repeated visions of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from the David Lynch film "Dune" claiming to be to be the spirit of her gun.
As far as I can tell, there's no canon [sic] explanation for the reason why it chooses to manifest itself in this particular way, aside from the fact that her gun is actually called The Harkonnen (which is itself a contraction of the formal name of the gun; e.g.

Hellsing Arms Anti-Midian Cannon" becomes "HAA Cannon" becomes "Harkonnen").

Although she is initially scared by the Baron's 'spirit' and runs from it on several occasion, it does ultimately provide a successful (and wholly accurate) warning that she is being targeted by a Rio S.W.A.T. team which would seem to indicate that there's more to her visions than mere introspection brought on by extreme psychological pressure.

Okay, this is kinda pushing it, but if you see on Westwood Dune series RTS (Dune, Dune 2/ Dune 2000, Emperor: Battle For Dune) (which, kind of, based on Dune universe, kind like Alternate Universe or something), you see that House Harkonnen, a faction in this game, is kinda... obsessed with firepower. Ludicrous Firepower and Armor, at the expense of speed and utility. Their ultimate weapon is a nuclear missile.


text:
Can an Uchiha remain powerful without embracing hatred?
Tobirama Senju stated that hatred births the Sharingan and strengthens it:

Can an Uchiha remain powerful without hatred? If not, does this imply that Itachi was full of hatred?

See - http://meta.anime.stackexchange.com/questions/317/how-should-we-handle-links-to-external-manga-readers

Itachi didn't seem like that hateful of a person, and he was very powerful.

That's the reason for the question.

@iOraelosi ah, well, than it seems as though you've answered your own question then.

I see... facepalm

I don't think hatred is the only feeling that makes an Uchiha powerful, since many strong feelings (e.g. pain) can strengthen him, and this is just a quicker way to gain more power.
If an Uchiha sees their close friend or relative die, they gain Mangekyou Sharingan, but the feeling of hatred is not a necessity (Itachi hated no one when he saw Shisui commiting suicide).
So, I believe the feeling of hatred CAN make an Uchiha powerful, but it's not the power source. In short, a strong feeling is just a trigger, and once you awaken the Mangekyou Sahringan with it, you remain powerful.


text:
Are there any non-Japanese manga/anime authors or studios?
Manga and anime famously originate from Japan, and the vast majority of the big names in manga and anime are Japanese; Hayao Miyazaki, Hideaki Anno, Hiromu Arakawa, and Masashi Kishimoto come to mind.
Outside of Japan, I can really only think of one creator who had their work become an anime/manga: The Deltora Quest series was adapted into an anime and manga and was created by an Australian writer, Emily Rodda.
Aside from Rodda, however, are there any* international creators, particularly from the Western world, that have successfully published manga (or anime) in Japan, manhua in China, or manhwa in Korea? Have any Western studios created and produced** anime (or rather, anime-influenced) series?
* - An exhaustive list is not necessary; a few examples from various countries and maybe some stats versus Japan, if possible.
** - Not as a result of outsourcing.

Nino Pagot, an Italian comics writer, get an anime adaptation of his Calimero in 1972 (ANN). The series was broadcasted in Europe and Japan and animated by Toei.

Don't know of a non-Japanese studio that produces only anime, but the series Oban Star Racers was produced by a French studio, "Sav! The World Productions" along-side Bandai and Disney.
The Studio 4C production "First Squad" has writing credits to Russian studio Molot Entertainment Film.
As far as mangaka, there's a lot of Korean manwha artists/writers that get published in Japanese serials. I don't think that necessarily makes them "mangaka". The series "Blade of the Phantom Master" by Youn In-wan was serialized in "Monthly Sunday Gene-X" in Japan (published by Shogakukan). Shin Yong-Gwan also had his first couple of works published in "Young Champ".
As far as the western world Frederic Boilet is probably the most well known, born in France but draws comics in Japan.

The manga Freezing is a prime example of Korean artists drawing a manga in Japanese and having it animated.

The only name that comes to my mind is the Japanese-Brazilian novelist and illustrator Yuu Kamiya, who works in Japan and is pretty famous now with the anime adaptation of his series No Game No Life.

One of the creator of Dr. Stone is Korean and he was able to publish his story in Shonen Jump which later was adapted into an anime.


text:
Is there a difference between BFB and Basquash?
In Basquash!, there is a sport called Big Foot Basketball (BFB), and one called Basquash, both of which seem to be derivatives of basketball played using mechas.

Is there any difference between BFB and Basquash, or are they simply two names for the same thing?

BFB seems to be the professional mecha-basketball sport, where as Basquash is a 'street' version of the game.
Basquash is the unofficial name for  Big Foot Streetball and comes from 'baka' and 'sukasu', explained below
Ref

Big Foot Basketball (BFB)
  A popular professional sports league on Earthdash. As its name suggests, it involves playing basketball with Big Foots. Its popularity dwindled however when Dunk Mask hijacked a game, resulting in the destruction of the Rollingtown stadium.
Basquash & Open City Basketball (OCB)
  Open City Basketball, unofficially named Basquash by Dan and known earlier in the series as Big Foot Streetball. It is a new sport that involves playing streetball in a wide cityscape using Big Foots.
Prior to becoming an official sports league, Big Foot Streetball was outlawed due to the destruction it caused. Many of Dunk Mask's ardent fans prefer the name "Basquash" over the official name of the sport. Basquash is actually not the combination of the terms basketball and squash, but rather a pun in Japanese from the terms "baka" meaning "idiotic" and "sukasu" meaning "unintentional acts".
Dan uses the phrase against the The Worst leader, then in a flash of brilliance while chanting "baka" and "suka", starts saying "bakasuka". "bakasuka" is a word that means many, tons, or barrage of.
Basically Dan is jumping from word to word, punning his way, until he screams "Basquash" when he does the final squash serve-like attack, Basquash.

So, the sports are very similar, they're just slightly different.


text:
What exactly is a Pencil Board?
This may not be the best place to ask this question. However, I've only ever seen anime ones. I got an email from JList advertising Sword Art Online and I got a couple with a Galaxy Angel Vol. 1 Limited Edition box.
To me, pencil boards just look like plastic cards which, when flipped around (so everything is opposite), could be stuck to windows and allow light to shine though, but I doubt that's what they are for. What exactly are these pencil boards?

Pencil boards (Shitajiki), are used to place under a sheet of paper (or a pad) such that writing on the paper won't indent the sheets underneath. The wiki page for Shitajiki says:

Merchandised shitajiki are very common, featuring images of everything from tourist attractions to celebrities to anime and manga characters. Most shitajiki designs only go through one print run, making them very collectible and often difficult to acquire. Collecting shitajiki is a hobby for many anime and manga enthusiasts. As collectibles, shitajiki are also often used for decorating or other ornamental purposes.

I always thought another purpose was creating a hard and even writing surface (softer surfaces are usually difficult to write on).


text:
What connection is there between the Black Rock Shooter anime and PSP game?
I've been watching the Black Rock Shooter anime this weekend; I decided to watch it now because I got the PSP game. However, the description of the game says that the world it's set in has only 3 girls left after aliens wiped out humanity, Black and White Rock Shooter being 2 of them.
The anime, however, seems to have no connection to this, so I'm wondering: Are the two linked in any way, or is the only connection between the anime and game the fact that Black Rock Shooter appears in it?

Everything in the Black★Rock Shooter franchise is based on the original concept art by Huke on Pixiv. These were fairly popular, but it really only took off after the supercell song Black★Rock Shooter, which quickly became one of the most popular vocaloid songs to date.
After that point, the franchise essentially split, and all of the following productions are different canons. There has been an OVA and a TV anime, which have similar characters but the plot is rather different. Both of these were criticized by some fans for including lots of content and knew characters which weren't really closely related to the original concept. The game took a more conservative approach by sticking to the action-themed post-apocalyptic mood of the original and only introducing a few new characters. In general, it's safe to say that based on how different the plots of these are, they all take place in different universes.
In addition to those, there have been several other releases, which also generally take place in their own universes. Black-rock chan is a 4-koma manga based on the original concept art. Black★Rock Shooter ~Innocent Soul~ is a manga, again based on the original and in a different universe. There was also a manga and a 4-koma related to the game.
So, to summarize, there is no direct connection between the anime and game, but they are both based on the same original work.


text:
When did Sakamoto get his three chips?
When did Sakamoto obtain his three chips? (It may be that I just didn't pay enough attention.) I do know Tairo collected most of the chips of the dead bodies, but I never really saw Sakamoto collect any or kill any of the players. How did he obtain them?

Sakamoto has 3 chips, plus his own (for a total of four), after he kills Masashi Miyamoto (knife guy) and Souichi Natsume (attorney guy with glasses).
Before Miyamoto gets killed (while he has Himiko hostage, after Natsume is killed by the Cracker BIM), he mentions he's already killed a guy and taken his IC chip and BIM. Miyamoto wrongly assumes that Sakamoto has three chips (two plus his own) since he has 3 types of BIMs, and that Himiko has Mitsuo Akechi's (fat guy) IC chip.


text:
What are the Naruto hand seals based on?
There are a number of hand seals in Naruto that are used to perform jutsus. I know that the seals themselves have different zodiac signs. Is there any lore or historical basis for these seals, or was it invented by the creators of Naruto?

just out of curiosity, I'd say that he is Obito, but which jutsu is he performing?

Since he is an Uchiha and his last sign is Tiger I think it's safe to assume it's a Fireball technique. I'm not sure if we have ever seen Obito perform Earth-style jutsus. http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Hand_Signs#Basic_Hand_Seals

The hand seals in Naruto are based in Mudra, which are symbolic/ritual gestures associated to Hinduism and Buddhism. Mudra are used in everyday life, from religious practices to dances, going through martial arts as well. The most well-known Mudra is probably Añjali Mudrā, which often accompanies the greeting Namaste.
In the French version of the Mudra Wikipedia page, they do indeed link directly to Naruto's hand seals page, unlike what happens in the English page. However, they don't add much info other than the fact that they are called Mudra, and that they're based on the Chinese Zodiac.
From Wikipedia's page on Mudra, on its use on Martial Arts (highlight by me):

One of the more curious things that I encountered in my martial arts training was the use of mudra in combative arts. Mudra (Japanese: in), for those who aren't familiar with them, are these weird hand gestures that are derived from esoteric Buddhism (mikkyo), particularly the Tendai and Shingon sects. These gestures are supposed to generate spiritual focus and power which then are manifested in some way externally.

However, as far as I know (and also according to this page) the use of Mudra in Ninjutsu is made up by Kishimoto (once again, highlights by me):

Although the use of hand seals in ninjutsu is entirely made up by Kishimoto, seals are used as ways to focus energy during Buddhist meditation. Also, special hand signs, called mudras, are used to convey a certain concept into the user. For example, a right hand raised with palm facing outwards means “no fear”, and grants the user that concept’s blessing through their meditation. The seals in Naruto are from the oriental zodiac, the 12 animals which name the years (I was born in the year of the snake, for instance), the properties of each seal representing what that animal’s qualities are - Eg, Tora/Tiger seal is fire.

Basically, in real life hand seals are used in meditative practice, and are supposed to help the user get into a certain state of mind.
In the Naruto universe, Kishimoto decided to use these ancient signs in a different way (associated to Ninjutsu), but their purpose is basically the same. The user performs hand seals in order to gather/mold chakra, which means that he is entering a certain state of mind when he does so. Also, when a user masters a jutsu he needs to perform less/no signs before he can do it, which means that the meditation phase before the use of the jutsu can be skipped/sped up. Similarly, the more one meditates, the easier it gets for him to get into a state of meditation.
So they are basically based in an existing concept, but used in a different context (in Ninjutsu), with basically the same function.
For more info in Mudra, also see this page.

Naruto hand signs or seals are based on something called Mudra. Mudra originated from Yogic Philosophy because they would use Mudra for meditation or other symbolic reasons.
Mudra were used to help yogis and Monks to become spiritually enlightened by using mudra to channel the life force energy of a person within a certain way.
Later on, the information on mudra spread to different parts of China via Daoism and overall Buddhist teachings.
Mudra were used by people in Mikkyo Buddhism aka Esoteric Buddhism. Samurai and Ninjas would use these techniques almost like a battle meditation they'd use before missions.
In my opinion, most of these mudra are somewhat modified or based on Daoist/Buddhist hand seals that exist.
Heres a link to mudra that look similar to the Naruto Mudras!: http://www1.plala.or.jp/eiji/sub6.htm
I forgot to add the kuji kiri/ or kuji in part too. kuji are hand gestures and mantra people used to invoke a high level of concentration within a person.

They are based on kuji-in. Similar to, but not mudras.
Mudras are learned around peace and happiness while kuji-in are developed to handle danger and battle. "Mudras is to qigong" as "kuji-in is to budo taijutsu or karate".

Welcome to [anime.se]! This seems a good starting point for an answer. However, you can still [edit] to improve this answer further, perhaps by explaining some of the history of it, and the relation with Naruto (e.g. is it a common technique used by ninja, or actually unrelated?)

They are from Taoism.
The author has said they come from Taoism. No one knows and everyone says they are Hindu or Buddhism. If you just compare the patterns of the movements, you can see the similarity. In Naruto, they are modified a bit from the original but see a similarity much more than mudra.

Welcome to Anime.SE! You say that Kishimoto himself said that the hand seals come from Taoism; can you provide a source for that? If you can, I think that would make it definitive.


text:
Could Naruto's shadow clones transport jutsu?
In Naruto's battle against Pain,

 Naruto transports his sage mode chakra through shadow clones that he got back in frog town.

Would this also mean that if Naruto makes his clone cast a jutsu, then dispell it, the jutsu would also return to the owner?

What kinds of justus do you expect to be transferred for instance?

@MadaraUchiha for an example Rasen shuriken, It is throwable so the dispell part as in Tartori's answer should not affect it

Well, maybe if he threw it at another clone (or the original) then dispelled, maybe then it would work. But if the clone simply dispels without doing anything, I think Tartori's answer is correct.

@MadaraUchiha Also think tatoris answer is correct. but ill wait for a bit before accepting. see if more intresting answers pop up :)

The chakra is equally divided between all the shadow clones, so when one dies or disappears, the original will get the chakra they had left back (with all their memories). It's another thing with jutsus, when he generates a Rasengan, for instance, it is used, it is there. When the shadow clone then disappears, the jutsu is released and it will disappear to.


text:
Are a lot of butlers named "Sebastian"?
In Lucky Star, Konata calls Shiraishi, one of her classmates (and co-host of Lucky Channellu), Sebastian, apparently because he looks like a stereotypical butler. This is presumably an anime/manga reference. Any idea where this reference comes from? Are butlers in a number of anime called Sebastian?

Seemingly that particular scene is referring to Mari Mite, or Maria-sama ga Miteru as Konata was parodying one of the main characters - Sachiko Ogasawara.
Reference
But in general, Sebastian is a stereotypical name for a butler in anime, and this fact is often used in comedic scenes involving them:
In Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Fukka insists on calling the Itoshiki families' butler Sebastian, even though that's not his name. Similar scenes occur in Junjou Romantica, Paradise Kiss and Mayoi Neko Overrun where butlers have the name forced upon them.
It occurs in Western media too, although Jeeves tends to be the name of choice, and appears in media over here in a similar sense. This first occurred in P.G. Woodhouses' short stories and novels and inspired similar characters. Presumably, the anime trope surfaced in a similar fashion.
In P.G. Woodhouses' stories, there is also a butler called Sebastian Beach, this could be just a coincidence though.
When I was looking information up on this, Black Butler and its Sebastian Michaelis kept cropping up, the name Sebastian here serves two purposes - the stereotypical butler and also sharing the name with a historic figure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Michaeli

Thanks. That makes sense. Even though Mara Mite was released in anime form only in 2004, the light novels were first released in 1998.

Konata probably called Shiraishi as Sebastian (reasoning that he looked like a sterotypical butler) because a lot of anime butlers are named as Sebastian. So the name Sebastian is probably connoted to the word butler for an otaku. And she is probably referring to the following butlers named Sebastian:

Black Butler's Sebastian Michaelis
Tekken's Sebastian
Penguin Musume Heart's Sebastian
Inukami!'s Sebastian
Phi Brain Kami no Puzzle's Sebastian
Ixion Saga: Dimension Transfer's Sebastian
Dokidoki Pretty Cure's Sebastian

Thank you. Any idea who the first was? The manga is from 2004 and I'm pretty sure that it carries this reference too.

She probably called Shiraishi as Sebastian with the reason that he looked like a stereotype butler, because a lot of anime have butlers named Sebastian. So its like Sebastian was connoted with the word butler for an otaku.

That particular reference was to Daisuke Ono, who was the voice actor of the Sebastian butler in Black Butler. Daisuke plays himself in Lucky Star. There have been a crap-ton of Sebas-chans, though, which makes for a running gag.

In the 1974 anime Alps no Shoujo no Heidi the Butler is called Sebastian. I guess it all started there, but it might go back even further.
Anime featuring a butler called Sebastian (even though that might not be their real name):

1974, Alps no Shoujo no Heidi
1998, Princess Nine: Kisaragi Joshikou Yakyuubu
1999, To Heart
2005, Paradise Kiss
2005, Trinity Blood
2006, Inukami!
2007, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
2008, Penguin Musume Heart
2008, Kuroshitsuji
2010, Mayoi Neko Overrun!
2011, Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzl
2012, Ixion Saga DT
2013, Dokidoki! Precure
2015, Overlord (though, he's called "Sebas Tian", making fun of the trope)
2020, Hachi-nan tte, Sore wa Nai deshou!
2021, I-Chu: Halfway Through the Idol

..and many more.


text:
How large is Dorj the cat?
In Little Busters, Dorj (ドルジ) is a very fat cat with tiny paws.

But there seems to be some discrepancy about how large Dorj really is. Some sources place him at around half Rin's size (as seen above), but sometimes he's much larger.
Does Dorj have an official size? If not, at what size does most official material (figures, promotions, etc.) place him?

According to this page, Dorj is as large as a seal.

In this picture, he appears to be about twice the size of the children. This page also describes him as being like a seal, as does this page.
Various images of him show him in varying sizes, so there doesn't seem to be one set size, though he is always described as large. (Ex. 1, Ex. 2, Ex. 3)
These are action figures of of the characters giving one version of the relative size:

In the picture, Dorj is about half the size of Rin's body, but her head is disproportionately large and this may not be canon in terms of proportions, so it is difficult to tell.
As a whole, half the size of Rin seems to be a reasonable estimate, but there doesn't seem to be an official size beyond "large" and, sometimes, "large as a seal".


text:
Who was the first "trap character"?
A "trap character"(UrbanDictionary entry, may be NSFW) is a character who appears to be a girl until you get in close enough (plot-wise) to discover they are, in fact, a boy. The inverse trope exists as well; a "reverse trap" character is a girl who appears to be a boy.
(Note: The word trap here is not intended to be offensive, or a slur; it is only used to refer to fictional characters of this type.)
Some examples are Ruka Urushibara of Steins;Gate and Sora Kamomeya of Tsui☆Teru (pictured below):

Who was the first trap character in anime and/or manga, and what media did the trope originate from?

If anyone has an issue with the content of this question, feel free to discuss it in this meta and we will try to address your concerns as best we can.

Tezuka's 1949 manga, Metropolis, features Michi, a synthesised human with a gender switch which can turn it from a boy into a girl and vice versa which is used as a plot device.

Tezuka's 1953 manga, Ribbon no Kishi (Princess Knight) features a reverse trap with a girl pretending to be a guy:

Taking place in a medieval European-like fairy-tale setting, Princess Knight is the story of young Princess Sapphire who must pretend to be a male prince so she can inherit the throne (as women are not eligible to do so). This deception begins as soon as she is born, as her father the King announces his baby is a boy instead of a girl. The reason for this is that the next-in-line to the throne, Duke Duralumon, is an evil man who would repress the people if he were to become king, and because of this the King will go to any length to prevent him from taking over.

Similarly, The Rose of Versailles (1972) is another that has a girl,  pretending to be a guy, Oscar François de Jarjayes.
For a "straight" trap, 1973's Ara Waga Tono! appears to be the first to fit the bill.

This is a slapstick romance, where girls and boys clash in a ‘modern’ co-ed high school. There is a lot of romantic intrigue, quite a bit of gender-bending and some teenage angst when adults Just Don’t Understand. (source: goldbird)

Then there's 1974's Oira Sukeban:

Oira Sukeban (おいら女蛮?), sometimes called Sukeban Boy, is a Japanese manga created by Go Nagai in 1974. It is a comedy with several erotic touches, where the protagonist Banji Suke (or Sukeban) has to disguise himself as a girl in order to be able to attend an all-female school. As Suke Ban is a rebellious boy, this situation creates several comedic troubles.
The manga was adapted to an OVA in 1992 and was released by ADV Films in the US under the name Delinquent in Drag.

But my guess is that the trope really took off only after the publication and airing of Ranma ½ in the late 80s.

The story revolves around a 16-year old boy named Ranma Saotome who was trained from early childhood in martial arts. As a result of an accident during a training journey, he is cursed to become a girl when splashed with cold water, while hot water changes him back into a boy.
Ranma ½ had a comedic formula and a sex changing main character, who often willfully changes into a girl to advance his goals. The series also contains many other characters, whose intricate relationships with each other, unusual characteristics and eccentric personalities drive most of the stories. Although the characters and their relationships are complicated, they rarely change once the characters are firmly introduced and settled into the series.

I don't think Oscar from "Rose of Versailles" should be considered a reverse trap character. Although raised as a boy, her gender was never a secret -  not from the audience and not from the people in the series.

@VixenPopuli Do you mean her gender or her sex was no secret to other characters? Yes, this is a difference.

@philipp: her sex was never a secret.


text:
What is the origin of chibi versions of characters?
In anime and manga, there are versions of characters' drawings that are called "chibi" or "super deformed".

What is the history behind this, and when did drawing chibi versions of characters start?

The use of chibis was supposedly started due to Sailor Moon.

The term Chibi was popularized by the anime Sailor Moon in the character Chibiusa/Chibi-Moon, who is the daughter of Sailor Moon/Usagi ("Chibi-Usa" as in "Chibi Usagi"). An even tinier character in the same anime was named Chibi Chibi (approximately 3 years old). (Modified 23 September 2009; sources: (1) (2))

They also use chibi characters to show smaller children as the actual meaning of the word is "short person" or "small child."
Another reason for chibi drawings could also be for truer expression of the subject's characteristics.

They sometimes express the true nature of the character. The person may lie, but a chibi may say the truth within the individual's mind. A chibi could also express a nature, like massive anger hiding under a cool, calm exterior. For example; the character Hiei, from the popular anime/manga YuYu Hakusho, is often quite calm, hiding his true bloodlust and love of fighting which show themselves only through his chibi form, as seen in the 7th book of the manga. This is also used in the popular anime Naruto with Sakura's true form. It is an easy way to show sides of a characters personality that might come across as awkward or overly serious without this use of comedy.

Chibi is not always used for these reasons though; think of Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
There, the chibis are used as a curse. This still gives a lot of comedic value and helps with the storyline. However, it's not really used to express the characters' nature or for small children.

"Chibi" started after an anime from 1990 (before Sailor Moon) which is called Chibi Maruko-chan, and has a similar art style. So actually, the "chibi art style" is borrowed from Chibi Maruko-chan.

Welcome to Anime.SE! Can you provide any sources to demonstrate that Chibi Maruko-chan was the inspiration for the "chibi" art style?


text:
What is the intended purpose of Haro?
What is the original intended function of Haro (both in-universe and in real life)? What did it end up becoming?

Out-of-universe
Haro was included in Mobile Suit Gundam for the purpose of showing Amuro's talent for building machines. However, it fulfills another purpose; that of being a mascot.
Kunio Okawara initially designed Haro for Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3, and named him after HAL (the computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey)2. It was (likely) intended to be a mascot of the series, before the concept was discarded. However, Okawara was later approached prior to Mobile Suit Gundam and persuaded to include it, allowing it to somewhat serve as a mascot of the series. Since then:

Haro has since become a mascot for the Sunrise studio as a whole, often appearing in their recent idents.
  — Haro, Wikipedia

Because it its popularity and its rank as mascot of the series, Haro has also received a substantial following and quite a collection of merchandise.

In-universe
The in-universe explanation is actually far simpler. Haro was created by Amuro, the main character, as part of his hobby building machines. Amuro generally had few social interactions with others, so he created Haro as a companion to himself, with its speech function and brain-wave analysis functions making it quite a good substitute for a close friend.
References

Haro (character) at Wikipedia
Haro at the Japanese Wikipedia
Series Mascot at TVTropes

So Amuro made himself a "Wilson."

@Krazer That's a good way to put it. :)


text:
Why do Gargantians call Chamber "Yunboroid" or "Yunboro"?
In Suisei no Gargantia's second episode, Gargantians, out of the blue, start referring to Chamber as either "Yunboroid" or "Yunboro".
Where did they get this name from? Was it some type of 'model' name or something that Led told them? Or is it something they came up with?
Either way, what exactly does it mean?

The correct romanization is probably "Yumboroid." The word is probably a portmanteau of "yumbo" and "droid."
Yumbo was a French trademark name of excavators, now used in Japanese to refer to excavators in general (much like dumpsters in America, which was the trademark name for a mobile garbage bin).


text:
What animals and confections are each of the characters?
Almost all of the strange creature in Donyatsu all seem to be a hybrid of some confection and some animal.

(From left to right) Ronya, Donyatsu, Bagel

(From left to right) Kumacaroon, Bamucougar, Morudonyatsu, Sakuwabuta

(From left to right) Menchiwawa, Korokkenn
What combination of animals and confections are each of the characters listed?

All of them seems to be portmanteau which combines the name of some kind of food (reflected in the shape/features of their bodies) and the name or sound made by some animal (reflected in the shape/features of their heads).

ローニャ (ro-nya): ロールケーキ/Swiss roll + ニャ/にゃ (Onomatopoeia for cat)
どーにゃつ (do-nyatsu): ドーナツ/Donut + ニャ/にゃ (Onomatopoeia for cat)
The name is written in Hiragana. For comparison purpose, ドーナツ in Hiragana is どーなつ.
ベーガル (be-garu): ベーグル/Bagel + (Unknown)
クマカロン (kumacaron): クマ（熊）/Bear + マカロン/Macaron1
1 Not to be confused with Macaroon.
バームクーガー (ba-muku-ga-): バウムクーヘン/Baumkuchen + ピューマ（クーガー2）/Cougar
2 In the disambiguation page, クーガー is a different name for ピューマ; ピューマ (Puma) seems to be more commonly used in Japanese.
もるどーにゃつ (morudo-nyatsu): Mold/モルド3 + ドーナツ/Donut + ニャ/にゃ (Onomatopoeia for cat)
3 モルド is more of a transcription of the English word "Mold", rather than a loan word.
ちくわぶた (chikuwabuta): ちくわぶ（竹輪麩）4/Chikuwabu + ぶた（豚）/Pig
4 Not to be confused with ちくわ（竹輪）/Chikuwa. Quoting from Wikipedia page of Chikuwabu: "Chikuwabu is often confused with the fish-based chikuwa, as they are similar in shape and name and are both common ingredients in oden. However, unlike chikuwa, chikuwabu is rarely eaten on its own."
メンチワワ (menchiwawa): メンチカツ5/Menchi-katsu + チワワ/Chihuahua
5 I linked to Menchi-katsu (ground meat cutlet), since it resembles the illustration best. メンチ (menchi) is a phonetically modified version of the word "mince" in English.
コロッケン (korokken): コロッケ6/Korokke + ケン（犬）/Dog
6 Not to be confused with クロケット/Croquette, although コロッケ/Korokke is a dish originates from クロケット/Croquette.

Although not in the pictures in the question, there is also マチュマロ (machumaro), translated as marshmallow mouse, which made an appearance in chapter 3. However, the mice seem to be the only characters in the manga whose bodies don't resemble some kind of food.

マチュマロ (machumaro): マシュマロ/Marshmallow + チュウ (Onomatopoeia for mouse)

Source: http://donyatsu.jp/wp-content/themes/donyatsu/characters/img/characterimg12.gif

As the story progresses, more characters are introduced:

ウシフォン (ushifon): ウシ（牛）/Cow + シフォン/Chiffon cake

Source: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/magazine/yg/introduction/donyatsu/img/character12.jpg
まっちゃん (macchan): まっちゃ（抹茶）/Matcha
According to the official website, it seems to be a Matcha Donut Cat.

Source: http://donyatsu.jp/wp-content/themes/donyatsu/characters/img/characterimg8.gif
マルモチーター (marumochi-ta-): まるもち（丸餅）/Marumochi (lit. Round Mochi) + チーター/Cheetah

Source: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/magazine/yg/introduction/donyatsu/img/character16.jpg
Marumochi is grilled before consumption, as seen in the picture below:

Source: http://www.ic-net.or.jp/home/ds-chizu/graphic/marumochimein2.jpg)
This explains the square pattern on its body.

It looks like もるどーにゃつ is mold + nyatsu for a moldy donut cat. I'm pretty sure Bagel is just a bagel with a cat body.

@Krazer: The interesting thing is that it is "Begal" in Japanese. Not sure if part of it is name of some type of cat.

Since "be-garu" is written in katakana, it implies that the word is foreign (or at least foreign sounding). The closest thing the would make sense were would probably be "Bengal," but he doesn't havs the characteristics of a bengal cat... he's just a plain bagel cat.

@Krazer: The observation about Katakana/Hiragana seems to be true for most cases, except for Donut related characters. I think Bengal cat might make sense, since the animal is reflected in the head of the character, while the food type is reflected in the body of the character.


text:
Why does Éléonore call Louise "Chibi-Louise"?
In Zero no Tsukaima, when Louise's older sister, Éléonore, is first seen, she shouts, "Louise! Chibi-Louise!" She calls Louise this many times, as pictured below.

What does this expression mean, and why does Éléonore use it when the rest of Louise's family does not?

The word "Chibi" (ちび or チビ), means "short person" or a "small child".
Louise is the vertically challenged youngest sister in the family. So it makes perfect sense for her older sisters to poke fun at her with the name "Chibi-Louise". (or "short Louise")

Only Éléonore seems to use it, though. Is this because Cattleya respects Louise more?

Éléonore is the oldest sister. So the age (and size) difference would naturally be the greatest when they were still growing up.

Note that "Chibi" might have derogatory connotation, so I think rather than "poke fun", it might be insulting depending on the context.


text:
What's the significance of revealing a character's blood type?
A lot of Anime shows will reveal the blood type of one or more of the main characters:

What's the significance of it? What purpose does it serve?
Where did it come from?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_types_in_Japanese_culture

If you wanna summarize that into an answer that'd be nice. :)

I think I will leave it to someone with more in depth knowledge. My summary would be a one-liner. :P

Overview
Blood type carries a significant weight in Japanese culture, so much so that Japanese are often surprised when people of other origins are not familiar with their blood type. In their culture, they associate every blood type with a certain personality and demeanor.
There is an interesting history behind blood types; in 1900, A, B, and O were initially pinned down; more than twenty years later, in multiple reports over a number of years, there were links made between specific racial traits and blood type (such as the rebelliousness of the Taiwanese, who have a majority of O-type). As a result, and ever since, the blood type of people has been indicative of other traits as well.
Relationships
Even now-a-days, blood types are uesd in Japanese culture. This can go to such an extent that it's common for young women to select husbands based on it. There are even compatibility suggestions, which I've put in a chart below:

(Compiled from JapanToday's article[1])
Traits
The personality traits that are determined by a blood type are usually consistent between negative and positive blood type. (I focused mostly on the positive traits; @kuwaly mentioned, some more negative ones.) Some of the more dominant traits are[1]:
Type A

Cautious
Empathetic
Kind
Good host
Quiet (to prevent arguments)
Honor student material
Big on cleanliness
Hard working

Type B

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

Type AB

Dream chasers
Don't desire success as much
Strong spiritually
Calm and rational
Sensitive and easily hurt
Private life is important
Pursue a variety of interests
Have unique ideas and are creative

Type O

Realistic
Vigorous at earning a living
Strong in face of adversity
Romanticists
Ambitious
Very cautious
Don't care about small things
Devoted

The article I've been sourcing has even more on this, including recommended diets and exercises for the various blood types.
Why assign one to a character?
To the original question: Why assign a blood type to a character? Well, you can almost think of it like assigning an astrological sign or even a body build; these characteristics tend to define a character as much as the blood type does (in Japanese media). Not only does it become part of that character's identity, but it helps to define them both to the creators and to the viewers.

Blood type in Japan is associated with temperance or personality. On Facebook in Japan, as well as Wikipedia and matchmaking sites, blood type can be listed. Many horoscopes and matchmaking services also use blood type to match people together.
According to Wikipedia:

It is common among anime and manga authors to mention their character's blood types, and to give their characters corresponding blood types to match their personalities. Some video game characters also have known blood types. In addition, it is common for video game series to allow for blood type as an option in their creation modes.

The associated personality traits (from the chart here):

A

Better traits: Earnest, creative, sensible, reserved, patient, responsible
Worse traits: Fastidious, overearnest, stubborn, tense

B

Better traits: Wild, active, doer, creative, passionate, strong
Worse traits: Selfish, irresponsible, unforgiving, erratic

AB

Better traits: Cool, controlled, rational, sociable, adaptable
Worse traits: Critical, indecisive, forgetful, irresponsible, "split personality"

O

Better traits: Confident, self-determined, optimistic, strong-willed, intuitive
Worse traits: Self-centered, cold, doubtful, unpredictable, "workaholic"


text:
What's the difference between manga, manhwa, and manhua?
I understand that manga is from Japan and read from right to left, whereas manhwa is from Korea, read from left to right, and manhua is from China, and read from right to left (If I'm not mistaken). Are these the only differences between the three, or is there something else?

Manga = Japanese , Manhwa/Manhua = Korean

What you listed cover many of the major differences, though there are others.
Manga

From Japan
Multi-panel
Almost always black and white
Right-to-left

Manhua

From China
Full color with some panels rendered entirely in painting (1)
Single issue format (1)

Manhwa

From South Korea
Usually horizontal, left-to-right
Can be vertical, right-to-left, top-to-bottom (2)

(1)
(2)

I don't know there is manhwa read from right to left

@ShinobuOshino I got it from Wikipedia (which I added the link to). It's probably from the manga influence, though that is only my conjecture and not based on anything I have read.

Note that not all of

@ShinobuOshino I would suspect older Korean comics to be from right to left. Korean language and culture, has heavy influences from Chinese and Japanese, so I would suspect older comics to be from right to left. Not so much anymore.

Note that not all manhua are full color. Recent titles are full color, but there are many titles which are monochrome.

The difference between manga, manhwa and manhua would be like the difference between amour, amor and amore. French, Spanish and Italian are all romance languages, so since love would be amor in Latin, you can see how the word stayed relatively the same in all three languages, but evolved to something that would fit more natural in the respective language. The same goes for comics in the south east.
Both Japanese and Korean is heavily influenced by the Chinese language. Their word for comic all stems from the same 漫畫. In countries where traditional chinese is still used, like Taiwan and Hongkong, you can still see the usage of 漫畫, this had become more simplified to 漫画, which you can see in Japan and mainland China. Korean differs from Japan, in the sense that they completely stopped using Chinese characters since King Sejong had created Hangeul for the poor and illiterate in the 1440s, so they started writing comics as 만화, but it was still based on the chinese 漫畫.
So as with French, Spanish and Italian slightly evolving the pronunciation, the same happened with Japanese and Korean, pronouncing mànhuà as manga and manhwa respectively.
Due to cultural difference, the read direction and such are obviously different. You can read more about this in kuwaly's answer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhwa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhua

All are from Asia, and the art style is totally different.
Chinese Manhua uses more slender characters: mostly for males it's the big muscles, large chest with a narrow waist, but female characters are slender and slightly thicker than Japanese Manga women characters and no overly large breasts or hips. But yet, all the characters in Manhua are simple, beautiful model type.
Japanese Manga, on the other hand, is more slender: no big, overgrown muscle types. Pretty much everything is stylized; from hairstyle, to clothes, and even facial expression. That's what keeps it funny but yet serious at the same time. Characters vary in shapes and sizes which gives variety, but more than most are built on the same platform.
South Korea Manhwa is a combo of the two, it uses all aspects of Manhua & Manga. The male characters look more feminine and sometimes drawn almost to look like the female, but its raw power of telling a story with pictures is beautiful.
So, what I'm trying to say here is if you're ever looking for a break for the soap opera America comics (such as Marvel and DC Comics) and looking for an intense genre of stories and art, check out Manhua, Manhwa, or Manga. They won't disappoint.

Exceptions obviously exist. Baki, for example, is Japanese but full of overgrown muscle types.

Regarding Chinese manhua, I wouldn't really rely on Wikipedia too much. Having looked at the wiki page, I can notice errors with what was written there by whoever wrote it. So, here's a Chinese view on it from someone who has lived in China and reads manhua.
I think what's also ignored is the fact that Hong Kong manhua is mostly oriented towards street-fighter style themes than most Japanese manga which is more diverse.
People seem to not pay attention to certain Taiwanese contributions as well, which are more talked about here: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/36203-chinesese-comicsmanhua-taiwan-and-hong-kong/
Manhua can be:

Read from left-to-right or right-to-left
Black and White or full color (Mostly Hong Kong)
Weekly or Monthly releases

Manhua has distinct storylines from manga and manhwa, which is due to cultural differences. (Yes, they're not "all the same" as you would like to think and, honestly, it is quite offensive to say that they are the same)
If you read a few manhua, manhwa, and manga that deal with cultural aspects, you will notice the differences. For instance, try to compare:

Tales of Demons and Gods (manhua)
The Breaker: New Waves (manhwa), and
Chivalry of a Failed Knight or maybe Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri (I tried to pick something comparable, yet, most Japanese manga seem to focus around overdramatic school life or just plain scifi, thus why I put 2 recommendations for Japanese manga since the later is written by a former JSDF officer).

You will notice subtle differences brought forward by the distinct cultures of all three regions.
All-in-all, if you're not sure about something, I wouldn't suggest looking it up on Wikipedia.

http://www.nickstember.com/dont-call-manga-short-introduction-chinese-comics-manhua/

Manhua and Manhwa are versions of manga. But each has distinct differences.
Main Types Difference:

Made in different countries. Manga is made in Japan, Manhua is made
(for the most part) in China, Manhwa is made in Korea.
Different art styles.
Different ways of publishing.
Different storytelling trends.
Different types and amount of types. (By types I mean like Shonen,
Seinen…)
And many more!
If you want to know more, this is an in-depth article and probably the best on the topic, but its a bit of a hard read.
Difference and Origin of Manga, Manhua, and Manhwa | GodAnimeReviews

Really, I think the biggest difference is in cultural references and influence. While there are similarities, they aren't the same.

For me:

Manga: multi-panel and can be read from left-to-right or right-to-left
Manhua: full-colored multi-panel and can be read from left-to-right or right-to-left too
Manhwa: full-colored single-panel and read from top-to-bottom, I don't think manhwa can be read from left-to-right or right-to-left

Manga Multi Panel and can be read from left to right or right to left I'm not sure about left to right manga. Manhua Full colored multipanel and can be read from left to right or right to left too Not all manhua are full color Manhwa Full colored single panel and read from top to bottom That is comic strip format, and the text bubble still flows from left to right. Not all manhwa are full color.


text:
Could Caesar Clown have controlled Smoker?
Smoker is a smoke man. He can "create, control, and transform into smoke at will" – One Piece wiki
Caesar is a gas man. He can "create, manipulate, and transform into gas at will." – One Piece wiki
Since smoke is a gas, could Caesar control Smoker when he turns into smoke?

This is a great question, IMHO. It turns out though, that you more or less answered your own question! For that reason, I added a little extra in my answer, which also attempts to answer how Smoker could possibly fight against Caesar, if they faced off.

I think Caesar should be able to manipulate water or even blood before doing that, considering that Smoker becomes "smoke" after changing his body state to pure steam.

The powers of Gasu Gasu no Mi would certainly allow Caesar Clown to control Smoker when he transforms into smoke using Moku Moku no Mi's powers, provided the smoke is within Caesar's range.
However, Smoker would not be totally helpless if they fought one-on-one since he can fight without using his Moku Moku no Mi powers at all. He can use Haki, and carries the Kairoseki Jitte, both of which would be effective against Caesar.

As White Dragon answers, "Smoke is not just a gas.", so CC cannot control Smoker.

Smoke is not just a gas.
What is smoke?

Smoke is a collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and
  gases... - wikipedia

Before this question can be answered we need to know more about both devil fruit abilities. Like what kind of gas(es) can Caesar (originally) transform into.

As stated by Caesar himself, he altered his own Devil Fruit with his
  chemical expertise, adding many of its offensive abilities, thus, the
  original abilities of the Gasu Gasu no Mi remain uncertain -One Piece Wikia

Unfortunately we don't know enough for example about the types of smoke and gases they can use to really answer the question.
They both can also make there element have a high density to do things like grabbing objects.


text:
Why does the hospital in Another have no fourth floor?
In the hospital where Sakakibara was having his checkups and where Sanae worked, the elevator had no 4th floor.
Now, I know in Japanese culture the numbers 4 (四 shi) and 7 (七 shichi) have "shi" in them which is "death" (死 shi) and the Japanese are very superstitious, so they have alternate names for 4 and 7 (yon and nana).
So I'm wondering, is it just in Another, where the theme is death, that the 4th floor (and possibly the 7th floor, never really noticed) is missing, or is it a cultural thing in Japan to label the 4th floor as the 5th floor?

This is true for many East Asian cultures, because, as you pointed out, 4 sounds like "Death". You can read about it here. It's the same as the idea that many western hotels skip the 13th floor and instead label it the 14th floor because 13 is a superstitious number.
Japanese hotels sometimes also skip the 13th floor.

@kuwaly's answer is essentially correct.
I'd just like to add that I've never heard of the 7th floor being excluded from a building. The major numerical superstitions in Japanese (and probably Chinese, etc.) surround the numbers 4 (四 yon or shi) and 9 (九 ku or kyuu), since they sound like "death" (死, shi) and "suffering" (苦 ku). To the best of my knowledge, there are no similar superstitions surrounding the number 7 (despite the fact that, as you correctly point out, 7 can be read shichi).
Also, just to make this clear - the presence of "alternate" readings like yon and nana (for 4 and 7 respectively) isn't purely because of superstition. Rather, it's because there are two parallel schemes for counting in Japanese, one of which uses native Japanese words (hito, futa, mi, yo, itsu, ...), and one of which uses Chinese imports (itsu / ichi, ni / ji, san, shi, go, ...). This is vaguely similar to how English has native words (one, two, three, four, five...) and Greek/Latin imports (mono / uni, di / bi, tri, tetra / quad, pent / quint, ...). If you're interested in learning more, consider asking a question on Japanese.SE


text:
Who are the animators responsible for Madoka Magica?
I'm curious who was responsible for the animation in Madoka Magica, especially the labyrinth  sequences. I can find information about the illustrators of the manga, but I'm wondering about the anime. I want to know if they were influenced by Bill Sienkiewicz, because I feel like I'm having a flashback to early New Mutants when I watch those sequences. Who are these animators?

I don't think this quite answers your question, but the group Inu Curry was primarily responsible for the design of the labyrinth sequences in Madoka Magica. I'm not sure whether or not they actually participated in any of the actual animation.

@senshin - Thanks, I'll try to follow up on that.


text:
Why do anime studios and producers discontinue making an anime?
I've seen many series that just get discontinued, even popular ones. I'm talking about manga and light novel adaptations. Even though a lot of the story still remains left, and the first season gets critical acclaim. Some examples are Kaichō wa Maid-sama! and Baka and Test. Why do so many series stop after season one?

There are tons of reasons for animes to be discontinued. One of the most common ones would be lack of sales. A anime might become pretty popular, and watched a lot. But if the sales do not match, no second season will be made nonetheless due to money issues.

Popularity ALSO plays a factor. If the first season is not popular enough towards viewers than a second season is just a waste of cash. However, there are SOME anime titles out there who produced a second season countless years after the first season; so hope is not all lost for fans who wishes for a second season (e.g. Inuyasha finished airing in 2004, however it's sequel series Inuyasha: Final Act started in 2009-2010, completing the entire series since the manga ended in 2008).

The loss of sponsors is not uncommon which can lead to huge budget cuts, which sometimes lead to debt which first has to be covered for.
Keep in mind that studios use the Japanese sales numbers as reference point for sales, which differ quite a lot from European/American sales

Yes, I'd assume the reason for this is because anime is naturally common in Japan. In the US it's something different, something maybe a little rare, so people can see it as a targeted interest. If you were in Japan and said "I'm a big fan of anime" people would probably not notice, just as if a Japanese person said "I'm a fan of American sitcoms" because it would be such a wide genre that most everyone would find something that they like. Both people would probably end up getting a response like "oh... that's nice.... which ones?" etc.

Sometimes it might also just be a issue between the director and the mangaka.

Fruits Baskets case it was originally going to be longer, but the creator of the manga didn't like the director or something (lol I can't remember exactly) and she didn't allow them to continue the anime.

Some other reasons although less common then money issues would be

No free time slot for broadcasting
Lack of material (but you're talking about ones with story left to tell so count this one out partially)
Lack of studios that want to take the job (happens more often then you think)

Are you quoting from something?

@ToshinouKyouko yes and no. The quote fields are slightly rephrased combinations of several dubious posts including mal comments, previous given statements regarding discontinuation combined with some personal research if i remember correctly

Most anime series are produced to promote the source material (manga, light novel, etc.). Thus for the producers its more important if the sales of the source material were boosted by the anime adaption. So even if an anime is quite popular - it should be noted that even quite successful anime only sell between 3000 and less then 10000 (more than that is rare is considered a very successful anime) discs per volume - there is often no point in producing another season if the sales of the source material increased sufficiently.