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Shout Out / Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!
aka: Haiyore Nyarko San

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This anime is like a geek test. Indeed, a blog was specifically set up to catalogue most of the references found per episode. Some of the more obvious Shout Outs in the series can be seen below. It even makes sense in-canon, since the premise revolves around Aliens Steal Cable.


Nyaruani

  • In several episodes, portraits of H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth can be seen on the living room walls.
  • In Episode 1 of Nyaruani, Nyarko channels Setsuna F. Seiei as she declares "I am...we are...Cthulhu!"
  • Episode 9 of the first Nyaruani has Nyarko say that in space kindergarten, she went around looking for kids playing make-believe and beat them up, with the Catchphrase "I'll shatter that pretend game of yours!" This earned her the nickname "Slacker Breaker"note . In case you missed the reference, they just go ahead and throw up a title card that reads "A Certain Slacker-Breaking Nyarko", with a silhouette of Touma behind it.
    • Cuuko's story about why she fell for Nyarko involves her being forced to play the bad guy in a pretend Saint Seiya game; one of the other games Nyarko mentions busting up is "Federation vs. Principality", with censored-out Bright Noah and Garma Zabi (and Nyarko in Sayla Mass's uniform).
  • Episode 11 of Remember My Love(craft-sensei) has Nyarko assure Mahiro that everything would be alright as they would erase everyone's memories once they were done. Then she takes out the neuralyzer. Mahiro responds that something about that object seems familiar and gets a mental image of Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K.
    • On top of that, Mahiro's mental image of K is saying "There's coffee", referring to Jones appearing in a series of ads for UCC Coffee in Japan (in which, ironically, he plays an alien who's trying to understand human culture).
  • In episode 12 of Remember My Love(craft-sensei), Nyarko's description of Space Comiket includes an image of the Gaijin 4koma Reaction Guys.
  • In one episode, Cuuko quotes the line "swans look calm but are actually kicking furiously under the water" while a Fender bass guitar floats on the background, a reference to K-On!'s first season ED song lyrics.

Haiyore! Nyarko-san (Season 1):

  • The series loves to reference other (yes, there are more) "Moe Mythos" series. In Episode 1, a little figurine on the anime store is the version of Nyarlathotep from the manga Igyou tachi ni yoru to sekai ha.... The cover of the "recalled eroge" is from Maumi Shoujo R'lyeh ruru light novels. And two girls in Mahiro's class are characters from R'lyeh High School, which shares the same illustrator with this series, Koin. The mech Demonbane make brief cameo in episode 11.
  • "SAN" is an attribute in the classic Tabletop RPG Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium. You can even see a glimpse of a character sheet and the trademark percentile dice of the Chaosium RPG systems in the first episode, and a Storyteller screen in the ED. The roll shown is accurate as well, illustrating either a legitimate failed SAN roll (with the amount of lost sanity not shown), or the roll for said amount. Incidentally, a d100 like the one shown would be appropriate for seeing Nyarlathotep in one of its monstrous forms.
    • In addition, the title cards in Nyarko-San W show Nyarko standing on top of a Cthulhu Dice d12 made by Steve Jackson Games. Also, the lyrics of W's opening theme include the often repeated line "SAN chi pinchi" "SAN level critical"
  • You could make a subpage just to cover this series' references to Kamen Rider, since there's at least one per episode. In fact, Kamen Rider is the very first pop culture reference they make in the 2012 series, with Nyarko performing Takeshi Hongo (Rider #1)'s transformation pose when she introduces herself to Mahiro (and she makes Hayato Ichimonji (Rider #2)'s pose when she surprises him in the bathtub at the end of that episode). A few more:
  • One Running Gag has Nyarko make Shout Outs when she yelps in pain from Mahiro's punches, forks, or whatever:
    • In the first episode, she yells the names of Gundam mecha; the first episode of Nyarko-San W repeats this, but specifically uses machines that appear in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.
    • In the second, she yells the names of Buff Clan heavy mecha.
    • The third episode exclamations (Pazuzu, Nalagiri and Tezcatlipoca) are from Shin Megami Tensei (Nyarlathotep is a character there, too).
    • Fourth episode has only one yelp (Eroba!), this one from Fist of the North Star
    • Fifth episode has another single yelp, this time from Kinnikuman (Hell Missionaries)
    • Nyarko-san W has an episode where Nyarko's yelps are the names of Kamen Rider OOO's alternate forms; the villain of the later episode "High School of the Heat" continues this reference by shouting "Sagohzou!" when defeated.
    • Several of the Next Episode previews end with Nyarko trying to call out a famous Combining Mecha's Catchphrase and getting cut off by Mahiro; this list includes "Let's combine!" and "Change Getter!". In episode 9, when Nyarko is in Mahiro's body, she revives the gag by shouting "Pilder On!"
  • Episode 1: "Like a Close Encounter of the Third Kind"
    • At the sight of Nyarko giving a brutal beatdown on a Nightgaunt, Mahiro looks away, crouches and covers his ears while repeatedly telling himself "I hear nothing...", in the same way as Mio Akiyama.
    • When Nyarko sends out Shantak-kun's Pokéball, she copies Ash Ketchum, minus the hat spinning.
    • Nyarko's reaction to the store full of anime goods is "Earth, what a terrifying child you are!", straight from Glass Mask.
    • Nyarko introduces herself to the class by paraphrasing the Opening Narration of Braiger (with music from the Monster Hunter videogames in the background).
    • Nyarko recreates the famous "Beergasm" from Neon Genesis Evangelion, only with a bowl of miso soup in place of beer.
    • The subtitle of the then-current season of Iron Striver is Star Vampire Crusaders, combining Star Vampires (a type of monster from the Cthulhu Mythos) with Stardust Crusaders (the third and best-known story arc of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure).
    • One poster from the memorabilia store is for No-Rin
  • Episode 2: "Sayonara, Nyarko-san", referencing "Sayonara, Doraemon" (from the sixth volume)
    • Nyarko pulls off an Exterminating Last Bullet.
    • The sequence where Mahiro and Nyarko sail to R'lyeh is a long set of Shout Outs to One Piece, with Nyarko repeatedly referencing the manga's plot (and getting shut down by Mahiro) as well as the sail bearing a version of the Straw Hats' skull-and-crossbones emblem with Nyarko's trademark Ahoge.
    • Do you remember our love?. Also, a "superdimensional circus" is better known in this wiki as the Macross Missile Massacre.
    • Cuuko says "Grandfather said this: 'A Cthugha may love a Nyarlathotep. That's what it means to live free.'" Nyarko responds by asking if the old man was a negotiator in the city of amnesia.
    • Nyarko tells Cuko "There's only one reason for your defeat. One simple answer. It's because... you pissed me off.", followed with "MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA" and ended with "Yare yare da ze". For those who don't know the first one, that's what Jotaro said when he defeats Dio. Somewhat weird though as she used Jotaro's iconic line and Catchphrase but MUDAMUDA is Dio's Kiai - Jotaro's is ORAORAORAORA which she used earlier in the fight.
      • The "MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA" is also shared with her brother in the next episode.
      • Crunchyroll's subtitles makes a subtle shout out to one of the earliest localization subtitles to the anime of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure; when Nyarko yells "MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA", all is written is single "Useless".
    • R'lyeh Land has a "Arkham Haunted House". Arkham House was the publishing company operated by Derleth and Donald Wandrei, founded to print Lovecraft's anthologies.
    • A blasphemous hand grenade?.
      • This one is made even more blatant in the light novels, where Nyarko defends the use of the grenade by saying "King Arthur used one in the battle of Antioch" and Mahiro replies "That was Monty Python!"
    • The description Nodens gives for the Boys' Love show he wanted Mahiro to star in ("It's a sparkly love-hate drama about a pretty boy bought by a young businessman.") sounds a lot like Okane ga Nai.
    • Nodens sends Nyarko and Cuuko to battle in Another Dimension; this is a nod to the Space Sheriff sub-series of Metal Heroes (including Gavan, Sharivan, and Shaider), where each series' villains had their own dimension that made their monsters stronger and the hero weaker.
    • R'lyehland's mascot, Insmouthboy, looks a lot like another fish-boy, Ponyo
      • The light novels dip into Does This Remind You of Anything? territory when Nyarko says that the Cthulhu Corporation fought tooth and nail to maintain their trademark on Insmouthboy until they eventually got passed a law specifically to keep him out of the public domain, making him an obvious play on Mickey Mouse.
  • Episode 3: "Mahiro Yasaka Wants to Live in Peace", referring to "Yoshikage Kira Wants to Live in Peace" (the 37th volume of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
  • Episode 4: "Mothers Attack!"; the chapter of the novel upon which this episode was based was called "Mother's Counterattack"
    • The dog chasing Hasta looks like Marron from To Love Ru, which, like this series, is produced by XEBEC.
    • Luhy makes the Ikari Gendo pose right down to the Scary Shiny Glasses.
    • Yoriko's introduction as a Deity Hunter makes multiple references to Monster Hunter. The music in the background, Yokiro's hunting outfit and the artwork of the monster in a cover of a book (called "Deity Hunter Frontier") takes clear inspiration from the series.
  • Episode 5: "Great Conspiracy X", referring to "Great C", a 1990 short story by Brian Lumley.
    • Nyarko follows the Ran Mori school of thinking: karate kicks can solve anything!
    • The Nephren-car can negotiate even Red Canyon and Fire Field! Good thing if you're playing F-Zero.
    • When Mahiro learns that Hasta had to perform CPR on him and thus has stolen his first kiss, he mutters "No count, no count!" in Gratuitous English, just like Kaoru did in Amagami when she accidentally kissed Junichi. That would make it the second Kaoru reference in the series, if you count Nyarko using her belly-exposing stance in episode three.
    • When Hasta says he wants to "combine" with Mahiro. At the end of the preview for the next episode, Mahiro asks why Nyarko hasn't made a "combine" robot joke this time: Nyarko answers that "it was a little too adult". Of course, there's a Humongous Mecha series where mecha "combining" has a Does This Remind You of Anything? quality, Genesis of Aquarion. Hasta also has an unusually sharp sense of smell, just like Aquarion's Apollo, and he makes an absurdly long-reach love promise with Mahiro, too.
    • Hasta's father is president of CCE - Carcosa Computer Entertainment. Carcosa is the city associated with Hastur in The King in Yellow, the company full name is Shout-Out to SCE - Sony Computer Entertainment.
  • Episode 6: "War in the Market"
  • Episode 7: "Blue Coral Reef", a play on the Japanese title for The Blue Lagoon.
    • Nyarko makes a direct reference to Daitarn 3, then after Mahiro bluntly tells her he doesn't like her, she goes totally pale, then the following Eye Catch shows her slumped on a stool, mimicking the famous scene in Tomorrow's Joe where the titular Joe Yabuki is slumped on the spot after his final fight.
    • When Yoriko approves of Nyarko making a move on Mahiro, Nyarko jumps in celebration while yelling "Yahoo!". This is a reference to Super Mario Bros. as she jumps in the same pose as Mario and even yells like him. You can even see a ? Block and some Brick Blocks in the background.
    • Nyarko's evil expressions while plotting to get into Mahiro's bed are straight out of Higurashi: When They Cry.
  • Episode 8: "Nyarko's Dokidoki High School"
  • Episode 9: "I am Her and She is Me", a play on a Japanese childrens' story with the same title and similar plot.
  • Episode 10: "The Ruler of Super Time-Space"
  • Episode 11: "Lost Girl from the Stars", a play on "Shambler from the Stars" by Robert Bloch
    • The episode starts with the alien trio waking Mahiro by playing Mario Kart (apparently 64) in his bedroom.
    • After defeating the Shoggoths, Nyaruko hums the Dragon Quest level up fanfare.
    • The later part of the episode recalls the second Urusei Yatsura movie, which sees the main cast trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop in an empty city, just like Mahiro. There are several shots that are direct Homages to said movie as well.
  • Episode 12: "He Waits, Dreaming", a Cthulhu Mythos reference (specifically to the original story "The Call of Cthulhu")
    • When Nyarko shows Mahiro the Mirror of Nitocris, she actually quotes Kuso Miso Technique, the manga that originated the "Yaranaika?" meme.
    • During the final battle, Nyarko, Cuuko, Hasta, Luhy and Yoriko strike the Go-onger group pose.
    • Nyarko turns her crowbar into a giant sword and proclaims "Malign God Roar", just like in Demonbane.
    • Major Fogger paraphrases the Major's "I love war" speech, only with the war references change to Hentai games. He even name-drops Key/Visual Arts and Leaf by using the Japanese words for them ("kagi" and "konoha").
      • This is accompanied by images of Nyarko dressed as Noumi Kudoryafuka and Amanatsu Purinnote .
    • When Mahiro tells Nyarko to kick the villain's ass, she responds with the Dorombo Gang's trademark salute and "Ara, hora, sassa!"
  • OVA: "How to Defeat a Kind Enemy", a play on the light novel series "How to Kill a Kind Dragon"

Haiyore! Nyarko-san W (Season 2):

Haiyore! Nyarko-san F (OVA)

  • The F in the season's title is short for Final Countdown, doubling as a reference to Kamen Rider Den-Onote  and alluding to the fact that it will conclude the story.
  • The official name of the OVA is "Crawling Switch On, Chaos is Here!", a reference to Kamen Rider Fourze's Tag Line "Youth switch on, space is here!".
  • The weapons what Nyarko and Mahiro are given to defend themselves against a group of monsters are Kamen Rider Gaim's Daidaimaru and Musou Saber.
  • During the intro, one of the posters seen in the store is the cover for Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Volume 1.
  • When being told her mission after being kidnapped, Nyarko does the Gununu face.
  • The second part of Nyaruko's "recap" was her, Cuuko, and Hasta saying they'll sing to stop a war.
  • There are multiple spider-themed references in regards to the attraction the crew visit like having the logo of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on the tickets and having Spider as the guide and Muramasa (who can turn into a mechanical spider) as a maid on the attraction. This is to serve as clever foreshadowing for the fact that Ato-ko is behind the whole thing.

Light Novels:

  • The covers of every light novel (sans the first) shows Nyarko doing a different Rider's transformation pose; these poses are used again in the opening sequence of Nyarko-san W. This gets taken a step further with Volume 8, which had two covers, the standard release where Nyarko imitates Kamen Rider BLACK and the limited edition where she imitates Kamen Rider BLACK RX. Combine the two, and you get a nod to Kamen Rider Decade which had Black and RX transform side-by-side for the first time.
  • The fact that Mahiro is apparently a Ripple-Effect-Proof Existence may make him a Singularity Point.
  • In the seventh novel/episode 8 of season 2, Shantak-kun turns into a little girl with help from Cuuko. Nyarko's reaction is to claim that There's no way my pet can be this young a girl.
  • The main antagonist of Light Novel volume 8 is Agent Smith, his full name is Clark Ashton Smith and he's working for cracker group call Digital Beings. He also appears in Episode 9 of the Second Season.
  • Later novels mention two alien websites, UchuuTube and its rival Mi-Go Mi-Go Douga.
  • An illustration from the novels depicts various forms of Nyarlathotep from Japanese media. (Persona, Demonbane, etc.)

Miscellaneous:

  • The official Nyarko-san event scheduled for August 2014 is called "Farewell Nyarko-San: The Final Countdown", a play on the subtitle for the third Kamen Rider Den-O movie.
    • The OVA that was announced at said event is named Haiyore! Nyarko-san F, which is said to be short for "Final Countdown", retaining the reference.
  • The "Nyaralbum" CDs include a medley of the vocal songs from the second season called "Nyaru-Nyaru Service Medley", a nod to Macross Frontier, which had the "Nyan-Nyan Service Medley" performed over the Final Battle.
  • Nyarko's main battle theme, "Nyarko, Sanjou!", is a Suspiciously Similar Song to "Ore, Sanjou!", Momotaros' battle theme from Kamen Rider Den-O, having not only a similar name but beginning with the exact same riff before heading in a more pop-style direction (though later parts of the song do have saxophone, matching the jazzy feel of "Ore, Sanjou!")

Alternative Title(s): Haiyore Nyarko San

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