If Nobody Dies is known for anything besides being over-the-top and awesome, it's for its love of Shout Outs; quite a few so far, and more are certain to come:
Chapter 3: Yui and Gendo pull an "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" exchange.
Chapter 10: "I'm waiting for an interview." "Why?" "Because I want to work here." "Why?" "Because it is interesting work?" "Why?" "Because I studied it in college." "Why?"
Chapter 6: Shinji unlocking the Magoroku prompts Misato to say that Unit 01 "went Voltron on the enemy's ass," which is referenced again in the next chapter as "Form Blazing Sword."
Chapter 55: The Ree start mixing Voltron quotes into the assembly sequence of Kei's Devastator knock-off. (Culminating with, "And I'll form the head.")
Apparently, Zyuu wanted their combiner mech to use lions, which is what they'll do "next time."
Again to Shinji and Asuka in Chapter 42 when passing through a post End of Eva universe.
When Mana is revealed as a cyborg in Chapter 22, she is described as having a Terminator-like endoskeleton.
Comes back later as a Body Horror nightmare in Chapter 33, when she peels half her face off (losing the fleshy eye) over a sink in a direct Shout Out to the first movie.
Chapter 73: "Ah, our small army of AIs. When do we build Skynet, by the way?"
Chapter 90: GLaDOS Naok00 is nicknamed Skynet by Mana.
Chapter 93: Ichi's words when firing herself from the Eva launch chutes into an Angel, so she can try to punch it to death. "I'll be back." And she wasn't even in her Evangelion body...
... and after catching fire and losing all her skin while doing so, her skinless avatar-body resembles the T-X.
Chapter 19: Kei deliberately emulating Blofeld while on a hijacked television broadcast and stroking one of Ritsuko's cats. Her line at that moment is practically a stock quote in that it references numerous previous invocations ranging from As the World Turns to Austin Powers.
"Rei, do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Kaji, I expect you to die." *cue buzzsaw over table*
Chapter 14: "It's like I'm wearing nothing at all. Nothing At All. NOTHING AT ALL." "Stupid Sexy Maya." Said by Ritsuko of all people. Cue Squee from Maya.
Chapter 17: "Can't sleep, ADAM will eat me."
Chapter 50:
Something Pieter realized about Kyoko years ago, and probably one of the things that drew him back to her after their years apart, is that the terminology gentle, cuddling, and half measure are foreign to her. With Kyoko, you strap yourself in and ride the Gees.
Chapter 71: Rei on Shinji becoming an unwilling Chick Magnet: "Every girl in 50 yards kinda wants to strap him in and make him feel the G's!"
In Chapter 6, Unit-01 dances to Higher and Higher in what's described as a "sympathetic reaction", similar to the red slime in Ghostbusters 2.
Chapter 29: "(Yui) has given (Rei) strict instructions on what to do if her Eva asks her if she is a God."
"YES! Yes, I am! Now go forth, my minion! Kill in my name!"
Chapter 44: Evidently firing two Positron cannons in two different dimensions at each other at the same time through the Sea of Dirac causes a controlled total protonic reversal.
Chapter 52:
Mordin: Terrified. Beyond capacity for rational thought.
Chapter 61: Pieter calls Lilith "marshmallow girl," and Mana calls her "Staypuff."
Chapter 44: After Junior swallows Kyoko, she notes that he's far, far Bigger on the Inside than the outside.
Chapter 46: Rei brings home a decorative trash can with a plunger attached to it (and a dead Dalek inside).
Chapter 52: The Doctor shows up in his TARDIS and reveals that he arranged for the team from Mass Effect to raid NERV looking for Tali just so he could get his sonic screwdriver back from Rei.
Chapter 77: Naok00 sings a variation of "Still Alive" to Yui and considers not gassing her with neurotoxin.
Chapter 83 is one long Shout Out to Video Game/Portal2 as Shinji and Uri are put into a very Enrichment Center-like modular dorm system with Naok00 watching over them until they can get along. Naok00 also keeps one of the Keiworu as an assistant after he passes through a live-fire course for androids. Naok00 reveals that everyone already calls her GLaDOS.
Chapter 84: Shinji and Hikari get trapped in what appears to be a Portal 2 co-op level.
Chapter 93:
Rei: "An' just like Naok00 says, when you got an experiment to run, you just keep on tryin' till you run out of cake."
Chapter 95: Naok00 now has turrets.
Chapter 95: Naok00 has an incredibly similar response to victims falling for her trap to GLaDOS in Portal 2, to the point where they both say that "If I’d known you’d let yourself get captured this easily, I’d have dangled a turkey leg on a rope from the ceiling.”
Chapter 27: Mark 5:9. My name is Legion, for I am Many. This name is acceptable.
Chapter 33: "Child, do you think you've accomplished anything? Your world is dying, and it's by human hands. We 'Angels' are your salvation through destruction. Each one of us is a harbinger to perfection. We are the only hope you deluded Lilim have."
Chapter 41: "Limited creatures of blood and flesh. You are brought into my mind and you fumble in ignorance, incapable of understanding that which is before you. Unaware of what you have done."
Chapter 48: Tali'Zorah vas Normandy's presence, due to the effects of Rei Ayanami Does the Multiverse.
Chapter 65: Zeruel loves quoting this game: "You have FAILED. We will find another way. I am now assuming Direct Control."
This later gets re-used by Kaworu. And Zadkiel, Zeruel's son.
Chapter 98: Khalisa Bin Al-Jilani? Gee, wonder where else I've heard that name.
"Ah yes 'SEELE' The supposed collective of old men who somehow manage to wield enough influence to manipulate the UN. We have dismissed that claim."
From the forum thread:
Lilith: ASSUMING COMPLETE CONTROL. ALL USERS VIEWING THIS THREAD MUST PROCREATE, BY THE ORDERS OF SUPREME COMMANDER LILITH. BABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIESBABIES
Rei slides Go-Kun between the legs of a Trident and shoots it in the crotch.
During their Leliel-aided travels across several parallel universes, Go-Kun, who the author has stated would be voiced by Peter Cullen and who has uttered such lines as "Life is the right of all sentient beings", picks up some flame decals.
In ch. 55, Kei and the Ree turn a bunch of construction vehicles into Devastator.
Chapter 41: "Stop tormenting Ikari, you kraut bitch" - along with the speaker and circumstances - is a reference to the author's own earlier works, Shinji Almighty and the original version of Walking In The Shadow Of Dreams.
Chapter 57: Rei is wearing a green and black plugsuit...just like another AU Rei does in Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA.
Apart from the aforementioned game of Exalted 40K, anyone familiar with Exalted's backstory will find Kei's experiments in Chapter Two of The Kei Files to be quite familiar. She also hosts her vaguely threatening dinner party in what is clearly Malfeas.
Hikari regularly GMs games of Exalted with Rei, becoming versed enough in the game to start making references to it by Chapter 84.
Chapter 92: Annette's story of how she met the Keiworu in the MP Evas is called Epic Pony Saving Prana.
Chapter 28: The opening speech of Shalgiel, the first "Cherubim", references the Prophet of Truth's speech at the start of the second mission of Halo 3.
You are, all of you, Garbage. We shall burn the surface of this world until your carbon remains become like diamond glass.
Chapter 57: While in the game, Kei describes the Narrator's bizarre behavior as the program having gonerampant.
In chapter 100, Magi 28, 29, and 30 are named Durandal, Curtana, and Merchant, which are all AI's (or deliberate misspellings of them) from Halo and Marathon.
Tali, when suiting up into her Cain armor in Chapter 51, uses a floor with moving parts and manipulator arms that put on the armor piece by piece. The suit also has a built-in chain gun like the War Machine suit.
Similarly, Mana's cyborg body is powered by an arc reactor, as is Jet Alone's hammer.
Chapter 54: "I am Mari Illustrious Makinami! And you will fear my LASERFACE!"
Chapter 64: During the Cherubrim attack on New Vegas, Touji, Hikari and Rei face down Kei (who they believe just pulled a Heel Face Turn). Touji's weapon of choice? An orange safety cone, referencing Grif's classic "Protect me, cone!" line.
And earlier, her utter manhandling of the Section Two agents starts in much the same way as Tex's.
In the latest snippet of Rei Ayanami Does the Multiverse, Rei, Asuka, and Go-kun end up in the X-Men universe...where Go-kun promptly gets blasted by Cyclops.
Chapter 9: Rei's plot to blackmail the school principal is very similar to Haruhi Suzumiya's method of computer acquisition.
Chapter 19: The random schoolgirl who hits on Shinji is named Kaname Chidori.
In chapter 31, Rei's finishing speech towards the virtual Sachiel is a direct rip of Domon Kasshu's Shining Finger Sword, ending with Rei using Go-Kun's left arm to grab hold of Sachiel's chest and fire its cannon point blank into its core, ending, naturally, with a Shining....FINGAHHH!!!!!. Fuyutsuki questions if Unit 5 was built for such a thing, while Pieter simply replies that anything Rei does is impossible to plan via paper.
Rei and Go-kun pull it off again in chapter 42 against ADAM.
Again with Go-kun in chapter 68, only this time it's the upgraded version, "Burning GOD FINGER!"
Iruel's "Dating Sim" in Chapter 31, 32 and 41 has "Stick it in" as the fourth option in every dialogue choice. The dating sim in the fourth episode of Excel Saga has "Put it in" as the third option in every dialogue choice. It's also the title of chapter 94.
Chapter 33: During the battle against Iruel, with some prodding from Asuka, Ichi turns into a 200' Pikachu (in her color scheme).
Chapter 34: The bodies of the Reigo/Reichigoma bodies sound awfully familiar...
Chapter 64 & 87: Go-kun opens its chest and uses a MEGA SMASHER attack.
ND!Gendou's speech to canon!Yui in Chapter 42 is a reference to Batman's speech to Owlman in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths:
"I asked myself what it would be like if Yui went ahead with that damn experiment. And now I know what the difference is between you and my wife. The difference is, you both looked into the abyss. And when the abyss looked back... You blinked."
Chapter 58: Gendo breaks the game program by using a rapier to make a few swishing cuts that cause Yui's dress to pool on the floor, just like Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro.
Chapter 59: At some point in the game, Shinji dies...and returns as Shinji the White, complete with an Ian McKellen voice mode.
Chapter 60: Terrorists hijack a New Vegas casino where Fuyutsuki is vacationing in one long tribute to Die Hard with Fuyutsuki playing the role of John McClane (with a hint of Rei-ishness).
*terrorist looks at note left on unconscious, former hostage guard* "It says...'Heee~ey, bitch. Thanks for the machine gun!'"
Chapter 63: The cosplayer mentioned in the fan fiction section also ate a bug.
Iruel says "Oh shit" and then explodes, like in the film version of Little Shop Of Horrors.
Touji describes the headlines of Shinji fighting the most powerful men in the world as "Until there can be only one".
In Chapter 72, it's revealed that Asuka has programmed martial arts muscle memories into her plug suit, based on various movies. The good thing is that this includes Enter The Dragon. The bad thing is that this includes Kung Pow! Enter the Fist.
Tremors 2: Aftershocks: In Chapter 88, after Shinji nearly causes the end of the world in the previous chapter: "I feel I was denied critical, need to know information."
Chapter 8: After Rei knocks out a chunk of its core, the dazed and about-to-be-blasted-into-pieces Ramiel gleefully yammers on in a monologue almost exactly the same as the one the whale gives in The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy 1.
Heh. Heh heheheh. Oh, what the Hell. Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm an Angel of wealth and taste
Nena's "99 Red Balloons" is referenced as "a German pop song about the nuclear apocalypse."
This could also be a reference to the fanfic Taking Sights, which uses a very similar line and has Gendo and Fuyutsuki of all people singing it at a karaoke bar, which is exactly where this chapter of Nobody Dies takes place, complete with Gendo singing "99 Red Balloons", which the perspective character doesn't realize until it's too late. note Of course, depending on which fic wrote the scene first, the Shout Out could be the other way around...
Chapter 50: Israfel, the Angel of Song, is the enemy in this chapter, so... yeah.
Chapter 53: The after-action report of the fight with Israfel reveals that Rei & Shinji had a dance battle with an army of Israfels to the tune of Thriller.
Chapter 8: Rei, after being consumed by Ramiel along with Kensuke, attacks the core with an AT Field-boosted Megaton Punch that blasts a quarter of the core clear out of Ramiel's body. The last word we hear her say before impact (and before the scene changes) is "FAAAALCON-"
Rei pulls off a FALCON PUNCH in several later chapters too. 45, 58, 73, etc.
Chapter 13: Rei's ringtone is the opening theme to Katamari Damacy.
Chapter 43: Half-Life's Gravity Gun makes an appearance.
Chapter 48 tells us Rei is a fan of Touhou. Just watching the first stage of some random game in that series caused Shinji to have a seizure and pass out!
At the end of Chapter 53, the Wuffletron whips out 4 Heavy Mazers and says "Suck it down."
Chapter 97 & 105: Mana uses a meme spawned by defunct webcomic Horribleville, which is mostly famous for the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic version: "Jesus Christ. How horrifying."
Chapter 50: Don't let him get us! We don't wanna go down the hole!
In Chapter 29: Mana's line "And What the Hell is Kwanzaa, anyway?!" is a reference to "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular."
In Chapter 50, Shinji and Kaworu have almost verbatim the same conversation about talking to women as Fry and Zoidberg in the episode "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?"
And seven chapters before that, Dr. Akagi spouts the same line Dr. Weird gave when his "present" attacked Steve: "Oh, yeah! Take it to the bank, Daddy!"
"Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you Lilim over the past week."
Chapter 42: "IZUNA DROP!" The original reference is the 60's manga Kamui Den, but many, many fighting game characters use the move as a Shout Out of their own, and it's more likely he was referencing one of them. Followed up later with Diebuster's "INAZUMA KICK!" and Vegeta's "BIG BANG ATTACK!"
Chapter 63: Shinji wanders past a group of cosplayers in a Storm Trooper v. Klingon general melee.
Chapter 72: Asuka fights Shinji's Seven Evil Half-Sisters like Mega Man bosses. Complete with exploding. And Spikes of Doom. Said Evil Half-Sisters also give themselves names according to the Metal Gear Solid name scheme (or possibly Mega Man X, considering how they also give Asuka weapons as she defeats them).
Also in ch. 72: Gendo is one of the mini-bosses, and gifts Asuka with a gun, belt, and holster using the classic "It's dangerous to go alone, take this" line.
In chapter 1, Rei refers to Ritsuko as a friend of Gendo's "in a Ugandan way". (Funnier, because she's not in this continuity.)
During chapter 30, Misato notes after a long night of drinking that the devil on her shoulder is bigger and taking food orders, a reference to Larry Miller's classic "Five levels of drinking" stand-up routine.
In chapter 81, the robot that serves drinks and then falls down the stairs is a reference to the Honda Asimo and its infamouspress conference.
Chapter 98: The Roswell incident was a cover-up of Xavier Spencer's dad crashing an experimental jet fighter, which was just done to avoid embarrassment.
Chapter 108: Part of Mana's problem synching with JA-tan is OS incompatibility. The fix for this is to install Boot Camp.
