text:
Why wasn't Jiraiya brought back by Nagato?
When Nagato used the Outer Path technique to revive the citizens of Konoha killed in the attack, why wasn't Jiraiya revived as well?
It was revealed that the original plan was for Madara to be revived with the technique, so it's not like there was a time limit or anything.

There are several reasons.

 Jiraiya's body is buried beneath the ocean depth, so even if he would be revived there, well... it wouldn't really help him.

Outer Path probably is limited by either distance or time which has passed since death. Otherwise, the technique would have revived people from the whole world.

 the wiki says that "the individual souls are then able to leave even the crossroad between life and the afterlife". Jiraiya should probably be in the afterlife already.

 On the contrary, Kakashi was still in the path between life and afterlife when the technique brought him back.

The wiki also says that it happens because "their rejuvenated bodies [are] acting as an anchor", so looks like the body is required.

I think your answer in itself proves that this question is not quite a duplicate of the other one. Nice answer! =D

@JNat, yea, maybe I was too fast on thinking it is a duplicate. But they are still somewhat similar.

@SingerOfTheFall Similar but not the same. Nice answer. :)

Hmmm I also don't think the afterlife bit makes sense, because otherwise how would they bring Madara back.  Then again... Madara would probably choose not to go to the afterlife if this were the case... as he would wait to return with this technique.  I'm sold, accepted.

Yeah. He was probably bloody patient in purgatory, hoping that Obito didn't screw up, before he was brought back in real life.

Maybe Nagato only focused on the people who died in the village and in the time period of pains attack? he must have some degree of control over the jutsu, right?

That's because Gedo: Rinne Tensei requires a body.
Rinne Tensei is practically a Yang-element technique. It breathes life, into a dead body, healing any damage or injury done to it. However, it is not Yin. It cannot create form. You need an actual body for it to work.
Since Jiraiya died and his body sank to the bottom of the ocean, he wasn't anywhere near the village when Nagato used Rinne Tensei.

 That is also the same reason why Kabuto couldn't revive him. Even though only DNA is enough, Kabuto couldn't get any.

Also even if Jiraiya was revived he would have been a the bottom of the ocean by now and I doubt he can breathe underwater so even if he was revived he would die instantly anyways because of the lack of oxygen and the water pressure.


text:
How to summon a different animal using Kuchiyose?
As we know, every ninja needs to sign a contract to summon an animal. However, Sasuke suddenly summoned a hawk, after summoning snakes all the time.
How can someone change the animal he summons?

 I know that with Keiyaku Fūin, the contract can be broken, but I guess that works a little bit different, not?

I guess that Sasuke must've signed a new contract that we have not seen. As far as I know you cannot summon without previously signing a contract.

@JNat: That's true - But I got the impression, that a contract cannot be broken?

@looper: but maybe he did not break the other contract. He may just not summon snakes anymore. I guess.

@looper: There's no reason to believe that contracts are exclusive; someone could get their hands on contract scrolls for turtle, snake & snail and have his own reptile army (chakra permitting)

@Alok: Then why people only have one contract? These contracts are not super-secret, or are they?

curious what makes you think they have one contract? Pain summoned all sorts of crazy animals.

@Morpheus: There are multiple reasons: 1.) Naruto didn't know how to determine the animal that should appear - It seems that it was determined by his blood. 2.) Same with Orochimaru. When he wasn't able to use his hands, Kabuto used his blood to summon, without having the contract - It seems that... You know ;). Regarding Pain: He used the Animal Path, which needs neither signs, nor blood - Plus, the summoned creatures have the rinnegan, I doubt that it's normal Kuchiyose.

@looper: In the latest chapter (633) Sasuke summons a snake, which means that (as I had said above) he did not break the contract he had with snakes, he just 'signed' a new contract with hawks.

Kuchiyose is a highly controversial jutsu, cloaked in mystery.
At the beginning of the series, Naruto is presented with the frog contract scroll. In which he signs with blood, thereby validating the contract. From that point onward, he can summon frogs. The same happens with Jiraiya (who's name is earlier on the list).
Orochimaru has a tattoo on his right arm, on which he smears the blood required for the summon.
Madara Uchiha was seen summoning the Kyuubi after taking control of it, and using it in battle against Hashirama, seemingly without a contract.
Tobi was seen using the same technique after he unsealed him from Kushina.
As for the Rinnegan's Animal Path, it's very likely to assume that the summoned animals are some sort of zombies as well (much like the Rikudo no Jutsu's bodies), as they have the Rinnegan and the Piercing (and doesn't talk at all).

It seems that a general contract with the species, or control over the specific creature is enough. If there's a contract, both sides can freely summon each other (As seen by Shima's reverse summoning). If there isn't one, it probably takes the "consent" of both sides for the technique to work (Or, the forced consent, in the case of the Kyuubi).

The technique is very unclear in nature. It's a space-time ninjutsu, which on itself is a mystery, and very little is known about it. We don't have much more detail than that.

I think the part of your answer mentioning Madare Uchiha should be in a spoiler block because it has a lot of information that is spoiler-y.

@kuwaly: Not at all. It's a known fact that Madara had used the Kyuubi against Hashirama.

Okay. Fair enough.

I don't think the contracts are exclusive, but to answer in terms of Pain, Madara, & Obito, The Animal Path requires no blood or hand symbols, thus it's safe to assume standard rules like a contract doesn't apply, Madara & Obito could summon the 10 tails because they had the Rinnegan & its accompanying chakra & could use the Animal Path of the Six Paths abilities.
Pain could summon whatever he wanted & apply his own jutsu to whatever he summoned as seen with the Giant Multi-Headed Dog that he summoned, the only difference with those summons & the 10 tails was that they had been modified using the chakra conducting rods (receptor rods) & were the equivalent of zombies with no control of their own bodies & no evident consciousness as the rods allows Pain to control the beast entirely by channeling his chakra through the rods, this gave them Rinnegan as the chakra flowing through them (From Nagato) was Six Paths chakra. Something could be dead & with chakra rods you could make it seem as they are alive (queue the 6 paths of Pain).
Naruto never bothered/tried to try sign a contract with any other species so only summoned frogs but he could have also signed a contract with a bear or that crazy Pterodactyl race Pain found etc.

source: Stack Exchange

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text:
How much did Date A Live anime cover the Light Novel?
I finished the anime, so I was thinking to start reading the light novel but I don't know where to start.

You can check the Wikia, which says that:

In April 2013, an anime adaptation began which covered the events of volumes 1-4 of the light novel which ended in June 2013. A dub of season 1 was released on 10th June 2014 by FUNimation. A second season aired on 11th April, 2014 to 13th June, 2014 which covers the events from volumes 5-7.

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


text:
Inconsistent D-mail Dates in Steins;Gate Season 1 and Steins;Gate 0
In episode 23 of the original series, Okabe receives a D-mail from 2025 which triggers him try again to save Kurisu and enter Steins Gate.

In episode of 23 of Steins;Gate 0 we see the same scene:

There's a clear discrepancy here. The year in the date.
The text "受信日時" translates to "Reception date and time".
Questions:

When receiving D-mails, which date is supposed to be used? The sending world line's date? Or the receiving world line's date? Normally, this doesn't matter since the send and receive dates will be almost the same for electronic communication.
Is this discrepancy intentional? Or is it a goof? If it is intentional, is there yet another world line change hidden underneath that we don't know yet? (The ending of Steins;Gate 0 left plenty of room for a 3rd season.)

Looking at the end of episode 8 in Steins;Gate 0, the received date on Kurisu's phone is also the receiving date and not the sending date.

Probably the first is a mistake, because the kanji is definitely for receive rather than send, and it'd be a bizarre coincidence to send it at the exact time and date it was received, only 15 years later (as we know for a fact this d mail was received on August 21, 2010.)  I also tried to find info on the SMS format, but didn't find anything useful, as to whether it contains a timestamp for sent time. Still, I find it quite unlikely the format supports this when it is designed to be as small as possible, and normally that data is not necessary.

you could also say that there are two different world lines. Minor difference like date/time of the d-mail cannot change the world line too much.

Pardon me for this somehow lengthy response.
The episodes 1 and 7 of Steins;Gate tell a lot.
In the first half of episode 1, Okabe received a video mail from the future. It was received on 28 Jul 2010.
The main content of the mail, with the attached video file, in episode 1:

The video included in the mail, still locked, not playable (static), in episode 1:

The video, unlocked, playable, in episode 23:

This video mail definitely shows the received date, not the sent date.
In the same episode 1, we have the first D-mail which is what switched the world line from that of Beta to Alpha, sent on 28 Jul 2010 and received on 23 Jul 2010.
The mail received in Daru's phone:

The current date, which is consistent with the received date of the video mail above (28 Jul 2010):

Daru's received mail also shows the received date.
At the beginning of episode 7, they made a D-mail as an experiment which was to be sent on 3 Aug 2010 and received on 29 Jul 2010.
The timestamp shown at the very beginning of episode 7:

The contents of the D-mail sent:

This mail, too, uses the received date.
There are a few other time travel experiments but that's pretty much it for the anime, we can also consult the visual novel, its source material.
Unfortunately, Okabe's phone in the visual novel does show the receiving date, but not the year. The year has to be implied to be the current year unless otherwise specified by the characters reading the mail or the narration. Also, only the receiving date is what is normally shown.
What a mail normally looks like in the visual novel, with only the received date shown:

The above screen shows the LOTO SIX D-mail which was to be sent on 3 Aug 2010 and received on 27 Jul 2010. Just like the anime, it also only shows the received date.
A rare occasion where both the received and sent dates are shown:

When receiving D-mails, which date is supposed to be used? The sending world line's date? Or the receiving world line's date? Normally, this doesn't matter since the send and receive dates will be almost the same for electronic communication.

With the above in mind, it is safe to assume that the date on the field ”受領日時”/"Date and time received" should always be the date the mail was received. In other words, the mail "Turn on the TV."/"Turn on the news..." in the episode 23 of Steins;Gate has an incorrect date, and should have the year
 2010, not 2025. Steins;Gate 0 episode 23 seems to correct it.

Is this discrepancy intentional? Or is it a goof? If it is intentional, is there yet another world line change hidden underneath that we don't know yet? (The ending of Steins;Gate 0 left plenty of room for a 3rd season.)

It is most likely a mistake. Steins;Gate the anime is known to have its fair share of inconsistencies when it comes to details. As for Steins;Gate 0, it was meant to expand on the original, especially its beginning and ending, and explore the Beta world line(s). Before Steins;Gate 0, the Beta world line wasn't really explored because the original focused on the Alpha for the most part.

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


text:
How does Natalia get from the baggage compartment to the cockpit?
In Episode 19 of Fate Zero, Natalia is in the baggage compartment when the ghoul (bees) take over the cabin.
How does she manage to safely get into the cockpit?

AFAIK, there is no way to get directly into the cockpit without going through the cabin. Thus it would be next to impossible for her to get into the cockpit without being overwhelmed by the bees.

Does the Manga shed any light on this?

To supplement Jon Li's answer, the light novels do not answer the question either. The relevant section is the interlude at the beginning of volume 4. In the novel, they show almost no details of the event. They describe briefly the assassination and afterwards the bees taking over the cabin, but there is basically no description of what Natalia does between killing Volsack and radioing Kiritsugu from the cockpit.
However, it did take quite a long time for her to get to the cockpit--over 2 hours, and it's implied that it was a difficult fight, so she may have battled her way through the cabin.

The plane that they were in is an Airbus A300-B2 which has a seal-tight cockpit door, it should have been able to keep the bees out but didn't, which could mean that it was open during the incident. It still doesn't explain how she managed to dodge the bees through the cabin, which she would have had to traverse in order to reach the cockpit. It's possible that, unlike real bees, these magic ghoul ones are slow and you can easily dodge them if you knew where they were. Or maybe, she's just got crazy skills.
The Manga doesn't shed any light on how she got through the cabin, though the original light novels may.

My speculation, but recall how in Episode 15, Tohsaka Tokiomi could conjure a shield that killed Matou Kariya's bugs upon contact. Since Natalia can also use magecraft (as seen from the magic circle she drew to kill Odd Vorak on the plane), she may have conjured a similar shield to force her way through the cabin.


text:
In which episode were there two Pikachus?
While adding GIFs to our awesome Thrills and Spills chatroom, I came across an image of two Pikachus and a Togepi:

At first, I thought it was Ashachu, but it's not—just a Pikachu with bedhead.
Which episode/canon is this shot from?

Don't forget: http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/8396901#8396901

@Mysticial Funny—that one didn't even cross my mind at the time. Probably because I was in class. I wonder if they're even from the same episode, though; neither Pikachu has the fluffy forehead hair as far as I can tell.

@Eric: They aren't. That Pikachu was a clone from the first movie. This one is from the anime (Ritchie's IIRC).

That's Sparky, Ritchie's Pikachu.
His first appearance was episode 78 of the original anime.

The Pikachu's Sparky, trained by Ritchie.
That particular picture came from the episode when they made a come back to the Johto region, at the end of "Hi Ho Silver Away" and the beginning of "Parent Trapped."


text:
Difference Between the Anime and Manga for Gunslinger Girl?
I started out by watching the anime for Gunslinger Girl, and now I want to finish the story by reading the Manga.  On what chapter does the anime end? And does the anime skip or change any chapters?
I guess what I'm really asking is:
What would I need to read, in order to cover the difference between the Anime and the Manga?

There are no relevant differences between the manga and the first season of the Gunslinger Girl anime, as far as I am aware. However, the manga chapters are ordered different in comparison to the anime. The last anime episode of the first season matches the contents of chapter 8 of the manga, which is about half in the first omnibus-format book release, but following chapters do match contents of earlier anime episodes.
Since I haven't watched the second season of the Gunslinger Girl anime, I just looked up the ending of the anime and compared it with the manga. Since the anime ends in the first confrontation with Pinocchio, it matches chapter 15 of the manga, near the end of the first omnibus-format book release. I cannot say anything in regards to the other second season anime episodes.
My honest recommendation is to read the manga from the first chapter. The order might be a bit different, there might be a bit more background story, and certainly some manga scenes from these first chapters are referenced throughout the progression of the series. All by all, around ~16 chapters will only took you an hour or so, especially since you're familiar with the current setting.

spoiler Btw, the second season ends with Pinnochio dead, not with the first confrontation.  Unless he's not actually dead somehow?  Did I interpret that incorrectly?

@Builder_K Ah, apologies for the confusion. Indeed, I matched the ending of the second season of the anime series to the completely incorrect chapter (I hurried looking up a bit too much...). Pinocchio does indeed die, and in the manga, that is the end of volume 5. My earlier point still stands though, there is no way that the anime covers everything that happened in 3~3.5 volumes in 13~15 episodes.


text:
What is the "foreign" language that is used in Suisei no Gargantia?
In Suisei no Gargantia, Led (and his civilization) speak a different language from the one spoken on Earth.
Depending on the point-of-view, one side speaks Japanese, and the other side speaks the foreign language. Occasionally they switch when the point-of-view shifts to the other side.
Examples:

When Led is talking to Chamber, they speak in Japanese. Dialog coming from everyone else is in the foreign language.
When Pinion confronts Led in the hanger, he and Amy speak Japanese, while Led speak the foreign language.

UTW-Vivid subtitles these as symbols that don't look like any real language.
Obviously, they don't actually switch languages. It's only done to emphasize a language barrier that the characters experience.

But in any case, what is this foreign language that they are speaking?
Is it a real language, or just something made up?

According to this article, the spoken language in Gargantia is basically jumbled German, created by the writer Gen Urobuchi:

According to collaborators on this forum, this is a substitution cipher based on a Roman alphabet, though whether it is based on one language or another is yet to be seen, as there are occurrences of German and English. (Images: typeset substitution key; handwritten substitution key)
For an example in this image:

It say "IGHL," probably for "Inter-Galactic Human League" or something.
If you look closely at the part where they show a wireframe of the mech on the 3D console, you can make out ciphered text like "equilibrium" and "leg" based on the key above.
You can see "wormhole" and "enemy" along with some other words on the map display (image).

The text on the side of the mech's head (image) is a bit different. It seem to be scrambled German.
In cleartext it says:
chtsivor
enles esi hervor buchhand
das enffnero esesdi umsmigre

Which probably comes out to something like:
Vorsicht
Lesen sie hervor handbuch
das oeffnen dieses gremiums

Which is probably not correct grammar, since the usage of "hervor" is incorrect. According to a poster in the forums should actually be something like this:

"lesen sie das handbuch vor dem oeffnen dieses gremiums"

Essentially it's saying:

Caution
  Read manual before
  opening this panel

The text on the front of the mech has also been translated (see image).
As a side note, the spoken language seems to be English (see image).

The written and spoken Gargantian language, on the other hand, seems to be romanized Japanese (see images: translated messages, alphabet chart, an alleyway; and see below).

From this site:

The brown books are the Cosmic Atlas. The green one’s title is Totonyan, which is the name of a Japanese art company who are contracted to draw the backgrounds in Gargantia.
The cyan one is Satsumakenshi Hayato (in romanized form, in Japanese it’s written as 薩摩剣士隼人), a drama series set in Kagoshima. Yep, someone on staff definitely must be from Kagoshima.
The magenta one reads Shouyu Tottekure (しょうゆとってくれ, “please give me the soy sauce”), which is apparently a standard example sentence in junior high English textbooks in Japan.
The red one says Suiyou Dou Deshou (水曜どうでしょう, “Do you like Wednesday?”), a Japanese variety show.
The blue one reads Red Dwarf, which is likely a reference to the BBC sci-fi franchise.
The last one is Ryokucha (緑茶, green tea).

I signed up just to upvote... this is amazing!

Crazy, but maybe GVAS from russian kvas drink? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass


text:
How does Treize survive the train wreck at the end of Allison & Lillia?
In the final episode of Allison & Lillia, Treize lets go of the ladder to deal with "prisoner #42" just as the train runs off a cliff.

He comes back in the final scene to greet Lillia. But how in the world does he survive the fall?

I'm not sure exactly how to rephrase it, but you may want to edit your title to be less spoiler-y.

I could remove the "train wreck" from the title. But I'm not sure it does much though. Either way, the title is gonna give away that something happens at the end.

I was going to suggest "What happens to Treize during the wreck at the end of Allison & Lillia?"

I'm not sure that's any less spoiler-y... hmm...


text:
How can Hyouma see and use Gennosuke's technique when he permits to do so?
Hyouma is completely blind by birth. There is no doubt on this. But there is an unexplained connection between Hyouma and Gennosuke. With the order/granting/permitting of Gennosuke, he becomes able to

see.
use Gennosuke's ability to control other people's bodies.

What is the explanation of this behavior? What exactly is Hyouma's special ninja technique?

It is used in only two scenes which are listed below. Note that, in the both times, Gennosuke was temporarily blind because of the poison of Hotarubi's snake. His blindness may have something to do with it.
Episode 11

Episode 17

Naturally, the answer contains spoilers.
Because Hyouma is actually the one who taught Gennosuke his eye technique. Gennosuke inherited the Dojutsu skill from his mother, and as his uncle, Hyouma also possesses the same Dojutsu skill. However, Hyouma's case is special as

In the anime,

Hyouma's Dojutsu is constantly activated, forcing him to keep his eyes shut at all times to avoid killing the wrong person at the wrong time.

In the original novel and manga,

[Hyouma] was born with light-sensitive eyes, [and therefore] is only able to open them at night or other low-light conditions.

Reference: Basilisk Wiki.


text:
What is the disease called "Tsurarekia (ツラレキア)"?
In the episode 2 of Kino no Tabi, Kino hunts a rabbit for the three starving men. The men are so hungry that they say they would like to eat it raw rather than waiting for it to be cooked. Then Kino replies:

I cannot allow that. It would be terrible if you were infected by Tsurarekia or something.
  ダメです。ツラレキアにでもかかったら、 とんでもないことになる。

I searched for it in Google, but there were no results.
So, what is this "tsurarekia" thing?

Weirdly, the corresponding line in the light novel (vol 2, p. 20) is 「ダメです。ツラレミアにでもかかったら、とんでもないことになりますよ」, i.e. it uses the correct spelling of "tularemia" (ツラレミア tsuraremia). No idea why that would be changed for the anime; perhaps the voice actor just flubbed her lines.

I'm not sure if this is an error in subtitles or if they slightly altered the real disease's name, but either way I think they are referring to Tularemia, which is pronounced as tsuraremia (ツラレミア) in Japanese.
From the English Wikipedia article for Tularemia, bold emphasis is my own:

Tularemia (also known as Pahvant Valley plague, rabbit fever, deer fly
  fever, and Ohara's fever) is a serious infectious disease caused by
  the bacterium Francisella tularensis. A Gram-negative, nonmotile
  coccobacillus, the bacterium has several subspecies with varying
  degrees of virulence. The most important of those is F. tularensis
  tularensis (Type A), which is found in lagomorphs (rabbits and similar
  animals) in North America, and it is highly virulent in humans and
  domestic rabbits. F. tularensis palaearctica (Type B) occurs mainly in
  aquatic rodents (beavers, muskrats) in North America and in hares and
  small rodents in northern Eurasia. It is less virulent for humans and
  rabbits. The primary vectors are ticks and deer flies, but the disease
  can also be spread through other arthropods. The disease is named
  after Tulare County, California.

From the corresponding Japanese Wikipedia article, to show the Japanese pronunciation:

アメリカ合衆国カリフォルニア州トゥーレアリ郡（w:Tulare County, California）で発見されたことからツラレミア
  (tularemia)

Which translates to...

ツラレミア (tsuraremia, Tularemia) comes from the fact that it was
  discovered in Tulare County, California.


text:
Are there only 100 possible futures?
I'm just listing things Suzuha explained in episode 14:

 1. There is divergence meter which numerically explains the current world.
 2. To make big changes you need to go beyond the 1% divergence to a beta world.
 3. Divergence meter shows values between 0%..100%

putting all these together we might assume there are only 100 possible distinct worlds, aka. only 100 possible futures. Is this assumption right or am I missing something?

if someone can come up with a better mark down I'll be more than glad to approve his edit!

The Divergence Number should not be taken as absolute, since it is just a reference point that the future Okabe who created. The number "1" was chosen to illustrate to the past Okabe that he needs to get beyond that number to change "major" world lines. He could have used any system, but he chose that one.

It's worth remembering that Suzuha comes from the future, but she only knows what is known by people in the future α world line. In fact, some of that turns out not to be entirely correct, or at least it's misleading.
In any case, it depends on what you mean by "future". Two different futures can have the same, or very close, divergence numbers. This is evidenced by the fact that Mayuri died in many different ways, yet the divergence number didn't change (at least not appreciably). While these are different futures in the near term, they all converge to the same end result, at least as long as they are still on a world line close to the α (alpha) world line. This is what is meant by the Attractor Field.
The divergence number measures how much the world line has deviated from a particular value. To reach the β (beta) world line, they need to get to a divergence number between 1% and 1.99%, and again there's an attractor field so that any world lines in this range converge to the same eventual future. There are also γ, δ, and ω world lines in the visual novel and drama CDs, and of course the

 Steins Gate world line.

As for the particular values for divergence number, many are present. The divergence meter has been shown to change by as little as 0.000001%, which would allow for at least 100,000,000 world lines, and for all we know these numbers were just approximate anyway so there could be infinitely many (since they are only quoted to that many significant digits). We can't really say for sure either way, but most of those world lines end up being very close to each other in the end.
From the above link, the known values are:
α:

0.571046
  0.571024
  0.571015
  0.523307
  0.523299
  0.456914
  0.456903
  0.409431
  0.409420
  0.334581
  0.337187

β:

1.130238
  1.130205
  1.129848
  1.130212
  1.130211
  1.130209
  1.130208
  1.130206
  1.130205

γ

2.615074

Divergence numbers are unknown for the δ world line.
ω

.275349 (said to be negative, so maybe it's actually -.275349)

And the spoilery one:

 Steins Gate
1.048596

So, depending on how you look at it, there are lots of possible futures (maybe infinitely many), but eventually all of them converge to one of these 6 (as far as we know). There could be more that are revealed later, but based on what is known right now, these are the only 6 possible long-term futures.

I was asking about these futures with major changes of course. and by the way Mayuri every time Mayuri died it was a different world which meant different divergence number. except all those worlds were sharing first digit (aka. they were all in alpha line)

@Chunk-e-Yamani That definitely hasn't been revealed. However, it's worth noting that both the ω and Steins gate world lines share some of their range with α and β. The attractor fields can behave differently for different world lines, and not all of them occupy a 1% divergence interval. So it's totally possible that there are lots of other different unknown world lines.


text:
Did Gon know it was Ponzu who died?
Let me quote Hunterpedia for a refresher of what happened:

However, before they get the chance, Zazan's squad detects them and Ponzu is the only one able to escape. When Pokkle was knocked out, she immediately runs for it. Knowing that Pokkle won't be eaten immediately, she rushed to write SOS messages in blood and uses her bees to bring the message to the strongest Hunter nearby--who happens to be Kite. When she finally decided to go back to the border, she is shot and eaten moments later by an officer from Zazan's squad.

When Gon arrived at the scene much later, all that remained was a puddle of blood and cloth and he looked angry.
Did he realize the victim was Ponzu?

During the hunter exam Gon followed Ponzu's scent and he was also aware of her bee breeding ability. so we can assume that he understood from the moment they received the letter.


text:
Why is Kurapika so powerful?
I know he made a contract with his own soul or something like that.  But if this Nen is so powerful, how come he is the only who used it in the series?
I also watched the previous version(1999), and there was no one who did this type of contract besides him.

Kurapika's scarlet eyes allow him to shift from becoming a Conjurer to a Specialist because of their unique nature. This ability, Emperor Time, allows him to utilize all the types of Nen to 100% efficiency.
Kurapika has a Nen blade chain wrapped around his heart. Kurapika imposed a limitation onto this chain, it can only be used to deal with members of the Phantom Troupe. If this condition is violated, Kurapika will die. This condition (a Limitation, a Vow with a punishment) was needed in order to increase the strength of the ability.

But this does not tell why is he the only one that uses Vow with a punishment, that is so strong.

There are other vow users, but what makes Purapika powerful is that he can use ALL Nen types at 100% to supplement his other abilities like the Nen Chain. Other Wise he would have been at a disadvantage against Uvogin.

Who did also use vow Nen in the series?

Kite's Crazy Slots increases the power of his individual weapons by making a Vow/Contract prohibiting him from being able to select which weapon to use.

I meant in the anime, sorry for not mentioned.

@HashiramaSenju I can't say for sure, because the whole Nen Contract thing was jut introduced in the York New arc.

Note that the "limitation and vow" only apply to one use of the chain, as an unbreakable binding.  He is free to use it in other ways, but it would kill him if he bound anyone not in the Phantom Troupe.  We see, for example, him use the chain as a truth-diviner against other guard-applicants.

Kurapika uses vows and limitations. The stronger the vows and limitations are, the stronger the Nen.

a student of Nen can increase the overall power of an individual skill by stating a self-imposed restriction that forces even more conditions on it.

Kurapika is the one of the only characters shown who uses such strong vows and limitations because of its risk. If he makes one wrong move and attacks somebody who isn't a spider, he will die. For most people, this is a risk that isn't worth taking because they could easily make a mistake - death does not leave any second chanced. Kurapika took on this risk because he was desperate for a way to beat the spiders.
On top of this, only being able to use your Nen on a specific group of people, especially one that is only thirteen members, limits the use of your powers substantially. Kurapika's power was one developed exclusively for fighting the spiders but most other Nen users would want to be able to use their power more generally.
However, other characters do use weaker versions of vows and limitations. For example, Bomber must tell all his victims about his powers before using it, which means he loses the advantage of anonymity.
Combined with his specialist power of Emperor Time, which means he can use all types of Nen with 100% efficiency, Kurapika's Nen becomes very powerful. Emperor Time is very useful because one of the major weaknesses of Nen can be attributed to not being the right 'type'. Killua is bad at emitting aura (Chimera Ant arc - Chapter 237 - Page 7) and this is presumably because he is a transmuter. The same with Machi.

If the threads leave Machi's fingers, their ultimate strength drops significantly.

Enhancers have the advantage of being able to enhance their power. A transmuter only has 40% of this efficiency and so on so forth.
Forcibly learning a Nen of a type that doesn't suit you can result in one losing the ability to perform other Nen skills. Hisoka calls this running out of memory.
With a combination of these two factors, Kurapika's Nen is far more powerful than most Nen users.

It's his Emperor Time, It boosts his Nen Capacity to significant Power Levels. If you put things in perspective, only the Chain Jail is imposed on the spiders and not on everything else. Kurapika himself is above any human coz he's Kuruta and with his eyes he can do everything in a berserk like state.
In numbers, Normal Kurapakia Physical Power 100 now add 350 because of emperor time that makes it 450. His got a lets say 250 nen Capacity.
Now for Uvon to attack him with a 1000phys+1500nen = 2200 attack power over all, Kurapika has to have the same amount or near that to negate the attack. So Emperor time boosts his Nen output as well, from 250 to 2000. so lets add Kurapikas 450phys+2000nen = 2450 defense power.
Uvon = 2500 attack power,
Kurapika(EmperorTime) = 2450 Defense,
Kurapika Normal = 350 defense
To simplify and tie in all the other answers.
Kurapica's chain jail is the only chain that has a condition and therefore nen boost.
Kurapica himself as a kuruta gets a boost in physical abilities when his scarlet eyes turns on.
So therefore for Kurapica to negate Uvon's Big Bang impact, he could have had a high boost in Nen as well to augment his over all defense.
This is reasonable because Kurapica(for arguments sake) is only a let's say 20 in his regular form while Uvon is a high 100. For a 20 to tank a 100 it should be rational to think that he has a boost in attack and defense because of one hax ability. And from what we've seen, no chain gives him that advantage, it could only have been his scarlet eyes and therefore Emperor Time.
This chapter explains it very well, the nature of nen. It's page 19, read the whole issue to get a good grip of it's logic. "when you're eyes turn red your aura considerably increased"
http://mangafox.me/manga/hunter_x_hunter/v09/c083/19.html

How did you come up with those numbers?

It's simplified. It's basically saying Kurapica blocked Uvon's 100% Bigbang Impact due to hax ability. In all sense he is nowhere near Uvon's power so it's the only explanation. How else could he have blocked that BBI when he is physically weaker than Uvon, so it's gotta be in the Nen factor enhancing his defense. For that you need equal output to negate the attacking force

In a recently released chapter (Chapter 364), it's stated that Emperor Time has an additional price: for every second while this ability is activated, Kurapika loses one hour of his lifespan. So, besides the Vows and Limitations of (some of) the chains, Emperor Time was under a powerful vow which boosted its power.

Similar to Gon turning into his adult form to defeat the Chimera Ant, Pitu. He vowed never to user NEN again just to gain that boost of Nen. Just like what the others have mentioned, Kurapika only has CHAIN JAIL wrapped into this vow in order to make it stronger in addition to his emperor time. He can still use the other 4 chains against other enemies but they will never be at the same strength as the CHAIN JAIL against the spider.

Kurapika is powerful because he is a part of the Kurta Clan. Whenever his eyes turn red it boosts his physical and nen capabilities, and changes his nature into a specialist instead of a conjurer. His specialist ability(Emperor Time) enables 100% usage of all nen categories without limits. Making him a jack of all trades whom can master anything based on his characteristics.
On the condition part, every nen ability can be enhanced with a condition, how much stricter the condition the more powerful the ability. His chain jail is only applicable to the Spiders, which isn't something you'd want to survive in the HxH world. Good thing for him he's a kuruta with an extremely hax ability.


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List of surviving Uchiha
I originally thought that the only surviving members after the Uchiha massacre were Sasuke and Itachi, but more and more seem to be revealed.  Is there a canonical list of surviving members of the Uchiha clan after the massacre?

Now it's only sasuke. But soon there will be sarada..

The following:

Uchiha Itachi - Who performed the massacre. Was killed later by Sasuke (according to his plan), then reanimated, eventually to die again (permanently, this time).
Uchiha Sasuke - Who was spared by Itachi in hopes of making him strong. Still alive.

That's about it from the traditional ones.

Madara Uchiha - Who was dead during the massacre, was also later reanimated.
Uchiha Obito also survived the massacre, in fact, he helped Itachi execute it (as Tobi).

And also

 Sarada Uchiha, Sasuke's and Sakura's daughter, also counts for the purposes of this list.

Must... not... hover... spoiler.

@Alenanno: Don't, seriously, if you aren't up-to-date with the manga, don't.

I won't. :D Even if I have a (kind of defined) feeling of what it says.

OK, phew.  So all this uchiha survivor stuff I'm seeing on google is just fanfic.  I thought I missed something.

try hovering in the wrong places and you will understand :P

itachi! is no more ! (with waterfall of tears) :(

@Sai: True, but the question is regarding who survived the massacre. Itachi did in fact survive the massacre.

oh yah yah! my bad.. I jumped to answer directly :D

Itachi Uchiha
Sasuke Uchiha
Spoiler:

 Madara Uchiha - he was alive during the obito flashback but not sure if he was still alive after the clan massacre.
 Obito Uchiha - Tobi turned out to really be Obito.

You're having unexposed spoilers!

downvote reason?

I downvoted because you didn't have a spoiler mark on one of the characters you referred. If the first one had, the second one should have it to. Actually, we should assume that an answer should be readable by someone who has just seen few episodes/read few chapters, and not be spoiled. (After editing, I removed my downvote...)

i understand...

Also, sadly, I wasn't alive during the Uchiha Massacre. Tobi was already masked when he helped Itachi with his job, so it's very likely I already passed away.

Disclaimer: most of the Uchihas mentioned below are alive currently. In the Naruto series, only Sasuke, Itachi, and Obito were still alive. In the Boruto, Sasuke and Shin, another introduced Uchiha. The other ones are Uchihas that were introduced (as alive, duh) in the Naruto and Boruto series.
Yes, all of the above answers are correct:

Sasuke Uchiha
Itachi Uchiha (dies in the fight against Sasuke)

and (SPOILER):

 3. Madara Uchiha (saved Obito who was under the tree in the 3rd Shinobi World War, probably died soon afterwards)
 4. Obito Uchiha (unintentionally fakes his death, dies in 4th Shinobi World War)

But there are still a few more that weren't introduced properly:

Shisui Uchiha (Danzo took one of his eyes, Shisui entrusted his other eye to Itachi, then suicided)
Fugaku Uchiha (Sasuke and Itachi's father)
Mikoto Uchiha (Sasuke and Itachi's mother)
Indra Otsusuki (not really an Uchiha, but the ancestor of all Uchihas)
Izuna Uchiha (Madara's brother, Madara took both of Izuna's eyes out)
Shin Uchiha (unknown until Boruto, experimented on by Orochimaru)
Other people like Baru, Naka, Naori, Rai, etc. Uchiha (important characters in the Uchiha Clan's war history).

Look, there are many Uchihas but most are irrelevant or not important to how the history of Naruto and others were affected.


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What happens at the end of CLANNAD: After Story?
This is a question that I really can't get my head around. I've asked many people but I still have not come to a good understanding of the ending of CLANNAD: After Story.
In the end of the anime, Nagisa and Ushio both come back to life. It's not terribly clear on how this happens and what causes it. Is it just magic?
I found the ending very cryptic, so anyone could explain it well with relevant information and evidence of some sort, I'd be very glad!

"System Restore" was the running joke I've seen about it. :)

I think this is one of those series that is supposed to be ambiguous, abstract.  I think the answer actually can change based on the emotional maturity of the viewer over time.  As this is an "I think" it will be left as a comment..............and now I will be sad all day due to remembering this series >.<

I don't think this can be answered unambiguously even considering the visual novel, but it certainly explains things somewhat better than the anime in this case. In principle I can find quotes from the VN to support everything here, but that seems like a pretty arduous task given the size of the VN.
Of course, what follows constitute pretty major spoilers if you ever intend to read the VN regarding the illusionary world and the "lights", though . Some of this is not discussed in any way in the anime, so I've spoiler tagged everything (but if you don't ever intend to read the VN, there's no reason not to spoil yourself).

 In the visual novel, there are a number of "orbs of light" which are also in the anime but not focused on as much. Yukine describes them to Tomoya at the end of her route, and I believe also at some point in the anime. They are capable of granting wishes, but are fairly limited in power. They are created when someone helps someone else achieve a goal which brings happiness. For unknown reasons, Tomoya is one of the few people who can see them now, although they were visible to everyone in the past. In the game, Tomoya gets one orb for each completed route (8 total), with a couple of exceptions, and 5 more are available in After-Story. All of these are needed to reach the true end where Nagisa and Ushio don't die.
After Tomoya collects the orbs, they are transported to the illusionary world, where Ushio (the true identity of the girl who lives there) keeps them. Ushio created the illusionary world in order to save herself and Nagisa by collecting the fragments of happiness that Tomoya gathers in the form of orbs of light. She is capable of doing so because "children are the culmination of their parents' hopes and dreams" (a theme that is repeated many times in the series).
The only other people who are able to enter the illusionary world are those who willingly choose to do so, and Tomoya is the only person who falls into that category, so he is able to enter the body of a doll made out of garbage. Even when they made another doll, there were no more souls willing to enter the illusionary world, so it was lifeless. It isn't clear whether Ushio and Tomoya in the illusionary world have their real world memories, but Tomoya in the real world definitely doesn't remember the illusionary world, as evidenced by the fact that he thinks Nagisa's play is nostalgic but doesn't know why (Nagisa's play was about the illusionary world, although she probably also doesn't know this). It's also not clear how the chronologies of the two worlds works, but it's very likely that they are on completely different timelines. Judging by the fact that all of the illusionary world segments occur between days, he may be seeing it as a dream, but the research of the Ichinoses (Kotomi's parents, both of whom are theoretical physicists) indicates that the illusionary world is very much real and is connected to our world in many ways.
In order to save Nagisa and Ushio, Tomoya needs to do 3 things. First, he needs to gather a lot of happiness in the form of orbs of light, enough to make such a big wish. Second, he needs to clearly tell Ushio (who is holding the orbs via her alter-ego in the illusionary world) that he doesn't want her or Nagisa to die and that he wants them to live together as a family. And third, he needs to really mean what he is saying, as the orbs won't grant wishes that aren't what one truly desires. If all of those are completed, the orbs of light will grant his wish, returning time to the point when Ushio was born and saving both Nagisa and Ushio. It should be mentioned that in order to collect these orbs, Ushio sends Tomoya to many different timelines, each time returning him to around the same point when the anime begins and resetting his memories. This is touched upon briefly in the special episodes revolving around Kyou and Tomoyo in which we see orbs of light at the end, meaning it's likely they're canon and actually happened during one of the timelines Tomoya was sent to.
Note also that this isn't the only time that the orbs of light grant wishes that would otherwise be impossible, although it's definitely the most powerful instance. When Nagisa is dying for the first time and Akio wishes to the tree that she doesn't die, that wish was also granted via the orbs. Also, when Misae declares her wish to Shima that she wants him to always be with her and love her, this is also granted, although unbeknownst to Misae, Shima was actually a cat and he returns to that form. In addition, depending on the order of routes that you choose in the VN, Tomoya may use an orb to pray for Fuko to get better, though if he does he'll be able to get it back in After Story. So this isn't as much of a deus ex machina as it might seem, but a legitimate plot point that mostly got swept under the rug in the anime.

Wow, amazingly well written explanation. Awesome job. I watched the anime but, as you said at the end, I couldn't have understood all of this merely by watching the anime.

@atlantiza It's to be expected that the anime isn't enough by itself. The anime did a great job, but the VN has a few hundreds of hours of content and fitting that into 49 episodes is just impossible. In fact, it's rather remarkable how much of the story they did manage to cover given the size of the game.

There is still an even more basic baseline missing that feels a bit mutually exclusive. The illusionary world is trying to prevent the deaths of nagisa and ushio, but why? Also how does Ushio know they will die and know to save them? Is the missing piece here that they died once, and time reset after that, to let it play through again just to save them? The anime only went through 1 time, so it seemed like they were trying to be saved before it was ever known or seen what would happen to them.

Do you remember when Kotomi was talking about her parent's research, and how there were alternate universes where things were different from the one that they lived in? Do you also remember how they talked about the orbs of glowing light being a representation of happiness and can grant wishes?
Well, the ending basically brings those two concepts together. The other universe has the robot and the girl: the robot is Tomoya and the girl is Ushio. They are on the side where all the orbs of happiness come from the world that people live in.
At the end, after Ushio died and Tomoya collapsed into the snow, they show the beginning of the series again with Nagisa sitting under the tree and Tomoya saying to himself that he wished he'd never met her, because he regretted all the things they had gone through, and because she would still be alive otherwise. While he was fighting with his regrets, Nagisa started to leave and walked up the hill. Seeing Nagisa leaving, Tomoya chased after her and hugged her, where she responded with something like "What took you so long?". This is where he decided that he should have never regretted meeting her, as he realized that he loved the time he spent with her because he loved her so much. At that moment, the orbs of happiness essentially granted his wish and put him back into his normal universe with the alternate ending.

So, a few things before I answer this:

I know I am late

SPOILER ALERT

Here goes...
About the orbs of light
The orbs of light appear when a particular goal is achieved. It has the ability to grant wishes.
About alternate timelines
In Clannad, there are alternate timelines where, obviously, things are different. In the OVAs, Tomoya dates Kyou and Tomoyo. These events take place in the alternate timeline. Kotomi's parents were performing a research on the alternate world.
About the Illusionary world
In theory, the Illusionary World is the afterlife; when a person dies they are still connected to the real world, yet they are free to create their own world.
The Illusionary World in Clannad was created by Ushio. In the Illusionary World the girl is Ushio and the doll is Tomoya. Tomoya also mentions in an episode that he somehow knows the end of the story that Nagisa told him. The story was about the Illusionary World.
The ending
We see that Tomoya had a miserable life. Nagisa and Ushio die, and it wasn't going his way. Later on, Tomoya goes back to the point where he first met Nagisa, and then he marries her and they have a kid. But this time Nagisa survived.
Now there are three possible interpretations:

Tomoya was just dreaming of the worst that could happen. But in the end nothing bad happens and everything is okay.
But if this would've happened, then the orbs of light have no role. And the scene where he goes back to the past wouldn't have made sense.

Nagisa survived in an alternate timeline. But again, the orbs of light have no role.
The scene where he goes back wouldn't make sense either because in that scene Tomoya and Nagisa remember each other... And it wouldn't have been possible even if they were in the alternate timeline.

This is probably what had happened.
So in the illusionary world we see the orbs of light every now and then. These were collected by Ushio (the girl) and Tomoya (the doll). Tomoya first wished that he shouldn't have met Nagisa. But it wasn't what he really wanted and thus it wasn't granted by the orbs light. What he really wished for was for Nagisa to be alive.

The orbs of light that Ushio collected in the Illusionary World granted this big wish and thus Tomoya is taken back to the past. He didn't say anything to Nagisa. He was in a dilemma here. Nagisa started walking away and at that moment Tomoya made his mind and ran to Nagisa and hugged her. They still remembered each other. Then he is taken to the point where Nagisa gives birth. She survives and they live happily ever after.
Now here both the conditions are satisfied.

The orbs of light grant him his wish

The scene where he goes back to the past makes sense because he has a faint memory of the terrible thing that happened to him (mentioned by Tomoya in the recap episode)

People can believe whatever they want. I personally feel the third one makes sense.
If you've made it this far then thank you for reading!
Clannad is really the best anime I've ever watched. Hopefully this clarified things :)
This is the ending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc4MsZwBWOA

I know I'm a bit late to the party but I'd like to give my take on this considering my understanding of the show is a bit less literal than the rest.
So throughout the two seasons we get to see the life story of Tomoya as well as other characters. The story is composed of many fun and happy moments but also some very sad and painful ones.
At the end of the show Tomoya goes through very rough times and just when he's about to break he is given a choice:
"Would you like to go back and redo everything from the moment you met Nagisa and not go through all that tough things as well as all of the happy moments or are you glad you got to live the life you were given despite everything?"
After that we get to see a much happier version of the world were everything went well and none of the bad things happened.
So basically to me Clannad can be summed up like this: Life can be very beautiful or very sad but either way don't ever let those terrible things stop you from living life at its fullest.
If we understand the show as an abstract metaphor designed to first reach your heart and then transmit that single very powerful message then every imperfection can be excused because everything in the plot is just an abstract illustration, only there to reach it's higher goal. And that goal is successfully attained when its all said and done.
Clannad touches your very soul and teaches you how to live life. That is its only objective and it's perfectly achieved. Ultimately anything concrete that happens in the show isn't important at all. That's why it's perfect and it's the best anime to have ever been created.

Actually  , a little ball of light that seen during After Story is a point to unlock good ending :D

@Namikaze Sheena What does that have to do with anything?

well . it's based on visual novel. To unlock Good Ending you have too collect that little ball of light . so it's a nod to original visual novel.

I'm sure there are many concrete interpretations for what happened, including the orbs of light but my answer provides a more abstract interpretation that's completely unrelated. Both coexist.

For some reason I had a hard time believing that the robot was not Okazaki because of the voice it had. It just was not the same. Whenever he talks or thinks his voice is the same out loud. Why aren't they same. Sure you could say for the sake of plot so it wouldn't be obvious, but didn't Ushio sound similar. I'm pretty sure that if Ushio had grown up she would have sounded like that. So why isn't Okazaki? Some might say he could sound like a child, but we've heard his voice as a child before and he sounds nothing like that. (During the episode when Kotomi and Okazaki first become friends).
Doesn't the robots voice sound an awful lot like Shima? The kid that made a promise to Misae when they were high school and promised to stay with her. I don't doubt that the girl is Ushio but it'd make the most sense. You never knew much about Shima and his back story is very interesting. The robot never replies when the girl calls him dad. But then again the robot claimed to have heard of the Dango song. But the Dango family song was very famous in Japan but it was never specified during what time period and we can assume it was during the time Nagisa and Okazaki were kids since Okazaki kept referring to the Dango song as childish,and old. If that were true then it would fit the time period that Misae and Shima went to high school, since Misae isn't very old. Shima would make sense since he had apparently died already, just like Ushio, and claimed to have the power to grant any wish. From a pouch with a glowing light inside. Maybe the source is a glowing orb. He apparently was suffering from an illness and was being hospitalized, could it have been the same condition Nagisa and Ushio faced? Problem is he's completely foreign. We aren't even completely sure if he is Shima.
Regarding the end of Clannad After Story, I just thought that Okazaki had died due to him collapsing in the snow and was reliving his life right before he died and imagined the best case scenario, seeing how he did that during a card game with fuuko and ushio or that when he passed away that him and his family were reunited in the afterlife, only problem would be the 22 episode that theory is contradicted with ushio laying in the grass at the end of it, but then in the last three episodes it focuses on their pasts maybe implying that their all dead. Ushio may have survived seeing how she was at the same place Nagisa's dad took her when she was facing certain death due to similar circumstances the hospital (highly doubt it though) But then I remembered something major, in a dream I pretty sure Kyou told him that he had Schizophrenia, and that's a bid deal. Schizophrenia is a brain disorder where the mind has a hard time separating reality from fantasy. Could the other world just be a figure of his imagination, a result from Schizophrenia? It was stated in his own dream, maybe a clue or hint to what's really going on. While they were children Kotomi and Okazaki always played with each other. Maybe she told him about her parents research. If that's true he could have been developing this story for a long time in his mind from the time since he was a child. The ending of Nagisa's version was much different to Okazaki.
The orbs of light I thought were symbolic of the connection the story had with reality that ultimately Okazaki and ushio would be separated only to be reunited in a better place. Similar to the fortune telling in a way. The other worlds kinda felt a bit far fetched seeing how this anime didn't seem to focus its plot lines in that kinda stuff but lean towards problems based off society issues and not other worldly issues (amazing vocabulary I know) The other worlds I felt were focused to Kotomi but I'm still unsure about that, but I agree on the theory that it seemed that Nagisa and Ushio can't be in the same world.
Disclaimer this is purely based off the anime not the VN.

...I started watching from episode 5 so may be I am over interpreting... but ultimately Tomoyas alternate  timelines seem to play out through a deeper understanding of the lives of people close to him. First, his father shows hom that his daughter and him may ultimately end up misunderstanding each other - that his fathers pride is how he ended up without family. this is clearly shown by his refusal of money and his lack of food or water even.
nigasas parents also suggested a timeline where nigasa survives. nigasas parents, although loving, ultinately were ill prepared for a child. the fact that the lack of experience or tragedy blinds them to the fact thtlat a child needs more than love and fun. nigasas illness and desth may ultimately have allowed him to push past his own selfish needs to become the father his daughter needed. his coworkers fiances sister illustrates another example of the utility of pain and loss. also seems to suggest that wishing for another chance to choose does not prevent loss or death or love. also. i kinda got the feeling that nigasa and his daughter coud not exist in the same world. i got the sense his daughter like an afterthought. a lot of his inner monolgue seemed to be about showing the world he wasnt a bad dather. his child was left alone much like nigasa was after his grandma guilt tripped him. his last rwquest to his dsughter was stop making it hard for your dad to take care of your illnrss. abyways. he doesnt seem to understand people in terms of their feelings but only in regard to himself.

So what happend in the ending was tomoya was holding ushio in his arms and Said "ushio? Ushio? Ushio! Some one please please help her! Nagisa please help ushio nagisa? Nagisa?" So he praticly he wished to be with nagisa and have a healthy baby to live a long happy life. The reason why that happend is because of the old town legend when someone achieved true happiness a ball of light appears and if you catch it you can have any wish, so when tomoya said goodbye to his dad in the second season him and his dad achieved true happiness and the ball of light landed on tomoya so that is practically catching it so the ball of light took him to the other world and that's how tomoya and nagisa both know the story of the world that has ended!


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What is the purpose of the Human Instrumentality Project?
The Human Instrumentality Project is one of the main plotlines in the Neon Genesis Evangelion original series. However, other than a few speculative mentions, there isn't concrete information as to what purpose it serves.
What purpose does the Human Instrumentality Project serve, why is it necessary, and what part does it plays against the Angels (if any)?

The ultimate goal is to unite all the individual souls of mankind into one singular being.
This would create an existence where nobody existed individually, but as part of a whole.
This way, the flaws in every living being would be complemented by the strengths in others, thus erasing the insecurities in people's hearts. Creating the ultimate, god-like being.
To achieve Instrumentality, the merging of Adam and Lilith, resulting in the Third Impact, is required.
Both Seele and Gendo had their own idea of instrumentality. Neither was realized.

But, how does creating this God-like being stop the Angels from trying to exterminate us?

They are not trying to exterminate humans, they are merely trying to reunite with Adam. The Angels don't care about Instrumentality.

i should also point out that it's hinted throughout the series that the Angels was always going after Adam as to the reason why an Angel attacked the Naval Fleet that was transporting Eva 2 (Adam was being held by Kenji who was on the fleet), the fact everyone was lead to believe that the angel impaled on the Lance was Adam (but was actully Lilith) and Kaworu making his way into Terminal Dogma believing Adam was there but only finding Lilith

Angels are trying to merge with Adam to restore their power on earth. The Ancestral race sent Adam to colony planet Earth with his seeds (the Angels). It was due to the First Impact that Lilith got in Adam's way. She was on her way to another planet and crashed on Earth, stopping Adam. Now, Adam and his descendants just try to reclaim earth from mankind - the seed of Lilith.
Seele accepted that the humans do actually not have the right to live on earth due to the information they got out of the Second Impact (Reawakening of Adam) and the Dead Sea Scrolls. But they do not want to kill all humans either. So they try to bring together Lilith and Adam in order to develop a new entity that absorbs all humans into one godlike entity (similar to the Angels - Humans are viewed as the final Angel Lilin). In this form humans have actually the right to live on Earth because they are created by the unity of Lilith and Adam. In order to achieve this Seele wanted to merge Kaworu, an Angel and the carrier of Adam's soul, with Lilith. This would be the Third Impact. The whole plan is called the Human Instrumentality Project. Gendo just wants to reunite with his dead wife, Shinji's mother, which is "his" idea of the Human Instrumentality Project. He injects himself the embryo of Adam in order to merge with Lilith. Some years ago, his wife tried to merge with Lilith in order to revive her and disappeared in the process (but she still exists inside Lilith's body). Gendo is later killed by Rei (a humanlike clone of Lilith/Gendo's wife). He sacrified and abandoned his son Shinji to the Angels in order to achieve his goals which was not the will of his dead wife who punished him through the hands of Rei (her "daughter" if you want to put it like that).

Can you give some sources for your information? I remember bits of this happening in End of Eva, but a lot of it isn't ringing any bells.


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How accurately did Aoi Bungaku follow the original novels?
For those who don't know, Aoi Bungaku is an adaptation of 6 classic Japanese novels, namely No Longer Human; Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita; Kokoro; Run, Melos!; The Spider's Thread, and Hell Screen.
Of these, I've watched all of them, but I've only read No Longer Human. I'm interested in reading the original novels, but only if there are significant differences in terms of plot. Are there any major omissions or changes in the anime that would merit reading the novels?
The ending of No Longer Human has at least one such difference:

 In the ending of the anime Yozo commits suicide. In the end of the book he gets sent to an asylum and then released to an isolated place.

Do the other works have similar differences (preferably with as few spoilers as possible, though some spoilers are inevitable)?

Aoi Bungaku is an ambitious anime and follows each novel closely. Madhouse took each novel and made adaptations to fit a whole novel into just a few episodes, leaving out some plot elements and changing some parts entirely while retaining the authors message.
Kokoro is actually a three part novel, however the anime only focuses on the third part, "Sensei and His Testament". Unlike the novel they took away the narrator and told the story from the perspective of the sensei, which follows the original novel more closely, and also included a whole new story as told from K's point of view. There are also scenes that weren't in the novel such as those which focused on the relationship between K and Ojo.
In The Spider's Thread the criminal's violent deeds is depicted in more detail and exaggerated a bit to show exactly how evil he was, however the main plot of the sort story retains its meaning.
Run Melos was also changed as they included a new story of the author himself, and told parallel stories which complimented each other, the story about Melos and a story about the author's own life.
In Hell screen they change the setting, the original novel focused on a painter committing brutal acts in order to depict an image of hell, while in the anime he is a rebel that defies his lord's wishes to paint a beautiful albeit false image of his kingdom and instead paints the ugly truth.

Do you have a source for this, or did you compile the list yourself? Either way it's a pretty good list, so +1, and I'll accept it pretty soon assuming no one else gives a better answer.

Yeah its pretty much from scattered sources, I just couldn't find much on  "In the
Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom"


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What's written in Ayatsuji Tsukasa's notebook?
I'm talking about the notebook seen in the episode 21 of Amagami SS. She said it contained something that could make her leave the school (maybe being expelled?).
If it's that serious, could it be a crime? Did I miss an important plot detail that explains it? Do the contents even get explained in another adaptation of Amagami like the manga or the VN, or are they completely unknown?

This was bothering me from the end of S1 all through S2, but I forgot about it by the time anime SE opened. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like I'll get a very fulfilling answer...

Logan's answer was fulfilling enough for me.

I didn't mean to say that it wasn't a good answer (it's probably the best we could get). Rather, I'm disappointed that it's not touched upon more in the original VN.

Oh, I guess you're right. But again, the theory they worked out on Logan's link seems to be reasonable enough to take it as an (almost) definitive answer for the mystery.

There is no mention of the exact contents of the notebook in the original VN or the anime. There are a couple of short sequel games which I have not gone through, so in principle there could be some explanation there, but given how important this is I doubt they'd want to relegate it to a side-game. Hence, the authors have definitely and deliberately hidden what is in her notebook.
However, there are some good theories. The most common viewpoint is that she was using the notebook as a diary to vent her frustration with everyone else, particularly her sister. Despite the fact that Tsukasa is harder-working, her sister always seems to be more popular. Of course, she has more to vent about than that, and it's pretty safe to guess that the diary contained all sorts of things about everyone. That's why, if it ever went public, she wouldn't be able to go to school any more.
This forum post provides a pretty complete and fairly consistent picture of Ayatsuji from a psychological standpoint. The segment about her notebook is quoted below:

The Birth and the Function of her Diary
We believe that [having someone/something to listen to her] was the function of her diary, which she so desperately guarded. Here, the Inner Tsukasa was writing down her life, her frustrations, and her thoughts which she couldn't share with anybody. In a way, it was her way to deal with whatever gave her a hard time. Some kind of offline-blog, talking to herself. It also explains why the contents would be damaging enough that she "couldn't come to school anymore" if they'd ever come out.
We could see in episode 3 how much she was annoyed at the laziness and pettiness of the three bitches. Her Facade would have never allowed to show her anger - instead, it rather demanded that she would go through a humiliating insincere teary apology, sacrificing her (absolutely justified) anger and pride for the sake of ultimate success. In the past, she probably would have made an entry in the diary - this time, she did it in person, with disastrous results.
This is how Junichi uncovered the "Inner" Tsukasa - when he picked up the diary. Tsukasa believed that he had actually read it, and that there was no need to maintain the Facade towards him anymore. It also proves that Ayatsuji has no split or bipolar personality: The Inner Tsukasa is always in control - she was able to drop the Facade in a second.

Looks like I didn't Google it hard enough. Excellent answer.


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Is No Face from Spirited Away based on any traditional Japanese legends?
Spirited Away borrows a lot of its side characters from various Japanese legends, although many are also original. One of the most mysterious such characters is No Face, who is perhaps slightly antagonistic, and comes off as a spirit of greed or something to that effect. The concept for No Face is very unique with a collection of strange powers that I don't know of in any other mythological spirit, suggesting to me that he might be a unique creation of Miyazaki.
Are there any comments by Miyazaki on the origin of No Face? Barring that, is there a clear origin in some Japanese mythology, or is he an original creation?

Ah, there's a really interesting somewhat relevant Tumblr post about Spirited Away actually containing subtle metaphors for childhood prostitution that Miyazaki has confirmed, but it would seem that Tumblr is down... Here's a Google Cache though: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZHXcEImtQiIJ:hayao-miyazaki.tumblr.com/post/560134537/spirited-away+http://hayao-miyazaki.tumblr.com/post/560134537/spirited-away Probably not what you're looking for but you should at least find it interesting.

@atlantiza Wow....just wow.  Very, very cool details that I had no idea about!

From what I've managed to dig up it appears to be an original creation, based on certain emotions and desires everyone has.  "Kaonashi is a metaphor, the libido that everybody secretly harbors." Said by Miyazaki himself in an interview http://japattack.com/main/node/81 Since it was a movie created for 10 year old girls, with a setting of an old japanese "brothel". It might not be far fetched to assume Miyazaki made Kaonashi to give off a certain message about over attachment and finding your own way, even though the world if a confusing, tempting place to get lost in. Plenty to think about..

Should I turn my comment + some other info into an answer? If No Face really isn't based on anything, I doubt there is something where Miyazaki says "No Face is an original creation". Dunno if what I provided is on topic enough for an answer though.

@atlantiza Go ahead. If no one can think of anything obvious being referenced, then he's probably original, and your comment is interesting enough that it deserves to be an answer IMO.

Hmm, after trying to get something more concrete than a random Tumblr post, I'm not so sure how reliable anything is anymore without seeing the original magazine article containing the supposed interview. I'm going to keep looking around but might not be able to post anything without said interview.

It's interesting to note that No Face resembles a silkworm, of which is significant to Japanese culture (traditional and economically). So No Face has a white face and a mouth below it, similar to how silkworms have face-like markings and their mouths below these markings. Like silkworms, No Face eats constantly and grows very rapidly. It's notable to mention that near the end of the movie, where No Face goes with Sen to visit Zeniba, it stays with Zeniba spinning silk.

@atlantiza: a bit of a late response, but I remember seeing a similar Tumblr post (which some later responders attacked viciously, saying that the film was meant to be child-friendly). The OP later edited to say that she'd been misled by some sort of hoax wrt the interview. No idea what she based this on, though from what I saw, my general impressions of Spirited Away, and the general sensationalist framing of some of these Tumblr posts I'm very sceptical of such claims.

This interview was originally in the French movie magazine "POSITIF" (April 2002 volume). It was translated into Japanese by a Japanese blogger, and I've translated relevant parts into English. Some things may have been lost in the double translation, but hopefully the main points are the same.

Interviewer: By the way, where did Kaonashi, the creature who swallows everything, come from? Also, I noticed in this movie that Kaonashi, Boh, and Chihiro's parents are all obsessed with overeating.
Miyazaki Hayao: That's true. These characters' personalities are full of faults. I made this movie for my friend's two daughters. Like Chihiro, they are also 10 years old. I didn't want to show them something like "the struggle between good and evil." I wanted to show them the truth about the world. If young girls don't really see "good and evil" as something as simple as dualism, then it's something they must discover for themselves in the world. Regarding the overeating, in the past I saw "Babette's Feast". It's a very beautiful and enjoyable movie. In that movie, the characters also eat a lot.

Even when directly asked, he didn't give a very specific answer it seems. Though I suppose Babette's Feast was an important inspiration.

"Kaonashi is inside of everyone." Those are Miyazaki Hayao's own words. Kaonashi can't buy people's attention with money. In addition, he doesn't know how to hold on to people's hearts. Kaonashi is irritated by Chihiro's lack of desires and tells her to want. This is also a necessity of capitalism. There is a contrast those who swarm around Kaonashi when he gives out money and Chihiro's enlightened lack of desire for gold or food. Her resolution in this is so strong that it can even seem cold. There was no reasoning behind saving Haku. He clearly says to Kaonashi, "I won't give you what I want."

If Miyazaki was asked the question directly, and replied like this, then it's as good of an answer as we're going to get. Hence I've accepted it.

You can actually also relate the character of No-face (kaonashi) to a similar supernatural entity from Inu Yasha (S1 EP. 11). There was an episode where a demon Noh Mask was featured. This entity ate all the people it encountered; even though it's goal was to search for "a body that will not rot away, the concept is very similar to the character of No-face from Spirited Away. I guess they're based from a certain concept then manipulated to suit the storyline - :p

I thought that No-Face was a newly formed Spirit of Empathy, with no control over his abilities or understanding of the Spirit's Bath House, he took on the characteristics of the strongest emotions around him.

From my opinion, I suppose that No Face might someway originated from Japanese Theatre Ritual called "No" or "Noh" as the character, Shite, a supernatural character like ghost or god is wearing a similar white mask as No Face in Spirited Away. You can google "Noh Drama" for more info. xx

It is not very nice to write "you can google". You should at least provide a link here or even better just extend your answer.


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Continuity between Pretty Cure series
It's "common knowledge" that each Pretty Cure series takes place in its own continuity.  From my limited experience with the franchise I've already seen two contradictions with that idea.

Kenta Hoshino, a supporting character in Splash Star, made an appearance in the previous series, Max Heart.  He was even slightly younger in it.
In both Splash Star and Heartcatch, Cures have been shown to be a long-standing order of warriors.

What's the official stance on continuity?  Is this "common knowledge" based on official statements?

According to Wikipedia:

There are currently ten anime television series in the franchise, two of which are direct sequels to their previous series. Each series of Pretty Cure has its own story and motifs. Each of the series also feature manga adaptations, which are illustrated by Futago Kamikita and published in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine.

According to prettycure.wikia.com:

[Splash Star] is the first spinoff or "sequel" from the original Futari wa Pretty Cure, with a continuity reboot.

It seems that the direct sequels follow continuity but that there is only overlap between the non-direct-sequels, rather than complete continuity.

That's a shame, I was hoping that the series would have stronger continuity.  Still, good answer. :)


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Why does Tsuna lose his clothes when infused with the Dying Will?
In Katekyo Hitman Reborn, whenever Tsuna enters "Dying Will Mode", his clothes tear in half (though he seems to have no shortage of replacements), with the exception of his underpants. This is briefly mentioned on the Reborn Wiki:

The Dying Will Bullet also has the unusual side-effect of destroying all of the person's clothing except their undergarments.

However, I'm not far into the series and really have no idea why this happens (it bugs me every episode). His muscles don't really expand or anything, the clothes just seem to rip and fly off.
Can anyone shed some light on this, or is this a case of "Rule of Funny" as a running gag?

"(it bugs me every episode)" -- don't worry, it's only in the beginning.

@Xeo Good to know.. I've got well over 180 episodes left. :P

Anime often ignore real world's Physics laws. The losing of clothes on being infused with the Dying Will is used to dramatize the effect it has on Tsuna. It is to make you feel as if Tsuna's body "grows" when he receives the Dying Will, causing his clothes to rip apart.
Also, in a number of cases, receiving the Dying Will causes Tsuna to move from a lying down position to an upright position. This motion may also cause the clothes to rip, since they cannot "keep up" with the Dying Will.
Another explanation is that receiving the Dying Will is so intense that it tears or burns things in his immediate vicinity (which happen to be his clothes). I think this is a case of Rule of Cool in addition to Rule of Funny, and Fanservice could also be another reason.
The underwear remaining intact is for censorship reasons only. See Magic Pants.

I'm aware that anime often violates physics, though sometimes there is a (plot-related) reason for it. I was wondering if it was the Rule of Cool at play, though I couldn't quite justify running around half-naked in front of your crush as "cool". Good answer though, and that second explanation may be the perfect one (there is a light that shines from his chest or back sometimes, which could be some induction of the intensity). Thanks!

I like this explanation.  It also fits with later events in the story.

Wow, that's good to know, because I have only watched till episode 12 so far.

I believe that in the manga he does not only lose his cloths but die's then revive's into a new body. To make the anime more child frendly they just made him fall down and lose his cloths in the process to note the difference from before ( except for the flame on his head). Loseing his cloths also adds to more funny scene's giving some comedian value.

Yeah, I had heard that in this question, so that whole losing-clothes-thing does seem to be an artifact of the manga as well!


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Why does Nemo call himself the last of the Atlanteans?
In the final episode of Nadia of the Blue Water, Captain Nemo reveals to Gargoyle that there are no more Atlanteans, and that he (Nemo) is the last one. But Nemo has a daughter; Nadia, and he may or may not have made Electra pregnant. So how can he be the last of the Atlanteans?

Is the gainax tag really necessary?  It's not like there are other Nadia titles out there for it to be confused with, are there?

TBH I wasn't sure about the Gainax tag, but I thought at worst it would trigger a discussion about famous studios as tags.

Removed gainax tag as per http://meta.anime.stackexchange.com/questions/161/should-we-use-author-and-animation-studio-tags. tl;dr: only use studio tags if the question is directly related to the studio.

Is there anything else you would like me to add to my post or something else you are looking for, or do you just not think that my answer is correct?

From what I can tell, you are correct in saying that Nemo is technically not the last of the Atlantians. The most logical reason that I can think of for him saying it is that he was the last person to grow up and experience the Atlantian traditions and society. Because Nadia grew up as an orphan who didn't know her background, she didn't have experience with that society. The society was gone, so Nemo was the last person who would experience that society.


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What are the "recitals" in Monster?
In Naoki Urasawa's Monster, there were "recitals" held with children at the Red Rose Mansion. Did they ever explain what these "recitals" really were? Were the children reenacting the events of some of the picture books? I have watched the whole series and I never quite understood what a "recital" actually was.

One thing to note is that I watched the Japanese version with subtitles, so the word "recitals" was used. In English dub, I'm not sure if it was translated the same way.

So after speaking with a friend...
The "recitals" were merely sessions by Bonaparte in which his picture books were read to the children in order to brainwash them. This was all part of his experiment.
According to Wikipedia:

Bonaparta is held responsible for the eugenics experiment leading to the birth of the Liebert twins, and author of the storybooks used to indoctrinate the children of Rose Mansion (notably The Nameless Monster, from which Johan took his name and his mode of operation). Other books include The Big Eyed Man and the Big Mouthed Man, The God of Peace and The Quiet Village. His stories are full of metaphor and symbolism, often with monsters as important characters. Most also promote the idea that human nature contains the ability to become good or evil, although his works tend to denounce humanity rather than uplift it.


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Who is Kimihiro Watanuki?
In xxxHolic, Watanuki is stated as being Tsubasa (Syaoran) Li's alternate existence. What does that mean? How does that work?

According to this page

He [Watanuki] was born when Syaoran made his wish of rewinding time, in order to fill his void left to his parents.1 Thus he became Syaoran and Sakura's son, but they made a wish for him to be different to "Syaoran Li" otherwise he would cease to exist.

And according to this page, it was confirmed by a fortune teller in xxxHolic.2

This page states that

Watanuki is created to 'replace' Syaoran as the son of Sakura and Syaoran Li.

And it also states that he

was "born" to replace the void in the relationships Syaoran had made.

Also, this other page says that

Watanuki was in fact created out of a space time distortion to replace Tsubasa Syaoran as the son of the reincarnated clones

And, lastly, this other page states

The connection between Syaoran and Watanuki is finally revealed in the Clow's future arc. Syaoran explains to the party what happened when he met Sakura (the real Princess of Clow). After he had made a wish to turn back time in order to grab Sakura's hand and save her from dying, Watanuki was born to take his place in his world. Fei Wong explains to him that "he's not a brother, he is you". And since he was a being not originally meant to be, he continues to tell him that his existence would cause only pain to those around him.

I believe this answers your question, but I am not sure, since I do not see either shows or mangas.

1 Tsubasa:Reservoir Chronicles, Chapter 201
2 xxxHolic, Chapter 170


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Who is the character on Suguru's shirt?
In Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!, Suguru is an otaku with an anime character on his shirt underneath his uniform:

I feel like this character is familiar, but all attempts to identify her have failed, so I'm now leaning towards the belief that she's just a made-up character drawn in a typical moe style.
Is this a real character from some other source, or is it just a generic-looking moe character? Note that in the anime version, the character on his shirt looks slightly different, so in case they are actually different, this question is asking about the visual novel appearance above.

I haven't played the novel, so my expertise is less than yours, but my research has also led me to believe that she's just a stereotypical moe character.

This answer is a placeholder unless and until someone finds new information.
After looking through several sites, both in English and Japanese, I could not find any information on this. It is very likely that Minato Soft hasn't officially said anything regarding who the character is based on the sites I checked. We'd need either a statement from them directly or for the character to be easily identifiable, and neither seems to be the case here. Hence, the question very likely isn't answerable based on public information.
If the character is based on a character from another series, either the picture on Suguru's shirt is stylized enough that they are not easily recognizable, or it's a character who is not well known. For instance, if it is Yume from Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de, as Jon Lin's answer suggests, then the hair styles don't perfectly match, as Yume has flat bangs rather than spiky ones and locks over each shoulder, which the character on Suguru's shirt doesn't seem to have. That isn't enough reason to reject the idea that it is based on her, but we'd need further evidence, which doesn't seem to exist.

It's possible that it may be Yume Kuonji, the pink haired girl from Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de, the other visual novel from MinatoSoft, the maker of Majikoi. There's a lot of various character designs and the character on the T-Shirt could just be a stylized version of Yume. It's hard to tell from the screenshot above, but you can see in the other screen shot the ahoge, single strand of pink hair that's part of Yume's design.

This seems possible. I've been looking on some Japanese language sites (e.g. http://www20.atwiki.jp/majikoi/), but I haven't found anything yet confirming or denying it. I'll be sure to update if/when I find something.

My best guess is Komoe Tsukuyomi from Toaru Majutsu no Index (an extremely popular anime in Japan) with a maid outfit. Although Komoe never wore a maid outfit, it could be a friendly gesture from one studio to the other. Zooming extremely closely on the picture you provided you see some residue purple/pink which resembles Komoe's eye color.
Picture:

I don't think it is Komoe, at least not deliberately. The character on Suguru's seems to have a significantly larger chest than Komoe. I'll agree that the faces are similar, though.