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  • Lucky Star has quite a bit of this thanks to the anime adaptation's numerous references to other anime, manga, video games. Prime examples include multiple shoutouts to its fellow Kyoto Animation anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and the guest appearances of the character's own voice actors
    • Probably the prime example of this is in the last episode. Patty bribes Konata (voiced by Aya Hirano) with a ticket to a live event where she can meet...Aya Hirano.
    • Of course there's also an earlier episode where Konata attends the Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou live concert and sees Hirano on stage.
    • Hirano also appears in the first strip of volume 5 of the manga — eating a choco-cornet, from the pointy end, no less — and is noticed by Konata (and Hiyori, who calls her "that girl from Haruhi)".
    • During one of the Lucky Channel spots, Anime Tenchou questions Akira (Hiromi Konno) on her feelings for a handful of her previous roles, for her to nonchalantly ask who those people are.
    • The show also bizarrely folds in on itself in episode 22, where Konata, in Ripped from the Headlines fashion, finds a plaque that reads "Konata is my wife."note  In that same episode, while on the school trip, Konata insists a visit to the local anime studio is a must. The anime studio is, of course, Kyoto Animation.
  • A case in Case Closed once revolved around the eponymous character and his friends meeting singer Minami Takayama. Minami happens to do the voice of Conan Edogawa, and their similar voices were pointed out by other characters. That story also appeared in the original manga. Not so weird, considering mangaka Gosho Aoyama was dating, and then was briefly married to, Minami.
    • This trope also creates some pretty big Fridge Logic thanks to the crossover film Lupin III vs. Detective Conan. The crossover indicates that both characters exist in the same fictional universe. But that then raises questions concerning the iconic character Sherlock Holmes: in Conan's series, Holmes is a fictional character like in ours, and the original stories are what inspired Shinichi/Conan to become a detective in the first place. In Lupin's series, however, Holmes was a real-life person, and an episode of the second Lupin series even has the master thief meeting and impersonating the detective's grandson!
      • Furthermore, movie 11 establishes that Sato-san is a fan of Lupin III and is therefore upset when a criminal wears a Lupin III mask. Given that she is a police officer and would not be a fan of a real thief, this would only make sense if Lupin III is a fictional character.
  • Lupin III:
  • An episode of Akahori Gedou Hour Lovege has two of the Hokke sisters meeting their own voice actresses and then proceeding to argue about which one of them is better.
  • Completely pulled off in the anime adaptation of Haruka Nogizaka's Secret, Meido Nanami Nanashiro distracts the proud Otaku Nobunaga Asakura by telling him that voice actress Kana Ueda is nearby and proceeds to mimic her voice to make Nobunaga 'chase' the voice actress. Of course, Kana Ueda herself is the voice actress of Nanami.
    • In the first episode of the second season, Yuuto and Haruka (who's voiced by Mamiko Noto), go to see the voice actress of a Show Within a Show. The character she voices heavily resembles Haruka and is also voiced by Noto — in the show's universe. Essentially resulting in Haruka going to meet her own voice actress.
    • It comes around full circle in episode 10 where Yuuto visits a recording session for Nocturne. It is heavily implied that the five VAs who were recording roles in Nocturne were Mamiko Noto, Mai Goto, Kaori Shimizu, Kana Ueda, and Rina Sato. Also, Asakura tells Yuuto about a certain Reiko Takagi, who is in fact, Asakura's own VA. In the Nogizaka Vocabulary Essentials section, the word is "Wataru Hatano," Yuuto's voice actor.
  • Done several times in the original Astro Boy. Once, when showing a theme park full of fictional creatures, a villain disparagingly refers to "Those creepy gourd creatures Tezuka draws," indicating that Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy, does exist in their universe. Another time, a bad guy taunts the Professor by saying, "And what have you done with Astro? You've just made a stupid show of him for TV!"
  • Kämpfer seems to love this for some weird reason. Counting off, we've got Yui Horie, Yukari Tamura, and Nana Mizuki all mentioned when their own characters were arguing. Surprisingly, Natsuru (voiced by Marina Inoue) has yet to be brought up by anyone.
    • This started off in the Light Novel with reference to Yukari Tamura being mentioned as the voice of one of the animals. When she got the actual role the studio asked her to 'sound like Yukari Tamura' when she pointed out she WAS Yukari Tamura, they said 'yeah but try not to sound like one of your characters but as yourself'. Pretty meta.
  • Bakuman。, which as a manga about trying to create manga is already up to its ass in Postmodernism, has references to Death Note and to "the author of Death Note" in the very first chapter, although the latter is not referred to by name. Bakuman, of course, is created by the same writer/artist duo that created Death Note.
  • Shonen Jump exists in all Shonen Jump manga that are set in anything resembling the modern world, as well as some worlds that aren't. Dragon Ball even goes the Direct Line to the Author route with this. (Rokudenashi Blues and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure both feature main characters using Shonen Jump as Improvised Armour.)
  • In The Kindaichi Case Files, Hajime laments that he's no match for Tsuyoshi Domoto who was starring in a movie with Reika. Tsuyoshi Domoto was cast as Hajime in the live-action version.
  • In chapter 107 of The Wallflower, a character mentions the actor who played Kyōhei in the live-action TV series. The best part is that instead of mentioning his name, she says that he played Kyōhei on TV, directly referencing the TV series based on the manga they exist in.
  • In Holyland chapter 182, one passerby says that Masaki looks like the actor who portrayed him in the Live-Action Adaptation.
  • Gundam Build Fighters has an extremely odd version of this thanks to Mr. Ral, a character who looks and sounds exactly like Ramba Ral from the original Mobile Suit Gundam(not to mention the dozens of cameos of Gundam characters all over the series). Unlike most examples of this trope, however, the Gundam anime not only exists In-Universe, but most of the characters are huge fans of it — which makes it even more surreal that nobody comments on or even seems to notice the resemblance.
  • During the first episode of I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying, Hajime is shown looking at a screenshot of Nanoha. Both Nanoha and his wife are voiced by Yukari Tamura. It kind of makes you wonder if he finds one attractive because they sound like the other.
  • Seiyu's Life! has an indirect example. Ryōko Shiraishi, Rie Kugimiya, Yui Horie, and Masumi Asano all appear despite the fact that they voiced characters on Hayate the Combat Butler, and Seiyu's Life! is confirmed to take place in the same universe (to make it even weirder, Ryoko Shirashi is mentioned to be the voice of Hayate). Masumi Asano's appearance doubles as a Creator Cameo.note 
  • At one point in the manga of No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!, Tomoko is distracted from her daily tasks by Rainbow Dash on TV and winds up watching the entire episode. Both were voiced by Kitta Izumi in Japan.
  • In Re:CREATORS, a normal citizen is shown carrying a bag with the Aldnoah.Zero logo on it. Studio TROYCA is the group behind both series, though the lack of a Re:CREATORS existing there can be excused since a good chunk of the action happens around Fall 2016 rather than Winter, when the show was announced, or Spring 2017, when the show actually aired. Sora Amamiya and Mikako Komatsu also appear in an in-universe press conference thanks to voicing their respective characters (Rui and Celestia) in their own series. This one is explained away as the characters gaining their voices in the real world from the actors that portrayed them in adaptations.
  • DEVILMAN crybaby reveals at one point that the original 1972 Devilman anime exists in the universe of the story. One can only assume it's In Name Only (which, to be fair, a good number of Devilman adaptations have been, including the 1972 anime which was considerably Lighter and Softer than the manga).
  • Gintama tends to run into this problem, partially because of all of history happening before it occurs in their time, partly because of the sheer number of references the characters make, and partially because the fourth wall is as thin as the paper on a sliding door.
    • The series makes several references to elements from Rurouni Kenshin, which prominently features characters based on the Shinsengumi (a group also prominently featured in Gintama) in a dour and much less futuristic Meiji era.
    • A voice actor example: One chapter has Shinpachi playing Granblue Fantasy. Several of the voice actorsnote  have played characters in the game before.
      • Then there's the fact that GBF would go on to have a crossover event with Gintama at one point.
  • Interstella 5555 is a Jukebox Musical by Daft Punk about a fictional band called The Crescendolls. Daft Punk appear at a music award ceremony cheering them on, not seeking to care that their songs have been plagiarized.
  • Long time Pretty Cure theme song singer Kanako Miyamoto has both appeared in-universe As Herself in Yes! Pretty Cure 5, and then voiced Makoto Kenzaki/Cure Sword in Doki Doki! PreCure. I wonder why Nozomi doesn't question Makoto why she sounds like her classmate in the crossovers...
  • A minor one: one of the establishing shots in the 2nd episode of The Saga of Tanya the Evil, which shows the titular character's pre-reincarnation life, shows a train station ad for the then-upcoming compilation movie of Overlord (2012)note . Both shows' characters would later wind up in the same spinoff.
  • Kaguya Sama Love Is War chapter 174 had Ishigami bringing a (lewd) manga by Mengo Yokoyari. A few months later, Kaguya author Aka Akasaka would start his new mangaOshi No Ko with Mengo Yokoyari as artist. Which, after a few years, is confirmed to take place in the same universe!

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