Due to being a crossover with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, A Different Kind of Truth is pretty unapologetic to its Shout-Outs to Western rock bands and movies.
- The title itself is a shout-out to Van Halen's album A Different Kind of Truth
- Johnny is a fan of Yes and Fleetwood Mac.
- The 'Shadow Yosuke Arc' is named after the band Fall Out Boy
- The 'Shadow Chie/Yukiko Arc' is named after the song Just Git It Together
by Lisa Lisa. - Johnny passes time until the Midnight Channel by watching The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
- Shadow Chie's power Mötley Crüe is a reference to the band itself.
- Yosuke's possessed hand is a major one to Evil Dead 2.
- Yosuke names Jiraiya's special power Stormy May Day, a song done by AC/DC.
- Shadow Yukiko's ability is named Sweet Dreams Are Made of This, a song done by Eurythmics.
- Chie names Tomoe's special power Blue Swede.
- Chie's dog is named Dee Dee, a reference to Dee Dee Ramone from The Ramones.
- Yosuke is a huge fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers and even sings Otherside
- Gyro's outfit in chapter 16 is based heavily on Bono from U2's outfit in his "The Fly" persona, seen here◊.
- Gyro is reading All-Star Superman in the Tokyo Train Station.
- Rin, during her long-winded and one-sided conversation, mentions a friend named Fuuka who's in a band.
- A small but noticeable one to The Sandman, where a pumpkin-headed man is painting in one of Johnny's dreams.
- Johnny calls Yosuke "Fred".
- Johnny, Yosuke, and Gyro get into a small discussion on who is the better director: Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino, or Stanley Kubrick?
- The title of Gyro's show on the Midnight Channel, Better Call Zeppelli, is a reference to the Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul.
- The 'Gyro/Shadow Kanji Arc' is named after the U2 album Achtung Baby.
- According to the Infamous Man, the scene with Gyro wandering through his dungeon was inspired by the opening scene of Day of the Dead.
- The Shadow that the Investigation Team fights in Gyro's dungeon is named Doctor Feelgood.
- When Yosuke is hit by Doctor Feelgood's hallucinating powers, he imagines that he is at mountains that have fat, white, eyeless penguins.
- The room that the Investigation Team finds Shadow Gyro in is based off of U2's Zoo TV tour stage.
- Shadow Gyro's ability is named after the Pink Floyd album Division Bell.
- Shadow Gyro's true form is based off of Bono's Dr. Macphisto◊ stage persona, and it scapel hand is a reference to Freddy Krueger.
- Konohana Sakuya's special attack Playing With Fire: Sakura Festival, is reference to both '"Playing with Fire" by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam and to "I Love Playing With Fire" by Joan Jett.
- While trying to convince Johnny and Chie to make amends, Gyro quotes a great man by saying "I'm a reasonable guy. But I've experienced some unreasonable things".
- Gyro mentions that he has several The Dark Tower books to read.
- Gyro jokes about wanting a gun simply to feel like Dirty Harry.
- Supplementary material provides characters' favorite movies.
- Johnny's favorite movie is Once Upon a Time in the West.
- Gyro's favorite movie is Django.
- Yosuke's favorite movie is Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
- Chie's favorite movie is Fist of Fury.
- Yukiko's favorite movie is The Fly (1986).
- Kanji's favorite movie is West Side Story.
- Shadow Kanji has the power Ride the Lightning, which is both a song and album from Metallica.
- Tough Guy and Nice Guy possess the power Points of Authority which is a reference to a song from Linkin Park.
- Word of God states that Shadow Kanji, Nice Guy, and Tough Guy were all defeated in the same order and manner as the Three Storms from Big Trouble in Little China.
- The Dark Tower Saga: The Gunslinger is the first part of a movie series. And according to Word of God, Twilight never became a movie series and The Walking Dead never became a show. Thus eliminating the pop culture fascination with romanticizing monsters and zombies, which has been replaced by a fascination with westerns.
- When asked about the details of his excuse, Kanji says that he has twelve percent of a plan.
- The chapter Ill Communication is a reference to the Beastie Boys album of the same name.
- The chapter "Between the Buttons" takes its name from The Rolling Stones album of the same name.
- Johnny compares his Persona Tusk evolving to "the game with glorified cockfights using monsters from balls."
- Marie's nicknames for Johnny and Gyro ("Blondie" and "Ringo") are the nicknames used for The Man with No Name.
- The title Even Flow is a reference to the song by Pearl Jam.
- Naoto asked Kanji what kind of trees Inaba has. Kanji tells her that they have Douglas Ferns.
- The chapter Fly From Here is the name of an album by Yes
- Word of God is that Rohan's house is mean to be a replica of Black Jack's house.
- Johnny is watching an episode of Preacher on the television before Nanako changes the channel.
- Gyro mentions that Pink Dark Boy's Part 5 is basically The Godfather while Part 8 resembles The Spirit.
- The chapter "Speak & Spell" is the name of an album by Depeche Mode.
- Rohan Kishibe still works for Shonen Jump.
- When discussing a team name, Gyro calls the group "Teens with attitude", which Yukiko says is a reference to "Featherman Rangers".
- In the same discussion, Johnny snarks about the team being the Justice League and jokingly suggests the name "P-Men".
- The chapters titled "Against The Grain" are from an album by Bad Religion.
- The chapters titled "Seven Nation Army" is from the name of a song by The White Stripes.
- The chapters titled "Cult of Personality" is from the name of a song by Living Colour.
- It is mentioned that Rise's grandmother visited the set of Yojimbo.
- In the bookstore, Johnny is reading 'Salem's Lot.
- Gyro's comment "If you're going to shoot, shoot. Don't talk." Comment is from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
- The Chinese Rise clone wields a Wu-Tang Sword.
- King Moron mentions that he watched Halloween (1978) when he was a kid and compares Mitsuo to Michael Myers before being killed.
