Much like Soul Chess this series is so chock full of references, it needed its own page
- Any character that is an Expy of another character is likely to have some reference to the series the character the Expy is based off of is from. Other examples include:
- The opening quote seems like it’s borrowed from the Chantry.
- Many quotes in general directly quote other works from Evanescence song lyrics to a line from Darkest Dungeon
- Kallen keeping her arm bandaged up bears a striking resemblance to Nero in the prologue of Devil May Cry 4.
- When bearing down Lelouch’s dark powers Luciano Bradley’s response is “I’d like to go to jail now please”.
- Kallen’s history of how she got her demonic deformity is pretty much a take on the history of the Elric brothers.
- Nonette is basically Dio Brando to the point where Kallen asks if she can summon steamrollers.
- And if it wasn’t clear at that point the author stops being subtle in chapter 9 and just has her shout out loud ZA WARUDO!.
- In chapter 5 Zero says to Kallen Is that your best? You weak pathetic fool.
- When Clovis walks into the guild towards the beginning of chapter 7 it plays out very similar to a scene from Animal House. He even calls his attackers Zeref Youths.
- Damaging Lelouch’s jacket is like damaging Alucard’s Seventy-inch Plasma Screen TV
- All the way to chapter 266 Sindel quotes Seras right before she obliterates Tempester by answering with an F you.
- Enna Elsa quotes Imperfect Cell when Kasumi almost rips off her tail.
- Kallen it seems can’t control her powers.
- When Kallen transforms to her Superpowered Evil Side she shouts "The only real monsters here are you!".
- Kallen when she’s in her Superpowered Evil Side did it to protect Euphemia and her conversation with her regarding the fact makes one reminiscent of when Ichigo did the same for Orihime.
- Sachi’s last words to Kallen easily make it look like the author is borrowing from Nico Robin’s backstory.
- One of the pubs in the series is called The Arrowed Knee
- Lelouch says that Marianne’s armor of the void not having flight capabilities in exchange for its No-Sell is equivalent exchange.
- One of Marianne’s armors apparently has the same ability as the conquerer’s Haki
- There's a chunk of them in chapter 21 right in the same spot:
- Orochi Bahn is from the village of Garp and punches cannonballs
- Orochi is smarter than the average bear
- Orochi shouts Believe it at the end of one of his speeches.
- Orochi has mastered his multiplication tables
- Both Vixie and Rakkan mention that Fighting Spirit's rules are to do the impossible, see the invisible and fight the power.
- Shimon's transformation in chapter 24 appears to be referencing a certain King of Games.
- One of the chapters has Rakkan yelling DOOOOOODGE! while throwing lances of lightning at Lelouch, Shirley, Milly and Suzaku.
- In chapter 28 Lelouch talks about when he was first learning to spell his name!
- In chapter 29 Erza's erotic fiction that she writes about people she knows is called friend fiction.
- Chapter 33 has a mention of Ratatosk doing to Kasumi what Rafiki did to Simba.
- Guinevere, Schneizel, Rena and Asura aren't the only people to have been sealed inside a sword for seven years
- Furthermore, the entirety of The Mask Of Malevolence is one big shout out to Majora's Mask.
- The history of the mask also happened a long, long time ago on a continent far, far away.
- In chapter 36, when Loke suggests he and Levy should get closer because they have to perform a kissing scene in the play they're performing in, Levy dissuades him by suggesting that doing so would lead to the ending of School Days
- In chapter 38, Rena Sianne tells Miriam to kiss her butt goodbye before activating her Dragon Force.
- In chapter 47, Jeremiah, says Naruto while trying to remember the name for a woman who saw Kallen's brother Naoto.
- Earlier in the chapter, Erza gets an armor that is clearly a reference to Senketsu.
- Chapter 51 has a deadly bee weapon. Bees...my god as well as spiders. A legion of spiders.
- One of Kasumi's spells is Imhullu
- At the end of chapter 52, Naoto gives Kallen a poke in the forehead very reminiscent of another big brother.
- When shouting at Sherry about love, Juvia says that her love for Gray burns with the white hot intensity of Over Nine Thousand suns.
- Wendy has her own secret base.
- Suzaku uses The Power of Order, though the power itself references Ryu's power of nothingness.
- One of Midnight's abilities is called Black Onslaught
- He also uses something akin to Gaara's Sand Burial attack with his reflector magic.
- Zero and Brain use Van Grants' Ancient Requiem
- Jellal needed to charge a full powered Sema for about two minutes.
- While the Asterisk system itself is a large Shout-Out to Bravely Default in general, rather than give our heroes standard Fantasy Character Classes, because their asterisks are prototypes, it gave draconichero creative liberty to stretch the limits of abilities a little and make a bunch of cute little references:
- Lelouch is modeled after Shiroumine. Considering who Shiroumine really is and how much Lelouch's history resembles his, this is all too fitting.
- Wendy is Lucina.
- Erza is Dante.
- Nessa is Merrill.
- Gino's is Kisuke Urahara, which is both fitting and the most obvious.
- Anya is Presea Combatir. Once again: fitting.
- Gajeel is The Berserker.
- Laxus is Cloud Strife judging from the BFS he's given.
- Natsu is Ken Masters judging from the red gi and fire attacks, though the Shoryuken probably made it obvious.
- According to Word of God, Mystogan's is Ichigo Kurosaki in Bankai, with hood.
- Edolas Laxus' stage name is Greased Lightning and his last name is Zuko.
- Chapter 73 references both Psycho-Pass and Akame ga Kill! one right after the other. First, Zero murders Natsu's client right before his very eyes in a way reminiscent of Makaishima, but then we find out that she's an Asshole Victim Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and kills people that reminds you of Aria from how Akame ga Kill! began.
- Before that, there's Lucy wild mass guessing that Zero is Batman and Natsu then believing that Zero might be James Bond.
- Makarov at one point wants Sindel to learn the magic of friendship
- Chapter 82 is called Clash of Ice and Fire.
- Erza's new armor showcased in chapter 87 is called the Midsummer Night's Star. Furthermore, the armor is solid gold and it's greatest technique, the Gate of Titania, bears a striking resemblance to Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon.
- Part of the chapter itself is even titled Erza's Wrath.
- Gildarts makes the joke that while he was still learning to spell his name Sindel was learning to destroy cities.
- Lelouch is apparently the dovahkiin.
- Meet Olivia Bladeheart, guild master of Nocturnal Falcon and resident Sith Lord given her magic is cleverly named Force Magic.
- During the battle with Angelica Pumpkin, Evergreen yells at Sindel to finish her
- Evergreen channels Ava Crescentia with the line "Absolutely Unbelievable".
- Laxus tells Natsu that if he had a choice, Natsu would fight until all of his bones were broken and every last drop of blood drained from his body.
- When Kallen, Wendy and Carla are arresting Daphne, she says she would have gotten away with it if it wasn't because of Those Meddling Kids.
- When Guinevere's little scheme of making Kagura realize how overworked she was is successful, she says All According to Plan.
- At the end of 110, Kagura and Guinevere saunter towards the hideout of some dark guilds while saying "Showtime!"
- In Chapter 111, Kallen and the Black Knights fight the guild master of Metal Fang, who has more than a few similarities to Senator Steven Armstrong of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. He even has the same name (only instead of being a senator he's an ambassador). Other than that, the only other difference is that he infused himself with lachryma instead of nanomachines, son!
- Suzaku isn't the guild master Sabertooth wants, he's the guild master they need. Especially ironic the shout out was used in this context given who the Pay Evil unto Evil and Vigilante Man tropes apply to.
- Undine's entire backstory pays homage to The Little Mermaid. Both of them. The tragedy of the original is certainly present (though in a much different form), but Erubay certainly channels King Trident in how she scolds Undine for going to the surface. Furthermore, though she could speak, Undine found it difficult to because she was intimidated by the presence of other humans. Though, even between both stories, the main difference is that Undine isn't actually a mermaid, she's just a human that was made to live in the ocean through Super Not-Drowning Skills and there was no third woman that tried to steal her love from her.
- Kagura Vs Asura ends in a special tribute to Goku Vs Muten Roshi right down to the younger combatant losing, at least the first time around.
- Nirix's familiars are obviously based on the Xenomorphs.
- When Mirajane asks Ratatoskr how he became so strong, he answers that is probably because he did a hundred push-ups, a hundred squats and ran 10km every day.
- During the final event of the Grand Magic Games, Mato asks the guilds to not destroy the cabbage carts.
- Upon killing him in the Mordred timeline Lelouch says to Rolo that It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are chirping. Flowers are blooming. On days like this guys like you, should be burning in hell.
- One of Zero's past victims was a Serial Killer disturbingly inspired in The Bluebeard.
- And one of their current targets is clearly based on Louis L. Bridgette. Considering the author hates him, it is to be expected.
- Kallen and God Serena stall Gran Doma from promoting V.V. to the Magic Council by yelling OBJECTION!
- Airy does the same when protesting to Danielle and Tamara she's not Fairy Tail's mascot.
- Field Commander Lumalesca Luluzu calls Knightmare Frame and Fairy Tail "Rebel scum" when she orders her forces to attack.
- On the same chapter one of the Rune Knights screams "My leg!" as is tossed aside during the fight.
- During their fight Cana tells Heidy and Wanda they activated her trap card.
- Morrigan's floating fortress is named Avalon, a Castle in the Sky.
- Zeref's alias when he married Mavis Vermillion was Arthur von Pendragon.
- Guilford also knows GIGA DRILL BREAK!
- Amber Celadon's guns are called Mukuro and Makoto.
- During the outbreak in Era's prison, Phoenix Grave faces a prisoner named Akai Sustrai, who calls himself a Warrior of Hope.
- Elfman's new takeover is based on the Zinogre
- Gildarts and Nonette's fight brings to mind the final confrontation between Dio Brando vs Jotaro Kujo.
- VV's Villainous Breakdown at the hands of Irene Berserion is quite similar to Loki's in The Avengers (2012). She even calls him "puny god".
- Mutsuki Minase is a Vampire-Werewolf hybrid, with the strengths of both.
- During chapter 243, Hiroshi breaks Miala's Halberd and asks, "what's a warrior without a weapon?" Her response? "A warrior still."
- In chapter 253, Wendy tells Natsu that unlike Atarella, they can't grow stronger every time they nearly die.
- Shu's True Name is Illidan.
- Jenny's final Take Over is basically Optimus Prime. She even says his catchphrase "Lets Roll!"
