Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Actor Allusion / Anime & Manga

Go To

  • Yuzuki Fuwa of Assassination Classroom shares the same Japanese voice actress and character type of Yako Katsuragi, the heroine and kid detective of the author's previous series. In Episode 19, after deducing who poisoned her classmates, Fuwa mimics Yako's modus operandi by dramatically pointing at him and shouting, "The culprit was you!"
  • Chikage Sakurai first appeared in the Asteroid in Love manga after the anime's voice acting cast is confirmed, which means her nickname "Chika" alludes to Konomi Kohara's most famous role: Chika Fujiwara of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.
  • In Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts, Akihisa Yoshii has a passion for video games, to the point that the he makes mention of becoming the "God of Conquest". This happens to be the In-Series Nickname of Keima Katsuragi from The World God Only Knows who is voiced by Hiro Shimono (who's also Akihisa's voice).
  • Besides being expies of various Batman characters, some of the cast of The Big O also mirror Lupin III characters. Perhaps because the Cowboy Bebop cast are also expies of Lupin III characters, in the English dub of The Big O, Steve Blum voices Roger and Wendee Lee voices Angel, and they have a similar dynamic as in their roles in Bebop as Spike and Faye.
  • Bleach:
    • In an episode of the anime, some schoolchildren point out that Hitsugaya Toshirou, disguised as a human, is a bit short, prompting him to shout, "Who's a super midget?" in an obvious reference to the role of Romi Park, his seiyuu, as the height-hypersensitive Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist.
    • In an episode of the English dub, Uryuu ended up expressing frustration at Pesche, unhappy that Pesche was comparing him to various insects. Ironic, considering one of Derek Stephen Prince's other voice acting roles, Shino Aburame, is associated with insects.
    • Speaking of both the English dub and Fullmetal Alchemist allusions, Ikkaku Madarame once had a rant in a filler episode about something costing him an arm and a leg. Ikkaku is voiced in English by Vic Mignogna. Who also happens to be the English voice of one certain Handicapped Badass Edward Elric.
  • In the Gag Dub of Crayon Shin-chan Hiro and Mitzi have a faux-epic newspaper-sword fight and Hiro calls one of his attacks "Sword of the Darkness Flame", which was an attack of Hiei from YuYu Hakusho, both voiced by Chuck Huber.
  • There's an all-star lineup for Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! but the most notable is Goura (Tomokazu Sugita) and Ryu Zaou/Battle Lover Vesta (Toshiki Masuda)... who previously had roles as the lead duo in Samurai Flamenco. To add to that, Vesta's In the Name of the Moon speech is, "No justice can come from loveless power!" — Masayoshi of Samurai Flamenco loves saying stuff about justice.
  • There is a "voice actor connection" tag on the Danbooru imageboard devoted to Actor Allusion pictures.
    • It's also a common on 4chan to make a "Same VA thread" where you post a picture of one character they play, and a quote from another role they played, often trying to find the most different pair of characters as possible. Really good ones can derail the rest of the thread.
    • Something Awful did a whole Photoshop Phriday for it.
    • Nico Nico Douga is rife of MADs or fake ED themes containing allusions to seiyuu's other works. For example, the Code Geass version of the 1st Durarara!! ending had Shinra's place taken by Lelouch, and both were voiced by Jun Fukuyama.
  • Darker than Black has a dub-based one — John Swasey, who voices Huang, voiced Gendo Ikari of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The relevance comes in at the end of the first season, with a scene that is clearly inspired by Evangelion's "congratulations scene".
  • In the anime version of Death Note, the US president is voiced by Aruno Tahara, who previously dubbed George W. Bush in Fahrenheit 9/11.
  • In Episode 20 of Digimon Data Squad, the dub has Marcus (voiced by Quinton Flynn) say that "I've got it memorized".
  • Fairy Tail has a number of gags:
    • Tetsuya Kakihara and Katsuyuki Konishi played blood brothers Simon and Kamina, respectively, from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Here, they play Natsu and Laxus, who are instead played up as rivals. What seals it is when Natsu delivers an inverse of Kamina's catchphrase to Laxus, "Who the hell do you think you are?!"
    • Tomokazu Seki and Ayako Kawasumi play Haru and Elie, the main characters of Hiro Mashima's previous work, Rave Master. In Fairy Tail, they voice Happy's long-lost parents Lucky and Marl.
    • Sting and Rogue share their voice actors with Cloud and Zack, even keeping their respective hair colors, but with their personalities switched. As if that wasn't enough, one of the enemies they take on together shares his seiyuu with Sephiroth.
    • After Satomi Koorogi was cast as Frosch, Hiro Mashima drew up an omake featuring him/her in a scene with Gray and Juvia that spoofs a similar scene from CLANNAD, where their seiyuu's characters were daughter, father and mother, respectively. To top it off, the scene even takes place in front of a billboard picture of a flower field nearly identical to the scene from CLANNAD.
  • In Fate/Grand Carnival, Orion is often killed for the sake of a joke. This isn't a coincidence, considering that his voice actor, Nobutoshi Canna, also voiced all but one version of the Butt-Monkey of the predecessor, Carnival Phantasm, Cu Chulainn, who was similarly killed in every episode (and he still is in Grand Carnival).
  • The Legends of the True Savior movie/OVA series based on Fist of the North Star feature quite a few voice actors from the 80's TV series, even though most of the established main characters are played by new actors. One intentional example occurs in The Legend of Kenshiro, the prequel movie, which features Kenshiro befriending a married couple played by Keiichi Nanba and Mina Tominaga, who were the voice of the adult Bat and Lin respectively in the original TV series. Kenshiro later meets Shin's former sensei, Fugen, who is voiced by Takeshi Aono, the original voice of Rihaku.
  • In one episode of Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Kaname muses that she'd like to install a device in Sousuke's brain that would let her zap him whenever he did something embarassing. Kaname's voice actress, Satsuki Yukino, also voiced Kagome from Inuyasha, who did much the same to the titular character via his Restraining Bolt necklace. The allusion is lampshaded when Kyouko protests that Sousuke isn't a dog.
  • In the first episode of Fushigi Yuugi, Miaka gives an In the Name of the Moon speech to a group of street thugs attacking her, and in the fifth episode, Miaka strikes a Sailor Moon-esque pose while imagining about her favorite food; Miaka's voice actress, Kae Araki, played Sailor Moon for several episodes while Kotono Mitsuishi, her regular voice actress, underwent surgery for her appendix, and later played Chibiusa on the same series.
    • Almost the same gag happens in Excel♡Saga as well. Excel is played by Sailor Moon's regular voice actress, Kotono Mitsuishi. The dub lampshaded how this doesn't make sense anymore by Excel stating "No fair! I wanted that part, but it was dubbed in Canada!" (The original English dub for Sailor Moon was done in Canada with Canadian voice actors, years before Viz had the license and re-dubbed it in the Los Angeles area.)
  • In the end of the mecha duel in Gankutsuou, Monte Cristo delivers a very Alucard-esque monologue complete with red backlight and sprouting extra eyes. Needless to say, Joji Nakata used his "Alucard" voice for the monologue.
  • Speaking of GaoGaiGar and Gai's VA Nobuyuki Hiyama, any time writers can find a way to make his character in another series say "hikari ni nare", they will. There's the Hayate the Combat Butler example above (where his character also visually resembles Viral). The line also occurs in Moetan, where Hiyama voices Karks, and in They Are My Noble Masters, where Hiyama's character gets into a duel with Tomokazu Seki's character and the latter's Shining Finger.
  • The Gag Dub of Ghost Stories has Satsuki (voiced by Hilary Haag) answering a call with "Milk-chan here", even doing the same voice since Haag also voiced Milk-chan.
    • This is only one of the most subtle instances. The dub also includes Satsuki claiming that Leo has a bigger ego than Chris Patton (who plays Hajime) and eventually Momo says "...or Greg Ayres" (who plays Leo himself) afterwards.
    • Then there's the episode in which, after a ghost's curse puts Satsuki's father (played by Illich Guardiola) in the hospital, the characters refer to him as "Illich" for the rest of the episode.
  • In one episode of Gintama, Otae tries to goad Hijikata into saying one of Date Masamune's signature Gratuitous English phrases from Sengoku Basara ("LET'S PARTY!!") and straight up asks him if he's excited about the second season. Hijikata and Masamune are both voiced by Kazuya Nakai.
    • The manga makes another one later where Hijikata rides in on a nearly naked Kondo (who has motorcycle handlebars taped to his head like Masamune's horse in the anime) yelling "Here we go! Okay! Let's Party!"
    • Hijikata later again exclain "let's party", when working at a host club.
    • In an episode where everyone come up with various trailer about how they want to retool the show, Sa-chan's have a scene where she repeatedly whip Gintoki. With each blow, he scream "Kobayashi".
    • A slightly (probably unintentional one) good example would be the episode where Sadaharu goes insane. They go to the baseball stadium to set up the two Miko sisters' trap and it's Mone's turn to catch the ball. She can't catch it but Gintoki dives and says EXACTLY "Make it. Make it. Make it! WHILE trying to catch the ball. Both Kyon and Gintoki are voiced by Tomokazu Sugita and it's interesting to note that Haruhi Suzumiya and Gintama aired almost at the same time only two days apart.
    • In a episode, Matsudaira, voiced by Norio Wakamoto, let out an over the top "Aaaamen" reminiscent of Alexander Anderson.
    • On at least two different occasions, Okita has said "Mind if I beat you? Can't hear your answer!", which is the catchphrase of Ryutaros from Kamen Rider Den-O, both voiced by Kenichi Suzumura. In one instance, Okita's eyes flashed purple, which is what happens when Ryutaros possesses people.
    • Chapter 64 of the manga has a scene where Hasegawa explains the ideal traits one needs to possess to be the female lead in a series. Episode 43 of the anime adapts this scene but has Hasegawa do the Gendo pose while speaking, since, like Gendo, he's voiced by Fumihiko Tachiki.
  • The Girl Who Leapt Through Space has a character (sentient AI, same thing) voiced by Jun Fukuyama pulling everything from his time as Lelouch to create a madman in a robot body. The manga practically confirms this as he says "if I was human, I'd look like this" with a shot of Lelouch.
  • In Good Luck Girl!, Momiji frequently imitates several anime characters. In one episode, she imitates Moka from Rosario + Vampire. A later episode, shows her also imitating Luffy from One Piece. The English dub takes an advantage of this allusion as Momiji is voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard, who also happens to be the English voice of both Mokanote  and Luffy. Hell, Clinkenbeard even uses her Luffy voice for the imitation.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler has a large number of these; notably, the Puppet Butler with a distorted voice uses the Geass on Nagi. He no longer speaks with a distorted voice, and the VA is clearly Jun Fukuyama, the VA of Code Geass' Lelouch Lamperouge. He also resemble Watanuki from XX Xholic, another of Jun's roles.
    • In Episode 10 of Season 1, an intermission artwork shows Nagi dress up as Louise from The Familiar of Zero.
    • Before this we saw Nagi's triple allusion attack on Sakuya as Bell, Shana, and Alphonse respectively.
    • And let's not forget the psychotically Hot-Blooded redhead Combat Butler voiced by the same guy who did the voice of Gai in GaoGaiGar who uses pretty much all of GaoGaiGar's signature attacks, up to and including the Goldion Hammer. Appearance-wise, he looks like Viral with Gai's long hair.
    • Another one appears early on in the second season: Hayate, Nagi, Yukiji, and Wataru are in the dungeon with Sonia, and then at some point, the ghost of the priest Linn Regiostar tells Hayate to "Image it."
    • Hayate adopted the exact same stance as Shirou, notwithstanding the fact that he performed his Ultimate Attack Hayate the Combat Butler instead of tracing Caliburn. Also, Nagi Sanzenin is a Tsundere with Grade-S Zettai Ryouiki, similar to one Rin Tohsaka.
    • Even the Hayate manga is able to sneak in an actor allusion. In Chapter 148, there's a parody of the class roster picture from Negima! Magister Negi Magi. In the roster, Hayate is seen to have the same student number as Kaede from Negima. This is no coincidence, as Hayate and Kaede are both voiced by Ryōko Shiraishi.
    • In Episode 35, Maria cosplays as Suigintou from Rozen Maiden. It goes without saying they are both voiced by Rie Tanaka.
  • In Hidamari Sketch, Miyako cuts an apple into the vague shape of an animal head while Yuno is sleeping, but when Yuno brings it up to her, she claims it must have come from an alternate dimension. Yuno jokingly suggests that a fairy crafted it. Kaori Mizuhashi, Miyako's seiyuu, has voiced at least three fairies: Navi, Ciela, and, in the anime world, Pepper.
  • Speaking of Higurashi: When They Cry, in the Pool Episode (Episode 1 of Rei), this is combined with Captain Ersatz and Expy. When Chie-sensei is recruited to help take Keiichi's swimming trunks off, she whips out T squares which look a lot like Black keys.
    • In Episode 3 of Rei, Rena had a Maria Watches Over Us parody moment with her being Yumi and Miyo being Sachiko. Miyo and Sachiko share a seiyuu.
  • In Infinite Stratos, Ichika's duel against Rin has him posing and charging similar to Gundam Unicorn, a reference to the VA's role as Banagher Links.
  • The animated video made as an intro to "It's a Rumic World" (an exhibition of artwork by Rumiko Takahashi) has Inuyasha noting that Ranma and him have the same voice, because they also have the same seiyuu. Extra funny considering they also have the same English voice actors (well only Seasons 4-7 for Ranma).
  • In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Jotaro Kujo prepared his final blow by making a comparison to Wild West films about to do a Showdown at High Noon. In the dub, since he's voiced by Matthew Mercer, who has done a cowboy character, Cole Cassidy, Jotaro ends up shortening the quote into Cassidy's catchphrase: "It's high noon."
  • Akira Kamiya, the voice of Ryo Saeba in City Hunter and Angel Heart, was also the original voice of Kenshiro in Fist of the North Star. Episode 42 of Angel Heart centers around Ryo dating a popular anchorwoman. When Ryo meets the anchorwoman's boss, he finds out that the man is an old comrade-in-arms named Sanemichi Bando. Mr. Bando is voiced by none other than Kenji Utsumi, the voice of Raoh (Kenshiro's rival) in Hokuto no Ken.
    Ryo: Didn't you used to say you had "no regrets".
    Ban-chan: I thought you were "already dead".
  • Yuuichi, in the Kyoto Animation remake of Kanon, is played by Tomokazu Sugita. In one episode, he does a Deadpan Snarker narration monologue exactly in character as Kyon, Sugita Tomokazu's character from Haruhi Suzumiya. It doesn't turn out to be just narration, though — Kaori can hear him say it, and she's not amused. Again, just like Kyon. The scene is actually in the original Visual Novel though, but nobody really cares.
  • In Kiss X Sis, one episode featured Keita, Ako, and Riko going to Akihabara. Ako dons cat ears (given by Riko), is called "Ako-nyan", and momentarily pauses in front of a music store with five mannequins, who sported 2 guitars, a bass, a keyboard, and a drum set. Naturally, these are all unsubtle nods to seiyuu Ayana Taketatsu voicing Azusa Nakano in K-On!
  • Kikuko Inoue is known for introducing herself as an "Eternal 17-year-old" and has done so in several anime she has appeared in:
    • In Komi Can't Communicate, the protagonist's mother, Komi Shuuko, introduces herself as an "Eternal 17-year-old".
    • In one of the Umineko: When They Cry previews, Virgilia, a centuries-old witch, also insists that she is "only 17-years-old."
    • Another example is Midori from My-HiME, a character who likes to tell people that she's "just 17-years-old" (in the series Inoue voices Yukariko in both series).
  • Early in Episode 1 of Kotoura-san during the Downer Beginning, Haruka plays Rock–Paper–Scissors with her kindergarten class, but she always wins due to her Telepathy. It's funny because Yayoi Kise/Cure Peace went undefeated in that game just months before the anime even premiered.
  • The anime adaptation of Lucky Star is, arguably, half-built on such heavy references. The most emblematic, however, is from Episode 16 — when Konata Izumi cosplays at her cafe as Haruhi Suzumiya. Both characters are voiced by Aya Hirano, who effortlessly slips back and forth into her Haruhi voice to take orders in the cafe. (In the English dub version Wendee Lee tries this but can't seem to sound like she did back in 2007, this same thing happened with Michelle Ruff as Nagato, although she sounds like herself again in the preview, the only character to sound like himself was Crispin Freeman's Kyon, probably due to the fact the dubbing was lazy in Volume 4, compared to the other volumes.)
    • Konata is later (in Episode 24) bribed with a ticket for a handshake with the voice actress for Haruhi, thus resulting in Aya Hirano as Konata enthusing about meeting Aya Hirano "in person" for her work on The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya.
    • Konata had previously attended a concert (Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou) with Aya Hirano (technically voicing herself with a Haruhi Suzumiya Image Song recording) as one of the stars.
    • In Episode 23, Konata buys a character Image Song for Galaxy Angel Rune's Kahlua, who is voiced by (you guessed it) Aya Hirano, due to feeling "somehow connected" to it. She then convinces Kagami to buy a Powerpuff Girls Z album, where Kagami's voice actress Emiri Katou voices Hyper Blossom.
    • A few scenes in Episode 7 consist of Konata using ultra-polite Japanese and the phrase "A girl should be elegant", traits of another character once played by Aya Hirano: Lumiere from Kiddy Grade.
    • Even earlier, more obscure Hirano roles aren't immune: Konata's musings about "that show where a guy's pets come back to life as girls" are a reference to Angel Tales, where Hirano played Momo The Monkey.
      • This was already there in the manga — should it count?
    • Manga Volume 5 contains a bonus strip in which Konata (and Hiyori) see Aya Hirano in the coffee shop they're at, eating a chocolate coronet.
    • And there's a wonderful in-joke in Episode 12, where at Comiket, characters played by Tomokazu "Kyon" Sugita and Tomokazu "Sousuke" Seki manage to fight a Mundane Made Awesome battle to sell a customer unsold merchandise... of their own respective characters. (That Other Wiki claims that the two VAs have a rivalry, of sorts. That would explain the battle.)
    • Daisuke Ono as himself and Akira Kogami in Lucky Star Episode 20 lampshade their previous roles in the KyoAni adaptation of AIR: Ono Daisuke as Yukito Kunisaki/the crow Sora and Hiromi Konno as Potato, Kano Kirishima's dog.
      Akira: You're not a crow today.
      Daisuke: You're not a dog today.
      Akira: Picco picco.
    • All of the SOS Brigade members' voice actors have appeared in Lucky Star at one point or the other. Aside from the obvious Aya Hirano (Konata/Haruhi), Minori Chihara (Minami/Nagato), we have Daisuke Ono (Koizumi) as himself in one Lucky Channel, Tomokazu Sugita as mentioned above, and Yūko Gotō (Mikuru Asahina) as a yakuza-like muscular version of her real life self. The dub actors for the Brigade are also present in the Lucky Star dub.
    • We should also note that, in the English dub, Konata is voiced by Wendee Lee, Haruhi's English voice actor. This was likely a conscious casting decision (though they were lucky she had enough range to allow it).
    • Don't forget: anytime any guest VAs turn up in Lucky Star, it's almost certain that the next episode preview will be voice-overed by whatever character they're famous for. Example: Kyon and Yuki previewing Episode 17, or the cast of Sgt. Frog previewing Episode 13, after their VAs turned up in the anime, In the English dub of that same episode, Vic Mignogna apparently reprised his role as Keroro (and is the only ADV cast member from the show to do so; he couldn't keep his role in the Funimation dub).
    • There is an inversion of this in Haruhi-chan; in addition to the show itself having a more Lucky Star-like art style (though by no means identical), one particular episode has Haruhi carry out a good number of Konata's mannerisms including a shot that mirrors Lucky Star's teaser shot exactly. Haruhi's voice also seems to have been modified a tad to sound a bit more like Konata.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has Nanoha's usual casual outfit look very similar to that worn by Kanami Yuuta, who was also voiced by Nanoha's seiyu Yukari Tamura.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS has the seemingly random, minor Ship Tease between Vice and Teana. Seemingly random, unless if you know who their voice actors are. The two were being played by Yūichi Nakamura and Mai Nakahara, a.k.a. Tomoya and Nagisa of the CLANNAD anime, which was going to begin on the week after StrikerS ends.
    • Jail Scaglietti shares some eerily similar traits to Scythe Master from the visual novel Phantom of Inferno. Ken Narita notably voices both characters.
  • Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi's Grandpa Masa was voiced by Takeshi Aono, who also did Michael Palin's roles in the Japanese dub of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Something to keep in mind in Episode 12, when Grandpa goes "lumberjack"!
  • Mao-chan includes a character (Kagome Mishima) who looks identical to Ken Akamatsu's previous and better-known series Love Hina's Naru Narusegawa; another character (Sylvia) is voiced by Naru's VA Yui Horie. At one point, the characters visit a hot springs resort which is clearly the one from Love Hina — they even describe it as "the hot-springs which magically makes people get in to Tokyo U!" It's inhabited by another character looking identical to Naru, and when Kagome introduces herself to the Naru-alike and asks her name, another character says "No! Don't answer that!" In the English dub, Naru and Kagome have the same English voice-actress.
  • ADV Films used this to insert even more Expy-based gags into Martian Successor Nadesico than there already were, especially regarding the main character, voiced by Spike "Shinji Ikari" Spencer.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam:
  • When Sunrise changed the last names of nearly all My-HiME characters for My-Otome, Haruka Suzushiro became Haruka Armitage, a reference to one of Ryōka Yuzuki's previous roles — Naomi Armitage from Armitage III.
  • In Myself ; Yourself, Yukari Tamura plays Shuri, who at one point gives a haunting, foreboding Post-Episode Trailer narration that culminates with "Can you believe in it?" Another character points out, "Um, Shuri, I think you've got the wrong show!"
  • Asuma Sarutobi from Naruto often says "yare yare daze" and "ora ora" (moreso in the PS2 Naruto games). While these phrases are used often in other anime, in this case it's a reference to Asuma's seiyuu Jurota Kosugi's previous role as Jotaro Kujo in the OVA adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
  • In Ōkami-san, the "maid" Otsū is voiced by Ayako Kawasumi, voice of the android maid Mahoro in Mahoromatic. In one episode, Otsū encounters a butler who, at the end of the conversation says he has one last question. He begins Mahoro's most famous catchphrase, and Otsū finishes immediately. The narrator proceeds to wonder whether they can legally do this.
  • The 4Kids Entertainment dub of One Piece manages to get one in during the Drum Island arc. Dr. Kureha insists to be called Dr. K, a reference to the main villain of Cubix: Robots for Everyone. Both were voiced by the late Maddie Blaustein.
  • Oreimo displays some Sword Art Online figures, a rare instance of actual otaku merch instead of parody versions, most likely as a reference to Ayana Taketatsu playing a middle-school girl who's in love with her older Not Blood Siblings brother in both.
  • Pani Poni Dash! builds an entire scene on this trope: the Alien Captain is played by Mugihito, who voiced Jean-Luc Picard in the Japanese dub. So given the nature of the series, it was inevitable that the aliens would become expies of the NextGen crew at some point.
  • Same with Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4. They left the line for the anime too.
    • A similar gag occurs in the dub of Kekkaishi, with Tokine saying, much to Yoshimori's chagrin, that she isn't interested in guys who are significantly shorter than her.
    • Another episode has Madarao calling Yoshimori's actions "petty and small". This, of course, causes an outraged uproar.
    • Digimon fans also might be reminded of Ken Ichijouji, who sometimes uttered this before he made a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Episode 5 of Pokémon: The Series contains one during a rather elaborate Shout-Out to Episode 48 of Fushigi Yuugi: In FY, during the fight between Tamahome and Suboshi, Suboshi ends up getting killed by his own weapon when he finds himself pinned down by the ghosts of Tamahome's brothers and sisters (whom Suboshi had killed) and unable to get out of the way. In Pokemon, just as Satoshi (Ash) is about to order Pikachu to deliver the finishing blow to Takeshi's (Brock's) Onix, he imagines himself being held back from giving the order by Takeshi's many younger siblings (though it turns out they really are holding Satoshi back). What makes this an Actor Allusion is that in the Japanese version of their respective shows, Takeshi and Suboshi are both voiced by seiyuu Yuji Ueda.
    • The dub gets to pull this when Maylene is introduced. Jessie comments that it's "A meeting of old and new!", likely referencing that Maylene's voice actress was Jessie's 4Kids VA — Rachael Lillis. A Hoenn episode also had a very sneaky one for the same actress, titled "A Different Kind of Misty". Guess who voiced one of the characters of the day?
    • Here's one more: the actress who originally played Ash, Veronica Taylor, plays the role of Carly on Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. Now here's where it gets freaky: turns out that both characters (Ash and Carly) have the same aspect to their personality (getting into tight spots) and not only that, both have a friend named Misty. You can see information on the four using the following four links Ash Ketchum, Misty (Pokémon), Carly and Misty Tredwell Misty Tredwell being from 5D's of course)
    • In the Japanese version, Saori (Solidad), the pink-haired Pokemon Coordinator, is voiced by Rie Tanaka, who was the voice of Lacus Clyne, the pink-haired Coordinator.
    • The episode where Jessie tries to train to become a nurse is a reference to her voice actress Megumi Hayashibara, who was also training to be a nurse in the early days of her career.
    • In "Air Time", the role of the hero's Charizard is given to James. In the Japanese version, Shin-ichiro Miki plays both.
    • It's possible that this was in mind for Tobias in the dub, given that he shares traits with both Kyoya Ohtori and Sebastian Michaelis, all of whom are voiced by J. Michael Tatum.
    • In the Alolan Motto, James mentions "A fallen angel that seeks revenge on this miserable world". Could this be a reference to another Shinichiro Miki character?
    • The 93rd Sun and Moon episode had a huge homage to Megumi Hayashibara via an Imagine Spot where Jessie is shown dressed as various characters Hayashbara voiced in the past. These include Rei Ayanami, Faye Valentine, Paprika, Ai Haibara, Ranma Saotome and Lina Inverse. The dub managed to have one of its own for this episode when its current voice director, Lisa Ortiz, voiced the Lina Inverse segment, being the English dub voice of Lina herself.
  • In RahXephon, Haruka introduces herself to Ayato as a "champion of justice". The phrase and voice actress both were in Sailor Moon as she also voices Ami.
  • Episode 9 of Sgt. Frog contains an Homage to Episode 24 of Neon Genesis Evangelion where Mutsumi descends into the Keroro Platoon's base in the same way Kaworu (who was also voiced by Akira Ishida) descended into the NERV headquarters, complete with the same background music.
  • Ever since Rie Kugimiya's appearance in Shakugan no Shana, she has made the "Urusai Urusai Urusai!" line in some of the roles she has voiced afterwards (e.g. Louise in The Familiar of Zero, Nagi in Hayate the Combat Butler, Taiga in Toradora!, Aria in Aria the Scarlet Ammo)
    • Parodied in A Certain Magical Index-tan, where Index copies the joke because J.C. Staff produced both shows, even encouraging the audience to purchase Shana DVDs if "they don't get it."
  • The cross over chapter/episodes of Sket Dance with Gintama. With with the exception of Kagura, EVERYONE got an Actor Allusion. To note:
  • Slayers:
    • In episode 11 of the anime's first season, after using a whip-like spell Lina briefly poses in a dominatrix-like outfit and says "Call me queen", alluding to Megumi Hayashibara also voicing Tira Misu in Sorcerer Hunters.
    • In the first episode of Slayers NEXT, Zelgadis scowls and utters "Omae o korosu" ("I'll kill you"), which is an iconic line belonging to Gundam Wing's Heero Yuy, also voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa. Bonus points for Zelgadis saying the line to Lina, he only had to drop one syllable! And the same episode features a giant golem that's piloted like a mecha, though not by Zelgadis.
  • In the Smile Pretty Cure! episode where Miyuki and Candy switch bodies, Akaoni sneezes Majorina's ring away. This spoofs a Garfield and Friends quickie in which Binky the Clown sneezes dust that came from a diamond away. The same person who voiced Akaoni, Iwasaki Hiroshi, did the voice of Binky the Clown in the Japanese version of Garfield and Friends that aired on Cartoon Network.
  • In the dub of Space☆Dandy, Johnny Yong Bosch voices Johnny, who is basically a walking Shout-Out to his most famous roles. He's a commander like Lelouch (hell, at one point "Britannia" was mentioned to him) and kicks like Ichigo. Bosch himself is also a musician in real life.
  • In Transformers: Armada, David Kaye as Megatron occasionally utters a smooth, drawn-out "yeessss", a reference to the catchphrase he introduced when playing Megatron in Beast Wars.
  • A slightly complex example, and probably not intentional, but the fans have latched onto it anyway. In Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-, Fai is voiced by Daisuke Namikawa. In the drama CDs, Namikawa also voices Fai's twin brother Yuui, who happens to be an Italian chef. Fast forward a couple years, and Namikawa is voicing both North and South Italy in Hetalia: Axis Powers, who have an obsession with pasta. Cue Tsubasa fans writing fanfics with Fai and Yuui calling for PASTAAAAA~ at the drop of a hat.
    • This gets a possibly intentional canon reference at the very end of the fourth CD, in which Fai excitedly requests PASTAAAAA~ for dinner. Kurogane has a psychotic breakdown promptly thereafter.
  • In Chapter 56 of Watamote, Tomoko is late to school because she got caught up in an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The only pony shown on screen is Rainbow Dash, whose Japanese Dub actress also voiced Tomoko in the Watamote's anime adaptation.
  • In the English dub of Yo-kai Watch, Johnny Yong Bosch, who also voiced Adam Park in Power Rangers, voices the main character, whose last name is Adams. And in the online-only dub recap episodes, Nate Adams has the catchphrase "It's recap time!", just like Adam Park.
  • Yosuga no Sora: Haruka and Sora ride a bicycle as their transportation in town. In ef - a fairy tale of the two., Hiro and Miyako also ride a bicycle as their transportation. Both pairs are voiced by Hiro Shimono and Hiroko Taguchi.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time: In the German dub, Paradox is voiced by Stefan Gossler, who also voiced Para in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and Para and Dox in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.
  • In YuYu Hakusho, Kurama already bears some resemblance to Himura Kenshin, but for a couple episodes of the Tournament arc, they went out of their way to make it explicit by giving him a cross-shaped scar. Megumi Ogata voiced Kenshin in the Drama CDs.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top