No Celebrities Were Harmed / Anime & Manga

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• Afganisu-tan is pretty much an exact replica of "Afghan Girl" from the famous National Geographic cover.
• In Aikatsu!, one of the teachers at Starlight Academy is named Johnny Bepp, a parody of Johnny Depp.
• Air Gear had U.S. Presidential candidate "John Omaha", an ersatz Barack Obama, appear in one story. Omaha has reappeared in a storyline as President-Elect, where he somehow ended up switching minds with Emily. Did we mention that he's an expert skater?
• In Animal Land, Llama Akiko is an obvious parody of Wada Akiko, a famous Japanese singer and actress.
• In Banana Fish, Ash Lynx's design is based on River Phoenix (though early on in the manga, he more closely resembled professional Swedish tennis player Stefan Edberg). Akimi Yoshida has drawn◊ Ash and Eiji in positions that references the movie My Own Private Idaho, which stars River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves. Even there's a scene where Ash wears the exact style of glasses that Phoenix used. The similarities don't just stop at physical appearance, considering both Ash and Phoenix had disturbingly tragic childhoods.
• Baki the Grappler: Baki Hanma, is based on Japanese MMA fighter Kazushi Sakuraba.
• Many of the characters in BECK are based on actual musicians. Chiba, the punk/rap vocalist for BECK, is based in attitude, style, and appearance on Zack de la Rocha. While Taira, the bassist, possesses much of the style and mannerisms of Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers (who just happen to be the creator's favorite band.)
• Berserk:
  • Guts' face was initially based on the likeness of Rutger Hauer.
  • Emperor Ganishka of the Kushan Empire is based on... Emperor Kanishka of the Kushan Empire!
  • Emperor Gaiseric, the legendary founder of The Kingdom of Midland is based on Charlemagne and the Vandal King Gaiseric.
• Black Cat features a villainous Bruce Willis lookalike (with a scar and stubble) in Chapter 45 of the manga.
• From Black Clover, Gordon Agrippa's appearance is based on Marilyn Manson.
• In Blood+, two American political leaders are based on Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleeza Rice.
• In the Mexican Spanish dub of Captain Tsubasa Road to 2002, the announcer, at least in the later episodes, sounds a lot like the famous Mexican sports announcer Enrique "El Pelon" Bermudez, complete with his famous trademark way to describing the matches.
  • And about Captain Tsubasa, several professional players in the series shown are pretty much expies for famous real ones, only with their names slightly changed to avoid personal image copyright conflicts. For example, Rivaldo + Raul = Rivaul.
• Choujin Sensen have two characters based on real-life political figures: Seizou Kabe (Shinzo Abe) and Hillary Easton (Hillary Clinton).
• This happens all throughout Cowboy Bebop:
  • In "Asteroid Blues", Asimov is modeled after Antonio Banderas from Desperado. Katrina is modeled after Salma Hayek's character from the same film.
  • In "Heavy Metal Queen", the fugitive, Deckard, bears a suspicious resemblance to Woody Allen
  • "Jamming with Edward" has a reference to Uri Geller, the (in-)famous Spoon Bending Hungarian-Israeli celebrity entertainer, with a character named "Uri Kellerman"
  • Coffy is modeled after Pam Grier and named after one of her films, Coffy.
  • Shaft is modeled after Richard Roundtree's portrayal of John Shaft.
  • Whitney Hagas Matsumoto from "My Funny Valentine" is modeled after George Clooney.
  • Doohan from "Wild Horses" is modeled after director Nicholas Ray.
  • Piccaro Calvino is modeled after The Notorious B.I.G..
  • The villains from "Boogie Woogie Feng Shui" are modeled after Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi from The Blues Brothers.
  • The Teddy Bomber from "Cowboy Funk" is modeled after Theodore "Ted" Kaczynski, the UNAbomber.
  • "Londes", the leader of the Scratch cult in "Brain Scratch", is based on "Heaven's Gate" cult leader Marshal Herff Applewhite.
• Cromartie High School has Freddie, who may or may not be the same Mr. Mercury who sang in Queen (at least, if his mannerisms are any indication).
• Daimos: Kyoshiro Yuzuki's signature look of a bouffant afro, rose-tinted glasses, a katana, and a trench-coat heavily resembles Bob Ross. Not to mention, Bob Ross was in the air force, and Kyoshiro flies a Cool Plane.
• D-Frag! has teacher Shawn Conecone, who's Sean Connery as Indiana Jones.
• If you wanna see impressions mined for all they're worth, check out the English dubs of all the Digimon series. Many of the various non-main Digimon are meant to sound like celebrities from the heyday of the voice actors' childhoods. Just two examples: Digitamamon is Peter Lorre (yes, Lorre again). Etemon is Elvis. There're more.
  • Two other noteworthy examples are Impmon, who sounds exactly like Joe Pesci, and Piedmon, who is made to sound like a higher-pitched Tim Curry. Incidentally, both are voiced by Derek Stephen Prince, who also voiced Digitamamon.
  • One fan actually compiled a LIST of all of them. About 24 total.
• Mercenary Tao in Dragon Ball is a dead ringer for Sean Connery in Zardoz... sans the red panties.
  • Word of God says that Tao was designed in the likeness of Yuen Wah.
• The manga Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President, set in a fictionalized version of the 2000 U.S. Presidential race, prominently features incumbent Vice President Al Noah, along with the ambitious First Lady "Ellery", along with her unnamed-yet-familiar-looking husband.
• Ergo Proxy: The Great Amy Lee Debacle. The secondary main character of Ergo Proxy, Re-l Mayer, is the spitting image◊ of Evanescence's vocalist, Amy Lee. It is unclear if it was actually intended or not, but many fans agree the startling similarity is just too much to be coincidental.
• Fairy Tail: Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki seems to resemble a deformed version of Dustin Hoffman, with his powers being a reference to Hoffman's role in The Perfume.
• Fist of the North Star
  • Kenshiro has traits drawn from Mel Gibson, Bruce Lee, and Sylvester Stallone.
  • For the first half of the series, only a few characters had explicit celebrity resemblance (The Toki-impostor, Amiba, was very clearly Christopher Lambert, while Toki himself was equally obviously Jesus except with face-melting martial arts skills), though there were more than a handful of characters who were spiritual composites of several famous figures, similar to Ken.
  • In the second series, quite a few characters were overtly modeled after well-known pop-icons at the time, with characters resembling Dolph Lundgren (Falco), Freddie Mercury (Han), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Solia), Road Warriors Hawk and Animal (the Harn Brothers), and many more.
• In the classic seventies shoujo manga From Eroica with Love, main character Dorian Red Gloria and three of his henchmen are physically modeled after the members of Led Zeppelin. (In fact, the henchmen are all named after the band members: James (Jimmy Page), Bonham (John Bonham), and John Paul (John Paul Jones.) Leaving, of course, Robert Plant as Dorian.)
• In Future GPX Cyber Formula, some of the characters are based on real-life Formula One drivers, most notably Knight Shoemach, who is based on Michael Schumacher. He even wears the yellow Benetton Formula outfit in the last two episodes of the TV series, the team Schumacher was in a few months after his F1 debut.
• Kind of a special case in Hajime no Ippo, since there's no representations of famous boxers here (or at least existent ones), but there're various real techniques that are represented in the series and it even mentioned real boxers who made them.
• In Honey and Clover, the side character "Peter Lucas", who directs the film on which Morita and helps him steal back his father's company, is an obvious parody of director George Lucas.
• A minor character in How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? is named Jason Sgatham, a parody of Jason Statham.
• Idol Angel Yokoso Yoko:
  • Yoko (voiced by Mika Kanai) is based on Yoko Tanaka.
  • Saki (voiced by Megumi Hayashibara) is based on Sachiyo Takihana, a Real Life stage actress who was Mika Kanai's best friend at the time of airing. The two were co-workers for years and Takihana actually wrote some of the anime's episodes herself.
• Idol Densetsu Eriko: Kosuke Tamura's physical appearance is based on the Japanese actor Hiroyuki Nagato.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
  • In a flashback, Will Zeppeli looked more than a bit like Sylvester Stallone.
  • Yoshikage Kira looks and dresses like David Bowie. His first appearance particularly brings to mind Bowie's "Serious Moonlight" look.
  • And in Steel Ball Run, Johnny bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Axl Rose, as seen here◊.
• In Kaiju Girl Caramelise, Kuroe Akaishi's mother Rinko is obsessed with a J-Pop singer named Mayumi Hamasaki, a fictionalized version of Ayumi Hamasaki.
• Kirby: Right Back at Ya! gives King Dedede (a fat blue penguin) a slightly off voice and mannerisms that obviously intends to evoke Foghorn Leghorn, with occasional lines made to sound like things George W. Bush might say. His minion Escargoon is basically Paul Lynde, which is even funnier when you realize that Escargoon is in fact gay.
  • Non-dub example, one episode spoofed the Harry Potter craze and an ersatz of J. K. Rowling appeared in Cappy Town due to it.
  • Another episode wherein Kirby and Dedede are put through a hellish exercise routine, has the routine directed by a monster that acts and sounds similar to Richard Simmons.
• One of the biggest problems of Geneon's dub of the second Lupin III anime series is the fact that it's a Gag Dub that makes it look as though this series, which first aired in 1977, takes place in "the present day" (in this case, the 2000s), with references to then-recent pop culture and events. This comes to a head in the dub of the first movie, where the U.S. president is turned into a George W. Bush soundalike.^note Not only that, the dub also references the war on terrorism..
• Kaito and Gackto of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch are both drawn from famous male J-artists, their names being the biggest clue.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:
  • Relena Darlian is modeled on Audrey Hepburn, right down to the Queen of the World dress being lifted directly from Roman Holiday.
  • In interviews, the show's staff outright said that Heero Yuy is modeled on Japanese actress Yuki Uchida.
• Monster: Even though nothing has been confirmed, there have been quite a few rumors that Johan Liebert's physical appearance could be based on Björn Andrésen when he was a teenager. Considering that Björn's face has been a key inspiration for Pretty Boys in Anime & Manga, this is likely true. Oddly enough, Björn's middle name coincidentally happens to be "Johan".
• In the dub of Naruto, Might Guy sounds only a little bit like Elvis sometimes, but it's just enough to make you wonder...
  • Gai sounds like Elvis in the dub? I want you guys to see and hear Chikara. Even Word of God says it: His appearance is similar to many Elvis impersonators. Particularly those that impersonate Elvis's Las Vegas years, when he put on a great deal of weight. In the English dub, his voice is based on Elvis Presley.
  • Killer Bee was supposedly inspired by the Wu-Tang Clan.
• Several of the villains in Nerima Daikon Brothers are based on celebrities, including an alien based on a popular Japanese psychic, a thinly veiled parody of Michael Jackson (including a nose that's always falling off, an outfit based on Peter Pan, and a group of mummy villains that do a dance similar to the famous Thriller video), and Japan's prime minister at the time.
• Noritaka. Its final arc, and arguably the worst one, features a streetfighting contest, and the main character will confront Sting, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, and some more celebrities. They're called by their names, with little or no variations (e.g., Sting is a Police man...)
• Okawari Boy Starzan S, a 1984 comedy/action anime by Tatsunoko Production, is rife with this. Apart from the series itself's obvious nods to Tarzan and Star Wars, the female lead, Jun Yagami, is named after Junko Yagami, an actual Japanese pop idol of the era. There's also a character named Evlis who is a fairly obvious Elvis Presley takeoff. It was theorized by some that the plethora of celebrity homages was part of what kept the series off home video in Japan for years... until the series finally received a Blu-Ray release in 2017.
• One Piece has several examples. Jango from the Captain Kuro arc is obviously the late Michael Jackson. Brook (when he was alive) looks suspiciously like Slash.
  • The Admirals Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu were based on Japanese actors (Yusaku Matsuda, Kunie Tanaka, and Bunta Sugawara respectively) and some prominent roles they played. Likewise, Admiral Fujitora is based on Shintaro Katsu and his role as Zatoichi.
  • Franky is based off Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura with Popeye's arms and addiction to Coke (or whatever Coca-Cola equivalent they have in the OP world).
  • Psycho Electro Eneru is allegedly based on Eminem, of whom Oda is a fan.
  • Not to mention Spandam, who bears a remarkable similarity to Mick Foley during his "Mankind" days in the WWE.
  • There's also Ivankov, who's basically Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
  • Jango is actually two celebrities in one — his mannerisms are clearly based on Michael Jackson, but if one looks closely, his face actually better resembles Steven Tyler than it does Jackson (minus, of course, the heart-shaped eyes, as revealed in a manga omake).
  • Trafalgar Law looks like The Pickup Artist of all people.
  • Vice-Admiral Garp's right-hand man is based on Humphrey Bogart. He's even called Bogart.
  • Sanji's appearance is based on Steve Buscemi as he appears in Reservoir Dogs, according to Word of God.
  • Diamante is a more blatant caricature of Steven Tyler, large mouth and lips included. When he enters the Dressrosa Colosseum he carries with him a mic stand, a prominent part of Tyler's performances.
  • Mad Scientist Dr. Vegapunk is based on Albert Einstein, with his Overly-Long Tongue directly homaging the famous picture of Einstein sticking his tongue out. Meanwhile the first of Vegapunk's Satellites, Shaka, clearly looks like Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, one-half of the music duo Daft Punk.
• Another dub (specifically, 4Kids) example: an episode of Pokémon: The Series featured Dr. Quackenpoker, who was such a blatant Groucho Marx parody that the original animators were in on the joke too, because he even looked the part. Not to mention an early recurring character named Speilbunk, a very self-congratulatory film director.
• In Episode 2 of the Pretty Sammy OAV, Standardsoft chairman Bif Standard is a parody of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.
• The Quintessential Quintuplets: A flashback chapter has the Nakano quintuplets playing for a soccer female team, whose (unnamed) coach is a very blatant cartoonish version of Diego Armando Maradona during his player days.
• The U.S. President in the Read or Die OVA was "Dubya" flanderized to the point of insanity and pants-wetting.
• The Ride-On King: Alexander Purchinov is a muscular blond president of a Slavic country with short hair, black belt, and is a Walking Shirtless Scene, who is introduced in a pose resembling Vladimir Putin's famous photo of riding a bear.
• In the Samurai Pizza Cats, The Big Cheese's dub voice is obviously Paul Lynde like Escargoon in Kirby, it's made funnier by Big Cheese's more than questionable lifestyle.
• The manga SD Gundam Musha Bancho Fuunroku has a minor character, news reporter Crystal Tatsugawa. She's based on real-life Japanese television announcer and news presenter Christel Takigawa.
• Sgt. Frog:
  • Japan periodically has scheduled blackouts to conserve electricity. One chapter has this but has the Tokyo Electric Company portrayed as The Bridge, complete with Bridge Bunnies and the director dressed up as The Captain, spouting stock lines from military anime. The disclaimer at the bottom reads:
    "This story is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons or organizations is purely coincidental. And I doubt the Chief of Electricity has such a fancy costume in reality."
  • Another manga chapter involves Keroro and Tamama spying on manga writers and features a cameo by what can be assumed to be the spirit of the late, great Osamu Tezuka (we don't see his face, but one can make out his trademark pipe and beret, and he kicks over a Hyoutan-Tsugi as he departs).
• In Shaman King, Anna is shown to be a fan of a female rocker named "Awaya Ringo."
• In Slam Dunk, all uniforms are representations of real NBA teams, starting with Shohoku, a Shout-Out of Chicago Bulls. Also, because of this, some characters are compared to real players, like Hanamichi Sakuragi with Dennis Rodman (because of his red hair).
• One of Sakuragi's friends — the one with the mustache — has the voice, Catch Phrases and the look of deposed (and as of May 2010 running again for) President Joseph Estrada in the Slam Dunk! Filipino dub.
  • Another Filipino dub joke — this time in Hajime no Ippo — has someone telling Takamura that he looks like an alcohol salesman while wearing a boxing referee's outfit. This is a reference to Carlos Padilla, Jr. — Takamura's retort is also a blatant nod to the alcohol commercial's tagline. This is the commercial, and this is the scene where the Shout-Out occurs. (Judging by the subtitles, this might also be a Woolseyism.)
• The author of Space Adventure Cobra admitted that Cobra's character design was largely based on French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, who specialized during the '70s in tough, charming, and witty roles.
• In Street Fighter II V, Nash's appearance doesn't look like the games (the show was made before Street Fighter Alpha); instead, he holds a likeness with the French actor Jean Reno.
• Superman Vs. Meshi: An odd case. This incarnation of Superman heavily resembles Christopher Reeve physically - the very Reeve that played him in the 1978 movie. Like Reeve's Superman, Superman Vs Meshi!Superman he rescues Lois from a helicopter and is mentioned to be from Kansas.
• Inspector Unmei of The Three-Eyed One bears a striking resemblance to the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven.
• Tiger & Bunny has a number of characters who look suspiciously like known actors or other noteworthy individuals, some of whom have affiliations with superhero movies. Examples include Ben Jackson (Forest Whitaker), Karina's teacher (Steven Spielberg), Karina's manager (Robert Downey Jr.), and the Mayor (Barack Obama). Barnaby's father very intentionally looks like Batman -era Michael Keaton. Barnaby's nanny is Robin Williams from Mrs. Doubtfire. Antonio is based on his namesake Antonio Banderas and Nathan on RuPaul.
• Yakitate!! Japan has a recurring gag character called "Kid" that bears a remarkable resemblance to none other than Brad Pitt. However, unlike Brad, Kid isn't just a movie star — he works in just about every industry under the sun including being a masseuse, thief, lawyer, and CEO to name a few.
• The 2008-2009 Yatterman series features "cameos" from all sorts of American names, including Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Jack Bauer.
• Unlike the Japanese original, the dub of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX mines celebrity impersonations for all they're worth, especially for Duel Spirits. Neo-Spacian Ground Mole is Art Carney, while the Ojama Trio (Green, Yellow, and Black) are an approximation of the Three Stooges. The Crystal Beasts are all based on celebrities in the dub: Emerald Turtle is Woody Allen, Amber Mammoth is Arnold Schwarzenegger, Topaz Tiger is Sean Connery, Crystal Eagle is Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Sapphire Pegasus is Allan Lane as Mister Ed, and Amethyst Cat is Julie Newmar. The exception, Ruby Carbuncle, is The Voiceless.
  • It's present in the original series, too. Pegasus' love of Toon monsters is easily explained when you consider that his favorite movie (in this case, "dub" or not) appears to be Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Check out his email avatar sometime!)
    • It was a fictional cartoon called "Funny Bunny" (in the "dub") where the main character was supposed to be an Expy of Bugs Bunny, but same idea. Indeed, the name given to "Funny Bunny"'s rival is referred to (again, by 4Kids) as "Ruff Gruff McDog", a name clearly based on McGruff the Crime Dog.
  • Doctor "Stein", the incredibly boring teacher/villain in one episode of the series. "Jaden?^note "Judai" in the Japanese original. Mueller? Mueller? Mueller?"
  • Duel Scientist Eisenstein, who even gets Einstein's classic tongue sticking out poster. Yes, Einstein has apparently devoted himself to card games in this universe. The funny part is that there was a famous mathematician named Eisenstein in real life.
  • Don Zaloog's actor imitated Christopher Walken.
  • The villain Howard X Miller's actor imitated Paul Lynde.
• Yuri!!! on Ice bases many of its characters on real-life figure skaters:
  • Yuri Katsuki seems to be a combination of several Japanese skaters; his career and background are heavily based on Tatsuki Machida, especially since they both came in dead last at the Grand Prix Final in Sochi. His personality and skating style seem to be inspired by Daisuke Takahashi, particularly his reputation for having a "glass heart" and being known for his step sequences. In terms of appearance, without his glasses on, he looks like Yuzuru Hanyu.
  • Victor Nikiforov is based on Evgeni Plushenko in terms of his career. However, his looks were based on actor John Cameron Mitchell, which was inspired after original character designer Mitsurou Kubo saw him in a performance of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
  • Yuri Plisetsky is a Gender Flip of Yulia Lipnitskaya, their most notable similarity being their intimidating looks. There's also his love of leopard print, as Kubo got the inspiration for his design after seeing Lipnitskaya wearing leopard print clothing.
  • The Thai Phichit Chulanont looks a lot like Michael Christian Martinez, who is Filipino.
  • Otabek Altin is a direct reference to the late Denis Ten. Like Ten, he's from Kazakhstan and is considered the "hero" of his home country thanks to his skills.

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