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Is Sasuke serious about rebuilding the Uchiha clan?
Is Sasuke actually serious about ever restoring his clan?
Restoring the Uchiha clan, both in population and prestige, was the second of Sasuke's two major life goals since the beginning of the Naruto series. Yet by 700, some 20 years after the massacre, he has so far succeeded in producing only a single Uchiha heir. If we include Sakura, that's only 2 additional Uchiha in that entire time! Given the highly dangerous shinobi training regime and overall risky lifestyle, isn't it  reckless to rely on Sarada alone to carry the tribal line, especially given the number of children he'd need to create a minimal viable population (MVP): sustainability levels for vertibrate mammals is generally estimated at 500 to 1000 individuals, but given there's a whole village of Konoha to interbreed with, let's be generous and say only 5% of that number would be needed (25-35). If so, then Sasuke really should be having in the order of 12 children (who, if each of those keeps up near that birthrate, the Uchiha clan would be fully restored within 2-3 generations!) I know it's common for contemporary Japanese families to produce only one or two children at most, so it's what the readers would be used to, but this is ancient/different dimension Japan!
What exactly is he waiting for?
(Maybe Shin will have to step up to the plate instead, or Orochimaru making a ton of test tube Uchiha babies, haha!)

You might have missed that whole story, Sasuke's aim was never been to produce more uchiha at all. But to take revenge and then to take more revenge and then to stand on his side with naruto.

On that first point, I refer you to chaps 4, 225, Shippuden anime S06E24, etc. Secondly, resurrection of the Uchiha clan to its previous position of honor as a vital (and respected) component of Konoha society, was always an element of the whole redemption arc for the whole bunch of Uchiha (resolving the troubles started by Madara and then later Obito). You can't do that if the Uchiha are left as only one or two (which may well go extinct within 1-2 more generations!)


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On the origins of the term "forced drama" as it is used in discourse about anime
User /u/JekoJeko5 has recently posted on /r/anime his observation that the term "forced drama" is almost exclusively used in discussions of anime. It is difficult to give a concrete description of what "forced drama" is, but many users in the linked thread have offered their opinions on the matter. The one that seems most "correct" (or at least, most pithy) to me is this one by /u/OverKillv7:

Forced drama is every idolmaster-like show that has the stupid sprain-the-ankle-before-the-big-show thing... every time for no reason other than they need something to happen.

In retrospect (now that the topic has been brought up), I do notice that the term really isn't used in non-anime circles. I find it interesting that the English-speaking anime community has developed this term, presumably to describe a particular kind of frustrating storytelling that is common in anime.
What I would like to know is this: how did the term originate and gain cachet in discussions of anime? (Basically, I'm looking for something analogous to my earlier answers about "waifu" and "best girl".)
As with many internet neologisms, I suspect this one originated on 4chan, though I'm not sure whether we can pin this on /a/ specifically. Snowclones of the term are reasonably popular on 4chan; for example, "forced fun" on /v/ and "forced animation" on /a/ (both of these examples are mostly used parodically). The /a/ archiver returns results going all the way back to February 2008, when archival began, which gives us an upper bound on how late the term could have been coined. I'm not sure how to proceed for getting to the root of "forced drama", though - and that's where you come in, dear answerers.

I found a few uses of this term for non-anime from before 2008, one from 2004 about an American film and one from 2003 about classical music, and others from after 2008 which are unrelated to anime. It does seem to be far more common in the anime fandom, though.

@Torisuda Your example from the 2003 classical music book isn't quite the same, I don't think. There, it's just using "rather forced" as a description of a type of "drama" rather than treating "forced drama" as a distinct sort of thing unto itself. The 2004 example seems solid, though; good find!

I did some more research and found that the term, apparently with its modern meaning, goes back at least to the 1970s in film criticism. It appeared much earlier in film, theater, and art criticism, but the meaning before than was slightly different in all the cases I've found. I haven't yet succeeded at finding out how it gained so much cachet in the anime fandom, though. I'll put in a little more research on that end before I try posting an answer.

@Torisuda Interesting! I look forward to reading about your findings.

Unfortunately, my research skills weren't up to the task of finding out how the term "forced drama" first appeared in the anime fandom, so all I can is speculate. I hope that someone else can contribute an answer which sheds more light on that particular aspect of the question. However, I did find some interesting information on the origins of the term, which can be found long ago and outside of anime. It seems that this phrase was actually in use among film, theater, and art critics before anime or 4chan, although it wasn't particularly common.
Here's a screenshot of Google N-Gram viewer for the phrase "forced drama":

We can see that the first appearances of the phrase are shortly after 1900. One of the earliest I found was a theater review of the play "Dr. Wakes' Patient" from a 1905 issue of Illustrated London News:

The real play, it must be admitted, only begins at almost the close of
  the third of its four acts, when the old farmer rounds (in true
  Adelphi fashion) on the scornful peer who is horrified by his
  "common"-ness. But then come tears and affecting if rather forced
  drama [...]

As in the classical music book from 2003, this usage seems to be just a nonce coinage, not a discrete lexical item like the question describes.
I dove into the results from the years 1926–1952, but most of those usages, again, seemed to mean something slightly different from what the OP describes. Many of them seemed to refer to uses of color (in art) or pageantry and costume (on the stage) that the writer found overblown or unnecessary. E.g. this Art Magazine issue from 1947.
However, the years 1954–1997 proved more fruitful. Italian director Vittorio de Sica seems to use the phrase with more or less the same meaning as that understood by anime fans. In an interview, De Sica and the interviewer are discussing his film Two Women, which was based on a novel that the interviewer seems to feel de Sica may have adapted too faithfully:

S [the interviewer]: Don't you find it [the novel Two Women was
  based on] melodramatic? Can you believe that the young girl, after
  being raped, would turn so quickly to sexual license?
DS [de Sica]: That's the way it is in the novel.
S: It seems opposite to the kind of truth I find in The Children are
  Watching Us and Umberto.
DS: Yes, it is forced drama

This interview was published in 1972 in the book Encountering Directors. You can read more of the interview in the 2000 anthology Vittorio de Sica: Contemporary Perspectives, where it is included as the first chapter, De Sica on de Sica.
In Two Women (novel) on Wikipedia, the girl that de Sica and the interviewer are discussing, Rosetta, is described as "a naive teenager of beauty and devout faith." However, during the novel:

On their way home, the pair [mother Cesira and daughter Rosetta, returning to Rome after it is taken by Allied forces during World War II] are attacked and Rosetta brutally raped by
  a group of Goumiers (Moroccan allied soldiers serving in the French
  Army). This act of violence so embitters Rosetta that she falls numbly
  into a life of prostitution.

De Sica and the interviewer find this event unrealistic. They have a hard time believing that a "teenager of beauty and devout faith" would immediately become a prostitute upon being brutally raped, and imply that this only happened because the writers wanted to make the situation more dramatic. This appears to be nearly the exact meaning that the anime fandom generally assigns to the term: an event is "forced drama" if it is improbable or feels contrived with the sole purpose of creating drama that would not arise naturally from the situation.
The 1986 fiction book Hollywood Heroes also seems to use this phrase in the same way as anime fans:

"Yeah, you know, soap operas aren't what they used to be. I mean, they
  used to be a joke. Forced drama and organ music. [...]"

The stereotypical image of soap operas in the US is also in keeping with the anime fandom's usage of "forced drama"; conniving ex-girlfriends and evil twin brothers are constantly coming out of the woodwork to throw a wrench in the heroes' and heroines' plans at happiness.
In my initial searches, I found several uses of "forced drama" in modern film, television, and theater reviews, including this review of the film Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and this review of the film A Little Help. Both of these articles use the term in ways that seem consistent with Vittorio de Sica's usage, which I have argued is very closely related with the usage in the anime fandom.
My own research did, however, suggest that the term is much more common in discussions of anime than in discussions of other types of media, as presented in the question. I have only speculations for why this is. "Forced drama", across all the usages I've found, is a broad, subjective term which consistently describes dramatic events which are implausible and written without subtlety. Anime, by its very nature, does not lend much plausibility to the events which occur. Though there are anime which are subtly written, the norm for anime writing, especially in the genres most commonly seen in Western countries, is not subtlety.
Since there are many anime containing events which could be reasonably described as implausible and unsubtle, it makes sense that a term describing such events would become common among anime fans. However, as I mentioned at the outset, I wasn't able to find out exactly when the term entered the anime fandom, and I have no proof to support my hypotheses about how it gained popularity. I hope that another answer can fill in these gaps.

I think anime critics have a tendancy to latch onto certain phrases - deconstruction is a big one too

@ToshinouKyouko I've noticed the same about "deconstruction". It gets thrown around everywhere, to the point where calling something a deconstruction just means "It's similar to something I don't like, except I like it." A lot of anime criticism is done by people without any background (formal or informal) in literary or film criticism. I think the tendency you point out for anime critics to latch on to certain terms is one consequence of that--many of them lack the training to articulate what they disliked in a work, so they fall back on vague, subjective jargon.

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What caused the difference between the good and true endings of Unlimited Blade Works?
In what is presumably the "good ending" of the Unlimited Blade Works route, Saber stays after the Grail is destroyed, because Rin has turned her into a familiar. (I also got the sense that Shiro was supposed to aid Rin in supplying prana to Saber by having sex with her.)
However, everything up to the end is identical to the path taken in the true ending, except for the fact that Shiro spends more time bonding with Saber (and less with Rin) in the path to this ending. If so, why does Saber remain in one ending and not the other, given that:

Everything Rin did up to the end should have been identical in either outcome in UBW

Saber should have disappeared (as stated before the final battle) with the destruction of the Grail. However, whether or not this statement about Saber is entirely correct may be slightly debatable, per content from the rest of the Fate series.

 In the true end of Heaven's Feel, Rider remains after the destruction of the Greater Grail, because Sakura still has a lot of prana on account of her being a copy of the Holy Grail vessel. In Fate/Zero, we see Gilgamesh pull Kotomine out of the rubble, and in the Fate route, we learn that he has stayed around for the last ten years, partly by obtaining energy from the orphans of the fire.

Did Rin just pull more strings to try to keep Saber, or did Saber have more reason to try to stay because of her connection to Shiro?

I haven't finished the FSN VN, but in the Tsukihime VN the choices that made the difference between "good" and "true" endings often felt completely arbitrary. However, one of our resident FSN experts can probably come up with a real answer.

@Torisuda: in FSN, one gets the good ending if one accumulates enough Saber points (and not too many Rin points), and otherwise the true ending. (Accumulating way too few Rin points will lead to a dead end at some earlier point.)  But I don't understand why Rin would have chosen to make Saber a familiar just based off of that. (I suppose she had time to, if in the anime we have enough time to see Saber disappear.)

Ah, I see. In the anime, Rin does seem to like Saber, and maybe we can assume that in the good ending she noticed Shirou growing closer to Saber and decided to keep Saber around for his sake. But I'm just speculating; I haven't even finished the Fate route, so I have no idea what Rin and Saber's relationship is like in the visual novel Unlimited Blade Works.

I thought the Saber points influenced Saber's wilingness to destroy the grail: not enough and she must be commanded to do it, but enough and she overcomes her desire for the grail to do it on her own.  Rin's exact motivations for keeping her around are still in question, of course.  She claims that Saber is effectively an extremely powerful familiar the likes of which no modern magus can boast, albeit at the cost of draining her mana to the point where she can perform virtually no magecraft.  I can't recall other specific details to support this thought, however.

FWIW, the second BD box-set for UBW (out in October) will include a ~10-minute animated segment that covers the Good Ending. I doubt it'll provide any additional insight, but still.

In the visual novel nothing is told.
The anime clarifies quite a bit:
True ending: Rin stares as saber disappears (no running from Rin). After a while Saber starts her speech: Basically congratulations, I would have really liked to stay but Shiro has you (it is sooo clear she can be easily convinced, but Rin didn't do anything). In this ending it is also clear Rin is head over heels for Shirou and realises he doesn't care that much for saber.
Good ending: Rin runs like berserker to save saber (it's just a few meters though). Now the big question, Why did Rin saver her? There are 2 possibilities:
A) She doesn't love Shiro that much since she didn't receive enough points. I would find it hard to believe though because of how much she insists afterwards he's hers and that saber and her will teach him magic and martial arts on a daily basis. Also, why get so angry then when she considers they're flirting?
And why would Rin also say: You want her to stay, so it's alright (this is said in the VN).
Another reason I don't think it's likely is because in the whole VN Rin always gives Shirou what he wants: Fate (she helps bringing saber and Shirou together); UBW (if you just want Rin, you get just Rin. If you're also interested in saber Rin runs to save her); HF (she wants him to be with Sakura and be happy).
You could argue it is because Rin doesn't love him a lot, but 90% of the time she's risking her life because of him (and dies a few times due to that in the bad endings). Sakura can't do that even if she wants to and saber does it out of her contract (at least during the first part of each route). I've always imagined Rin as Shirou's guardian angel, and the only reason they turn into a couple in UBW is because he realises that even before the war started she saved him by consuming her most powerful weapon.
B) She knows in this ending Shirou would almost die of sorrow if saber goes (not so much as the fate route but not that far away either). Well, this is what I believe happens. The reason why Rin keeps insisting saber is her familiar and hers would therefore be because:

She doesn't want them to get romantically attached (in the VN she tells them not to flirt), she just wants saber to watch over him (so he doesn't become archer) and support him and make him happy.
Imagine Rin gives saber back. Well, this would be a threesome whether they want it or not. Rin not having a link with saber = having sex with her, the same goes for Shirou. Now, with the link Shirou and Rin can become a couple and mana be supplied constantly without sex.

http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/37448/ubw-episode-25-true-ending-why-is-rin-sad-whenever-the-sun-sets-rises?noredirect=1&lq=1 Very related. This link directs to another question in this community that will make you understand the relationship between Rin and Archer when he dies at the end of UBW, necessary for understanding the difference between the good and true endings as we can understand Rin better. She still thinks about Archer in the true ending even after years have passed etc

The reason Saber stays in the good ending but not the true ending is specifically because of the love between Shiro and Arturia. Under Shiro's command, she has a strong reason to destroy the grail and also to claim the grail. While she may want to stay with Shiro, which not using up the command seals would allow, her desire for the grail and her desire to stay with Shiro would both strongly prevent her from destroying the grail, thus resulting in Shiro's use of the last command seal, releasing the summoning that maintains Saber. However in Unlimited Blade Works Saber is released from Shiro at one point and makes a pact with Rin.
Then, following the path with Rin as her master and still focusing on her allows Saber to fall in love and have no opposing desires in relation to the Holy Grail. Falling in love with Shiro and becoming dedicated to its destruction for multiple good reasons throughout the UBW route means she's free to destroy it herself without any compelling action of any kind. No command seal needs to be used, so her summoning isn't canceled when its destroyed.
This is based on logical thought on my part though: I've watched UBW and FSN, but they say the FSN anime is butchered and the UBW anime follows the conclusion to the true path. I've not seen the good ending for Unlimited Blade Works, I recently started through the Fate portion of Fate/Stay Night and am working towards UBW, where I'll likely find the good ending before Heavens Feel.

Technically, it's possible for a servant to remain for limited amount of time after the command seals have been used up, so I'm unsure if that alone is sufficient. (I think there's some statement to this effect concerning Archer in UBW, and Caster in some part of the VN.) Combined with the stuff I put in the spoilers, I'm slightly uncertain about that.

But in any case, is what you're trying to get at that in the good path, there would be less tension between the destruction of the Grail (which I think Saber agrees with) and Saber's ties to Shiro in UBW's good ending, on account of the fact that Shiro isn't her master anyway? (Thinking of it, I should probably reread the end of UBW since I might have just missed something.)

http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/37448/ubw-episode-25-true-ending-why-is-rin-sad-whenever-the-sun-sets-rises?noredirect=1&lq=1 Very related. This link directs to another question in this community that will make you understand the relationship between Rin and Archer when he dies at the end of UBW, necessary for understanding the difference between the good and true endings as we can understand Rin better. She still thinks about Archer in the true ending even after years have passed etc

Kyle mohr, I read everything as well (Fate VN, fate hollow and anime =P)
As I said at the beginning of my last post, the VN clarifies very little. Even so there's some evidence to defend my point of view (which I stated in my previous post). Something I didn't mention before but is quite relevant is that Rin either subsconciously or conciously chooses Archer (Shirou) over Saber. She asks Archer to remain in this world and cries when he doesn't accept. This happens in both the good and true ending (right before the good ending would come archer's scene). I think that if Archer had accepted Rin's proposal, both the true and happy endings would be the same (Rin - Shirou - Shirou). I do believe in the good ending, Rin runs to save Saber because of how much Shirou cares for her (at least 4 points given to her). Even so by asking Archer to stay afterwards Saber would have left this world had Archer accepted. (There's not enough mana for both of them and Rin knows it. She also knows Saber isn't selfish to stay that way. By asking Archer she's in a way betraying Saber, that's why she thinks "I know I shouldn't ask", even though she asks, and Archer says "I do not know if you will keep your contract with Saber, but I am not qualified for that.")
Then again, I guess if you really push it, it could also be said she does it for selfish reasons. (You mentioned "It could also be said that she kept Saber for the prestige of having a Pseudo-Divine spirit as a familiar.")
Well, that is a possibility: maybe she wants a powerful servant and she just happens to find Archer more adequate to her needs.
She may also want a harem and 2 Shirous are better than one so she's saying to Saber: I really wanted to give you a second chance in life but since I'd have to monitor your every move (cause you're into Shirou...) I'd much rather give that second chance to Archer and have 2 boys head over heels for me.
The only clear thing is that Rin prioritizes Shirou and Archer. (Even after his betrayal, which almost kills her at some point, her mind is 100% set in making Archer live with her no matter how many VN points she is assigned from Shirou. This shows how much she cares for Shirou. After all she does say at some point in the VN: "it doesn't matter if he betrayed me, Archer is Shirou.")

Note that the SE format isn't like that of a forum. If you want to add to or clarify your post, you should edit the original via the "edit" link below the text,

Thanks for telling me :) I will do so from now on. If you tell me to delete this post I will do so as well tomorrow or later today (I'm a bit busy atm)

http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/37448/ubw-episode-25-true-ending-why-is-rin-sad-whenever-the-sun-sets-rises?noredirect=1&lq=1 Very related. This link directs to another question in this community that will make you understand the relationship between Rin and Archer when he dies at the end of UBW, necessary for understanding the difference between the good and true endings as we can understand Rin better. She still thinks about Archer in the true ending even after years have passed etc

The difference lies in the way Shirou distributes his affection points.
In the good ending Shirou gives Saber a certain number of them whereas in the true ending Shirou only wants Rin and doesn't pay attention to Saber.
I believe the best way to understand why Rin only brings her in the good ending is to know what she does in every route. My conclusion is that it was done for Shirou's sake.
If we start with the routes in which Shirou loves Saber we have

Fate route: At the beginning Rin doesn't want Shirou and Saber to be together. When Saber ran out of magi and was about to die Rin told Shirou she'll disappear as he can't give her mana. She was deliberately letting her die. After a while Shirou is taken by Illya. Rin goes to save him. There are a few times where Rin tells Shirou to abandon Saber as she's too weak to go on, but he doesn't, he carries her.
It isn't until they are all about to die that Rin says Mmm even if you're inexperienced and can't transfer mana through the master-servant pact you can sex her as your semen contains lots of magic.

Once he falls in love with Saber, Rin helps him get her. Rin helps Shirou plan Saber and Shirou's date. At the end Rin wasn't there to save Saber because she was at the Emiya house close to dying because of heavy injuries. Fortunately in the "last episode" we get Saber and Shirou's true happy ending.

Unlimited Blade Works Good Ending: Shirou gives Saber affection points and Rin brings her. They all live happily. Rin supplies mana through the master-servant link as she's an experienced magician. Shirou has to sex them as it is the only way he can supply magic.
Fate Hollow Ataraxia: 6 months after some route Rin revives Saber and gives her to Shirou as he needs her. Shirou was so happy his eyes are watery and he can barely see. Because of different reasons there's no need to give her mana so this time Rin makes Shirou Saber's master as she's not needed to give her mana. By the end of the game he's still Saber's master.

The routes in which Shirou doesn't love Saber

Unlimited Blade Works true ending: Shirou deliberatey focuses on Rin and doesn't pay attention to Saber. Rin doesn't bring her home.
Heaven's Feel: Shirou wants Sakura. Saber becomes an obstacle. Rin supports Shirou against Saber/Dark Sakura in order to save Sakura, which leads to Saber dying and Shirou getting Sakura.

So, by comparing what Rin does in every route regarding Saber I've come to the conclusion Rin only saves/resurrects... Saber when Shirou needs her and most times Rin won't even be with them. The closest Rin gets to Saber is UBW good ending where all 3 are living happily because Shirou loves Rin but at the same time he needs Saber.
The reason she becomes Saber's master in UBW is to save Shirou who was seconds from dying and at the end of the good ending she's the only one that can give her mana through a link and has enough mana to sustain her properly (though boosts are still needed).
The rest of the times Rin either hands Saber to Shirou even though she can have her (Ataraxia) or simply doesn't try to get her for her own gain.

Also, in the anime episode 25 Rin says to Shirou at the end of the school flashback 1 month after the war in the japanese and sub versions [the dub changes what she really says a bit]: /My life's goal is to give you happiness\   In the visual novel and Hollow Ataraxia she says the same using other words.

True End: Saber drew her conclusion from watching Shirou's conflict with Archer and gives up the Holy Grail. Although its not the "perfect" end like Fate, she still managed to find her answer. She knows that Rin will make Shirou happy and keep him hinged to reality, so she peacefully sever her contract with Rin and disappear (as all 3 Command Seals at that point are used)
Good End: Due to the increased affection between Saber and Shirou, she decided she wanted to watch over him and Rin. Rin decide not to cut the contract, partially because she wanted Shirou to be happy, partially because she wanted Saber to be happy (from Fate route Boy meets Girl meets Girl, Rin is a confirmed bisexual and is attracted to Saber).
So Good End is Rin's harem essentially

Nah, I think Rin's bi-curious at most. The h-scene in the V.N (fate route) was a life or death situation and it is an eroge, what happened there would have likeky been the same with other heroines, it's mostly fanservice. Also, the newer fate stay night version (realta nua, which is canon) completely removes that scene. Not to mention that in Fate Hollow Ataraxia once Rin and Shirou start a proper relationship there are several occasions in which Rin makes it clear she just wants Shirou as a love partner (like when Rin invites Shirou on a date to her private pool in her house,.. see next post

(Shirou says it's a great idea and that he's gonna tell saber and Rin gets super mad. She literally beats Shirou and tells him it's a couple's date, so just the 2 of them will go there). Moreover, I've read everything in the visual novels and there isn't one single scene in which saber even hints she likes Rin that way. A harem happens when +2 people around you loves you and in the visual novel (the source materil) saber literally says in the UBW good ending she's staying just for Shirou

IMHO the use of the 3 command seals is relevant, but not that important (even without any command seals Rin aks archer to become a familiar. Not to mention the command seals won't grant her any mana after the war). Saber stays as her familiar as there's no other way to stay in the world of the living, The same could have happened even without the command seals.

saber staying just for shirou happens in the anime too. Adding to what lord said, in the anime episode 23 saber says "shirou,you are still my master; in episose 24 before disappearing she says to Rin that shes happy Shirou has Rin. Saber staying for Shirou is always  there, even though in the VN Nasu made it very funny by making saber flirt with Shirou as Rin states when saber says shes staying just for Shirou even though Rin is just one meter away listening to their conversation

I'd like to expand on my previous comment. About the command spells In the true ending Rin has to use the last one to force saber to destroy the Grail with Rin inside (killing her). Rin didn't die cause Archer saved her. In the good ending Saber willingly decides to destroy it (thinking she would kill Rin). So Saber may have stayed in the true ending if Rin had ran to make a new contract with her (as Rin did with archer). After all the true ending is the one where saber can't bring herself to kill Rin

The command spells serves as the contract between Master and Servants, because as long as the Master has at least one, the Servant can't disobey him/her. A servant can chose to sever a contract after all 3 command spells are used, in True Saber did, in Good she didn't. In both ending Rin used her last one to give Saber a boost to destroy the grail.

The point of the intermission right after Saber destroy the Grail is to highlight the difference in her mindset. In the True End's intermission (End of Dream), she accepts that she can't change the past (from watching Archer's conflict with Shirou), and give up her chase for the Grail, going back to die. In the Good End (New Wish), she wants to continue watching Shirou and Rin, hence keeping her contract

Regarding Hollow Ataraxia, in Rin's pool scene, when Shirou was caught staring at Rider, she said something to the effect of "its Rider, it can't be helped". Also, in HF's epilogue, she's stunned by Rider's beauty. Not to mention her UST/homoerotic rivalry with Luvia.

Not really. Regarding Fate Hollow in the pool scene Rin was dating Shirou. Once Rider appears Rin says that everything's ruined and that she wanted to show off her body to Shirou. At the end she said "it's Rider, so it can't be helped". She felt frustrated , that's why Shirou told her afterwards that he just loved her and no other girl. About being stunned by her beuty in HF it is because she is the Goddess of beauty, cursed by Athena because she was the most beautiful, cause of envy. And the rivalry with Luvia is basically Luvia flirting with Shirou and Rin getting super mad because of that.

Returning to the pool scene your quote comes from here: "and here I was all worked up about finally having a chance to surprise you, Emiya-Kun. Well, it is Rider, it can't be helped. Things go wrong at just the critical moment, as always". And about Lluvia, in Heaven's Feel (the route where Shirou isn't dating Rin) it is revealed that Rin is unhappy in the clock tower (no wonder because this time she doesn't have Shirou).     "I've been going out with boys but whenever I am with them I can't concentrate cause that fool's face appears in my mind. Am I in love with him?"

In this route Rin and Shirou didn't have any romance moments, yet she thinks about Shirou, not Saber, Rider,.. (not to mention she says she's been going out with boys, not girls). She also mentions she wishes she could move in with Shirou. The reason Lluvia, Rin and Shirou have adventures in UBW true is because Lluvia sticks to Shirou and Rin has to adapt to the situation, like she does in every route (like when saber's gone in the fate route and Rin wakes up early to go to school with him or when se fights for him in Ataraxia true ending even though there are already 5 girls doing the same).

About the contract, Archer severed it with Rin and betrayed her but that didn't stop her from running to beg him to make another contract in BOTH endings. In UBW good she does that with saber but in the true ending,where Shirou cares less about saber, she does nothing as the anime shows. Saber stays for Shirou in the good ending because she cares about him and he gives her more points in the VN, showing he really wants that. Before dying she thought it was ok cause Shirou didn't need her [read 2nd, 4th comments and Prime's answer] Let's end it here, we all surpassed the allowed comments

As someone who completely finished the Visual Novel (including the secret scene for viewing all the tiger dojos) I believe I am well qualified to say this: The difference is not clear. It could be said that Rin loved Shirou so much that she chose to keep Saber (at the cost of 80% of her reserves) it could also be said that she kept Saber for the prestige of having a Pseudo-Divine spirit as a familiar.  It could even be said that it was to give Saber a second chance at life. In the end it's up to the viewer to decide.

It was to make him happy. Just watch this video (minutes 9-16) in which future Rin talks to present Rin in fate hollow ataraxia. At some point future Rin says: Rather than becoming happy together, I will, with no questions asked, and more than anyone else, give him happiness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9thish4tmk4
In the good ending Shirou's happiness depends a lot on saber staying, that's why Rin does all she can to make her stay.
What word does define Rin?: Tsundere that hides her feelings and pretends to act out of selfishness. I will translate her tsundere words:
Shirou asks Rin: Why did you keep her? Rin asnwers: Because she is the most powerful servant.
Translation: "I did it for you" (because otherwise it doesn't make sense that in the true ending she doesn't keep saber or how much she implores archer to stay as her servant when there's not enough prana for 2 servants).
Rin says: ""Saber is mine and so are you"
Translation: You are MINE and I'd suffer a thousand deaths before giving you saber back so that you can fuck her every day (Because that's how bad Shirou is as a mage. Unlike Rin, Shirou supplies magical energy by fucking. A link is never created, it is just endless fucking).
Rin says: "I'll need you to help me supply saber. I won't be as bad as saber but I'll still be an inconvenience"; "I'll supply saber with magical energy and you will give me a boost"
Translation: Keep your hands off Saber, you horny dog! Eh? You can't hold it? Hmph, i-it can't be helped. I will l-let you do me, OK? It's not like I want to f-fuck or anything, baka! I just need mana for Saber!
Luckily future Rin leaves the tsun part and becomes a love-struck caring wife that doesn't conceal her feelings.

http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/37448/ubw-episode-25-true-ending-why-is-rin-sad-whenever-the-sun-sets-rises?noredirect=1&lq=1 Very related. This link directs to another question in this community that will make you understand the relationship between Rin and Archer when he dies at the end of UBW, necessary for understanding the difference between the good and true endings as we can understand Rin better. She still thinks about Archer in the true ending even after years have passed etc

And I agree, Rin cares a lot about Shirou/Archer, which makes it a very reasonable reason.

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text:
Is the circle-script used in Rokka no Yuusha decipherable?
In Rokka no Yuusha, we see a number of instances of a fictional script consisting of glyphs inside circles. For example, from the introductory narration:

These are probably too low-resolution to be readable. However, in episode 3, we get a suitably-high-resolution shot of Adlet's letter to the princess:

Fictional scripts in anime are often ciphers (a la Space Dandy, Suisei no Gargantia, etc.). Is this one also a cipher of some sort?

Multiple presumably-independent decipherments have been conducted by denizens of the internet (>>128296467 on /a/, >>128297371 on /a/, and /u/justinlam3 on /r/anime), all of which arrived at the same conclusion: the circle-script is a simple substitution cipher for the Latin script, and the underlying plaintext happens to be coherent English.
Adlet's letter reads:

TO NACHETANYA
  I MET OUR
  COLLEAGUE FROM
  THE SIX FLOWER
  IM GOING AFTER
  HER SO YOU
  JUST GO AHEAD
  FOR YOUR
  [...]

And indeed, this is essentially what Nachetanya says when she reads the letter out loud (in what sounds to us like Japanese).
The cipher appears to lack a majuscule/minuscule distinction, and also appears to lack punctuation. Adlet's letter didn't have enough text to allow us to identify the circle-script equivalents of all 26 English letters, but >>/a/128297371 did construct a partial substitution table based on Adlet's letter:

Luckily, we get more ciphertext to work with in episode 12:

 The text on the tablet with the instructions for activating the temple became marginally readable after I spent over 9000 hours in Photoshop GIMP enhancing it: link (you might like to try running it through waifu2x for increased readability). It reads as follows:

       TO ACTIVATE AGAIN THE
       BORDER BETWEEN INNER
       AND OUTER CLOSED AREAS
       AS FUNCTION OF
       SANCTUARY REPEAT THE
       SAME OPERATIONAL
       PROCEDURE AFTER REMOVING
       THE TREASURED SWORD AND THE
       BROKEN LITHOGRAPH THAT IS
       GRASP THE TREASURED SWORD
       AND LET THE BLOOD
       PASS THROUGH IT AND DESTROY
       INTONING FIXED WORDS

 This accords what Hans tells the rest of the group.

Using this information, we can decipher a few more letters.

Alas, there is no information available to us beyond Adlet's letter from episode 3 and the ciphertext from episode 12. While there are other ciphertexts large enough to be readable (mostly close-up shots of the map of the continent, which has labels on it), none of them give us any letters that we don't already have from these two sources, meaning that we will never know what the circle-script equivalents of "Q" and "Z" are. And that, my friends, is the real mystery of Rokka no Yuusha.

What is the source for the episode 12 information?

@Michael I unciphered it using the translation table and then filled in the remaining blanks (unknown letters) by deduction.

And another ciphertext is deciphers:


text:
What is a good way to keep track of the episode you're up to?
So I have a list in notepad that I use to keep track of what episode I have watched:

********** Latest episode that I have watched: **********

A Certain Magical Index                         Season 1    Episode 24
A Certain Scientific Railgun                    Season 2    Episode 24
Absolute Duo                                                Episode 7
Accel World                     (anime)                     Episode 23
Accel World                     (light novel)   Volume 2    -all-
Accel World                     (manga)                     11
... etc.

And some other headings like:

*********** Finished (hopefully not) ***********

and

*********** To watch/consider: ***********

Is there a good tool online to do the same thing that I am doing but better, and will update automatically when a new season is automatically added, such as moved from the finished section to the latest section?

MyAnimeList is decent -- I use it because I don't always follow shows closely enough to remember the exact episode I'm on, and like some other sites, it's decent for keeping track of things I'd like to watch at some point. But it tends to use the romanized Japanese title in a lot of cases, which is annoying. (Sure, I remember The Flowers of Evil as Aku no Hana, but it's difficult to say the same of whatever the Japanese titles of Studio Ghibli films are.)

Pretty much every anime site listed here provides these features. It's a matter of choice which one(s) you use. The most popular choices are MyAnimeList, Anime-Planet and Hummingbird.

MyAnimeList is a fantastic option. Of every site I've tried it's by far the best. In addition to allowing you to track your anime according to a number of headings, it also allows you to specify a ton of other information, like times rewatched, rating, start/end dates, and how you have it stored (for example, if you own DVD's or BluRays of a show). Your ratings are actually aggregated with the rest of the community too - which is a very active community, I might add.
Furthermore, the site will help you track manga in the same way. Not to mention favorite characters and staff members.
Plus they have news, and there's even a blog attached to your account should you choose to use it.
If that weren't enough, it has a massive database of just about every anime and manga you could ever imagine, complete with character lists, plot summaries, staff/stuido information, user reviews, and recommendations for other similar anime.
In conclusion, MAL is exactly what you are looking for and more. Switching from a notepad document to that has saved me quite a few headaches.

Hummingbird.me is similar and also worthy of mention. It looks a lot nicer and functions very similarly.

As mentioned by Gao and キルア, Hummingbird is also worth a shot. At least as of the time of writing, it fails on a few points:

Unlike MAL, Hummingbird does not really support keeping track of manga well: its focus is on anime. You can easily click on an image of animated shows on the front page to move the "record" the site has of where you are forward, but it offers nothing similar for manga.
A lot of the additional information you can input into MAL (such as start/end dates of when you saw something) is not present. I don't care about which set of subtitles I used or my rewatch priority for a series -- I mainly use sites like these to keep track of where I am in a series or what I want to watch in the future -- but things like when I saw something are kind of interesting to look at.

(This is why I only mentioned MAL initially.) However:

You have a choice between the website showing "canonical" titles, the most common English translation of the title, or the romanized Japanese title. This is immensely useful: MAL often only features the romanized title in its main listings (although it does list alternative titles) and no form of the English title except in cases where the Japanese title is some transliteration of some other language (e.g. Girls und Panzer or Excel Saga, which is listed as Heppoko Jikken Animation Excel Saga). This can become incredibly confusing in series (such as various Studio Ghibli films) where the Japanese title may not be well-known.
It offers machine recommendations for anime based on what you've watched. This feature can get kind of wonky because it depends on the various "lists" you have of anime: for instance, at one point, I had a lot of recommendations for various Evangelion productions based on my "watching" list because I was rewatching the Evangelion anime, and moreover, if I've already seen Evangelion and liked it, I probably already know of the existence of the additional films. But this makes for a nice additional feature, and, at least personally, I tend to trust machine recommendations a bit more.

I am unsure if MAL offers anything for light novels: I am inclined to suspect that it does not, as it only has an "anime list" (for anything animated) and a "manga list" for each user.

As far as I can tell, MAL has no story at all for light novels. It doesn't seem to recognize their existence.

It looks like the link died. I believe Hummingbird was relaunched as Kitsu: https://medium.com/heykitsu/hummingbird-is-dead-long-live-kitsu-bda6ccfbbcce

Another large one is Anime-Planet. This has similar things to MAL & Hummingbird, but also has some additional features.

Recommendations of shows based on other shows
Recommendations of shows based on what you've watched

(Similarly for manga)

Watch anime on-site - legally thanks to their partnership with Crunchyroll, Hulu and some other video providers. If you watch anime through this feature, you can let it automatically update your stats.
Track the anime/manga you are watching, have watched, want to watch, do not want to watch, watching-but-stalled-halfway-through... (it covers most bases - even rewatches)
Add favourite characters, artists, staff, etc.
Read reviews of shows you might like
Create custom lists (e.g. "Anime for showing someone how hasn't seen any anime")
Discuss anime things in their forum (I don't use this much, but it's there if you want it)
View lists of upcoming anime and the currently most popular shows.
View graphs of your anime/manga activity. Here's mine for an example:

There is also a smaller selection of light novels and music videos (like Miku) that you can track as well.
The site has a very active owner, who continually makes changes to the site to improve the experience.

I find the AniDB the best choice by far, when it comes to tracking watched or planned to watch anime. It also contains some useful tool when you are downloading anime. The tool will scan the file and if it is they database and you marked check box it will automatically add the episode into your list.

You may want to try Kitsu
Pros:

A modern UI (much much better than MyAnimeList)
Official Android/iOS applications
You can import/export from MyAnimeList (including others)
It can automatically update your MyAnimeList (and other) library whenever you update your progress on Kitsu

Cons:

The community is currently smaller than MyAnimeList (but still considerably large and active)

(This is only my way of doing it.)
I'm downloading every episode I watch (mainly because my internet is too slow for streaming) so I'm sorting them in folders on my HDD. Also I have a normal text file in the root of my anime folder where I list all the anime I want to watch.
This method has pros but also, unfortunately, cons:
Pros

You don't have to care about any 3rd party service.
You can watch the episodes everywhere. Offline.
After downloading an episode, It won't use any bandwidth when watching it. (useful for people with slow internet, like me.) This includes rewatching.

Cons

You are not able to make such nice graphs as @moegamisama showed.
If your HDD dies, you lose everything.
It overall isn't as fancy as on a website. It might look like this:

This is explaining how you consume your media, rather than how you track it. Can you focus your answer more on how you know which episode you're on? What's the layout of your text file for example

I know which  episode I'm on by checking which episode is the last one in the corresponding folder. The text file is just a simple list. Also I name the episodes after this pattern ".EP..".

I've never heard anime sites that allow the users to legally store the video offline... unless you're ripping your own DVD/BD collections...

You can use SerienGuide to track your TV shows.

You'll get recommendations based on the shows you have watched.
You can track:

The shows you are currently watching
All watched series

You can also create a watchlist and much more.

Can you elaborate a bit more about the site. It seems to have very little content in terms of anime, the only series I found were Naruto and One Piece. What would make me want to use it over the other ones already mentioned?

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


text:
Where is All Blue located?
After reading this question, I looked through some One Piece world maps as you can see below and they made me wonder. Where would All Blue even be at? All Blue is supposedly the place where the four seas meet.

The All Blue is a mystical sea of legend, rumoured to be the only place in the world where the North, South, East, and West seas meet.

Since the four seas are separated from each other by the Grand and Red line, how and where would they be able to meet? Where would All Blue be at?

There is even this interactive world map if you would be interested.

I think this will be answered later when maybe Nami will show us a new map, for the New World. We cannot predict where is located.
Also if you read in the wiki:
Upon reaching Mermaid Cove in Fishman Island, Sanji exclaims to the crew that "he has found the All Blue there"... However, due to Fishman Island being antipodal to Reverse Mountain as well as one of two connecting routes between Paradise and The New World, it is theoretically possible for the four seas to converge on that place.

It hasn't been revealed yet. Sanji thought it was Fishman Island for a moment.

There is no canon or non-canon answer from the One Piece universe.  Sanji referred to a lake on Fishman island as his All Blue but that was not serious (I think). Until Oda says, we don't know.
We could speculate it could be reverse mountain, or a bay at Raftel, or a cavern deep underground, or Vegapunk's research aquarium on the moon, or an alternative dimension (an island ate a devil fruit?), or ..... The point is that Oda is very creative.  It could be many things as a result.

+1 I would love to see an island eat a Devil Fruit! Thinking about it, it should not even be impossible. If we can have gas eat a Devil Fruit, why not a mountain.

Portal portal? Turtle turtle? Gold gold?

Well it has to be a zoan fruit though, or nothing will happen until the mountain dies and the fruit reborns. Not sure how a mountain could die though.

@peterraeves Probably. Otherwise, it would make more sense for the consumer to be a plant with a massive root system resulting in unexplainable phenomenon all around the island. If portals, this could means an all blue lake.

Episode 530 around 22:41 Hody Jones says that "We will take the center of the world, Fishman island". Fishman Island should be all blue, but then again Fishman island is deep down...

Reverse Mountain. That's the only logical option right now - the currents are formed from water of the four Blues so it connects on top of it. Maybe there aren't fish from all Blues, but there is definitely water from all of them.

The most predictable location would most likely be reverse mountain. After all, that is the only viewable location in which all the Blues meet. It instead could also be a deep lake that has underwater currents moving through it from the Blues through caves.


text:
What race are Emperor Pilaf and Garlic Jr.?
In Dragon Ball, Piccolo and Kami are written as if they are demons from Earth, but in Dragon Ball Z, it is revealed that they are actually aliens from the planet Namek.
Another prominent character who looks like a demon, Emperor Pilaf, is never stated to be a Namekian, but he shares the odd skin tone and pointed ears of one.

Similarly, Garlic Jr. is Namekian-looking, minus the antenna, and seems to have some connection with Kami that is never fully explained.  He also doesn't seem to grow taller at all (Neither does Emperor Pilaf) and has the same approximate skin tone as Pilaf.
They're almost Namekian, but not quite, and don't seem to follow the same character design as other Namekians, and they seem to be permanently short, so I hesitate to call either of them Namekians.
I don't know if they're the same species, but they're very similar.
What exactly are these two characters?  An offshoot of Namekians?  Actual demons?  Or something else entirely?

I suspect they might be Albino Namekians: http://teamfourstar.wikia.com/wiki/Albino_Namekians

@DarthHunterix Preposterous.  They were all wiped out in the great purge. ;p

Well yeah, but is there anyone in DB universe actually competent at great purges? Even Frieza lost his grip at genocide at some point, and for Namekians it was the first time. Who knows, maybe some of them stowed away on Piccolo's ship?

@DarthHunterix While amusing, I'm pretty sure there aren't actually any Albino Namekians ouside of DBZ Abridged.

It's possible the resemblance between Garlic Jr. and Emperor Pilaf is just a coincidence. Emperor Pilaf showed up very early in the Dragon Ball manga, long before we found out everyone was an alien, whereas Garlic Jr. showed up much later in material that was not directly produced by Toriyama. The series did recycle character designs, the most extreme case being Turles from The Tree of Might, who looked exactly like Goku for no reason I can remember.

@Torisuda That's possible.  Which means Pilaf could be an Earth Monster and Garlic Jr. could be an alien from the Makyo star, and they just happen to look similar.

Garlic Jr. is a Makyan ( natives of the Makyo Star) not a Albino Namekian. Albino Namekian are still presumed all dead. For Emperor Pilaf nothing much is know, we can assume him as earthling like other animal looking people.
Other Known Makyans

Cinnamon
Garlic
Ginger
Herb
Jasmine
Mustard
Nicky
Salt
Sansho
Spice
Vinegar

Since this question doesn't have a definitive answer yet, I suppose I'll expand on my comment above.
As Ankit Sharma explains, Garlic Jr. is from the Makyo Star. However, I find it doubtful that Emperor Pilaf is also from the Makyo Star. Emperor Pilaf was the first villain introduced in Dragon Ball, when Goku was still a child, before we even knew that Goku was an alien (let alone Piccolo, who wasn't introduced until much later). All the material involving Garlic Jr. is anime-original and dates to long after the start of the manga, whereas Emperor Pilaf is Akira Toriyama's own creation and was introduced right at the start.
So why do they look alike? I think it's just a coincidence. As Zibbobz mentions in comments, this would make Emperor Pilaf some kind of Earth creature. (Considering all the weird creatures that live on "Earth" in the Dragon Ball universe, this isn't too hard to accept.) The Dragon Ball manga went on for a long time, and Toriyama himself occasionally used slightly tweaked versions of his earlier designs; that's why Emperor Pilaf and Piccolo look so much alike. The animators who designed Garlic Jr. had to come up with their own design, but also make sure it was consistent with Toriyama's art style. They chose to tweak Emperor Pilaf and Piccolo by changing the color and removing the antennae, probably to maintain a recognizable look.
The animators did something similar in the movies: Turles, the villain of The Tree of Might, looks exactly like Goku, for no reason I can remember. Bardock, Goku's blood father, introduced in Bardock - The Father of Goku, is also an exact copy of Goku's appearance (and even shares the same voice actor in the Japanese version). Toriyama's character designs, especially for non-human characters like these two, have a very distinctive look. It's plausible that the animators decided to play it safe and copy his designs, instead of taking their chances and trying to replicate his unique style.

Emperor Pilaf is actually a Monster-Type Earthling as it's stated in Daizenshuu #4.
Garlic Jr. might look like Namekian or Demon but it's actually a Makyan. The Makyo Star is their home planet. They share similarities with the Namekians and the Demons like pointy ears and evil heart respectively. But they do have a difference, they can transform into Super Form which causes extreme growth of the body and an increase in strength. This is a bit different from Great Namek Form. Although both are gigantification techniques but the Super Form is smaller in size.


text:
What is the origin of the trope where a person says "I can't eat anymore" 「もう食べられないよ…」 in their sleep?
When we have scene showing a person (or many people) sleeping soundly, it's quite common to have one of them saying "I can't eat anymore" 「もう食べられないよ…」 in their sleep.
According to this forum thread on ANN, this trope has been observed in:

Cowboy Bebop (by Edward)
Air in Summer (by Kanna)
Inu-Yasha (by Shippo)
Super Milk Chan (by Milk-Chan)
CardCaptor Sakura (by Kero, also inverts the joke in one instance)
Sailor Moon (by Usagi)
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (by Tessa)
Gokujou Seitokai (by Randou Rino, in episode 24)

Since the forum thread above is from 2006, the examples are quite old. Below are some recent examples:

Brynhildr in the Darkness (by Kotori)

Thanks to Pawl Rowe for providing the example above
(Feel free to edit in more examples and images showing this trope, preferably from recent series).
What is the origin of this trope?

Feel free to edit in some image showing this trope in play. I can't quite recall such scene in recent anime.

Not sure whether this is related but Luffy once said in his sleep "sanji make me some food". Where sanji, luffy and chopper then argued in their sleep about food.

I can't recall any scenes like this in recent anime either. Granted, I don't watch very broadly, but it kind of seems like this trope is falling out of fashion. All the shows you mention seem to be from 2005 or earlier.

@Torisuda: I only cited from that old thread (from 2006) - that's why most of the shows are old. I think I have heard it in one or two occasions recently, but I can't remember which show, since it's not something particularly prominent. (To everyone, feel free to edit in some recent example if you come across any).

Just wondering, but why do you think this is a separate trope from the regular Talking-in-your-sleep trope?

@PeterRaeves: The line is specifically prominent, and the same line has been used across several different anime, not mentioning there are instances where the joke is slightly changed to poke fun at it. It's more or less as prominent as "osoroshi ko" "this child is scary" trope which is described on Tvtrope, AFAIK.

I just saw an episode of Brynhildr in the Darkness (aired in 2014) where Kotori was sleeping and said this line, so that's an example of recent anime.

According to Chiebukuro, an early source is a 落語 (rakugo) performance act titled 「品川心中」 (Shinagawa Shinjuu, meaning "Lovers' Suicide in Shinagawa" [Shinagawa is a ward of Tokyo]) written in the Edo era (between 1603 and 1868) (unsurprisingly, the tale revolves around a double lovers' suicide). Rakugo is a form of Japanese verbal stage entertainment. A single storyteller sits in seiza position and tells a long and complicated comical story which involves dialogue of two or more characters. The art was invented by Buddhist monks in the 9th and 10th centuries to make their sermons more interesting.
Because the work was a live performance so long ago, conclusive historical evidence does not exist, but it is generally believed that the story included the following lines of dialogue:

「ほら、あんた、起きとくれよ！」(Hora, anta, oki to kure yo!)
「ふぇぇー？ もう食えねぇ～．．．」 (Fuee~? Mou kuenee~...)
「何言ってんだい、お前さん、時間だよ．．．」 (Nani itten dai, omae-san, jikan da yo...)

meaning

A: Hey, you, wake up!
B: Huhhhh? I can't eat anymooore...
A: What're you talking about, hey you, it's time [to get up]...

「食えねぇ」(kuenee)　and「食べない」(tabenai) both have the same meaning: "can't eat." The "kuu" pronunciation is used by men and has a rougher sound, and is also used to refer to animals consuming their food.
The inclusion of this line in various manga indicates that even to the present day, dreaming of eating so much food that you couldn't possibly eat any more is considered a good dream: such a good dream that you don't want to wake up from it.

This link seems to point to the full act: http://www.niji.or.jp/home/dingo/rakugo2/view.php?file=shinagawashinju

The Chiebukuro answerer doesn't claim that Shinagawa Shinjuu is the origin of this thing; merely that this thing happens in Shinagawa Shinjuu.

@senshin True; I have edited to clarify.


text:
Will a person die when their name is written in the situation of death?
The answer by Imprfectluck at this question made me wonder what would happen to people whose name was written down in the details of another persons death. For example: John Doe dies after his date with Jane Doe. The foremost basic rule of the Death Note states that The human whose name is written in this note shall die. So will Jane Doe die?
We additionally have rule LIV that states that if you write the cause and details of death on a different page, you need to be thinking of the original victim and would not be able to think both of John and Jane at the same time. This would indicate that you have to choose what will happen. Either you think of John and the details happen, either you think of Jane and she dies. Does a similar rule exist when writing on the same page? Or is writing someone's name in the details of another's death just an exception to that first rule?

In order to make the Death Note take effect, the victim's name must be written on the same page, but the cause of death and situation around the death can be described in other pages of Death Note. This will work as long as the person that writes in the Death Note keeps the specific victims name in mind when writing the cause and situation of death.

It seems this was actually confirmed by L in chapter 45. The Yotsuba company had made tests of their own, and deduced rules from this. One of the things they deduced was that

If other names are specified, the action becomes void and they all have heart attacks.

Therefore a person written in the situation of death would completely void the action and kill all written names with a heart attack. Obviously the most fundamental rules need to be fulfilled (eg: Think of that person's face, nicknames would not work, ...), but it seems that the complete action would actually be voided if more names were written down in the situation of death.

That is correct. Jane Doe will die of a heart attack 40 seconds later (unless the cause/time of death is also described for the second victim).
The death note will not cause the deaths of other humans whose names are not written. But once written, all bets are off.

I seem to be missing something here … say you write the above sentence while concentrating entirely and only on John Doe, you're never explicitly thinking about Jane. But according to one of the first rules, you need to think of the person you want to kill to prevent accidentally killing people with similar names. How does that actually fit in?

@Jan You don't need to concentrate on her. Just writing her name while knowing her face is enough (Writing a name of someone you know will instinctively bring that someone's mental image up). If you don't know how Jane looks like, it's possible she'd be saved though.

If you write Jane's name without knowing her, The command to date her won't work as it could be any jane in the world and john doe will die of a heart attack or just ignore the command. So I attest to Uchiha's answer. I am sure I read or analysed the above example somewhere. (I will provide you with some proof when I remember them )

Can we update the answer with if Jane's face is not known by the DN user at the time of the writing, she won't die? Also, I think John will die when his date ends if the date happens within the time limit, else he dies of a heart attack. But I am not as sure as Jane not dying if her face is not known.

OK here is the discussion that gave me that idea.

Can you have someone you are controlling with a Death Note order a
  murder? For instance, could Light have written down the name of a mob
  boss, then write, "orders the demolition of the hotel where L is
  currently staying, then dies three hours later."
No, for two reasons. The first is that the Death Note can only kill one person per name. If it brings harm to anyone else, the person
  will just die of a heart attack. Also, aliases don't work, period. The
  Death Note doesn't know who L or Kira or Wedy or Aiber or Near or
  Mello or anyone else with an alias are. Real names only. However, you
  could write something like "Report Siht. Demolishes a hotel, then
  subsequently dies." and then write "L Lawliet. Crushed by falling
  debris as his hotel is demolished." As long as two names are written,
  they are able to interact.
          Isn't it only that the person cannot directly harm people? Of course, regardless of that, "orders the demolition of the hotel where
  L is currently staying" is impossible because the mob boss could
  impossibly know that L is staying in a hotel or which hotel that is.

Although the above discussion tries to prove that you would need the name of person to be killed to actually kill them. So as long as Jane Doe's name is in the notebook , it will kill them. Either in one sentence or two sentence. If you do not think of the person , the death note's command would not work either as it protects from killing someone by mistake.So either the command will work or Jane doe will die are the only possible outcomes.

You cannot let person X kill person Y, person X would die of a heart attack. That still does not change the fact that you actually wrote down Y's name and according to the rules, EVERY name written in the DN will die.Therefore when you write "John Doe dies after his date with Jane Doe.", the DN will interpret it as two commands. First "John Doe dies after his date with", which doesn't make sense, so JD dies of a heart attack and then the second command "Jane Doe", without any specifics of death. If you would write down a lot of more details they would become Jane's details and not John's

In Death Note: How to Use It I, the second rule is this:

This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

The important part of the rule to look at is the first part. This means that since you were meaning to kill John Doe, and this death won't cause the death of Jane Doe, then you were probably only thinking of John Doe's face, and thus, Jane Doe won't die.


text:
Who are these guys in the end of every episode?
At the end of every episode, there are some guys cosplaying the Chief and Hoshi

Who exactly are they?

I don't think they're anyone special. Must be ordinary actors for the live action after-credits omake.

but they should be mentioned on credit somewhere

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Has there been a study or documentary on the influence of Ani-song themes on Japan's music scene?
As noted on How are the themes and songs picked for a particular series?, some anime openings are created for their show; thus, the song and anime theme usually coincide and work together.
Since these songs are widely promoted in Japanese society (and consumed largely by young ones that regard them highly as they grow), I guess these themes heavily influence Japan's music scene too.
At least the influence of early video game music is easy to note. The wide spread of anisons has to have had an influence in musicians.
Sure, the trace of influence might start with the society itself as in Society/Home → Author Experience → Piece of Work → Anime+Anison, and then feeds back to Society.
The background of the question
I think that there's a lot more of songs that talk about peers understanding (in love, hurting, etc) in Japan than in Western music. The motivation for this question is to prove or disprove, since I'm making the assumption that these anisons lyrics/themes have influenced current Japanese song writers.
I do believe that Japanese writers express the need of Japan's society to communicate their problems to others and to understand other people struggles.
But there has been any study or documentary talking about this?
Even a formal investigation about this theme bias I see in the lyrics of Japan's music bands works. And sure, this might be just my imagination, is really uncommon that theme on western songs?

An example of these kind of differences between japanese music and western music is noted by Marty Friedman (former Megadeath guitarist). But what he talks about is the music composition, not the topics on jpop/jrock lyrics.

I certainly agree with your premise that there exist marked thematic differences between Western and Japanese popular music. I would be surprised if the anime song industry was a major driver of that difference, though. My impression is that anime music constitutes a relatively small fraction of the Japanese popular music market.

Yeah maybe anisons are a small fraction of the industry, but I think they represent a significant portion of the music young japanese hear. Also, I think their lyrics are more exposed by how openings are shown in the shows. Since the people more exposed are growing up kids I suggest their themes have an influence on later works.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a documentary specifically on the subject you requested, purely because I do not think that one currently exists. I did, however, find a number of articles that conducted largely unofficial research on such a topic. In general, has anime music affected the Japanese music industry?
Yes.
How?
I think the most significant effect is the broader audience. Due to anime's rapidly growing international fanbase, and with more and more shows being dubbed in languages other than Japanese and English, the music of anime is being broadcast across the globe. Anime allows the artists of this music to take their songs to the international stage. I think the effect of this globalization if you will can be see across many different anime.
For example, consider the music artist Linked Horizon. Before 2013, Linked Horizon produced a number of smaller projects, including a song for a Nintendo 3DS game. However, it wasn't until 2013, when the band composed the opening to Attack on Titan, that they truly took off in popularity. Their song rocketed to the top of the leaderboards and was and is a fan favorite across the world. This would not have been possible without anime.
In addition, there are examples of people changing their whole music tastes and playlists due to their newly found interest in Japanese music from watching anime. You can read here about anime watchers in the US and their changing tastes in music.
It conclusion, the largest effect anime has had on the Japanese music industry is its internationalization. Anime has helped to significantly broaden the audience of Japanese music.
Here's a very good article about anime's affect on Japanese music.


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In Shingeki No Kyojin, when does Eren lose 3 years of his memory?
I was just reading asks on Attack On Titan and came upon this one What was Eren's vision about?
Where someone says in one of the answers that Eren lost three years of his memory due to his father experimenting on him? Can anyone tell me what volume of the manga this is from because I am all caught up and I don't remember this. I thought the timeline went like this (from the beginning of the manga/anime:

Dr.Jaeger says he's going into town to do some check ups
The wall is broken
The news reaches Dr.Jaeger (not sure how long this took)
He kills the real royal family
He goes after Eren (although I'm not sure how he found him??)
Injects Eren (like we saw in his flashbacks), Eren eats him and he dies.

I'm also not sure how old Eren was when he ate his Dad? I think maybe he was 12 or quite young.
So in all this I don't remember his Dad doing any experiments on him or if was mentioned/explained/hinted anywhere?

I'm not completely sure, but I think number 4 happened before number 1. Wasn't the main reason the armored and giant titan attacked, was to locate the coordinate?

I don't know? I mean that would make sense but then why did Eren have visions of his Dad after his Dad disappeared? And I guess it could be 4 then 1 because he got all mysterious about what was in the basement before he left. Would this also not mean that his dad would've injected him before the wall was broken, if the reason the wall was broken was to find Eren? haha I hope all this becomes more clear as the manga and anime go on! :)

From the manga and from the anime I don't remember Eren losing 3 years of his memory. From your timeline I think your pretty accurate, except that I would switch 3 and 4 around, as I think that Eren's dad went deeper into the wall to kill the real royal family.[Chapter 1, page 44] He killed the royal family by turning into a titan. Therefore I think it was only after he turned back to a human that he headed back to his home when the news of wall Maria fallen reach Dr. Jaeger.[[Chapter 62, page 19-24]][1] He probably then starts looking for Eren in every camp (where the survivors of wall Maria stay) there is to find Eren. As the royal family is looking for him, he needs to disappear. To do so and still fulfill his goal he injects a drug into Eren who eats his dad and gains Titan powers alongside the "coordinate".[Chapter 3, page 21 ] [[Chapter 10, page 32-35]][2]
Edit:
The only part I don't quite get is when Eren says to his dad "You've been acting weird ever since mom died"[Chapter 3, page 21]. It's the only time where it looks like Eren has seen his dad after the fall of wall Maria and before he turned into a titan, so that might be an indicator of a 3 year void in Eren's memory, even though this would be just speculation.

Could you link some sources that back this answer up.

I'm not able to add more links to the sources, as I don't have enough reputations

Actually chapter 3 makes sense. You should read chapter 71 again from page 33-ish, where the news of the broken wall Maria gets out. There we see how Grisha hears about the fall of wall Maria when the Giant Titan attacked. He searches for his son, and hears Carla died. Then he takes Eren into the forest to experiment on him aka turn him into a Titan. So to me it looks like the chain of events is 1. Grisha goes into wall Rose to kill the royal family. 2. He kills the royal family. 3. The wall falls. 4. He meets Eren right after and gives him the Coordinate.

Off-topic, welcome to the Anime and Manga Stackexchange, I hope you enjoy it here. If you have questions, feel free to ask in the comment section and once you have enough reputation, feel free to join the community in the chat room. As a tip, you aren't it is best not to link to external images, because they might be taken down, the hyperlink might change (and we aren't fond of linking to illegal sources), so use the image button instead. That way, pictures get re-uploaded to imgur, with which SE has special arrangements to keep them up.

@PeterRaeves thank you for your input. I will keep this in mind and also re-read chapter 71


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Who is Yakushimaru Ritsuko?
At the beginning of episode 3, as Mikatan brings a Christmas tree into Ito's room, this conversation happens:

Ito: Wh-What is that?
Mikatan: Isn't it obvious? It's Yakushimaru Ritsuko. Oh, I mean, a Christmas tree.

Who is Yakushimaru Ritsuko supposed to be a reference to? Does the real person has anything to do with the context here?

A blogger suggested it might be a reference to singer Yakushimaru Etsuko. I haven't seen the show so I can't comment on the plausibility of that.

@Torisuda: It is only a passing reference, though I don't know if it has any connection to the show, or Christmas.

@Torisuda: By the way, the blog you have there suggests that it is a pun.


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What is Aoi referring to when she says "Comaneci"?
In episode 4 of Tesagure! Bukatsumono Spin-off Purupurun Sharumu to Asobou, at around 14:16 into the episode, when they are talking about making a new school song, Aoi interjects with an obscure reference "Comaneci!".

A quick search on the Internet point to Nadia Comăneci, who is the first female gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event, among other achievements. However, I can't tell how it connects to the context here.
Below is the translated dialogue leading to the reference above:

Yua: Actually, starting this year, Tosei High School is going to have a new school song, and they're inviting people to submit lyrics, so I thought we would participate, too.
Koharu: Write the lyrics for a school song?
Hina: If the lyrics are used, they'll become a piece of school history.
Aoi: Comaneci!
Yua: All right! But before we actually think of lyrics, let's think about a "new school song."

Can anyone explain this reference and how it connects to the context of the episode here?

To anyone reading this: You might want to check this chat transcript out: http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6697/conversation/comaneci and the second bullet point here: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8A%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9E%E3%83%8D%E3%83%81#.E3.81.9D.E3.81.AE.E4.BB.96, plus http://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9E%E3%83%8D%E3%83%81 and this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_EW45PcVE4 . Note that the last 3 links are Japanese only.

After watching Beat Takeshi's video, I think the comaneci pose is indeed what she refers to. Possibly, she also did the pose (but we can't see it since the hand is offscreen).

コマネチ is indeed Beat Takeshi's running gag from the 80s.  It is in reference Nadia Comaneci's high-leg cut leotard, hence the V-shape motion.  While the gymnast's pose is straight and beuatiful, Beat Takeshi does his motion with his legs apart, adding to the comical effect. Most people today, especially the younger crowd, might know the gag, but probably do not know the origin of the gag or the gymnast herself.  Also note that the gag is consider a bit vulgar and therefore is not common for women to go.
If you know the nature of Tesasure! Bukatsu mono, you would know that it uses a prerecorded voice track method, where the voices are first recorded, then the anime was created to fit the voices.  Most of the anime is ab lib, in other words the lines of the characters are completely up to the voice actresses, minus a few lines to get the ball rolling.  Karin Ogino, the voice of Aoi, tends to spit out whatever is on her mind without much thought.  She also likes vulgar jokes that are unbecoming of her job as an idol, and he has a tendency to repeat running gags. I doubt much thought was put into this line as well, other then perhaps because it is a bit vulgar.
Unfortunately I do not have that season's BD, so I can't check the commentary so see if it brings any new information to the table (Though the other season's commentaries weren't very "informative" either).
Comaneci (gag) reference.

From Nadia Comăneci's article cited in the question, I suppose it is for the following reason: Comăneci was the first athlete to get a perfect score (10.00) when she was 14, a high school student. So, I suppose she's a piece of school history in her country.
I can't think of anything else.

So, I suppose she's a piece of school history in her country. This is not really convincing. While she is indeed part of the gymnast's world history, I don't know about school history here...


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What is the symbolism of Labyrinth in Grisaia no Meikyuu?
The first VN/season deals with the fruit of Grisaia, the sins (or sorrow) of the girls.
Is the Fruit of Grisaia an actual fruit?
Now, what is Labyrinth in the title of the second game supposed to mean?

I can't give an authoritative answer as I don't think the creators have ever confirmed this, but having read the VNs I believe the meanings of the two sequel's titles are pretty obvious - labyrinth I think refers to Yuuji's past and the plots/conspiracies that have developed around him, which become's critical in the third VN, the eden of grisaia. The meaning of 'eden' in the third VN is very straightforward but is also a spoiler.

@Bron yes, the Eden in Grisaia no Rakuen is very straightforward... also, can you move your comment into an answer? it is good enough.


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What is the meaning of "Cross" in the title Cross Ange?
"Ange", apart from the obvious reference to the main character, also means "angel" in French and implies the connection between Ange and Vilkiss, which has an angel sculpture on its head. This connection also extends to the full title Cross Ange: Rondo of Angels and Dragons, which foreshadows the end of Ange's journey, as seen in the last few episodes.
However, "Cross" doesn't quite make sense in the title. According to the preview at the end of episode 24, subtitle by CrunchyRoll:

What the hell did "Cross" in Cross Ange mean, anyway?
Ange is always cross, I guess?
It's a pun?!

1 Cross in this context means "angry or annoyed", according to Oxford Learner's Dictionary.
While it somewhat makes sense, this seems to be a liberal translation to match the fact it is a pun in Japanese.
What is the original explanation in Japanese? Is there any other official explanation of what "Cross" mean in the title?

Curse this post-operatory drowziness (had to sleep most of the day). You beat me to the punchline.

While the relation between Cross in the title to Crusade and Christ (as pointed out in the short answer/comments) sounds feasible, the current answer does not expand on how closely related they are to the series. If you are knowledgeable about those topics, feel free to take the idea and expand on how they are related to the series (and keep in mind that not everyone knows the details about Crusade or Christ)

The original explanation in Japanese in the preview cited in the question is

「アンジュが苦労｛くろう｝する」ってことでしょう？

which roughly translates to

Ange has been through many hardships, I guess?

In Japanese, the pun is on Cross - クロス (kurosu) and 苦労｛くろう｝する (kurou suru).
As of the time of writing, this is the most official explanation on the meaning of "Cross" in Cross Ange.

What kind of sauce did you find this in?

@ʞɹɐzǝɹ: Right from the preview in the question, but the question uses the English translation, while my answer cites the Japanese audio. My answer assumes the viewer doesn't know Japanese.

Yes, I think Crusade can be a good explanation, but following the previous 2 explanations and taking into account the "hardships", it can be closer of an analogy with Christ and his Crucifixion.
Remember Christ's story. Son of God, prophet that came to Earth to teach humans on the Grace of God. But then humans went against him and punished him, made him go through several hardships and then the crucifixion. Ange wasn't an explicit prophet, but she was kind of "programmed" as one, -say with biogenetics or so, and started to live the hardships similar as Christ lived them. She also did miracles (like with Sylvia, and "walking again"). The analogy works except in the point that Ange wasn't an explicit but rather an implicit prophet.
Prophet because you can see in the last chapter where everything gets explained:
First the Prophecies which are inside the songs. By the way, "El Ragna" is a reference to Ragnarok. Quoted from HorribleSubs:

The returning El Ragna. The time flows. Through the hour glass.
  The flames of countless lives. Fall through and become stars. They fly beautifully.
  And fade away in the cradle of life and death.
  The wind goes, El Ragna, with roaring wings.
  The light of the beginning. The light of the end.

All the elements of the prophecy happen in the last chapter. The world is dying, and "The light of the beginning" and "The light of the end" fight.
Also added from Ange, being a prophet, -a Messiah like Christ (Also quoted from HorribleSubs):

"I won't let myself be controlled by anyone!"
  "Humans are: Anti-authoritarian, aggressive, rebellious misfits"
  "I understand now why Normas were born!"
  "Human genes will not be controlled by the likes of you"
  "Why are Normas all women?"
  "So they can bear children to those they love, and so reject your world!"
  "Mother handed down the song and the ring to me."
  "So I could destroy this rotten world, made by a rotten creator."

Then it comes another part of Fukuda's mock on the otaku-waifu culture, then (also quoted from HorribleSubs):

"It's ten million years too soon for you to even try to hold me!"

And the Prophet/Messiah wins.

The Angel's Crusade: Balade of Angels and Dragons.
The 2 initial answers explained but didn't provide the specific term needed: A "Crusade".  In sum up, the Crusades were battles in the name of the Christian Cross.
Although I recognize that after seeing the Crucifixion explanation, it sounds like a more plausible reason for the 'Cross' term, Crusade cannot be discarded at all. It can be possible: Supported in the initial concept, Cross and Crusade relate to a Holy War in the name of beliefs and religions. Ange had to fight around dimensions against The Tuner (a "god") and Aura (New Earth's god). She also discovered the truth and started a new belief (a new religion) where all are accepted. In the end, Crusade translates as "several fights because of beliefs or religions", which happened plenty along the series.

And how does this have anything to do with my question?

Where do you get the Crusade from?

Please edit your answer to include all the arguments which to support your claim in your answer. Currently, it is just a claim. (And Crusade is not part of my history curriculum)

@CrossAngefan how do the crusades relate back to the anime? so far you seem to imply that, since the focus of the Crusades were a Cross that means the use of the word Cross in the title of Cross Ange has to be the same without a doubt

@CrossAngefan: Edit that into your answer please


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Is there a meaning behind the paintings in Tsubaki Kureha's living room?
In episode 7 of Yuri Kuma Arashi, I noticed that Liberty Leading the People was hanging on the wall in Tsubaki Kureha's living room:

Here's an image of the full painting:

I get the symbolism of the painting itself, but what's the symbolism it has in the anime?
Or is it just a known painting on the wall?

EDIT:
ʞɹɐzǝɹ pointed out in a comment below that the painting across from that one is Henri Rousseau's The Dream:

Here's the full painting:

So I extend my previous question to this painting too:
Do the paintings have any special symbolism in the anime itself, or are they just paintings on the wall?

The artists are both french, if that helps

While the anime is never explicit about it's visual intentions, there are some potential implications for these two paintings:

Most obviously, they both feature naked or semi-naked women, quite appropriate for an anime named "Lesbian Bear Storm"!
More subtly, in both paintings the women are in a 'primal' state, whether in the wilds of the jungle, or leading a violent upsurge of primal emotion (in this case, the desire for freedom, to be uncaged = wild?). The could allude to Kureha's fierce (albeit largely hidden) emotions (especially of love and hate), and possibly also to Ginko's.
One could take it further and consider the woman on the left of The Dream represents Ginko: she a woman in the wild, surrounded by wild beasts, hinting at her animalistic nature underneath her human disguise. The woman to the right, playing the flute, would then be Kureha, the one who "charms" the wild beasts (=Ginko). The woman to the left is even holding out her hand in yearning towards the animal-charmer!
Liberty leading the People, on the other hand, could represent Kureha. Partial nudity could allude to the fact that she's still partially attached to 'human' society and values, and not fully wild and untamed, as Ginko is. Also, it is Kureha who ultimately breaks free of these values, casting off her chains to claim her lover unabashedly. The final liberation is her passing beyond severance with Ginko - like in the Revolution, breaking through the past, but to an unknowable future.


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Why didn't the Eight Tails' horns grow back?
From Eight Tails article:

The lower left part of its horns was permanently sliced off in a battle with A, and the right horns were destroyed by its own point-blank Tailed Beast Ball when fighting the Ten-Tails.
Instead of hind-legs, its lower half consists of its eight tails, which resemble the cephalopod arms of an octopus. These tails will grow back in the event they are sliced off.

If the tails are able to grow back, then why can't the horns too? Since Gyūki is made of chakra, how was it possible to permanently slice off a part of its horns?

Because Kishimoto thought that it makes Hachibi wilder that way...maybe.

@SakuraiTomoko maybe. But still doesnt explain the logic.

Hmm, a pretty interesting question. My guess is that a tailed beasts head is  its weakness and any damage made to that region probably never heals. I have no source to back it up thou lol

@TheAnimeScientist I've thought so too. But I'm looking for a canon answer, and can't find the reason anywhere on my own.

It comes down to the basic fundamentals.
The bottom half of the 8 Tailed Beast is an octopus, but the top is more bull like.
Bulls horns are like bone, unlike tentacles made of easily dividable cells, the horns of an animal do not "grow from the top but from the bottom upwards" they are like finger nails, the horns may eventually "grow" but not "heal".

Nice answer . But the thing is the top and bottom aren't actual halves of a bull or octopus. Pure chakra. If they were actual halves , your answer is perfect. Also , the wiki says it was permanently sliced off ie it wont grow back.

Orochimaru had cultivated the cells of the Eight-Tails' horn, which grew into the piece that was cut off by Killer A. That horn had some of the Eight-Tails chakra. The Eight-Tails cannot grow the horn because it is made of chakra and the chakra comprising the horn was in a cultivated horn of the Eight-Tails. It can't just grow it back and create chakra out of nowhere. That violates the Law of Conservation of Energy. It's just common sense. You can't get something out of nothing. The Eight-Tails' tails regrow because the original tails decayed when cut off from the main body and released the chakra which reaccumulated in the main body so the tails could grow back. The horn did not grow back because the chakra released from the horn which was cut off from the main body and later decayed had reaccumulated in the horn cultured by Orochimaru. My source is Naruto Shippuden Season 14 Episode 318 "A Hole in the Heart: The Other Jinchuriki".

Do you possibly have any sources for this answer?

Orochimaru had harvested the Eight Tails' chakra to get Blue B's DNA. And not to get a new piece of the horn. Plus, the Naruto universe doesn't have our laws of physics as base. So I have to disagree with your answer.

Dear @Ero Sɘnnin , He had MANY other methods to get Blue B's DNA (When he gave him the gen-jutsu medication, from his corpse, etc). Plus, the Law of Conversion of Energy is common sense and the horn serves as a store of the Eight-Tails chakra.

Dear @SWard , you can simply watch the episodes and understand that.

The law of conversion of energy doesn't apply to Naruto universe. Common sense comes into play when you realize that. If Gyuuki does have that attribute, why do the tails regrow? According to your answer, the tails shouldn't be able to regrow. But surprise.

@SWard was asking you to cite the sources from which you derived your answer (which manga chapter or anime episode)

Ans of 1) @EroSɘnnin , the Eight-Tails' tails regrow  because the original tails decayed when cut off from the main body and released the chakra which reaccumulated in the main body so the tails could grow back. The horn did not grow back because the chakra released from the horn which was cut off from the main body and later decayed had reaccumulated in the horn cultured by Orochimaru. The law of conservation of energy never needed to be a law. It's just common sense. You can't get something out of nothing.

Ans of 2) @EroSɘnnin , My exact source is Naruto Shippuden Season 14 Episode 318 "A Hole in the Heart: The Other Jinchuriki".

Had you explained all that in your answer above, it would be more feasible.

@EroSɘnnin , I edited it.


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Why does Midousuji always say "Gross!"?
Midousuji always says "Gross!", but why does he do so?
For example, a scene where he says "Gross".

You pedal so hard. Just how high is your cadence? Gross.

He seems disgusted by everybody that competes with fighting spirit, or with beliefs of friendship, for the team goals, self awareness, etc. It seems (as his point of view) that he rides a bike for the pure joy of win and all the other thoughts are superfluous to him.
In some of the later episodes, he shows empathy for the second climber of the Hakone Academy (Manami), because of this reason and Onoda in the image you showed is trying to reach his team to help them in the future obstacle (the next climbing zone), and he seems to enjoy himself, smiling at full throttle, because riding is fun, and that's gross!


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Was there ever a reason for why becoming a super saiyan became easy for the trunks and goten?
Related to this, but I would like to know specifically for (young, not future) trunks and goten, how they managed to become super saiyans at such a young age - the others all went through a stressful emotional event that pushed them over the edge, yet while these two were growing up, I can't imagine them going through anything similar - there was no villain at the time.

I personally consider it a plot hole.  I haven't seen any strong explanations for it yet(for the record, the explanation in the already existing answer to this question is not a very strong one)

Vegeta in DBZ calls it the super saiyan bargain sale, Gotenks and Trunk were born after Vegeta and Goku ascended even past the super saiyan stage.

To begin with super saiyan was a legend till goku first obtained it. From there we see vegeta train harder and finally he him self obtains the super saiyan. Even for gohan it was suoer hard. But when it came to goten and trunks its totally different as they weren't experimenting like vegeta or trying hard as gohan. The learning process had been shorten as main key to unlock this power was discovered and perfected by parents and grandparents. and may be due to gentic manipulation plays role here. I wont say this is a definite answer, rather a speculation and assumption to begin with.

The mixture of races is the answer. Gohan also become very young, but had more difficulties to release its power.
In the anime it is said that Goten and Trunks had fighting each other for fun, it probably gave them the skills needed to become.