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Does Saitama still continue his training?
Saitama mentioned that he got this strong through daily training, which consisted of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats along with running 10 km every single day. Also, he ate three meals a day, but only a banana as breakfast and also didn't use the AC, to strengthen his mental resistance.
Has he stopped his training and accepted his current power level as sufficient? Or does he still train using his methodology? (I've read till Vol 6, Chapter 32 and haven't found anything about his current training status)

If he still does, it would probably only take him a second to do so. (refers to the hero try out dash of 1500 meter which he crossed ~instantly)

@Dimitrimx: True. But if his usual training routine has become too easy, then I'm quite sure, if at all he's still training, he must have raised the levels.

yeah like wearing weights while doing it, or considering his strength: a 10km sprint while wearing weights, underwater, using only one leg...

Looking  at the first special episode, Genos did not mention seeing Saitama doing any kind of training. This may be another prrof that Saitama is not training anymore

He did say he only trained for three years.

As Eumel's answer points out, in the manga nothing says whether he is training or not. However, I think it is safe to say that he is NOT training anymore, as the power he obtained is clearly too great for him to have any "exciting" fight.
The picture below, shows Saitama defeating Vaccine man in the first chapter. He is clearly pissed off that his fight ended up in only one punch, indicating that he would much rather have a more even match against a foe. Once realizing that he was clearly overpowered compared to the monsters he fought, there is no reason why he would still want to train. Even more, he might want to slack off hoping that it would make him weaker, yielding to more exciting fights for him.

He said to everyone in the house of evolution that he had trained for three years, and earlier that day he told Genos he was 25, and had started training at 22. That would mean either he had stopped training recently, or he was still training.
However, as was said above, he's so strong that the workout would only take a few seconds for him to do, and it wouldn't faze him at all. His punches with hundreds of tons of force would take more effort than the workout, so in all likelihood that regimen is useless to him. But, more importantly, he doesn't like being too strong, so wouldn't he stop training to theoretically stop himself from getting stronger?
In summary, there is no proof he stopped training, but it is quite unlikely he is still doing it.

I think one actually stated he still trained and that was one of the reasons he beat Boros (as Boros himself had broken his limiter like Saitama but had stopped training.) Which explains quite a bit as he doesn't have infinite power, he's just limitless and thus can keep training on forever to increase his power. Its like the hulk and how its been stated he has limitless power, he doesn't start with infinite strength but he can grow forever without a limit.

Can you add sources on what you are saying?


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Is there any relation between the Bar name 'Quindecim' and the Bartender 'Decim'?
Was the Bar named because of Decim or something? They are spelled same and pronounced in the same way! Is there a relation mentioned?

The former owner of Quindecim was 'Quin'

She was then replaced by 'Decim'

Hence, it's definitely not a coincidence that the name of the bar is Quindecim.
As the Wikia article on Quindecim states:

It is likely the arbiters Quin and Decim were named so for working on the fifteenth floor.

There is no evidence of this. One thing is for sure though, Quindecim wasn't named after the arbiters since Quindecim means 15 in Latin and that's the name of the floor the bar is on.
Hence, it's very likely that Quin and Decim were both named after the bar. However, nothing was ever stated in the anime or the movie 'Death Billiards', so we can never truly know.

"since Quindecim means 15 in Japanese" are you sure, i though 15 in japanese was juugo (十五)

@Memor-X My bad. Corrected it.

Oh so it was the other way around(-_-')... The bartenders were named by bar..

@abhishah901 Lol yeah.

Quin- usually means 5 as in quintent, deci- often means ten as in decimal. So it's not that far fetched

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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What is up with all those broken trees in the blue forest?
There is a "blue forest" sort of place in Nausicaa where trees are broken in a very peculiar way. Normally trees break apart along the growth rings, and not strictly across like seen in this image:

Some trees look like someone cut those pieces. From the movie we can understand that the trees are dead, but how did they end up in this particular state?

In the series the "Forest of Decay" grows above the petrified remains of ancient trees. Dialogue from the anime and manga suggest that the toxins from the immense pollution humanity caused in the past are absorbed by the plants while water and sand are filtered through the remains of the petrified wood and become purified, which is why the wells that people made have clean soil and water.
The petrified trees seems to be in part inspired by the natural process of petrified wood, a special type of fossilization.

the result of a tree or tree-like plants having completely transitioned to stone by the process of permineralization. All the organic materials have been replaced with minerals (mostly a silicate, such as quartz), while retaining the original structure of the stem tissue

The actual process of petrification and filtering were or touched upon in the anime or manga. However in the manga it's inferred to be part of the artificially process ancient the humans created to clean up the miasma over time.

My assumption is that Miyazaki wanted to give the forest a feeling of great age. It would hardly look like an old forest without a few trees that had fallen or been cut. We are led to believe that these trees were cut when the forest was much younger.
Of course, there are several questions that come out of this.

Why didn't these fallen trees decay (either the fallen part or the stumps)? Yes, there are examples of root systems intertwining, but this doesn't appear to be that way.
Why isn't there any underbrush?
If these trees are petrified, what purifies the water? If they aren't petrified, why isn't there any moss?

I think Miyazaki was aiming for the look and feel of an ancient forest with conflicting ideals.

Unfortunately your answer does little to answer the question at hand. Try citing some sources to help reinforce your points. Some of these question are partially (and indirectly) answered in the manga.

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


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Did Haruhi MEAN to Cross-dress?
In the first episode in Ouran High School Host Club, Haruhi is introduced with very drab clothing and hair. She had explained in another episode of how, and I quote: "A brat put gum in my hair and it was just being a bother, so I cut it off." Thus, explaining why she has short hair. But this doesn't explain why she dresses badly. I understand how she needs to cross-dress to pay back her debt, but did she actually cross-dress to begin with?

With her clothes don't forget that Ouran High is a school for rich kids which one can assume their uniforms cost a bit aswell, probably tailor made for each individual from the finest material, something Haruhi just can't afford.

Having gotten gum in her hair just before school begins, she cuts it short and being unable to afford the expensive Ouran uniform, she wears shapeless, baggy clothing. With her messily-styled hairdo, large glasses (which once belonged to her grandfather) and masculine clothing, she's thought to be male and Haruhi does nothing to discredit this idea.

Source Haruhi Fujioka - Apperance (1st Paragraph)
The glasses are because she does have bad eyesight and wears contacts throughout the series (as we see when Renge is making a film and Takami sees Haruhi shed a tear without needing eyedrops).
As for the reason why she "cross-dresses" before becoming a Host it's because she doesn't see it as cross-dressing because to her gender doesn't matter.

Two characteristics that define Haruhi is her straightforward nature and belief that one's gender doesn't define one's choices

Source Haruhi Fujioka - Personality (First Paragraph)
This is also apparent when the Host Club go to the beach (a real one, not an Otori rehab clinic) and Haruhi stands up against a couple of guys who are harassing the girls. Haruhi doesn't see that her being a girl means anything different so with that mind set there is no male/female clothing, just clothing.
Of course one can also assume her transvestite father may have also left a bad impression of how girls/women really are.

From the wikia:

When first introduced in the anime, she sports a nerdy, boyish look that differs greatly from her middle-school appearance. Having gotten gum in her hair just before school begins, she cuts it short and being unable to afford the expensive Ouran uniform, she wears shapeless, baggy clothing. With her messily-styled hairdo, large glasses (which once belonged to her grandfather) and masculine clothing, she's thought to be male and Haruhi does nothing to discredit this idea.

Technically, Haruhi didn't cross dress. She wore "shapeless, baggy clothing", which were mistaken to be masculine because of her overall appearance. She does nothing to discredit this, thus being mistaken for a male.
The first part is how everyone mistakes her as a male at the start. However, Haruhi doesn't really think gender matters that much, thus has no qualms about her new uniform, or perpetuating this mistaken view.


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What order do I watch the Minami-ke series?
In the Minami-ke franchise, there's:

Minami-ke
Minami-ke Betsubara
Minami-ke Natsuyasumi
Minami-ke Okaeri
Minami-ke Okawari
Minami-ke Omatase; and
Minami-ke Tadaima

In what order do I watch these series and OVAs?

There are 4 TV series and 3 OVAs in Minami-ke franchise.
The TV series:

Minami-ke (Oct 8, 2007 - Dec 31, 2007)
Minami-ke: Okawari (Jan 7, 2008 - Mar 31, 2008)
Minami-ke: Okaeri (Jan 5, 2009 - Mar 30, 2009)
Minami-ke: Tadaima (Jan 6, 2013 - Mar 31, 2013)

The OVAs:

Minami-ke: Betsubara (Jun 23, 2009)
Minami-ke: Omatase (Oct 5, 2012)
Minami-ke: Natsuyasumi (Aug 6, 2013)

Timeline (OVAs are in italic):

Minami-ke (Oct 8, 2007 - Dec 31, 2007)
Minami-ke: Okawari (Jan 7, 2008 - Mar 31, 2008)
Minami-ke: Okaeri (Jan 5, 2009 - Mar 30, 2009)
Minami-ke: Betsubara (Jun 23, 2009)
Minami-ke: Omatase (Oct 5, 2012)
Minami-ke: Tadaima (Jan 6, 2013 - Mar 31, 2013)
Minami-ke: Natsuyasumi (Aug 6, 2013)

Source: http://www.myanimelist.net


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Did Luffy know who Sogeking is?
In Ennies Lobby arc when Luffy and his crew members trying to save Robin, Luffy order Sogeking (Usopp) to burn World Government's flag.
How can Luffy know that Sogeking can make something like flamethrower to burn the flag? He only know that Usopp that can burn the flag.
In that time, if I'm not mistaken, Luffy doesn't know about Sogeking's power, he also seems never notice Sogeking is Usopp before and even after the arc.

Anime Reference:
As you can watch in this scene, it's not that Luffy finds out that Sogeking is actually Usopp. It's just that he introduces himself as:

Luffy and Chopper: Sogeking from the Sniper Island?
Sogeking (Usopp) : That's right! I'm one of Usopp's close friends. I'm here to help you out on your journey.

Manga Reference:

Hence, when Luffy asks Sogeking to burn down the flag, he asks this to him as a sniper, assuming him to be nearly as good as Usopp.

oh, forgot about this one, Sogeking told Luffy and Chooper that he is from Snipper Island. *plays Sogeking's Song


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Why does Moral shoot through a pillow?
In the episode 4, Moral is shooting someone through a pillow with his golden gun.

Why did he do this instead of directly shooting on the guy?

Makeshift silencer, maybe? Is the sound of gunfire muffled in that scene?

Does pillow work this way with guns? Oo After re-watching, yes it is muffled

Lol, probably not in real life, but this is anime, mate.

I could have thought :p

Theory 1: As senshin mentioned this is likely meant as a silencer, or suppressor, for the gun.
It seems to be a pretty popular belief that shooting through a pillow would dampen the sound of the gun. I can't find any reliable information on this unfortunately, only some videos that show some effect. However, the decibel values from the first video are roughly in line with what Wikipedia says is a typical dampening achieved by a real suppressor, i.e. around 130dB which is still very loud. In the end the sound levels also depend on many other things such as sub- or supersonic bullets or the firing mechanism as discussed here.
Theory 2: A pillow could be used to contain splatter, in particular keep it off the shooter's clothes.
The latter doesn't really fit the distance between target and pillow in the image and since you say the sound effect is muffled in the anime, Theory 1 seems to be what they were going for.


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Where did the "# years of pain" originate from?
So when I first saw Naruto seeing the scene where Kikashi uses his "1000 Years of Pain" on Naruto when he tried to get everyone's lunches when Kakashi isn't looking i thought this was just some joke made up in Naruto.
the other day watching A Lull in the Sea in Episode 15 I Saw Hikari chasing Ikari's son doing the same thing saying "kanchou kanchou" and telling Ikari he was going to give him "3 years of Pain". i also seems to remember seeing Ikari's son do it do someone
Both Hikari and Kikashi do mostly the same thing, they clasp their hands together with their index finger pointed out and poke their target in the butt
Now i am wondering where this poking someone in the butt originate from? Is A Lull in the Sea getting it from Naruto or is it from something else in Japanese culture

Just wanted to point out Yu Yu Hakusho did this before naruto lmfao

It is actually a Japanese prank known as kancho.
From the Wikipedia article on Kancho.

Kanchō (カンチョー) is a Japanese prank performed by clasping the hands together in the shape of an imaginary gun and attempting to poke an unsuspecting victim's anus, often while exclaiming "Kan-CHO!".
The word is a slang adoption of the Japanese word for enema (浣腸 kanchō).

According to Naruto Wiki:

This technique's full name is "Konohagakure Hiden Secret Taijutsu Technique: One Thousand Years of Death" (木ノ葉隠れ秘伝体術奥義・千年殺し, Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi, Viz: Konohagakure's Most Secret and Sacred Technique: One Thousand Years of Death, English TV: Hidden Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death, UK DVD: Secret Ninja Technique of the Hidden Leaf School, Death for 1000 Years, English Games "Sacred Taijutsu: 1000 Years of Death").

It is mentioned that Akira Shiotome (Miuna's brother) loves playing kancho:

He enjoys playing kancho with Hikari Sakishima and Shun Sayama and after Manaka awakens, the two enjoy playing with each other.

Also, in the scene where Akira played the prank in the 15th episode of Nagi no Asakura, he only said "Kancho". The person who subbed it in English probably wrote it as "# years of pain" as a tribute to Naruto.


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Why was Ebisu killed by the Pacification Ring?
During the incantation, the lines spoken by the Gods are:

We know that Ebisu did have a "pure heart". As the Wikia article on Ebisu states:

He is also a truly kind God, as his desire to control and name Ayakashi and go to the underworld to retrieve the locution brush is because he believed if he did so he could relieve some of the strife and pain that Ayakashi cause and make the world a truly better place. This is shown when he is reincarnated and talks to Yato, saying when he realized he existed he took in the atmosphere and immediately fell in love with the world and wanted to bring the world and humans happiness, with Yato stating that was his true inner character and the type of person he has always been and will be. This is once again stated in chapter 39 by Kunimi, who states that the master wanted to control Ayakashi to improve the world as he grew to understand that money alone cannot make humans happy.

I doubt that the lines spoken during the incantation don't hold any meaning because they make perfect sense.
Is there any logical basis for his death being caused by the Pacification Ring?

I'd like to mention that in the manga, Ebisu is simply killed in a battle against another god, while Bishamon tried to protect him.

I think it's because he use that brush. Controlling Ayakashi is a sin.

I have two theories to why Ebisu was killed by the Pacification Ring.
First is that the Ring is just a energy cannon that is meant to exterminate the enemies of heaven. Therefore, it not only affects Ebisu but also those around him. Quoting from the wikia,

Pacification Ring, a form of punishment to destroy enemies of Heaven.

Second, he was not 'pure of heart'. We can take the words the other gods said to mean 'pure' by their standards and not Ebisu nor our standards. Therefore, Ebisu, who has committed sins against heaven, is not 'pure' of heart, according to the other gods, who cast the ring. This god here said that what Ebisu did are taboos and we can infer that by the standard of the other gods, Ebisu is not 'pure' of heart anymore.

As Sigfried666 also mentioned, in the manga, Ebisu is killed by Takemikazuchi's Kiun. Therefore, the ring is an anime only event and may not have any logical justification.

Good theories. Since there's no canonical justification for the question yet, I'm accepting this answer.

After looking over the wording of the scene where he was killed, I believe that those lines were true. It would miss if he'd have been pure of heart. They DID miss. At least, when the lines were said while firing. Someone willing to risk their life jumped in front of him and destroyed the shot, which in a way solidified the fact that he was pure of heart, that someone who barely knew him was willing to risk their life for his sake. The second shot would have likely killed anyone, regardless of whether they were "pure of heart" or not.

Those lines have no meaning, the gods were just so sure of Ebisu's sins that they didn't expect the next shot to miss.


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What happens to tailed beast if jinchuriki dies?
As the title says, what happens to the tailed beast when jinchuriki dies by any reasons whether of old age or killed by enemies. Does it come out of jinchuriki alive or get reborn? What had happened to jinchuriki of three tails that it was the only bijuu that didn't have a jinchuriki in Naruto shippuden.

@Ero Sennin I couldnt find that. Sorry.

When the jinchuriki dies, the tailed beast gets "reborn", sort of.
It is not well explained in the series, however, it is mentioned (Raikage vs Naruto & Bee) that should the jinchuriki die, the tailed beast would be resurrected.
From the wiki:

Because the tailed beasts are pure chakra, they cannot actually be killed; if they or their jinchūriki die, their chakra will re-coalesce in time.
  This is also mentioned when Minato seals the Kyuubi, see chapter 503, pages 14 and 17.

As for Sanbi's jinchuriki: May contain spoilers: (As I did read the manga to the end, but I've yet to catch onto the anime)

 We know of two jinchuriki that Sanbi had. The first being Yagura, being resurrected by Obito during the war. The second is Rin, which, after her capture, was forced to become Sanbi's jinchuriki, and it was planned to send her back to Konoha where Sanbi would break loose. (Since Rin died, and Sanbi didn't, it further proves what I said earlier, the bijuu comes back)

I wonder what will happen after Naruto dies. How will people maintain the peace? Anyway, thanks for the answer.

Reading 3rd tail Beast jinchuriki--->
When a tailed Beast is extracted from a jinchuriki,the jinchuriki dies as Gaara died when ONE Tailed Beast was extracted from him.It happened with Kusina and Naruto almost died while fighting with Madara.So Three Tailed Beast jinchuriki might have died as well.

This doesn't appear to answer the question posed.

the answer is regarding 2nd part of that question,not the 1st part..


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Why wouldn't everyone be S rank?
In One Punch Man, the Rank 1s of each lettered-rank have the opportunity to move up to the next rank.
After that, everyone in that lettered-rank moves up a rank.
Why wouldn't everyone keep moving up until they're all S-rank?

Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask stop them, he secure the A class rank 1 position to keep the weak from becoming S class

Then why wouldn't everyone be A rank?

At the moment the top heros in C, B, and A rank all don't want to move up, which explains why this hasn't happened yet. But presumably that isn't always the case, so it would seem that the ranking system is rather unstable in the long term, and I don't know of any explanation in the series for why this isn't a concern.

That's not a long term solution though, like Logan says. Ranks move around and it's reasonable to assume they may change their minds at some point. With Saitama getting adequate credit, it may mean Mumen Rider falls below Rank C.1 and someone else moves up, the system then changes. The top ranks in each lettered-rank don't want to move up isn't a long term answer.

I think you are all confusing necessary and sufficient conditions.

@BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft I think that's rather the point of the question; if simply being rank 1 is sufficient, the ranking system is rather problematic. If it's necessary, but not sufficient, then there's not nearly as big of a problem. I was not aware that there were other requirements, but the answers have shown that some exist.

Is it possible for everyone to be on S rank this way?
Nothing has been mentioned on this subject in the manga.
However, we could imagine that there is a time limitation such as:

After someone moves up to the next rank, the one taking the #1 place must wait XX days/months before being able to rank up.

But this is only speculation.
What's more, every hero who desires to rank up have to make an interview to decide if the hero is worthy enough to rank up.

Why isn't everyone S rank during the manga?
Even though we don't know anything about rank limitations, we do know that:

When they are ranked #1 they can choose to stay at the top of their class or start at the bottom of the next class.

If you look at the hero registry we see that:

The first of C-rank is License-less Rider, which knows that he won't be ever good enough to be an honorable B-rank.

The first of B-rank is Fubukim who desires to stay as the 1st rank to dominate the B-rank.

The first of A-rank is Sweet Mask, who wants to control who is ranking up to S rank.

As you stated, you must be rank 1 to receive a promotion. The current rank 1 in A-Class is the hero Sweet Mask. Sweet mask made a point that the reason he stays rank 1 in A-Class instead of moving up to S-Class is to prevent unworthy heroes from being promoted.

Aside from being rank 1, you must also pass an interview. Ultimately, the decision to move up is not in the hero's hands but is the association's decision. Saitama had already decided that he wanted to move up, but there was still much consultation and discussion of whether or not he should be allowed to move up before he was given the promotion.
From the One-Punch Man Wikia:

Overhead of the interview, there are several Heroes Association staff observing and discussing about Saitama. They discuss whether or not he is a sham. After a short discussion, Sweet Mask is seen as an advisor on whether or not Saitama should move up. Sweet Mask replies that they do not need him for such as trivial task as promoting someone to B-Class. Sweet Mask additionally states that he only wants a say in promoting people to Class A and higher as they tend to have a strong influence on the association's image.

The fact that Sweet Mask was consulted here instead of the association just promoting Saitama as soon as he asked to be promoted shows there is more to the promotions than just reaching rank 1.


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Are there any other known members of Anbu: Root, apart from Sai and Danzou?
In Naruto, apart from Sai and Danzou, which other characters were members of the secret subdivision of Anbu, Root?

At one point, Yamato was a member of Root. This is true in both anime and manga. Kakashi was also a member of Root, but this is only true in the anime. Yamanaka Fuu and Aburame Tatsuma, the two ninja Danzo brought to the Five Kage summit was also member of Root. For a full list of Root members, see the wikia page.
Credits to Ero Sennin for pointing me the Root wikia page.


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How could the Yamato make it back in time?
The Yamato is sent on a trip to Iskendar, 183,000 light years away. Their goal is to reach Iskendar and return to Earth before a year has elapsed. Due to the distance from earth, this will require faster-than-light travel to make it back in time. However, taking into consideration of how fast they are travelling time dilation would cause their return to be thousands of years later, after the invasion has already completed and earth has been terraformed.
How can they make it to their destination and back within their one year deadline?

Time dilation doesn't work like that. Time dilation wouldn't make a faster-than-light round trip take thousands of years. (Relativistic effects make a faster-than-light trip impossible, but the space-folding stuff you describe in your answer is impossible too. The natural extension of GR to hypothetical faster-than-light particles produces nothing like what you say time dilation would do.)

Time dilation is not an issue here because the Yamato is travelling using warps.
Krazer explained in chat that the Yamato warps work by folding space.
The theory of time dilation applies if you travel at faster-than-light speeds. However, in this case the Yamato is making short jumps or warps through space. The idea is similar to if you had a piece of paper with two points on it. Normally, the shortest path from Point A to Point B is to draw a straight line between the two points. However, one can cheat and fold the piece of paper to make the distance between these two points shorter in 3D space.

This is the same thing the Yamato is doing when it is warping. Since they are not actually travelling at a faster speed, just getting to the destination faster, they can attempt to make it back in time without worrying about time delation.

"How did you get there in time?" "That nothing, just time dilatation, foldin' space and stuff y'know!"


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In what order do the Hyperdimension Neptunia games go (including the animation)?
I bought Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 for my PSVita awhile back, and now I have Re;Birth2. And I've seen a few of the episodes, but I really want to know: in what order do all the games occur, and where does the anime fit in?
-I know how the Re;Birth games go:
    *Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1
    *Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2 Sisters' Generation
    *Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3 V Generations

But I know that there are a lot more than that, especially with the new ones coming out, and then there's the animation to consider.
The Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise is very confusing, seeing as

 When you meet IF in Re;Birth1, Compa has no idea who the f*** she is, but in Re;Birth2, in a small lily-rank-raising event, Compa states that her and IF knew each other since they were babies.

This information that Compa gives us is false when considering the events of Re;Birth1, so I'm not even sure if there IS a way to put the games in a chronological order.
But if anybody knows the order (if there is one), please tell me how it goes, and, if not, tell me that there isn't.

While i haven't seen the anime yet i am confident to say that the anime isn't an adaptation of any if the game's plot rather it makes references to the games

 like the with the 2 Noire's one is the alternate one from the Ultradimension

as for the order of the games not all of them relate to one another as most are in different dimensions however Mk.II/Re;Birth 2 are Victory/Re;Birth 3 are linked together as the Wikia Says

 A few years have passed since the Deity of Sin's destruction.

as for the different Dimensions
1st Hyperdimension - Hyperdimension Neptunia/Re;Birth

 in this Arfoire was a single goddess before she and Histoire made Neptune, Noire, Vert and Blanc. also Histoire has near unlimited power because of her role as a Tome also in the true ending of the original PS3 game (have yet to confirm with Re;Birth) the CPUs give up their divinity to eradicate all of the monsters across the world and became regular humans

In Re;Birth when characters like MAGES., Tekken and Falcom talk about being from another world i suspect this is the Ultradimension/2nd Hyperdimension as i first learned of these characters from the announcements of other human characters in Victory before it's release
2nd Hyperdimension - Hyperdimension Mk. II/Re;Birth 2: Sisters' Generation, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory/Re;Birth 3: V Generation, Megamdimenstion Neptunia VII

 Histoire isn't as powerful as he is in the first instead being one of 4 Oracles. in Mk.II IF seemed to have a crush for Nepgear rather than Vert. in the True Route the party goes to where one of the former Goddesses of Planeptune are buried who they speak to about DOS.Arfoire.

Also aside from the first game/Re;Birth i believe all games which refer to the Hyperdimension are set here as according to the Wikia page of the Hyperdimenstion

The Hyper Dimension is a dimension of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series and appears in every title of the main series since Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2.

also while i haven't found where VII links with with Mk. II/Re;Birth 2 and V/Re;Birth 3 it's probably safe to assume that VII would get set after V/Re;Birth 3 as VII isn't pronounced as 7 (roman-numerals for VII) but as V2, short for Victory 2

Megadimension Neptunia VII (新次元ゲイム ネプテューヌVII Shin Jigen Game Neptune Victory II, "New Dimension Game Neptune Victory II" in Japan) is a Japanese role-playing game in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series of role-playing games, developed exclusively for the PlayStation 4.

Source: Wikipedia - Megadimension Neptunia VII
Ultradimenstion - Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory/Re;Birth 3: V Generation
Alternate dimension that Neptune is swept away to which represents a late 80s version of the 2nd Hyperdimension Gamindustri. more can be read up on the Wikia Page
Alternate Ultradimension - Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection

Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection takes place in alternate Ultradimension that is the same as the Ultradimension of Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory in terms of geographical structure. In this dimension, residents who typically are not from this world such as the Four Felons exist as well as numerous others.

Source: Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection - Setting
the 4 Felons it's referring to are ASIC's Criminals of the Free World, CFW.Magic, CFW.Judge, CFW.Trick and CFW.Brave
Gamarket - Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart

Unlike previous titles of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series. Chou Megami Shinkou Noire Gekishin Black Heart takes place in a different world known as "Gamarket."  In this world the nations of Planeptune, Lastation, Lowee, and Leanbox still exist with their respective goddesses and the geographic structure is mostly the same as the Hyperdimension and Ultradimension but still visually different at the same time.

Source Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart - Setting
Alternate 1st Hyperdimenstion from Re;Birth? - Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed

Hyperdimension Neptunia U takes place in a Gamindustri much like the the one of Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1. The geography is entirely the same and is comprised of floating continents; each having one of the four nations: Planeptune, Lastation, Leanbox, and Lowee.

Source: Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed - Setting
while the Wikia says "much like" this could be because it may be missing Celestia. i have yet to play it to determine this
MegaTagmension? (Currently unknown) - MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies

The game's setting is very different to the previous games. In this game, set in another alternate universe, the girl are not CPU/Goddess but instead high school students. They try making a zombie movie when they accidentally summon zombies to their world.

Source: MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies - Setting
Zero and Heart Dimensions - Megamdimenstion Neptunia VII
The Zero Dimenstion is an alternate dimension nearing destruction where Neptune and Nepgear end up first.
As for the Heart Dimension it is,

An amalgamation of both Zero Dimension and Hyper Dimension. In order to track down the mastermind causing the troubles of both worlds, the CPUs travel to a strange, new dimension.

Soruce: Megadimension Neptunia VII - Story - Heart Dimension Neptunia H Trilogy Finale: Into Legend

As for what Compa says in the Lily Rank Event it would be true on 2 levels as

the 2nd Hyperdimension for Re;Birth 2 is different from the 1st one in Re;Birth thus it would have a different history
in the Ultradimension IF and Compa appear in this too but as babies (so one can consider the Ultradimension as an alternate past to the 2nd Hyperdimension)

As for Recommended Play/Watch Order:

Hyperdimension Neptunia (PS3)/Re;Birth 1 - this introduces you to the main reoccurring characters such as the CPUs, Compa and IF and Arfoire
Given that Mk. II/Re;Birth 2, V/Re;Birth 3 and VII are initially linked i would play them in that order after Re;Birth
Producing Perfection, Action Unleashed and Goddess Black Heart you can probably play at any time after Mk. II/Re;Birth 2 because to my knowledge there are no characters from V/Re;Birth 3 in there
Blanc + Neptune i would play after V/Re;Birth 3 because Plutia and Peashy appear in the List of characters and more than likely they will be like that from the Ultradimension
i would watch the anime after V/Re;Birth 3 for the same reason as above because of Plutia and Peashy who apparently appear in the anime (i have yet to watch it)

NOTE: all of this does not take into account DLC characters as Re;Birth 1 features Plutia and Peashy but they are not involved with the plot (rather it might be confusing as to why Plutia may seem clam and kind of a ditz but Iris Heart is a Dominatrix)
NOTE 2: This does not take into account any of the Manga because i am unfamiliar with them at this point in time

I didn't care about the manga. xD I can't even find it at Hastings. Hahaha. And as for DLC, I already knew that. I actually HAVE the Plutia, Peashy, and Histoire DLC for Re;Birth1, because I'm on my ninth replay, all my characters are level one hundred, and I was bored as crap. But, thanks for the help.


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What is Jinta and Ururu's Identity?
Jinta and Ururu are the kids that works in Urahara's shop. I'm curious as to what their identities are. As far as I remember it was never been said what their background stories are.
Are they Shinigami like Urahara was? If they were, why are they with Urahara? Were they also on the run from Soul Society?
Or are they humans with special powers like Chad and Orihime? If they are, were their powers awakened from being close to Urahara, much like Chad and Orihime's powers being awakened by being near Kurosaki Ichigo.
Or are they Quincies? Although I doubt this very much since they never been seen using bows and Quincy techniques. Or are they modified souls like Kon?
What are they?

I remember Urahara saying that Ururu is an "Anti Soul Reaper" weapon (ie anti Shinigami) in the Dub around when Ichigo fights Grimjow the first time and she was totally kicking the asses or the Arancar until i think she fell asleep. considering how strong she is i doubt she's a normal human

A point I'd like to make is that, when one of the Arrancars (He had blonde hair and arrived with Grimmjow when he goes to The World of the Living the first time) attacked Renji at Urahara's shop, Ururu was woken up by it, and the Arrancar's spiritual pressure affected Ururu. At least, that's what Jinta said. But Jinta never got affected by that Arrancar, so this confuses me. Whether this information is significant or not depends on if, later, they explain why this happens. Though, I highly doubt that they have, I will not know until I actually finish Bleach.

I would like to start off by saying that their race hasn't been explicitly stated in either of the Anime/Manga, so we can only theorize what race they might be from. Most of the evidence points to them being either Enhanced Artificial Souls/Humans.
Here are the possible theories, the facts supporting them and the facts opposing them:

Theory 1: They are Enhanced Artificial Souls1
We know that Nemu Kurotsuchi is the artificially created "daughter" of Mayuri Kurotsuchi. He used a combination of Gigai and Gikon technologies to bring her into existence. It's likely that Urahara did the same to create Ururu and Jinta.
For:

They seemingly come from nowhere and live at Urahara's.
Both have powers way above anything else a human has shown in Bleach and Ururu even has an "angry-mode" when she gets hurt.
It shouldn't be hard for Urahara to create Mod Souls, regarding the knowledge he has about Souls, modified Souls and how they work. Someone who can create a Hogyoku can create Mod Souls for sure. Especially since Urahara didn't need to create them from scratch, as they already existed.
For Urahara to create a special Gigai shouldn't be much of a problem either.
He is the person who created the special Gigai that held Rukia during her two months in the human world.

Against:

It's not impossible for them to be humans inspite of their strength because Inoue and Kannoji are both humans but possess abilities greater than those of normal humans.
Unlike Nemu, they have a will of their own.

One may argue that they aren't robotic (they don't say yes to everything that Urahara says), but as Ayase points out in the comments, Kon is a Mod Soul but isn't robotic either.

Theory 2: They are humans2,3
They are said to be High-Spec Humans on the Bleach Wiki:

A very small percentage of the Human population develops a high amount of Reiryoku; they are known as "High-Spec" Humans. These Humans can see and interact with Reishi-made objects, such as Souls, to varying degrees and for various reasons.

For:

Urahara had the Hougyoku in his possession up until Rukia came to Karakura town and lost her powers. He lent her his special Gigai, with the Hougyoku hidden in it. They could have gained their powers from being somewhat near it. Sado and Orihime gained theirs as an indirect consequence of coming in contact with the Hogyoku, as it caused Rukia to lose most of her powers to IchigoSource, which as Urahara said, was the cause of awakening of powers in Rukia and Sado. From the Wikia article on Sado:

Urahara then tells them that Ichigo's large amount of Reiatsu leaked onto them and that caused them to gain their powers, and that these powers are what they naturally had to begin with.

They age like normal humans, whereas Mod Souls do not age.

Against:

Given Urahara's expertise in the matter of Gigai and Mod Souls, it's possible for him to come up with a way such that Mod Souls age.
Even though they are stated to be High-Spec Humans on the Bleach Wiki, there is no official source regarding the same.

Theory 3: They are Soul Reapers
For:

They always hang around with Urahara and are knowledgable about the Soul Society, Hollows, Quincies and pretty much everything a standard Soul Reaper knows, although they might have just learned about it all from Urahara.

Against:

They do not have a Zanpakuto.
They do not have any reason to live with Urahara outside the Soul Society because they aren't exiled from the Soul Society, which Urahara is.

They aren't Hollows/Quincies
I say this because:

Their physical appearance does not match with that of a Hollow, such as having a broken mask or a hollow-hole. As the Wikia article on Hollow states:

All Hollows wear masks, which are formed from the hearts they had lost as Humans. This mask protects the naked instinct which is left in a being after the loss of its heart, and obscures the original identity of the Hollow

Their appearance does not match with that of a Quincy either:

The final point of contrast between the Quincy and Shinigami is their respective choice of uniform. While the Shinigami wear traditional, black, flowing hakama, the Quincy wear white, form-fitting, high-collared tunics. They always wear casual clothes.

Neither do they seem to have the power to manipulate Reishi into spiritual weapons.

"Sado and Orihime gained theirs almost immediately after coming in contact with the Hougyoku/Rukia" i thought that Urahaha said around when the Menos first appeared (at the same time Sado's and Orihime's powers first awakened) that it was their proximity to Ichigo and his always out-flowing spiritual energy which allowed them to develop powers

@Memor-X Yeah, Urahara did say that. However, Ichigo did get his spiritual energy from Rukia, which she in turn lost (most of it) because of the Hogyoku. It's somewhat similar to this question, although you're right, it's not due to its direct influence. I'll edit the answer.

@AshishGupta Ichigo didn't get his spiritual energy from Rukia. From the very beginning, Ichigo has always been able to see ghosts. What Rukia gave her was the power to fight as a Shinigami. He can see Hollow even before Rukia gave him her Shinigami powers. Don't forget who his parents are.

@AyaseEri From the Wikia Page on Ichigo Kurosaki: "Seeing Ichigo's determination to protect his family, Rukia offers to temporarily turn him into a Shinigami by piercing his chest with her Zanpakutō and transferring half of her power to him. Absorbing almost all of Rukia's power, Ichigo, making short work of the Hollow, collapses afterwards." The wiki also lists "spiritual awareness", ie the ability to sense hollows, separately. Although, if you have any edit to make, feel free to do so. It's been 3-4 years since I watched Bleach.

Nobody really knows. There are mystery characters in Bleach and that makes it awesome for imagination and infinite possibilities and probabilities! :)

They are perfectly normal children… with superpowers.

I suppose it’s possible that Ururu and Jinta are just normal kids - orphans, perhaps, that Urahara kindly adopted. They do age, after all, and it’s not like we don’t have plenty of examples of humans who have super powers. There would still be a question of how they got super powers, of course - and presumably Urahara had something to do with that.

They are constructs.

Much more likely, to my mind, is that Ururu and Jinta are artificial children created by Urahara. This would explain their super powers, where they came from, and why Ururu has Urahara’s hair. Plus it’s Urahara. We know that he’s something of a mad scientist.

Jinta is normal; Ururu is a construct.

A third possibility is that only Ururu is a construct, and Jinta is a normal(ish) human kid. Ururu has done a lot more to be suspicious about - like when she fought Ichigo with so much power that he ran for his life. Or when she struck an Arrancar hard enough to make him bleed. Jinta has a bat that he can swing pretty hard, but he hasn’t done anything quite as extraordinary as Ururu. So perhaps she is the only construct.

They were created to fight Hollows.

Of course, whether Ururu and Jinta are constructs or whether they are humans with powers, the question still remains - why did Urahara make / empower them? One idea is that they were created as a weapon against Hollows. That would explain, for instance, why Ururu lost it when Yylfordt appeared and went into “Genocide Mode.” Because having a Hollow around made her, um, circuits react.

They were created to fight the Quincy.

There has been no indication that this is the case. I mention it merely because, since we are now in Bleach’s last arc, all the reveals that are going to happen need to happen in a Quincy context. So perhaps Tite Kubo has saved the reveal of Ururu’s and Jinta’s true natures because they were actually created as some sort of weapon against the Quincy. Urahara is a guy who likes to plan ahead, after all.

They are the shop’s defense mechanism.

Or perhaps Ururu and Jinta weren’t created to fight any specific enemy; perhaps they simply constitute the shop’s defenses. After all, what Ururu reacted to when it came to Yylfordt was his unusual spiritual pressure - a reaction that makes sense if she exists to guard the shop against hostile intruders. And for a man like Urahara, on the run from Soul Society with a shop full of dangerous (and only dubiously legal) items, having a defense team makes sense. Why he decided to make ‘em kids is an open question.

They are replacements for children Yoruichi and Urahara couldn’t have.

This, at least, is the theory that the anon sent me along with the request. Apparently one theory is that Yoruichi either had a miscarriage or simply couldn’t have children, and so Urahara created these replacements. I have my doubts about this one, insofar as it seems dangerously shippy for Bleach (a canon couple with both characters living? What?), and also Yoruichi has shown no particular affection for the two kids. But it’s a possibility.

They are mod souls.

Now that Ururu and Jinta have aged, this may be unlikely but hey. Maybe Gigais that age are a thing now. After all, we’ve so far had only one mod soul in canon - Kon. And what we know about the mod souls is that they were created to fight, and they were given specific offensive powers (Kon’s seems to be “kicking”). Kon himself came from Urahara’s shop - from a box of “defective” merchandise. So if Urahara had one mod soul, why not more? Perhaps Ururu and Jinta are both mod souls that Urahara rescued, and that explains their powers to fight Hollows.

They were created by the Hogyoku.

We’ve seen new life created in a couple of ways in Bleach. There’s Kurotsuchi’s creation of Nemu, which seems to be tied to whatever the hell Kurotsuchi is, and there was Aizen’s creation of Wonderweiss, through the Hogyoku. Well, we know that Urahara also had the Hogyoku for a while, and we know that the Hogyoku manifests desires. So perhaps Urahara said to himself, “Man, I wish I had a couple of kids who happened to be awesome at fighting Hollows” and the Hogyoku took care of the rest.

Tessai created them.

Or perhaps I am way off base to think that Urahara created them at all. There is another guy in the shop, after all, and Tessai’s abilities are as mysterious as his past. All we know is that he’s a genius with Kido, and he works with Urahara. Maybe he’s the guy who created Ururu and Jinta, using his Kido experience. Can Kido even be used that way? Probably not....
And I saw a cool theory that Ururu and Jinta are mod souls based off Rukia and Renji, and then placed in a Gigai which slowly bonds with the soul inside it. Rukia's Gigai was going to turn her into a human if she was left in it long enough, which explains why Ururu and Jinta age like humans.
Them having totally different personalities from Renji and Rukia is weird, but look at Nemu and Mayuri.

Last paragraph reminds me of Ururu and Rukia's bangs.

Number nine and number ten are pretty logical. I could go for one of those.

They are gikai's fitted with artificial souls.
Kisuke is a master gikai maker. They aren't human and they have not aged in the series..
To put simple they are weapons.
Ergo why they can fly and have crazy strength.  The girl was the first prototype and the boy came 3 years after.

I think maybe Jinta is Urahara's kid and Ururu is a Gikon and Gigai mix (construct) like Nemu. I also agree that Ururu may have been created as a defense system for Urahara's shop. Either that or Ururu was created to protect and befriend Jinta. Jinta's bat is mentioned in the manga and I think it's called something like his "indestructible iron bat". It's possible that Tessai or Urahara gave it to him to protect himself.
This theory also leaves the question of who Jinta's mom would be. The first person that comes to mind would be Yoruichi, but he bears no physical resemblance to her. Then again, it is also possible that Jinta is a construct made from Urahara's DNA, due to his physical resemblance to Urahara.

Simply put, they are human. Possibly augmented by Kisuke's Benihime Zanpakuto. Benihime has the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct anything to fit Kisuke's needs.
Alternatively, they are/were fullbring children abandoned for their terrifying powers and left to fend for themselves. Possibly stumbling into a situation where they crossed paths with Kisuke through petty theft or accidentally breaking part of the shop in a battle with a strong hollow.

There's a part before the Arrancars appear that Rukia has both Jinta and Ururu with her, telling Orihime that she and Renji have a secret. She never gets to finish because something happens.
To be honest, I'm convinced they are the offspring of Rukia and Renji, but soul reapers aren't allowed to have relations when in the court guard squads, let alone have children.
So, my answer is that they are Rukia and Renji's kids.

the part about Court Guard Squad Members not allowed to have offspring needs citation since it contradicts the end of the Manga where we see Rukia's and Renji's daughter

I think you might be referring to a doujinshi. AFAIK, Jinta and Ururu was never said to be children of Rukia and Renji.

My answer is he saved both of their lives, probably the same way Rukia awakened Ichigo's powers, and most likely the Hogyoku was used as well because those 2 know all about it. I'm assuming they're wizards.

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


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What are goku and Vegeta talking about?
This is taken from chapter 6. What are they talking about?

As Goku said, they are talking about their wives being strong willed, determined, and being able to put up with them. In other words, they are talking about the qualities of their wives.
Goku made this comment after he saw Bulma slapping Jaco and telling him to hurry up.
Goku then says that he loves that about Chichi. He knows that she has to do all the things alone, since he's training all the time. Staying alone most of the time, looking after the family, earning, doing the household chores alone is a lot to ask from one's wife. He understands this and the statement can also mean that if she wasn't so strong willed, he wouldn't be able to train all the time and would have to help out with the chores... The fact that he's able to train 24x7 means a lot to him.
Vegeta's statement can also be explained by the fact that Bulma has had to go through a lot with Vegeta. She has had to put up with his ego and pride. If my memory serves me right, there used to be many quarrels between them during the Cell Saga in DBZ. But now, he even took out time from his training schedule and took Trunks and Bulma to the amusement park. This signifies that he has changed. To change someone to this extent is a great feat. And if Bulma wasn't strong willed, we may not have known Vegeta's family as we know it today, neither would have Vegeta changed to become so human.
Meanwhile, Piccolo is wondering whether that's the reason that Goku-Chichi and Vegeta-Bulma are together.


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Is Bakuman realistic?
Does Bakuman explain the life of a mangaka realistically? Is the way shounen Jack works the exact same as jump?

I'll highlight the main points made in this article by Justin Sevakis:

Well, the thing is, Bakuman. presents a very romanticized, very clean-cut, idyllic perspective on the "manga industry." And it works in that sense - it's goal, as a manga itself, is to make you care about the dreams of these young Shonen archetypes and hope that they will achieve all their hopes and wishes through hard work and many tough battles - but it is far from a realistic portrayal.

I'll admit that Bakuman. gets a lot of the specifics right, and it succeeds at presenting an otherwise dry, self-referential premise in an entertaining way, but it is far from realistic.

And, the other thing is, I dunno how many conventions you've been to recently, but take a good, honest gander anywhere around Artist Alley and you're likely to find several eager young artists proudly hawking their most recent Graphic Novel. Granted you won't see as much of this stuff at anime-focused cons like Otakon or whatever, but if you're ever in the vicinity of any all-purpose Nerd Convention near your home town, you'll be able to walk by dozens of booths rented by local artists promoting their self-published work. Essentially, there are a lot of people out there who are dying to sell their own graphic novels, outside of the manga realm.

Another point made on this matter isSource:

Jason Thompson referred to Bakuman as "a love letter to the manga industry done in old-school shonen manga style." He felt that while it can be "text-heavy" on the process of making manga, it is ultimately a "heroic story of self-improvement, friendship and striving to succeed."

As for your other question, Shounen Jump is pretty much the same as Shounen Jack and it was only renamed for copyright issues. As mentioned in an interview with Takeshi Obata, the mangaka of BakumanSource:

Ohba Sensei creates characters who have realistic personalities. When I draw them, I slightly reference real-life people that I’ve seen in this industry and exaggerate their qualities to turn them into manga characters.

The whole time I was working on Bakuman, I felt like I was drawing about my everyday life


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Is Bakuman based on the real life story of the author or the people he knew?
Is Bakuman based on the life story of the author himself/the people he knew or is it a manga with a fictional story?

What about his uncle with the unrefined art style?

Bakuman seems to be based on real characters. As listed in the Cultural References' article on Bakuman Wikia, with their similarities mentioned on the MangaFox forums:

Ashirogi Muto appear to be based on Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

Akito Takagi and Moritaka Mashiro resemble Ohba Tsugumi and Obata Takeshi, respectively. The writer and the artist part being analogous to Ohba being the writer and Obata being the artist, Mashiro's semi realistic style being akin to Obata's, the darker themed manga that get better reception (which was true for Ohba whose most sold manga is Death Note) and even Takagi's failed attempt at action manga resembles Obata's failure, Rampou, that got cancelled after the second volume. Takagi, according to Bakuman, is best at writing dark and elaborate stories; this could be parallel to Ohba's way of writing as an author (for example, Death Note). There were also chapters that talked about serious humor in Bakuman; this "serious humor" can also seen in Death Note.
Also notable is this statement made by a user of the forum link:
At the end of every chapter there's a page that shows a Name made by Ohba (with
funny and ugly drawings just like the ones that Tagaki used to do) and a Name made
by Obata, with better pannels and drawings (just like the ones that Mashiro makes)

It's speculated that Niizuma Eiji is based on Eiichiro Oda and Tite Kubo.

Niizuma Eiji seems to based on Oda, with all the encompassing success of their manga and the rather childlike purity of their love of the artform.

The editors of Bakuman appear to be based on real-life editors.

Ashirogi Muto's editor, Hattori Akira, is based on two real life editors.
The name is based on Hattori John Batist Akira while the likeness is based on Saito Yuu.
Aida Souichi, team leader of Hattori in Bakuman, is based on real life current vice editor-in-chief Aida Souichi. He was the editor for Bakuman from Chapter 1 till around Chapter 91. They basically used the same names (even the Kanji are the same) as the real life editors for most of the established editors.

Hiramaru's comic tendencies with animals, exasperation at his editor, and laziness draw a parallel to Sorachi Hideaki, mangaka of Gintama.

He may also be based on Yoshihiro Togashi who is just as lazy and also has a mangaka wife: Naoko Takeuchi, the mangaka of Sailor Moon.

Nobuhiro could be compared to Hiroshi Gamo, a real-life mangaka famous for his gag manga and speculated to be Tsugumi Ohba.

Aoki's specialization in romance manga, along with her experience and popularity with the series, draw a parallel to Kawashita Mizuki, mangaka of Ichigo 100%, Hatsukoi Limited, and Ane Doki.


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Where does Kirito get his new gear?
In the beginning of the Sword Art Online anime, episode 2 "Beater", Kirito acquires the Coat of Midnight when getting the last attack bonus on the boss.
Up until episode 7, "Warmth of the Heart", it appears he is using mostly the same gear. In the beginning of this episode when we first see him, he is daunting a new coat and his Elucidator sword. Lizbeth does say, "this is the gnarliest sword you can get from a monster drop" or something to that effect.
Is there ever any mention of where/how he acquired his new gear? I haven't read the manga series, is there any mention in it?

afaik this isn't covered on how he specifically got the new items before episode 8 but one would assume that it is from boss drops and dungeon treasure chests as shown in the episodes as well as crafting and buying items.

The Elucidator was a drop from "a boss" on the 50th Floor. It's not really specified which boss dropped it though, as it could have been the main Floor Boss, a Field Boss, or maybe a boss in a dungeon that happened to be on the 50th Floor. At the time he got it, the sword still had too high of a requirement for him to even wield, but he still consistently upgraded it.
Kirito's coat also changes between most episodes (until they stop changing in Episode 7) and most of his coats are probably either drops, or tailored. However, it's stated that Kirito's final coat, the Blackwyrm Coat, was crafted by a player called Ashley, which was referred to him by Asuna, during the murder mystery story—though that part was cut out of the anime.

Well, maybe it's in the manga or lightnovel, in the anime has no mention of this, but in a RPG is not uncommon to get new gears and weapons, describe all of them and how are acquired takes a lot of time and explanation, and can make a history loses some fun.
Buuuut, here we go:

The Blackwyrm Coat (ブラックウィルム・コート, Burakku Uirumu Kōto) is a player-made black leather coat, tailored from black dragon leather, a high grade raw material, by Aincrad's best player seamstress, Ashley, that Kirito wore in the final months of Sword Art Online.

Source: http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/Blackwyrm_Coat

Please use > block quote tag when copying information from another page to indicate which words are not your own.


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In Laputa, does "バルス" have any meaning or etymology?
Does "バルス", which is popular in tweeting during Laputa, have any meaning or etymology, or rationale for being in katakana?

Second question (or really the first) about Laputa? Reminds me of the article saying "no serious anime fan in Japan will say their favorite anime director is Hayao Miyazaki".

If you've watched the documentary "The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness," the director blames the deterioration of anime and the industry on the otaku. Needless to say his biting comments were not well received by those serious fans.

@AndrewGrimm I think it just reflects the fact that movie is 30 years old, and the questions on this site are almost all about about current series and identifying shows people saw as children.

If you recall from the movie, the word "BALS," is the Laputian incantation the collapses Laputa. In the Laputian language it means "to close."
According to various online accounts this originated from the world record setting number of tweets that happened during a public re-airing of the movie on Japanese Television:

On the night of August 2 (2013), during the "Friday Roadshow" airing of the Japanese anime film Laputa: Castle in the Sky on Nippon Television Network, Japanese netizens renewed the world record of Tweets Per Second (TPS) at 143,199 TPS by all (simultaneously) tweeting the magic spell "BALS" at the same time as the protagonists Princess Sheeta and Pazu read the spell together during the film. In the story, the magic spell "BALS", meaning "close" in the language of Laputa, is a spell of destruction that destroys the city of Laputa. The spell is said to have derived from the Turkish word "barış," meaning "peace."

The sheer amount of tweets wound up overburdening Twitter's servers, resulting in the appearance of the the well-known "Twitter Whale." The overwhelming popularity and notoriety of the tag (it's said that "BALS" was the ironic cause of the sever collapse), it stayed and eventually became a fixture in on the Japanese side of Twitter due to this event.

Katakana are used for words that are not actually japanese.
Since Balse is a word in Laputian language it has to be written in katakana.


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What is a Tokyo Raven?
I don't recall the title of Tokyo Ravens being explained over the course of the anime (though it's possible I missed something). Other than the Raven Coat, I don't remember any particular references to ravens. Where does the term Tokyo Raven come from and what does it mean? Is there a historical basis for it or is it something the author made up? Is it explained in the light novels?

Where does the term Tokyo Raven come from and what does it mean?

The correct parse is almost surely Tokyo [Ravens] rather than [Tokyo Raven]s. As in "ravens in Tokyo"; not "more than one of a Tokyo Raven".
"But what ravens?" you might ask. "I sure didn't see any in the anime!"

Is it explained in the light novels?

Yep. It turns out that the light novel adorns a number of phrases with the furigana レイヴンズ "ravens". For example, from the back cover of the first volume (to use the most obvious example, since I don't have this OCR'd and hence can't Ctrl+F through it), there are already two distinct instances of this:

[陰陽師たち]【レイヴンズ】 ("shamans" or something, depending on your translation)
[闇に舞う鴉たち]【レイヴンズ】 ("crows who dart through the darkness").

There's not a one-to-one equivalent of this practice in English, but a reasonable approach is to understand it as "ravens" being used as metonymy for "shamans"/etc. And this is true in-universe, too: shamans are sometimes referred to or described as "ravens" because of their tendency to don black, raven-like cloaks, as Yakou did.
This furigana thing occurs multiple times in the actual body text of the LN (in volume 1, at least), but it'd take me a while to hunt down the actual quotes. There are also direct (non-furigana) uses of "ravens" (鴉) as metonymy for shamans.
Of course, there are many shamans (i.e. ravens) in Tokyo; and many "crows who dart through the darkness" (i.e. ravens), if by "crows" we mean "weird shadowy supernatural things". Hence, Tokyo Ravens - ravens in Tokyo.

But your confusion is reasonable: this would probably be lost on people who have only seen the anime, since the furigana double-meaning thing obviously doesn't work with the spoken word.

Is there a historical basis for it or is it something the author made up?

I know very little about real-world onmyoudou, but I'm not aware of the raven being a motif or symbol there. (Of course, research is made difficult by the fact that Tokyo Ravens itself pollutes google results for this sort of thing.)


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Why the appearance of One Piece characters have goatee after time skip?
After time skip, the appearance of characters in One Piece are changed. Several of them change significantly like Nami with her long hair, Robin with brighter skin,
Chopper with all of his transformation different before time skip, even Usopp have more muscular body and longer hair, he also have goatee.
But I want to know what happened with this goatee.
Beside Usopp, other characters also have goatee after time skip like :
Sanji

Capone Bege

Well maybe I'm not sure who's the others, but why many of them have goatee? First I think it's for make them more mature or to shows that time has passed several years,
but when I see (maybe it's bad example) Pokemon, in the latest generation they have another "evolution" called mega evolution, in this mega form, many Pokemon changes their appearance with some goatee like attributes.

Is this goatee is trend in Japan or what?

I think it's for make them more mature or to shows that time has passed several years

Your way of thinking is correct here. Although it certainly makes them look mature, facial hair growth more correctly shows the passage of time. It is known as the TimePassageBeard trope.

Is this goatee is trend in Japan or what?

It's not a trend in Japan, but one of the tools/visual cues used by writers (and mangakas too) to easily show the passage of time. This kind of trope is not only seen in anime, but in other types of media as well. The previously linked page lists some examples, but let me put some here whilst adding some of my own:

In The Big Bang Theory, At the end of season two the gang goes to the North Pole for three months. When they come back in the following premiere they all have big beards (except Sheldon, who has a neatly-trimmed goatee).This came from the linked page
In the recent movie In the Heart of the Sea, the main character Owen Chase is shown to have grown facial hair to show the passage of time.
In the game Assassin's Creed II, main character Ezio Auditore is shown to grow facial hair as you finish more memories.

So why goatees? Or more importantly why hair? The keyword here is easily show.
Passage of Time: Human hair growth speed is roughly 1.25 cm per month. That means that if you don't cut your hair (facial or not) for a year, it will grow at least 12 cm, the size of a ruler! The average human face is roughly 50 cm in length. Having hair that is 12 cm long in that face is easily visible. And because we all know that hair grows with time, seeing a long hair on someone helps establish that some time has passed since we last seen him/her.
Maturity: As for maturity, it's simple. In the ancient times and even in the modern times, facial hair is always seen in adult people. You don't see facial hair in young people right? Putting facial hair on a character helps establish the fact that this character isn't young anymore.
tldr; Yes you are correct. Goatees, or hair growth in general easily shows maturity and/or passage of time.
As for the Pokemon, at least in Alakazam's case, it looks like the goatee there more symbolizes wisdom than passage of time. As for others, well...

Nice one, thanks for the explanation, and also thanks for explain this Alakazam :D

No problem! Happy to help :)


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Why do some anime not have an opening in the first episode?
A lot of anime I've seen don't have openings in the first episode, instead the openings start from the second episode. I cannot particularly name any of them besides Boku Dake ga Inai Machi.
Why do some anime not have openings in the first episode?

I wish I could name some shows off the top of my head, but it's also common to have the first episode end with the OP. I think that's for similar reasons to @Hakase's answer of avoiding spoilers, as well as indicating that the episode is the "start" of the whole show.

Several reasons: Production cost, first impression, spoilers.
Theme songs are commonly used to save money on production. Draw that opening once and show 90 seconds of a roughly 22-minute episode every time. And there is also an ending which is a double value :p
When a series is only starting, you might want to make it interesting right away, and not just show the opening that the devoted viewers are already used to, and won't switch the channel if they're not entertained enough by it.
If the opening animated sequence features content that might need at least some introduction and explanation, that is planned to happen in the first episode, it would be good to use those additional 90 seconds for a more natural development.

The anime Kotoura-san is like this as well. It starts off showing you a type of introduction. From my point of view I feel that animes do this in order to tell a story more thoroughly without the spoilers that most openings usually show.
That way you aren't introduced to certain characters too early and you gain a better understanding of what the anime is really about.
Plus by doing this one is able to fully appreciate what the anime is trying to express, while at the same time building suspense as well as creating more depth and appreciation to the overall series.
I value animes that truly put in the extra mile instead of taking up too much time with an opening theme.


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How do Ichijou and the rest of the students have powers?
In Episode 1, it is explained that after the incident 10 years ago, breast-feeding children received supernatural powers which they can use to combat phantoms. Generally, babies are breast-fed for 12 months, so babies with powers should be 11 years old or younger. However, the main characters are in high school, which puts them well over this age specification. How did they get their powers?

Maybe you heard or read wrongly but it clearly says over a decade ago, which places it to be 10-19 years, so the maximum age would be 18 considering a 10 month gestation period for the child and maybe even older if the child was already born during the outbreak.


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Are all Cowboy Bebop's episodes named after songs?
I noticed that some episodes are named after existing songs.
As an example, the fourteenth episode name is "Bohemian Rhapsody",  which is a famous song from the music band Queen
Are all Cowboy Bebop's episodes named after existing songs?

Not all episodes are named after songs but most of them are and they are all named after cultural references.

1 - Asteroid Blues

The blues is a well known music genre

2 - Stray Dog Strut

Stray Cat Strut is one of the most famous songs of the band Stray Cats

3 - Honky Tonk Women

Honky Tonk Women is a song composed by the Rolling Stones

4 - Gateway Shuffle

The Shuffle or Melbourne Shuffle is a rave and club dance

5 - Ballad of Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels is a song composed by the band Aerosmith

6 - Sympathy for the Devil

Sympathy for the Devil is a song made by the Rolling Stones

7 - Heavy Metal Queen

Heavy Metal is a rock/metal music genre

8 - Waltz for Venus

Waltz is both a music genre and a dance. For more, see this answer
Waltz for Debbie is both a song and an album composed by Bill Evans

9 - Jamming with Edward

Jamming with Edward is an album released in 1972 by the Rolling Stones

10 - Ganymede Elegy

Elegy is a Dutch Power Metal band.
An elegy is also a type poem

11 - Toy in the Attic

Toys in the Attic is both a song and an album composed by the band Aerosmith

12 & 13 - Jupiter Jazz

Jazz is a genre of music

14 - Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody is a song composed by Queen.

15 - My Funny Valentine

There are multiple possible references.

The album by Miles Davis
The music by Frank Sinatra
My Bloody Valentine is an alternative rock band

16 - Black Dog Serenade

Black Dog is a song composed by the band Led Zeppelin. A serenade is a type of song.

17 - Mushroom Samba

Samba is a Brazilian song and dance genre

18 - Speak Like a Child

Speak Like a Child is an album made by Herbie Hancock

19 - Wild Horses

Wild horses is a song composed by the Rolling Stones

20 - Pierrot Le Fou

Pierrot Le Fou is a 1965 postmodern film directed by the French and Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, who was one of the founding members of the French New Wave in cinema.

21 - Boogie Woogie Feng Shui

Boogie Woogie is a musical genre

22 - Cowboy Funk

Funk is a genre of music

23 - Brain Scratch

Evil Brain Rejector is a song composed by Lee "Scratch" Perry (album Jamaican E.T.)

24 - Hard Luck Woman

Hard Luck Woman is a song composed by the band KISS

25 & 26 - The Real Folk Blues

The Real Folk Blues is a song composed by John Lee Hooker

Nice answer, my friend.  :)

If we add the movie into this situation Knockin' On Heaven's Door is a song by Guns N' Roses


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Is Kaguya Ōtsutsuki an extraterrestrial being?
I'm just wondering if Kaguya Ōtsutsuki is an extraterrestrial being came form outher space.

From the recent Boruto Movie I understand she is.

If you go to the the website under, in the category Personal than species it says alien. So that mean she has to be an alien? http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Kaguya_%C5%8Ctsutsuki#cite_note-d5-1

You don`t see other human with horns and third eye beside Ōtsutsuki clan, do you ?

She was once worshiped as the Rabbit Goddess, and now she eventually was a Demon after trapping her victims in the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

@TanyavonDegurechaff but we do see Madara have them after he became the 10 tails jinchuriki (fake horns it seems, but real eye), and in the anime filler, Kaguya didn't have the third eye (nor horns as far as I can see) until after eating the Chakra fruit. Momoshiki and Kinshiki also do not have the third eye, but do have horns, and Momo obtained the 3rd eye after eating Kinshiki (who turned into something like a chakra fruit mind you). So horns, probably, but 3rd eye, not so much.

EDIT:
Leaving the old answer as it was mostly accurate at the time of answering, but new canon after the manga ended via the movies, non manga sources, and Boruto series have changed it.
Kaguya was in fact an alien. As revealed in the Boruto movie and series, Kaguya was from another planet/dimension. The reason she came to Naruto's planet is believed to be because it had a Chakra fruit and Shinju tree. What is clear is that she knew of other Ōtsutsuki and feared them, building the White Zetsu army to help defeat them in battle when they came, but its not clear if she ran away or was sent there and effectively betrayed her clan due to corruption caused by all the power she obtained, especially considering Momoshiki's dialog before he departed for earth.
Kaguya Otsutsuki article:

As time passed, however, Kaguya began to lose trust in humanity as the power she now held ultimately corrupted her, which changed her public image from that of a benevolent goddess into that of a Demon (鬼, Oni). This eventually led her to madness, committing acts such as turning victims of the Infinite Tsukuyomi into an army of White Zetsu, in preparation for Ōtsutsuki descendants from another world coming to Earth to steal her chakra for themselves.

Momoshiki Otsutsuki article:

Momoshiki was approached by Kinshiki, who had observed substantial tears in Kaguya's world, with its space curvature exceeding 16. After Kinshiki noted that she violated their clan's laws by failing to report the abnormal space curvature, Momoshiki wondered whether she had betrayed the clan, or had somehow been overthrown and destroyed by the "inferior lifeforms" inhabiting her world.

The rest of the old answer (again, apart from the fact that she is in fact an alien) is correct, at least from the perspective of the original manga, or more specifically Hagoromo.
Old Answer:
Kaguya was a Human Who ate the Chakra fruit of the Shinju tree

"A millennium ago, Kaguya, longing for peace, believed that it was necessary for her to attain god-like powers in order to put an end to all of humanity's conflicts. For that reason, she defied the taboo of consuming the fruit of the Shinju. Using her new-found power, Kaguya single-handedly ended the wars, and for her deed, she was worshiped as the Rabbit Goddess"

No events before this are clearly described beyond wars and violence, but it is implied that Humans before were fairly normal, just like all the normal non ninja citizens of the Villages. Her powers did include Dimensional shifting, as shown in the manga, but the only known case of leaving earth is also attributed to Kaguya, when her Sons defeated her and Sealed her body within a celestial body which became the moon.

In a fit of envy that her own sons had inherited her chakra, Kaguya combined with the Shinju itself and turned against them in the form of the monstrous Ten-Tails. Their intense battle ended with Hagoromo and Hamura separating and absorbing their mother's powerful chakra while sealing her body to form the core of a celestial body that would become known as the moon.

So if anything, She is just an unwilling Astronaut.
EDIT: NOTE the anime arc involving Kaguya and Hagoromo's past is not in the manga, and mostly filler. We never actually saw Kaguya eat the fruit or know who Hagoromo and Hamura's Father is in the Manga, or if Hagoromo ever had the sharingan in any form. The anime even changed Indra's eyes to look like Sasuke's stars, but in the manga, they were swirls, though the wiki does not have any pictures of Indra in the manga, the Mangekyou Sharingan page does describe this in at the bottom with a picture of his pattern and a Note that the anime changed it.
Mangekyou Sharingan article

The wikia also cites filler episodes, and huge chunks of Kaguya's Narutopedia page are based off of the filler arc. So it isn't really a good place, if you are purely looking for info from the manga and you can't distinguish which comes from where.

Though the parts i referenced were from before the Kaguya arc in the anime at least. Didnt think narutopedia would update with Filler details and not say it was filler.

That's true. The parts you referenced just so happened to be canon. But the fact is that Narutopedia does not distinguish between filler and non-filler.

@EroSɘnnin There, I would call that a proper update due to new information.

Kaguya belongs to the Otsutsuki clan. And here's what Narutopedia says about the clan in the very first sentence:

The Ōtsutsuki clan (大筒木一族, Ōtsutsuki Ichizoku) is a family of extra-terrestrials.

Well there you go. Not too hard to just search the answer for yourself online, eh?

Wikia is not a credited source. For a credited source you need to give a link to manga page or anime episode.

P E D A N T I C


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How did sorbet's laser gun pierce Goku?
In Ressurection of F, Goku, while SSJ Blue, is shot with Sorbet's ray gun and the blast pierces Goku. How is it that, even though Goku normally can withstand powerful Ki attacks, he was badly wounded by a single shot from a ray gun?
Even as a kid, when Goku had yet to learn any ways to channel his Ki, his bare skin reflected Bulma's bullets.

At this time, Goku had let down all of his defenses as he was not expecting an attack. Lowering his defense when he felt he had the upperhand is one of Goku's downfalls that Whis kept pointing out throughout the movie, indicating it could be his downfall. This blatant foreshadowing hits its mark when Goku feels that he has won and is hit by Sorbet's surprise attack.
Goku's skin as a Saiyan is tougher than a normal human's skin as we saw in the Dragon Ball scene where the bullets miraculously bounce off him like he was Superman. However, for Ki attacks, the person defending must be prepared to defend the attack.
An example of this is when Krillin was able to pierce Vegeta with a Ki blast during the Frieza saga of Dragon Ball Z. Normally, Vegeta would be able to withstand this type of attack, especially by someone as weak as Krillin. However, he had lowered his defenses, albeit purposefully, making the attack effective.

Also, these aren't bullets, it's a high-powered ray gun blast; moreover, it's likely the most powerful ray gun in the universe, seeing as it is being wielded by the fill-in leader of Frieza's army with the purpose of killing Goku. Goku was completely unprepared, with no Ki defenses raised and thus, the high-powered laser was able to pierce him.


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What makes an anime a space opera?
Recently, the Anime.SE Basement Anime club has finished watching Space Battleship Yamato 2199. After watching this, I've picked up on the term Space Opera. What elements of a show classify it as a Space Opera?
Would a more action-dense show like a Gundam series, also be considered a Space Opera?

The notion of a "space opera" is fairly old and has very little to do specifically with anime.

Space opera isn't an anime specific term, it's an entire sub-genre of science fiction. The easiest way to describe it is in two words: Star Wars.  It's the archetypal example of modern space opera.
To be more specific, Wikipedia provides a good description of the genre that lists the key elements:

Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction set mainly or entirely in outer
  space, that emphasizes space warfare and melodramatic adventure, and often
  risk-taking as well as chivalric romance; usually involving conflict between
  opponents possessing advanced abilities, futuristic weapons and other
  sophisticated technology.

I'd also add another key element of space opera, an epic scope. They have interstellar scale, taking place on multiple planets, the battles are large and the characters are playing for high stakes.
I've only watched a few episodes of Gundam here and there, and its many series vary a fair bit, but in general I wouldn't call it a good example of space opera. It has many of the elements of space opera, but scope is fairly limited. I don't think any of incarnations of Gundam take place outside of the solar system, and many of them seem to be focused mostly on Earth.  I'd say it over all Gundam is better placed in the military sub-genre of science fiction, given the military roles of its main characters, the relatively realistic depictions of warfare and focus on military technology, the titular Gundams.

Dune is another Western example of space opera. Among anime, the works of Leiji Matsumoto, e.g. Galaxy Express 999, are pretty much all space opera. Matsumoto also had a hand in the original 1970s version of Space Battleship Yamato. I would also call the Xenosaga games--and hence their anime adaptation--space opera.


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Can a Burst Warrior use any Burst Heart?
I learned that Pokemon can combine with a person in a process known as "Burst".  Apparently the Pokemon are inside a crystal known as a Burst Heart and "one must go through rigorous training or else their life will be in danger if they attempt it".
My question, then, is if the training is Pokemon specific or works for all cases.  So if a person has trained to Burst with a Pikachu Burst Heart, could they also Burst with a Geodude?  If so, could the person Burst with multiple Pokemon at once?

Fraud managed to use many types of Burst Hearts. Braviary, Reshiram, Bisharp, Golurk, and the list goes on for a while.
So I think it may be like regular pokemon training, where all pokemon are available so long as you can use a Burst Heart. But I haven't read ReBurst yet so I'm not sure if his case can be considered normal.


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What are the anime/manga references in Gintama
In the anime of Gintama, there are several references made directly or indirectly to other works in anime and manga.
for example in the first/second episode they make a reference to Ashita no Joe, similarly Itachi's quote from Naruto is used in episode 25.
I would like to know what are the works that gintama makes references to in order to fully understand the parody they are doing.

I feel like this is too broad. There's simply so many references I don't think it would work for this format.

I agree with Michael : this kind of question is too broad unless you answer it yourself (see Dragon Ball, Sora No Otoshimono or Elfen Lied)

@Ikaros your point makes sense, I will add a self answer as well detailing the references. Astral Sea's Answer does provide a very good list.

There are hardly any lists around that list them by episode, but if you want the lists, there is one on the wikia, though it is complete, it just lists them.
However, a better one, albeit being a little incomplete is available on tvtropes. This list is incomplete but it lists them in order according to the references.


text:
How old was L in the Death Note series?
In the Death Note series, it is seen that while L and Soichiro Yagami are observing Light through the cameras, L says that he used to do a lot of pointless things at the age of seventeen.

Later, we see that he is giving the same exam as Light, who is seventeen years old at that time.

This made me curious. What exactly is L's age?

L joined Kira's school under a false identity, so he likely lied about his age too. Him looking older than the average student is one of the less strange thing about him.

As stated in the wikia, L's age is 24-25 years old.
Also, in Death Note 13: How to Read, it is stated that L was born on October 31, 1979 and died on November 5, 2004. From this we can calculate that L was 25 years old at the time of his death.


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Why is the leader of Tanuki Society a "Trick Meister"
According to Google a Meister is

denoting a person skilled or prominent in a specified area of activity.

But why is the leader of Tanuki Society a "Trick Meister"? I don't see any of the characters play tricks and Kinkaku and Ginkaku mainly seem to just bully Yashirō because of his family name.

Here's a really good collection of references about Tanuki folklore: http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/tanuki.shtml
Some of the things that it mentions:

Tanuki assumed human form, haunted and possessed people, and were considered omens of misfortune. Many centuries later in Japan, they evolved into irrepressible tricksters, aiming their illusory magic and mystifying belly-drum music at unwary travelers, hunters, woodsmen, and monks.

...

These tricksters can transform into any living or inanimate shape. Real Tanuki live in the lowlands, forests, and mountain valleys, and therefore Tanuki are most often shown playing tricks on hunters and woodsmen. But they also enjoy misleading learned scholars, and therefore shape-shift into Buddhist monks (as do foxes) with a deep knowledge of the sutras. They can cast powerful illusions (like foxes), turn pebbles and leaves into fake money or dung into a delicious-looking dinner, conjure up mirages of entire cities and palaces, appear as one-eyed demons able to produce thunder and rain, rob the bodies of the dead, and cause pebbles to rain from the sky. In some tales, they are even gifted calligraphers.

Throughout, it portrays tanuki as trickters, playing various kinds of tricks on practically everybody. So it makes sense that the title of the leader of the Tanuki Society is a "Trick master". Additionally, the article goes into some detail about the evolution of some of the lore, and less about playing tricks:

Although the Japanese continue to classify Tanuki as a yōkai 妖怪 (monster, spirit, specter, fantastic/strange being), the creature today is no longer frightening or mysterious. Instead, it has shape-changed into a harmless and amusing fellow, one more interested in encouraging generosity and cheerfulness among winers and diners than in annoying humankind with its tricks. Tanuki are also portrayed as cute and lovable characters in modern cartoons and movies -- even as mascots in commercial campaigns.

So perhaps following the evolution of the lore, the show doesn't portray them playing tricks on people all the time.


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Did Paulie own any additional abilities to perform his rope attacks?
During Water 7 and Enies Lobby, Galley-La worker Paulie could be seen performing a huge variety of roping attacks and abilities - including the save of almost the entirety of Franky Brothers team when they were attacked at the entrance of the island and saving Luffy, Nami, Zoro and Chopper from the flood, when Aqua Laguna striked on W7.
Needless to say, a lot of these actions need excessive amount of ropes, that a human (even a very, but not supernatually strong one) could barely keep at himself. This led me to the assumption that Paulie had something "extra" - not necessarily Demon Fruit power (since it's extremely unlikely), but something else that may or may not have been explained.
Is there any source regarding this matter?

As mentioned on the Wikia article on Paulie:

The amount of rope he carries is absurd, (which led some to speculate it was the power of a Devil Fruit) measuring hundreds, if not thousands of meters, as he was actually able to make a huge, complex rope-work in a split-second to keep not only himself, but also the entire Franky Family, their Kingbulls, Oimo, and Kashi from falling into the huge pit in Enies Lobby (as seen above). The amount of rope that he uses as a weapon and brings with himself all the time never seems to run out, since he has been known to pull out yards upon yards from time to time.

He seems to pull the ropes out of Hammerspace:

The term hammerspace describes the seemingly invisible place from which fictional characters, such as cartoon characters, pull out very large objects, such as mallets.

As for an in-universe reason/logic behind him being able to pull out so many ropes, there is none. Oda was asked this question in SBS 39:

D: Oda-sensei, hello!! Umm, where does Paulie's rope come from? And where did he come up with the names for moves like Rope Action "Half Knot"? They're not just random, are they? Tell us!
O: Paulie's ropes come shooting out of the bottom of his sleeves. Apparently, there's a whole bunch of rope hidden in the lining of his coat! [...]

Therefore, it's not that he has a Devil Fruit, but that the matter wasn't really paid attention to. It works because Oda wants it to work. There is always a possibility that he may have gotten a Devil Fruit power after the timeskip (although it's unlikely), but even if that were the case, it definitely wouldn't explain the infinite length of rope he had on him before the timeskip. So no, he doesn't have any devil fruit power and/or additional abilities which allow him to store  such a length of rope on him, except for possibly wearing a coat whose lining allows him to pull out such ropes.

" the matter wasn't really paid attention to" Hm, yes, it wouldn't be the first time. Then I think, we have to accept the "Hammerspace solution".

There has been some speculations that Paulie had a DF power. I do not have a source for this, as I have only seen this in One Piece related forums back around the Enier Lobby arc (10 years ago?). Wikia's page actually talks about this as well:

The amount of rope he carries is absurd, (which led some to speculate it was the power of a Devil Fruit) measuring hundreds, if not thousands of meters, as he was actually able to make a huge, complex rope-work in a split-second to keep not only himself, but also the entire Franky Family, their Kingbulls, Oimo, and Kashi from falling into the huge pit in Enies Lobby.[10] The amount of rope that he uses as a weapon and brings with himself all the time never seems to run out, since he has been known to pull out yards upon yards from time to time.

From the OP:

Needless to say, a lot of these actions need excessive amount of ropes, that a human (even a very, but not supernatually strong one) could barely keep at himself.

Some came to speculate Paulie had a DF power not because of his superhuman strength, but rather because there is no way he could physically store all of his ropes on himself. Paulie is one of Galley-La Company's main shipwright, which were all revealed to posses superhuman strength (even before Kaku and Lucci revealed they were part of CP9).
Many characters in OP have superhuman strength without the use of a DF power. The most obvious example that comes to mind is Zorro.

Zoro's power might be partially justified by the extreme training he's doing since childhood. Paulie is not that kind of person, though, if you ask me.

Well as a shipwright, he has been doing his share of daily physical labor for years now. One early example of his superhuman strength is when he steals the Franky family's boat when they're trying to escape with the Straw Hat's money (chapter 326). He ties up with his ropes 6 men wearing body armor and throws them off to the river rather easily.

Oh..makes sense then. But yes, storing is still an issue, so, likely, DF power is actually in the story.


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Where is the translation of "Dona Dona" from?
In episode 16, what appears to be a Japanese translation of "Dona Dona" plays twice -- once where Nanami has a dream where she, like the calf in the song, is sent away to her death, and once right after Utena removes the cowbell.
I know that there are translations of this song (which seems to originally have been in Yiddish) -- there's a recording of Joan Baez singing it in English on YouTube, and Wikipedia lists a bunch of other languages.
Given that I doubt Japan has a particularly large Jewish presence compared to the other countries indicated by the languages listed on Wikipedia, I'm wondering about the Japanese translation: who did the translation, and when did a translated version of the song first appear? Did a translation exist before Utena?

Somewhat belatedly, from the research I did for the blog post you mention, this is what I understand the sequence of events to be:

Song is written in Yiddish, fails to gain mainstream popularity even when the songwriter produces an English version, sinks into obscurity.
Teddi Schwartz and Arthur Kevess dig it up in the 1950s and translate it into English; this version gains moderate popularity in the United States.
In the 1960s, Joan Baez and some other mainstream popular artists record versions. It becomes very popular in the United States, and translated versions start popping up in other countries, including Japan.
The original Japanese translation, as you note, is by the Peanuts and may have played a role in popularizing the song there, but their version becomes pretty thoroughly overshadowed by the 1966 Yasui Kazumi translation, which passes into the general cultural consciousness. For some reason it remains one of those bits of common knowledge/things you can reference and expect pretty much everyone to understand in Japan even when that's no longer the case in its home country. (At least, I grew up listening to folk music and had not actually heard the song before Utena.)
Some thirty years later, when planning the cow episode, one of the creators of Utena remarks that it seems like a "Dona Dona" kind of situation. (This is from a translated interview that I don't remember where I found, sorry.) Everyone else goes "hey, that's a good idea, actually," and they decide to use the song (with the well-known 1966 translation) in the show. (They probably didn't sit down and go "Hmm, which translation should we use? Or should we do our own?" and eventually settle on that one; as far as I understand, that's just the version of the song that most people will automatically think of when you mention it.)

Welcome to the anime/manga SE, and thanks for the additional information! On my part, I'd only heard of "Dona Dona" after I stumbled across an album of Jewish songs by accident (which was before I'd ever gotten through that part of Utena), but the sort of music I listen to is probably hardly representative of the average person my age or with my geographic background.

Thanks! I came across the link in the list of referrers to my blog and I figured that since I'd done the research when translating the song, I might as well share what I found.
My music tastes aren't really representative for someone who grew up in the US in the '80s/'90s either, but my parents were into folk music and I did listen to some Joan Baez as a kid. Just not that particular song, apparently.

From an internet search for dona dona japanese translation, which I ran after it occurred to me that there might be a quick answer out there, I found this blog that mentioned a 1966 translation by Yasui Kazumi. An MIT's Jewish A Capella site also gives the same translator.
Just to further double-check things, I ended up on the Japanese Wikipedia page for both Yasui and the song. My Japanese knowledge is somewhat lacking, but I can read katakana and hiragana, and they also list the same year and translator, although the Wikipedia page lists an earlier instance of the song being performed in Japan (which may not have been in Japanese).
So the song translation definitely appeared before the anime (which, if I'm not mistaken, was in the 1990's), and it wasn't anime-specific.

The earlier (1965) instance is apparently by a group called The Peanuts, who used "Dona Dona" as the B-side for their single "Kaeshite Okure Ima Sugu ni". It's on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AemhkLmIgaA.