Anime Quiz 11 Answers

What does it say about me as an anime fan that I remember being excited when KyoAni’s Kanon came out because of how good it looked and now, when I look at it, I think about how dated it looks? Probably volumes and in ways I couldn’t even fathom myself.

The limited slice of this question I’ve been pondering is how fans of anime for a longer period of me (~13 years) handle this slow shift of style over such a greater degree of change – many I think don’t, having been imprinted on an earlier style, and either stop watching the newer stuff or complain about the new airing anime loudly – is it something that’s only noticeable when looking back at older, watched, anime or is it a sudden and jarring thing that takes a conscious decision to embrace time and again.

I’m curious to know, though, I guess if I’m patient I can find the answer out myself over the next decade or two. 🙂

Enough introspection, introspection is apparently nowadays a bad thing, so let’s hit the streets and make a mess with the answers to this week’s quiz.

Question 1: Name the anime that features these three characters – Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Soryu.

• The answer is Neon Genesis Evangelion.

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Question 2: Name the anime that features these three characters – Haruko Haruhara, Canti, Naota Nandaba.

• The answer is FLCL. Nearly 15 years old and still looks like it could be airing now. If this had been completely done by Gainax I would say that FLCL was the best thing they animated.

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Refer to the following picture for questions 3 – 5.

Question 3: Name these four anime series.

• These four anime series are A – Sakamichi no Apollon, B – Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, C – Cowboy Bebop, and D – Turn A Gundam.

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Question 4: Arrange these four anime series by the number of episodes of their TV series from least to most.

• The correct order is A, C, D, B. – Sakamichi no Apollon, A, had the least episodes with 12 and this was followed by Cowboy Bebop, C, with 26. Next is D, Turn A Gundam, with 50 episodes and finally Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, B, with 52 episodes over two seasons. I wasn’t sure how to word it that I wanted both seasons of GiTS:SAC included but not the upcoming Arise series or just the Turn A Gundam series (which I haven’t seen) and not the entire franchise. I could have just said consider only those seasons with music written by Yoko Kanno but that kinda defeats the next question.

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Question 5: These four series share a personal connection. What is it?

• The personal connection is these four series all share having Yoko Kanno composing the music for them. There were plenty of other series I could have swapped out for this question. It’s kinda staggering how often Yoko Kanno was composed the music for an anime series. Here’s a nice write-up on her.

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Refer to the following picture for questions 6 – 7.

Question 6: Name the animation studios that animated these four anime series.

• The animation studios that animated these series are A – Wit Studio, B – Pierrot Plus, C – Bee Train, and D – Madhouse. Hyouge Mono, C, would have been especially hard to guess since Bee Train hasn’t done a series since that one and it aired by in 2011. On the other hand, Nana, D, was guessable since it kinda looks like a Madhouse series. (I’ve never seen Nana but it’s long episode count and demographic – always looking for a good josei series – makes me curious.)

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Question 7: Each of these four series belongs to one of the four demographics in Japanese manga/anime: shounen, shoujo, josei, and seinen. Match the series to the correct intended demographic.

• The correct demographics are as followed: A – shounen, B – shoujo, C – seinen, and D – josei. Teehee, I forgot to mix these up better.

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Question 8: At least in anime, Japanese people appear to think of their nation as a north and south country or as a east to west country?

• The answer is as a East to West country. This is something that took awhile to dawn on me. I always thought of Japan as a North to South country so it always looked weird when I’d see map displayed in an anime (normally in one of those Sengoku era anime) that tilted the country to it’s side. Then I noticed whenever their was a group of something, say a sports team, they would be part of either the Western or Eastern part of the organization. It eventually clicked after never seeing it the other direction. I suspect, without doing any actual research, this is because Kyoto And Tokyo are generally east and west of each other and are the two major power cities in Japan. Speaking of power, Japan has two different power grids, one running on 50 Hz and the other on 60 Hz and are each one is centered on either Kyoto or Tokyo.

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Refer to the following picture for questions 9 – 11.

Question 9: Name these four anime series.

• These four anime series are A – AKB0048, B – Nagi No Asukara, C – Toradora, and D – Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra.

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Question 10: Arrange these four anime series from oldest to youngest.

• The correct order is C, D, A, B. Toradora, C, is the oldest hailing from the fair off time of Oct. 2008 (wow, where did those six years go). Next is D, Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra, which aired the following year in Oct. 2009. Then we jump ahead to Apr 2012 for A, AKB0048, before ending with Nagi No Asukara, B, from Oct. 2013. The Book of Bantorra was a very interesting anime. The biggest problem it had was the story felt very fragmented because as each book of the source material was adapted there was a break in the flow of the story that was very jarring to the viewer. It was still well worth watching, though.

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Question 11: These four series share a personal connection. What is it?

• The personal connection is that they were all written by Mari Okada.

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Question 12: Name the Japanese seiyuu that voiced these four characters.

• The seiyuu is Aki Toyosaki. The four roles, from left to right, are Kazari Uiharu from Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, Inga from UN-GO, Nako Oshimizu from Hanasaku Iroha, and Fam Fan Fan from Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam. She gets a lot of grief from some for voicing Yui from K-On! but I’ve always been impressed by the range of roles she can play.

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Question 13: Name the Japanese seiyuu that voiced these four characters.

• The seiyuu is Minori Chihara. The four roles, from left to right, are Kagura Tsuchimiya from Ga-Rei: Zero, Yuki Nagato from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, Chiaki Minami from Minami-ke, and Rätsel from Phi Brain: Puzzle of God 3.

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Question 14: The song “Lion” is an opening song to which anime?

• The song “Lion” is an opening song to the 2008 anime series Macross Frontier and, yes, is another song composed by Yoko Kanno. I discovered this song during the Animusic Tournament and instantly fell for it.

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Question 15: The song “Toki wo Kizamu Uta” is an opening song to which anime?

• The song “Toki wo Kizamu Uta” is an opening song to the 2008 anime series Clannad After Story. I also would have accepted just Clannad.

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To tally results:

miharusshi – 11 points (111.5 total points)

Jim D – 11 points (100 total points)

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