Shout Out / Haganai

• The main trio play an RPG called Monster Hunter.
• Tokimeite Memorial Days is an allusion to the Tokimeki Memorial series. In that game, there's a background character who seems like an expy of Ryoko Asakura, a heroine named Akari Fujibayashi, and another heroine, Yukiko Nagata — an obvious expy of Yuki Nagato.
  • To further expound upon this; said Akari is also voiced by Ayako Kawasumi.
• The fights between the chibified Sena and Yozora in the pilot and Chapter 11 are blatant shout-outs to The Powerpuff Girls.
• The eroge Sena was playing is an obvious adaptation of The Sacred Blacksmith.
  • Pay attention to the voice screaming; it's the same actress who played Cecily the first time around.
• In Episode 7 Sena mentions that she decided to stay awake a little later to see the ending of the game she had just finished, the ending went on for another four hours and she mentions how touched she was and how she couldn't stop crying when the character Mikane said Goal at the end, fans of Air know exactly how she felt.
• The Pari-den manga Kodaka reads in Chapter 13 features a character with a ripoff of Grevil de Blois' hairdo.
• In Chapter 14 Sena's playing Love Plus, apparently romancing fellow Ojou Manaka Takane. Rika's also a fan of Gundan, OVA, and mentions the series' appearances in Ultra Mecha Wars Alpha 2.
• The Drama CD involves the club members as voice actors for an RPG whose characters were based on their likeness. Then we get this one-liner from Sena:
  Sena: Once I become an overnight star in the voice acting world, I'll become great friends with Minori Chiharu-san who voices Yukiko^note obvious Yuki Nagato reference, and Kusasawa Kanako-san who voices Dark Cat^note obvious reference to Kuroneko.
  • Turns out the game they were to have voice roles in — Heaven of the East^note "Higashi no Heaven" is an obvious pun of "Higashi no Eden" — is actually an eroge, and everyone is not happy that Rika didn't tell them. Cue Rika's reaction:
    Rika: Just as planned.
  • There's also the obvious Squid Girl, A Certain Magical Index and Angel Beats! Shout Outs.
• In Chapter 15 of the manga (and Episode 5 of the anime), Sena laughs off at Kodaka introducing Kobato to the Club, assuming the iconic Kirino-with-Kyousuke-from-behind pose (with Rika in Kyousuke's position) and claiming "There's no way your little sister can be this cute!" (May also count as a bit of Actor Allusion, with Kobato sharing the same voice actress as another Elegant Gothic Lolita from said show.)
• Kobato also claims to be a True Ancestor.
  • In an extended reference to Kobato's voice actress's well-known role as Kuroneko, "Kurogane no Necromancer", the goth-loli anime Kobato watches, closely resembles "Maschera", Kuroneko's own favorite show.
    • Sena, who is a brother away from being an older Kirino, mentions that her favorite character from that show was "Mer". Kobato instantly tells her that the correct nickname is Meruru. Stardust Witch Meruru was Kirino's favorite show.
• When Yukimura bumps into Kodaka (who deliberately did so in order to catch his "stalker"), the former gives him his wallet with a decoration of six coins arranged in two rows of three, alluding to his namesake, the famous samurai Sanada Yukimura, who used it as his family crest.
• In the virtual game in Episode 5:
  • Rika's virtual avatar is dressed like Rikku.
  • Maria's looks like Index, which Kodaka lampshades.
  • Sena's blacksmith outfit is quite close to the one from Ragnarok Online. Unfortunately, she was thinking of The Sacred Blacksmith when she selected this class, as her description of the role reveals.
  • The game itself: it's called Romancing Saga XIV, runs on LargeHard's hardware, is missing lots of features and abuses re-uses of models (a major complaint about the first version of Final Fantasy XIV).
  • A popular meme on Japanese Message Boards is that an otaku becomes a wizard if he stays a virgin until age 30. Guess what Kodaka's mage outfit is... (see also Take That!)
• On Episode 11, during Rika's reminisces on the Comiket, one scene clearly shows what looks like Kyousuke, Kirino, Kuroneko and Saori.
  • At the festival in the same episode, some of the masks from the stalls are from Goseiger.
• The BD edition of Episode 4 recolors Rika's imaginary spacesuit to resemble Asuka's experimental EVA-02 plug suit.
• Yukimura and Hideyoshi are both brown haired boys who resemble girls and share names with famous samurai. Unlike Hideyoshi, however, Yukimura really is a girl.
• Episode 10, when Rika wraps up her scary story, she mentions the Freedom and the Destiny. As a ship in a doujin.
• The OVA is filled with shout outs, most of them coming from Rika and most of them being from Humongous Mecha anime, particularly Gundam, but also including Mazinger Z, GaoGaiGar and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. And finally, after she gets herself all hot and bothered, she claims she needs to "freshen up" using the table in the science room.
• In the second episode of Haganai NEXT, Rika names among her yaoi anime I Can't Believe My D*** Is This Cute and Rub! Nyarlo-san (complete with tentacles). Sena's eroge sounds suspiciously like something Kirino would play... and then the third episode is called "My Little Sisters Are This Cute".
  • Episode 2 has Sena watch a film inspired by Kuso Miso Technique.
• Also in episode 2, when Yozora's quoting lines from a film one of them is "Ain't no one gonna break my stride, and ain't no one gonna slow me down! I've got to keep on moving!"
• In Episode 5 of Season 2, Sena talks about Mayo Chiki!, and the show even includes bland ripoffs of scenes from it, such as when Jiro finds out that Subaru is a woman.
• In Episode 7 of Season 2, Rika make a pretty obvious reference to Dragon Ball Z.
  Rika: Her power level is 5. Trash.
  Kodaka: A scouter?!
• In Episode 6 of Season 2, when serving Kodaka his coffee, Sena uses the spell 'Moe Moe Kyun'.
• Episode 9 of NEXT has Sena's father jumping into the air in the signature style of Konno Makoto from The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
• The On the Next of NEXT episode 11 is full of musical references, including Kodaka saying he and Rika need to Stop, collaborate and listen.
• The entire second season uses episode titles that are references to other light novel series (see the Idiosyncratic Episode Naming entry on the work page).
• In the second episode of the dub, you can hear a pair of extras have a familiar exchange... "What do you want to do today?" "Same thing we do every day -- try and take over the world!"
• Funimation translated the name of Kobato's favorite show to "Fullmetal Necromancer". Coincidentally, Kodaka's actor played Barry the Chopper.
• In Episode 12, Rika fawns over Yozora's newly cut very short hair, then notices her purple eyes and has an instant realization, runs out of the club room and comes back with a white golden-trimmed ensemble. Yozora, having to wear it, thus totally looks like Lelouch from Code Geass.
• In Season 2, Sena plays another Galge over several episodes, and while the school uniforms are white, the characters seen are totally Rise and Yukiko.
• When was the last time you saw a group of highschool students do a movie, led by a self-absorbed overly-perfect director, helped by a Deadpan Snarker and about a witch and a girl strangely often seen in a maid dress fighting a bunch? Oh, right.

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