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Shout Out / Death Note

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Anime and Manga

  • A serial killer named Kira who uses supernatural means to commit his crimes and leave behind no evidence, Hiding in Plain Sight as an everyday man. Where have we heard this one before?
  • L's in-person introduction to the considerably slimmed-down task force: "Bang."
  • Misa puts two fingers to her forehead while proclaiming they will catch the Yotsuba Kira with her help.
  • When Misa sends her fake Kira diary to lure Light to Aoyama, one fake entry reads "Read Jump for the first time in ages. Reading it all in one go was fun." And what magazine originally ran Death Note? Yep. Shonen Jump.
  • Among Near's toys is a Optimus Prime lookalike.
  • The spin-off novel Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Serial Murder Case has a character make several Fan Boy-ish remarks about Akazukin Chacha. This almost results in Parody Displacement of sorts.

Comic Book

Film

  • Another of Near's toys resembles Godzilla.
  • How To Read cites The Matrix and Edward Scissorhands as inspiration for some of the character designs. Proven by the uncanny resemblance Yotsuba Eight member Ooi bears to Morpheus of The Matrix series.
  • Remember that last shot of Light's dead face that takes over the whole page? Go see the last frame of the controversial Caligula movie starring Malcolm McDowell (here).

Literature

  • The whole premise of a bright if asocial student forming a sort of teamup with a supernatural creature to conquer the world reminds of Masami Saotome and Manticore from the influential Boogiepop Series. In fact, a lot of Light's dialogue about building a new world seems to come from Masami's lines. Coincidentally or not, both franchises were adapted to anime by Madhouse, which apparently could not resist the temptation to give Saotome a character design vaguely similar to Light in the 2019 Boogiepop anime.
  • In Another Note, Mello makes a snarky reference to Holden Caulfield when he can't keep up the narrative tone he started with.

Live-Action TV

  • In Volume 3 of the manga Light buys some apples at a produce stand with the address NCC-1701.
  • Near can be seen on the back of a volume cover playing with a toy model of Thunderbird 2. F.A.B, right?
  • In the manga Roger Ruvie the head of Whammy's House is referred to as "Mr. Rogers."

Video Game

Western Animation

  • When Misa agrees to help bring down the Yotsuba Kira:
    Misa: With all our powers combined, we'll arrest Kira!

Other

  • In an early chapter Light mentions wanting to watch the match between Bob Sapp and Akebono, who fought in K-1 in 2003, back when the manga started being published.
  • Near has a few toys that look like LEGO figurines.
  • In episode 14 of the anime, Light searches something in the computer using a site called Gentle!. The site layout and the font colors are a clear reference to Google.
  • The jumbotron Light passes while walking home is made by "Fanasonic".
  • In volume 8 of the manga, we have Ide disguised (hopefully unintentionally) as a certain dictator. How this got past most everyone's radar is impressive itself (but after reams of pages dedicated to killing, nasty plots and a god complex, it just isn't that surprising).

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