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Shout Out / Anime & Manga

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"You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, God damn you! God damn you all to hell!"

This page lists Shout-Out seen in various Anime & Manga series.

Japanese works tend to be very fond of these.

Works with their own subpages:

Other examples:

  • 20th Century Boys has a chapter named "A Quiet Town in Germany," which is a nod to the place where all the shit hit the fan in Urasawa's previous work, Monster.
  • Chapter 215 of Air Gear contains a Shout-Out to Death Note: "I'm gonna be an entity that not even Yagami Light could manage to be!"
    • Also, in another chapter Ikki eats from a cup of noodles with Itoshiki Nozomu's face on it.
    • And Chapter 222 has pages ripped directly from the first volume of Negima! Magister Negi Magi, used as a source of inspiration for one character.
    • The series also references Fist of the North Star when Ikki wears a headband witFh a character's name on it, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure twice. Once with Ringo summoning Star Platinum after being groped, the TV-headed announcer guy during the Behemoth match giving off a WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.
      • The Kazu vs Aeon Clock match is one giant JJBA tribute. Aeon's style involves "freezing time", complete with some of Dio's lines (Toki wo Tomare!), and Kazu contemplating defeating him using a steamroller.
    • Ohm of the Sleeping Forest has a special move called "Bubblegum Crisis".
  • Albegas:
    • Episode 3. In Goro's robot, a poster of Captain Harlock can be seen.
    • Gori-Robo is inspired by the mecha of Mazinger Z.
    • Prof. Mizuki has a strong resmblance to Stan Lee because of his glasses and hairstyle. See here◊.
  • In an Ai Yori Aoshi manga omake chapter, Kaoru's harem is instructed to clean the house, and when they get to his room, the girls stumble upon a Porn Stash (poorly) hidden under his bed. Taeko then says "I think dirty thoughts are bad!", a catch phrase used by the title character in Mahoromatic.
  • The English dub of Alien Nine has a Pokémon shout-out when a nameless student — voiced by Veronica Taylor, who also played Ash Ketchum — while chasing a small alien creature with a gang of his friends, gleefully chortles, "Gotta catch 'em all!"
  • In Angel Beats! practically every word that comes out of TK's mouth is a Shout Out. References include The Terminator, Bob Dylan, and many other musical references, cementing his status as the Ensemble Dark Horse.
    • At one point, Otonashi attempts to imagine what Angel's house would look like. What comes up are heavily pixellated versions of Howl's castle and Laputa.
  • In Angel Densetsu, Ogisu compares Kitano to a Saiyan.
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Deserted Island Diary:
  • Strangely, Asteroid in Love seldom references other manga.
  • Attack on Titan:
    • One of the Titans looks a lot like◊ the Oni from Ao Oni.
    • One of the gag previews from the manga has Eren waking up to discover that the entire series was All Just a Dream, and that he's actually a Japanese schoolboy with Mikasa as his best friend. So basically, the infamous Episode 26 of Neon Genesis Evangelion, but with Eren and Mikasa in place of Shinji and Asuka. Also, this.◊ And this.
    • More officially, Isayama stated in a blog-post that the characters of Levi and Erwin were modeled after Rorschach and Ozymandias from the American graphic novel Watchmen. Levi shares Rorschach's body type (and is referred to derisively as being small, as Rorschach is), bizarre manner of speaking and behavior, horrendous upbringing, and white scarf, while Erwin shares Ozymandias' body type, facial features, and modus operandi: Both Ozymandias and Erwin are leaders who are unafraid to sacrifice many in order to save the majority.
    • His blog post on April 17th also confirms that Reiner is largely based on wrestler Brock Lesnar.
    • A very roundabout one to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: In JJBA, there is a character named Mark, as there is one named Marco in Attack On Titan. Both are friends of a character the protagonist butts heads with at first. Both are found dead, missing large chunks of their upper bodies, with Marco being bitten in half by a Titan, and Mark half absorbed by one of the Pillar Men. Incidentally, they share the same Japanese voice actor.
    • In the dub, Keith Shadis asks Eren "what is your major malfunction?!"
    • One of the Titans in the manga appears to be the main character from A Clockwork Orange, complete with Kubrick Stare.
    • Annie is compared to the Sleeping Beauty by Jean in Chapter 34.
  • Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts. Umm... One piece of advice: watch the background. By the time you see Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, you would already be dead from laughter.
  • Kyubey appears in a sign in fellow Studio Shaft series Nisemonogatari.
  • In the first chapter of Bakuman。, the creators Shout-Out twice to their previous series Death Note; once when a character jokes about a school book being a Death Note, then when someone references a quote from the mangaka themselves. The series also makes ShoutOuts to the popularity of Dragon Ball and One Piece. And this is all in the first chapter.
    • Thrice. A character mentions "feeling like I was Gevanni", one of the SPK members.
  • Tondemon Higashi’s from Battle Club Training from Hell is based off of the Turtle School
    • Shiba Ryoutarou’s special technique is even called the Kamehamehou.
  • Most of the characters in Bastard!! (1988) are named after 80s metal musicians. Then again, the entire show is rife with such Theme Naming, extending to countries, organizations and even spells.
  • Not to be left behind, B Gata H Kei has a few of its own:
    • There was a parody of Maria Watches Over Us in Episode 6.
    • "The White Death" Simo Häyhä can briefly be seen standing behind Yamada's classmate Kobayashi firing a shot from his signature rifle as she approaches a wealthy guest at Kanejou's Christmas party.
      • "Kobayshi's taken the lead!" "Is that the White Death at her back?"
  • In the anime Black Butler, the creepy island is actually drawn after a painting by Arnold Böcklin.
  • In Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack, Episode 7, there is a white lion who looks strikingly similar to Kimba the White Lion, an earlier creation of Tezuka.
    • Also, in Kimba, Astro Boy cameos twice. Once he's in a world's fair as a model robot, the other time one of the villains is actually WATCHING Astro Boy beat up one of his enemies!
  • Black Lagoon:
    • One of the more obscure ones was Sawyer the Cleaner's rendition of Leatherface's rage dance from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
    • A less obscure one would be towards the end of Season 1 Episode 12 where it's mentioned that Revy's still wanted in New York's 27th precinct.
    • Roberta the unstoppable maid in anime Episodes 8-10.
      • The whole Roberta sequence is a huge and lampshaded shout-out to the Terminator films.
      • Roberta and Revy run towards each other shooting their pistols and end up on the ground with their guns pointed at each other's heads in a Mexican Standoff, just like Neo and Agent Smith in their subway battle in The Matrix.
    • The U.S. Army squad in El Baile is called the Gray Fox unit. And features one guy with a bandana.
    • Madame Flora, the mistress/pimp who runs the whorehouse upstairs in the Yellow Flag, is based off Divine.
    • The flashback scenes to the German submarine in Episode 4 are rife with references to Das Boot. The submarine even ends up stranded on the sea bottom like the U-96, although it, unlike the U-96, doesn't manage to escape.
    • The Vampire Twins arc has a few The Shining references, one of which was exclusively manga, in which Gretel sings a song from The Shining (in the anime she has a song written for her).
    • From the first light novel: "Never speak of the turtles!!" (It Makes (just a bit more) Sense In Context)
    • The omake where Balalaika raises Hansel and Gretel as her kids is titled The Melancholy of Balalaika in Japanese.
    • In Chapter 55, Fabiola and Revy have to talk to a heroin/speed addict who's convinced they're Martian death squad scouts. Fabiola gets him to calm down by telling him she's a "good alien" from the Cylon Empire.
  • Bleach:
    • The anime creates a number of these and in particular loves doing shout outs to Dragon Ball.
      • In Episode 133, Ikkaku teaches a Kendo class that produces a blatant Neon Genesis Evangelion reference. One of the boys is a cowardly, easily cowed young man with short brown hair, baby-face features, and receives near-constant praise from Ikkaku for not "running away". His name is Shinji.
      • Haruhi Suzumiya's famous sunset scene of Taniguchi walking into a classroom singing that he'd forgotten his bag is spoofed in Bleach's Episode 141 when Keigo walks into his classroom at sunset chanting over and over that he's forgotten something. His friend Mizuiro wearily tells him to cut it out because the joke's not funny.
      • One omake had Orihime ask Sado which outfit would be best to fight in. One of them is the orange uniform from Dragon Ball.
    • The manga itself does produce a couple of shout outs:
      • Word of God admitted that everything about Mashiro, especially her uniform, is a deliberate Kamen Rider reference.
      • Charlotte Cuuhlhourne's release is a reference to Magical Girl genre, made famous by Sailor Moon in particular. He is also rose-themed, which is a shout out to the Barazoku magazine which began the association of the rose with homosexuality.
      • During the Lost Agent Arc, Orihime can be seen wearing pajamas with mushroom patterns on them. Not such a big deal... until you see the pocket of the pajama shirt, which reads "1UP".
  • The Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo manga had plenty of shout outs to other manga or video games (most notably when Yugi pops out of Bo-Bobo's afro and plays Slifer in order to help defeat the enemy — drawn by the actual Yu-Gi-Oh! artist). The anime cut down on this (the aforementioned Slifer scene was something else), but still had some, such as at least one Naruto shout out. The English dub, however, added shout outs to all kinds of Western things, such as SpongeBob SquarePants and American Idol.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! has a shoutout to Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo as well. Twice in the 3rd volume of the final arc someone is seen with a Nu handkerchief.
  • A boy in Bokura no Hentai was in denial about Marika's sex and thought she was a crossdressing cis girl like Chizuru from Wandering Son. Marika herself is an expy of Nitori from that manga.
  • Booty Royale: Never Go Down Without a Fight! has several reference to other fighting games and manga during the Tournament Arc.
  • Bubblegum Crisis is loaded with Shout Outs:
    • One of the biggest sources is the film Blade Runner. At least two characters have names lifted directly from the film (and one is the lead singer of a band called "The Replicants"). There are strong plot parallels in several episodes (most notably Episode 5, which focuses on a group of androids who have escaped from a space station), and in the overall Myth Arc of the series. And both feature a monumentally-powerful corporation which manufactures androids and which is based in a mountain-like building. In addition, AD Police headquarters is a dead ringer for the Los Angeles police tower in Blade Runner.
    • There are several references to the film Streets Of Fire, including a ten-minute homage to that film in the form of Priss and the Replicants' stage performance at the beginning of the first episode, which allegedly duplicates move-for-move the first of the movie's performances by "Ellen Aim and the Attackers". Both have a character named Raven; and BGC has a character named "Madigan", while actress Amy Madigan was a featured player in Streets Of Fire.
    • A map of Megatokyo which appears in Episode 3 is heavily annotated in English with the names of actors and characters from the film Top Gun.
    • In the episode "Revenge Road", when Nene searches for all the owners of "Griffon" sportscars in Megatokyo, famed Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto shows up on her results.
    • An ADP duty roster in Episode 8 lists a number of 1980s Marvel Comics artists as officers.
    • The HUD of an ADP officer briefly flashes "Budweiser King of Beers" and "St. Louis, Mo" in Episode 1.
  • Buso Renkin:
    • Shusui Hayasaka's buso renkin, Sword Samurai X, is a shout-out to Rurouni Kenshin's original English title, Samurai X that Nobuhiro Watsuki said he really liked. There is also, a shout-out to the same series for a single panel in the manga where Tokiko is so bandaged up, she looks like Makoto Shishio, for no reason other than an irresistible impulse the author had.
    • The Alchemist Army's training room being called the Danger Room and the Big Bad's weapon being named Fatal Attraction are shout-outs to X-Men, Watsuki's favourite American comic series.
    • The protagonist Kazuki Muto is named after Yu-Gi-Oh!'s author and main character, Kazuki Takahashi and Yugi Muto.
    • In one episode, the camera makes a panning shot of a TV and onscreen is the main character from Nobuhiro Watsuki's one-shot, "Embalming -Dead Body and Bride-", that would later be worked into his subsequent series Embalming -– The Another Frankenstein Tale.
    • When Kazuki draws up a composite sketch of Papillon, the art style is that of Jojos Bizarre Adventure creator Hirohiko Araki.
  • Just about every episode of Carnival Phantasm features Lancer dying. Just about every one of Lancer's deaths is followed by "Oh my God, they killed Lancer!" "You bastards!"
  • When cops find Cat-Eyed Boy lurking in a graveyard, one of the police wonders if he's "Keetaro, that graveyard kid" (referring to GeGeGe no Kitarō who was originally knows as "Kitaro of the Graveyard").
  • Cells at Work and Friends!:
  • Cells at Work: Bacteria!: When the Clostridium perfingens leader finds out why the Bad-Bacteria colony suddenly shrinks, he puts on Conan Edogawa's glasses and bowtie.
  • The A Certain Magical Index-tan omake is itself an imitation of the Shakugan no Shana-tan omake and makes clear reference to it several times. The Toradora! tiger makes an appearance, too, for the same reason—same publisher/studio (J.C. Staff).
    • Speaking of Index, it doesn't really shy away from referencing. Straight in the first episode/volume is Misaka asking Touma "Geez... what were you doing? Pretending to be a Samaritanian, protecting delinquents... are you a certain hot-blooded teacher?"
      • In Episode 20, Yoshikawa is having doubts that Accelerator can save Last Order in time. His response is to throw the phone away and remark "Ore ga dare da to omotte yagaru?!"
  • In the Chrono Crusade manga, Rosette shouts "Sinner Attack!!" and thrusts out her fingers, holding the watch that unseals Chrono's powers similarly to how the trainers hold Pokeballs in Pokémon. (Chrono responds with a confused "What the heck is that?!")
  • In CLANNAD ~After Story~, the circumstances and appearance of Nagisa's death are very similar to Goku's death by heart virus in Anime/Dragon Ball Z. Both characters died from complications with an illness (heart virus for Goku, god knows what for Nagisa) while lying in a futon (Japanese floorbed), were surrounded by their loved ones the whole time, died with their eyes closed, had the exact same death pose (look at the two photos at the same time: you'll see the resemblance), and most importantly, had a super-intelligent friend (Bulma for Goku, Kotomi for Nagisa) who were working on a cure/treatment for the condition, but by the time they finally hit a breakthrough, was too late.
  • Code:Breaker's current villain, a Well-Intentioned Extremist, appears to be a shout-out to L: he has long, messy hair; wears a white shirt and jeans, goes barefoot, has abnormal sleeping habits (instead of being awake all the time, he sleeps for roughly 22 hours at a stretch), and is willing to do anything for what he perceives to be the right thing.
  • In one of its many School Festival episodes, Code Geass has C.C. wear robotic antennae on her ears which, combined with her long green hair, make her resemble Chachamaru. In that same episode, Shirley wears a maid outfit inspired by Mikuru - which is then acknowledged by having Anya Alstreim, voiced by Yuko Goto (Mikuru's voice actress), take notice.
    • By coincidence, the joke is preserved in the dub, since Stephanie Sheh, Mikuru's dub VA, also does Anya.
    • If one listens closely, the ambient hum of a Sutherland's cockpit was lifted straight from the OS startup sound of Gasaraki's Tactical Armor.
  • Cosplay Complex is stuffed to the brim with shout-outs to other series, starting with the previous shows of the producer — mostly in the form of Cosplay costumes.
  • Cowboy Bebop: There are whole websites dedicated to index the numerous references you can find in the anime.
    • The names of the three criminals in the beginning of Episode 8 "Waltz for Venus" are Louie, Huey, and Dewey.
    • Episode 9 "Jamming with Edward" has a weird conspiracy theorist named Yuri Kellerman, a reference to the fake psychic Uri Geller.
    • Cowboy Bebop The Movie has CBC News, with a logo typeface similar to CBS' of the time, and is hosted by Mark Rather (Dan Rather). Also, the subtitle, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" is the title of a Bob Dylan song, famously covered by Guns N' Roses.
    • Like the music reference is anything new. A good chunk of Cowboy Bebop's episode titles are named after songs/albums, including (but not limited to): "Toys in the Attic" (Aerosmith), and "Hard Luck Woman" (The Rolling Stones).
    • Nearly every episode title is based on either a song, album, or genre of music. The sole exception is "Brain Scratch", since they couldn't find a song title that fit the episode's plot well enough.
    • On top of that, Yoko Kanno's soundtrack itself contains homages and Shout Outs to everyone from John Hiatt to Tom Waits.
  • Like Bo-bobo, the Funimation dub of Crayon Shin-chan had a lot of dialogue shout outs changed to fit the U.S. (usually concerning popular names in media). There was also a passing attack call reference to the Kamehameha in one episode.
  • The Crusher Joe movie has one scene taking place at a drive-in movie theater, where what's being shown on the screen is something that stars the main characters from Dirty Pair. (In their original Light Novel versions, Crusher Joe and Dirty Pair are parts of the same continuity. Also, this was actually the earliest animated appearance of Kei, Yuri, and Mugi, since the Dirty Pair TV series didn't debut until 2 years later.)
  • Darker than Black has a number of shout-outs to other anime: One notable one is where one anime and manga obsessed character threatens to write "in her notebook" the name of someone who'd offended her.
    • Another Death Note Shout-Out: in Episode 22 Amber is seen standing on top of a building eating an apple in a manner resembling Light in the first opening.
    • The first season finale has a scene very similar to the "Congratulations!" sequence from Neon Genesis Evangelion. And the second has a brief scene of a couple of teenage characters in an alternate world where all of the craziness that made their lives hell hadn't happened.
    • The OVA has some self-deprecating humor, as Bones makes both series. A manga two Cosplay Otaku Girl characters are reading is drawn like Ouran High School Host Club but with the Bishonenness exaggerated and presented as ridiculous.
  • In Episode 4 of Dear Brother, Nanako's class reads aloud from Edgar Allen Poe's The Gold Bug. And of course one of the major characters has a nickname straight from the Tale of Genji.
  • The Death Note spin-off novel Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Serial Murder Case has a character make several Fan Boy-ish remarks about Akazukin Chacha. This almost results in Parody Displacement of sorts.
  • Debusen:
    • Upon seeing Akira's knife hand for the first time, Mitsuru compares her to Hyakkimaru.
    • In Chapter 15, the island Tiger Class get shipwrecked on is compared to something out of the manga Higanjima.
    • In Chapter 16, Hiromi compares their situation to Lost.
    • In Chapter 42, Mitsuru (currently being controlled by the spirit of Mitsuko), paraphrases Sailor Moon's famous catchphrase:
      Mitsuru:In the name of all teachers, I, Fukushima Mitsuko, will penalize you!
    • In Chapter 53, Mitsuru has a nightmare where he is stripped of his skin and compared to something out of Attack on Titan.
    • In Chapter 69, Kaito serves Mitsuru a Château d'Yquem 1976 wine, and mentions that it has gained popularity since appearing in The Drops of God.
  • Episode 12 of Dirty Pair (TV version) has a shout out to Flowers for Algernon. The episode involves two mice, named Chichi and Algernon, having their intelligence increased by the 3WA's R&D section, with the intention that they direct the other mice in the building to act as a security system for the 3WA building. Instead, they attempt to take over the building and drive out the humans. To prevent this, Chichi eventually gets reverted to being a normal mouse, causing Algernon to jump out of a window.
  • Dog Soldier: Well, aside from Hiba looking like Rambo, the early villain Mister Harry looks REMARKABLY like Bennett, while one of Hiba's (former) partners is named Dutch.
  • Domestic Girlfriend: At one point, Natsuo and Rui argue about whether eggs should be eaten with soy sauce or salt.
  • Don't Meddle with My Daughter!: The post-epilogue doujinshis are titled after superheroes comic book and film series - MILF of Steel, MILF of Steel Returns, MILF of Steel Forever, Uncanny Eight Wonder, and Amazing Eight Wonder.
  • Sergeant Metallic of Dragon Ball bears a certain resemblance to the Terminator.
  • Dragon Ball Z
    • In the Saiyan Saga, a group of news aircraft hover near the site of the upcoming battle to catch a glimpse of Vegeta and Nappa. One of the aircraft happens to be an exact reproduction of a shuttlecraft from the Enterprise-A right down to its registry number. The shout out is made even more hilarious by the fact that Nappa, in a show of ruthlessness, decides to blow it up, a reference to the Red Shirt trend, though in the English dub it was just a camera robot.
    • Frieza's third form is a shout out to the Xenomorph aliens of the Alien movies.
    • Buu was created by Bibidi, and Bibidi's son is Babidi. Put them together and what do you get? Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo!
  • Dragon Ball Super Tournament of Power arc. Master Roshi fights an opponent named Ganos. During the fight, Roshi tells Ganos that Ganos's fighting style is "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right". This is a reference to the Konami Code.
  • Dungeon Toilet: The first volume's cover rather boldly references the cover of Delicious in Dungeon's first volume.
  • Durarara!! is another anime with tons of Shout Outs. In the first episode, for instance, Walker and Erika walk around with a life-sized cutout of Holo, which the animators stubbornly kept in frame for several minutes. The same company, Brain's Base, worked on both Durarara and the second season of Spice and Wolf.
  • El Cazador de la Bruja, Bee Train's third Girls with Guns series has billboards showing Noir and Madlax logos, together with art of Kirika holding her sword [1]◊.
  • In Elegant Yokai Apartment Life, the film that the English language club translates is essentially Dragon Quest with a different name. It even contains the line "I shall give you half of the world" which the dragon lord says when you confront him in the game.
  • In the English dub of Elf Princess Rane, a character rattles off a string of gibberish to a confused crowd. This starts with the phrase "Klaatu Barada Nikto" (The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)), contains the names Londo, G'Kar, Delenn, Loren (Babylon 5), and ends with "Bah weep grana weep ni ni bong" (Transformers.
  • Even Though I'm a Former Noble and Single Mother:
    • Kyle's first adventure is quite similar to the one that forms the opening of Goblin Slayer. In both cases, all but one of the adventurers is killed during a quest to kill goblins, and they are saved by a more experienced adventurer.
    • Canary and Yumina's relationship (as an immortal who looks and acts immaturely, and her more serious descendant) resembles the relationship between Akane and Akari in My Monster Secret.
  • Expecting to Fall into Ruin, I Aim to Become a Blacksmith: The Masquerade Ball conversation between Kururi and Eliza is one to Beauty and the Beast.
  • One filler episode of Eyeshield 21 was a mystery. They paid tribute to two popular mystery manga/anime titles: Case Closed with their "door closing" commercial stinger and The Kindaichi Case Files with their "suspect matrix."
  • Fairy Tail:
    • Lucy Heartfilia's first name is a subtle reference to The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
    • In addition to all the Fake Crossovers, the play that that characters do in one chapter is riddled with Rave Master references.
    • The day all the dragons disappeared and Lucy's mom died is Haru and Lucia's birthday.
    • In the first episode of the anime, the fake Salamander calls Lucy "Lucy-Chwan". Stealthy, but not that much.
    • On the request board in Episode 2 of the anime, there is a request on the board that says Legend of the Holy Sword. As we all know, his His legend began in the twelfth century!
    • When donning her disguise in Edolas, Wendy looks suspiciously like Lenalee Lee from D.Gray-Man.
    • The large penguin in the casino at the beginning of the Tower of Heaven arc looks suspiciously like Ruby.
      • Not to mention that it says Rave on every single slot machine in there.
    • When a mushroom grows out of Natsu's hair in Episode 9, it makes a very familiar sound.
    • Vidaldus from the Tower of Heaven arc pretty much looks like a member of KISS.
    • A fish that strongly resembles the Pokémon Magikarp appears flailing on the ice in Episode 15 of the anime.
    • Edolas!Erza's spear has the same name and powers as Haru's sword.
    • Lucy's summoning incantation (and the animation in the anime) is awfully similar to Kuromi's in Onegai My Melody.
    • Erza's intimidation tactic towards Evergreen in Chapter 112 ought to look very, very familiar to most tropers, as should Evergreen's power setup.
    • The outfit Erza dons during the Fantasia Parade in the Fighting Festival arc in the anime and in an extended chapter is an outfit Resha is wearing on occasion during Rave Master.
    • After knocking out Erza, Natsu turns and gives Jellal a pissed off look, letting him know he's going down. Haru has this exact same expression with the exact same background when threatening Sieg in Rave Master.
      • It just so happens that Haru gave Sieg Hart that same face and threat just after setting down an unconscious Elie, and that in both manga series, the guy with the blue hair and tattoo across the right half of his face ended up using a spell with the same name which would have killed the hero, had the girl not regained consciousness and tried to save him (though a third person got involved in Fairy Tail), and that both arcs begin with the girl having a winning streak in a casino and end with fireworks.
    • This one is anime-exclusive. When infiltrating the duke's manor during their very first job, Natsu dresses up as a ninja, degozaru.
    • In the preview of Episode 59 Happy says to stop squiddling around and Natsu says that it's the wrong show.
      • In actuality, Natsu just says something akin to "That was a good one, Happy!" in reference to Happy's unintentional pun, and so this comes down to Crunchyroll referencing a show they did as well.
    • To Metallica of all things: Phantom Lord is the name of one of their songs, and the dragon who raised Gajeel is the band's name with two letters tacked on afterwords.
    • Gray has a necklace that looks like the first Rave.
    • During Natsu's fight with Gajeel, the latter shouts out "Who the hell do you think I am!" before launching an attack. It doesn't work as well in the Fairy Tail universe.
    • During Episode 59, Lyon says "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
    • Fried's latest glyph encases him in metallic armor with an expressionless faceplate, and it's called Zetsui.
    • The third and final set of dolls that Bickslow uses in his fight against Lucy are identical to the Black Airs from Mashima's 2006 manga Monster Soul.
    • Happy's parents are voiced by Tomokazu Seki and Ayako Kawasumi, the same people who voiced Haru and Elie. This is most likely a shout out to Rave Master but it could also just be a coincidence since those two often voiced characters who are romantically linked.
    • In Chapter 247, Lily steals a sword from a mook. Said mook mentions that his Musica sword cost a lot.
      • The mook also looks identical to Bis, who was the main mook of the Rave Master arc starring Musica.
    • Not a Rave Master reference, but bizarrely, if you look closely at the floating letters in Chapter 9, when Daybreak is being rearranged, you can see the line '''I SEE DEAD PEOPLE'''.
    • The "Hidden" game in Chapter 269 is identical to Assassin's Creed: Revelations multiplayer.
    • The Jiggle Butt Gang make an appearance in the Key of the Starry Heavens filler arc.
    • In the English dub, the narration for Episode 19 begins with "Submitted for your approval."
    • Also in Episode 19, the oddly familiar beeping sound heard whenever Plue or Macao shows the countdown to undo the Changeling spell.
    • When getting the backstory on Ultear's spell, "Last Ages", we find out that she learned it through a combination of books and the ancient Mildian language.
    • In Episode 90, the heroes are trying to stop what amounts to a Colony Drop by pushing it back. The green light that shrouds the island when the Exceeds show up, as well as a shot of Exceeds getting thrown away (and being caught by their comrades) make the whole thing look like the Axis drop from the end of Char's Counterattack.
    • In one of Loke's attempts to woo Lucy he shines a bit of light on the wall spelling out I love Lucy
    • During the S-Class Trial arc, this exchange occurs in the dub.
      Cana: It's raining masked men!
      Lucy: I'd say "Halleujah", but they don't look friendly!
    • In the dub at least, in the previews for Episode 70 at the end of Episode 69, Natsu insists that his pink hair is "lightish-red".
    • In Episode 211, Cancer challenger Gray to a dance battle. To win, Gray channels none other than the King of Pop himself, complete with a white fedora.
    • In Chapter 441, When Erza tells him they need to use stealth, Natsu remarks that he knows all about that "ninja crap", pulls his scarf up to act as a face mask and headband, and attacks the enemy soldiers while shouting "Kickass-no-jutsu!" He also makes hand signs in Chapter 442.
  • FLCL itself had an episode with a ridiculous number of references to, among other things, Lupin III, Trigun, The Matrix, Mobile Suit Gundam, South Park, Cowboy Bebop (an especially clever one in that particular case, recreating the Spike vs. Vicious standoff in the cathedral substituting Haruko with a pair of scissors for Vicious and his katana), and several earlier Studio Gainax works.
  • Fruits Basket:
    • Early on in the manga, Tohru refers to the massive garbage pile in the Sohma's kitchen as "the Sea of Decay/Toxic Jungle".
    • When Tohru is visited by her friends in the Sohma house, Hanajima sees Kyo and Yuki fighting and says they remind her of a show where a cat and a mouse are always fighting (completely unaware as to how close a similarity she actually was making).
    • When the main characters visit the Sohma lake house with Hatori, Shigure muses out loud that this is the kind of setting where Jason would show up. When Kyo asks who "Jason" is, Shigure messes with him by telling him it's a new species of bear (which Kyo and Tohru are both gullible enough to believe right away), but Yuki later correctly points out that Jason is a character from a horror movie.
    • When Hatori tells Shigure and Ayame that he didn't want to go to Kana's wedding, Shigure jokes that he could have crashed the wedding to steal the bride away "like a scene in a movie". In the Tokyopop translation of the manga, Shigure outright namedrops The Graduate when he says this line.
    • In the "Sorta Cinderella" parody, the font used for the title of the play is clearly that of Disney.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • The manga contains a shout out to The Fly (1958). "But what about the alchemist who was performing a transmutation when a fly flew into the circle and the guy became a fly-man?" "You dummy! That's from a movie we saw the other day!"
    • One panel in the manga seems to have a pokute in the background.
    • The Viz translation of the manga (Chapter 76) references several alternate names for the Philosopher's Stone — one of which is the Sorcerer's Stone. This is a reference to the American release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone where the Philosopher's Stone was renamed the Sorcerer's Stone.
    • Hohenheim's name alludes to the real-life alchemist Paracelcus, who was born Bombastus von Hohenheim before adopting his pseudonym.
    • What about the Indiana Jones-style Giant Rolling Ball of Doom in the 5th laboratory episode of the first series?
    • There's also Major Alex Louis Armstrong.
  • Future Diary: The scene where Yuno smashes the void to rescue Yukiteru from his despair is a Shout-Out to a very similar scene at the end of Serial Experiments Lain where Lain is comforted by her father after erasing herself from the world and collapsing in despair.
  • The Geek Ex-Hitman: Viviana's introductory chapter has a panel describing how she first fell in love with an anime character at age 10—the character in question clearly being Ash Ketchum with a black bar over his eyes. The same panel depicts Ryoma Echizen from The Prince of Tennis as one of her later faves.
  • Due to its premise as a series about otaku, Genshiken contains a stunning number of shout outs and/or parodies. The OVAs had the animation team sneaking in a few more, from Sasahara reading the Ouran High School Host Club manga, to Madarame thinking of Densha Otoko on the train, to Ohno's scads of yaoi doujinshi, which included obvious shout-outs to Fullmetal Alchemist, The Prince of Tennis, ×××HOLiC and Gundam SEED.
  • Not too many people remember it, but the series Tetsujin 28-Go, which became Gigantor in the US, featured the first characters with the names "Shotaro Kaneda" and "Shikishima". Naturally, the name "Tetsuo" bit was related to there in a convoluted reference also to the (in?)famous live action cyberpunk film "Tetsuo: The Iron Man".
  • Gintama Has quite a few of these, and there are numerous Shout Outs to Jump Magazine (probably close to, if not more than, a hundred or so) and many, many other things.
  • Girl Friends (2006):
    • One of the Omake chapters has the Mari and Akko dressing up as Ryuunosuke and Lum. The same Omake ends with Sugi talking about how she was asked to dress up as Maetel.
    • Tamamin mentions that she'd like a boyfriend whose idea of a movie date is Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
    • While Mari was on a date, Akko is seen playing one of the Ace Attorney games,
    • Near the end of Vol. 3, Tamamin asks the recently dumped boyfriend of Mari if he would like to cosplay as Lelouch
    • One of the omake of Vol. 3 had Tamamin cosplaying up as Cure Dream. She also brought a Haruhi costume.
  • Aside from the always prominent Char clones, Gundam contains shout outs which can be heard on Jupiter and beyond.
    • Gundam SEED Destiny has so obvious Ramba Ral and Tri-Star shoutouts, and that's ignoring the new ZAFT suits are called Zakus and Goufs.
    • The final episode of Gundam 00 ends with a plug for the upcoming movie, accompanied by the subtitle "The Childhood of Humanity Ends." A line like that probably sounds familiar to anyone who has read a certain novel by Arthur C. Clarke.
  • Gunsmith Cats:
    • The license plate of Rally's Cool Car reads BRD-529, which is a reference to The Blues Brothers.
    • A certain massacre is played out very similarly to the infamous police station annihilation scene in The Terminator, complete with similar shots. Later on someone explicitly refers to the person responsible as "a real live Terminator".
  • An episode of Hanamaru Kindergarten has Tsuchi buying Neon Genesis Evangelion figures from a capsule machine.
    • As a Gainax production, there are a fair number of nods to Evangelion. Another instance has Hiiragi warning Anzu that she might miss "Third Impact" and the "Ishvalan War".
    • Hiiragi also has an Imagine Spot where she speculates what she'll be like as an adult. Her fantasy is basically one big parody of the Star Wars films, complete with a lightsaber duel against a Darth Vader Captain Ersatz.
  • Hanaukyō Maid Team:
    • La Verite
      • In Episodes 1 and 7 characters end up running from a large ball that's rolling down an incline after them, a la Raiders of the Lost Ark.
      • The Comiket booth episode in Episode 5 has to be seen to be believed, especially if you've seen Mahoromatic.
  • The anime Hand Maid Mai does a shout-out to its predecessor Hand Maid May by having the drunken Hideo Ozu stumbling past Kazuya Saotome's place, reverently showing the ladder between apartments that was so much a part of the show. Not so reverently, Hideo then urinates on the landlady's fence.
  • The Hating Girl features one to Tokimeki Memorial, as it was apparently the sole source of Asumi's knowledge about what girls and boys do. Learning the truth is rather a shock to her system.
  • Hello! Sandybell:
    • The Shearer car's registration number is FAB 1, the same as Lady Penelope's car in the series Thunderbirds (1965-1966).
    • The mask Sandybell wears at the Shearer's ball resembles the one worn by La Seine No Hoshi. Compare◊ them◊ yourself.
  • Heaven's Lost Property: During Ikaros' undersea adventure in the fifth episode, Cthulhu can be seen in the background.
  • The anime Hellsing has Psycho for Hire vampire Jan Valentine Shout-Out to the Konami Code while mowing down the Redshirt Army with Guns Akimbo. "Bringing the motherfucking death by Konami!"
    • The manga features Shout Outs to Bruce Willis' roles in Die Hard and The Jackal, Dune's Baron Harkonnen and several videogames in the chapter titles (from Castlevania to Final Fantasy and more). Not to mention that the plot's background seems to come from Coppola's Dracula movie rather than from Bram Stoker's novel.
      • The entire Willis-Space scene has several Bruce Willis movie shout-outs like with Die-Hard, and Armogeddon. The OVA adds in references to The Sixth Sense and The Fifth Element.
  • In Hidamari Sketch:
  • Higurashi: When They Cry:
  • Hitomi-chan Is Shy with Strangers:
    • During the school festival, Yuu and Hitomi decide to take the cart curling challenge. When Yuu gets in the cart while Hitomi in a samurai outfit prepares to push it, the proprietor of the game says she feels she has seen something like that on TV before, no doubt a reference to one of the adaptations of Lone Wolf and Cub.
    • The bonus art for Chapter 33 shows Hitomi cosplaying as Ryuko Matoi.
  • Infinite Stratos has various references to the Gundam franchise, evidenced in some of the designs of their Powered Armor. Some of the examples are:
  • Idol Angel Yokoso Yoko:
Idol Densetsu Eriko: The "wolfman" in episode 29 looks a lot like Totoro of My Neighbor Totoro.
  • Initial D almost ALWAYS gets a Shout-Out in a parody series. There's the AE86 appearing in School Rumble, the parody race in Lucky Star, even a badly drawn picture on the chalkboard in Pani Poni Dash!...
    • Strangely, it also seemed to have gotten one in Summer Wars.
  • INVADERS of the ROKUJYOUMA!?: Folsarian magic is heavily modelled on the Vancian Magic from the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons, down to healing magic being classified as a subset of Conjuration.
  • In I Summoned Her, Raas asks Yuta if he wants to be "like Rentarou with 100 girlfriends".
  • The entirety of Jinki:Extend is one big shout out to other mecha anime. See the article for more details.
  • Haré+Guu has an episode which involves cosplay of several different characters, including Lum from Urusei Yatsura and Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew among others.
  • In Kaiju Girl Caramelise, Manatsu compares Kuroe to Astromons.
  • Kämpfer has A TON! Just listing them all would already be staggering enough. And in only a span of 5 episodes, they've got like 15 different shout outs already.
  • Jan-Puu from Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl uses the Catchphrase oneeniisama from Maze Megaburst Space when addressing Hazumu. Both series are from the same creator.
  • Rhoda Stewart◊ of Kaze no Shōjo Emily looks exactly like Asuka Langley Soryu, and she was an Ace at everything until a certain brown-haired person popped up and took away the spotlight.
  • In Komi Can't Communicate, Sanjuurokurou (who mistakenly believes that both Hitomi and Katai's sister are in love with him) decides that since he can't choose one or the other, the best thing to do is start dating both, just like in the manga he's been reading lately.
    • The splash page for Chapter 43 shows Komi as The Little Match Girl.
    • Manbagi mentions Urusei Yatsura while playing Shiritori.
    • In Chapter 282, the class attend a showing of what is clearly the Aladdin musical. The splash page also shows Komi dressed as Aladdin, Manbagi as Jasmine, Tadano as Abu and Najimi as Genie.
    • The splash page for Chapter 283 depicts Komi as the Girl with a Pearl Earring.
    • In the anime adaptation, there is a whole scene where Komi and her friends play a parody of Super Smash Bros., with expys of various nintendo characters.
  • Kurohime: A mysterious shinigami looks a lot like, well, a mysterious Shinigami.
  • The beginning of Let's Start An Inn On The Dungeon Island where Sanada Shirou has a magical flounder offer him a wish as a boon if it's freed is a direct reference to The Fisherman and His Wife.
  • Love Hina:
    • There are several Star Wars references.
      • The license plate of Keitaro's van is R2-D2.
      • When Naru is listing off all of Keitaro's horrible qualities, one of the (many) weapons that pierces him is a lightsaber.
      • The daring escape on Seta's plane above Molmol, above the two airships scratching each other, duplicate perfectly the scene from The Empire Strikes Back where the Millennium Falcon escape Imperial Star Destroyers, two of them colliding sideways — up to the angle of view and the enemy planes / TIE fighters pursuing.
    • In the final volume of the manga, what appears to be Chiyo-chan's dad from Azumanga Daioh is visible on a fan held by Shinobu.
  • The cover for one of the Italian reprints of the Lupin III manga has Lupin dressed like Corto Maltese, with the real Corto Bound and Gagged in the background.
  • Episode 5 of Magician's Academy, aside from being very disturbing, has several Evangelion shout-outs. Sakuma gives orders while sporting a pair of orange-tinted sunglasses and a pair of gloves, and the entire episode they are trying to hold off an advancing Angel, disable its force-field, and preventing it from reaching the center of the academy. Hapshiel's theme is similar to something out of AKIRA as well, in fact the end credits to that very episode, are in fact a shout-out to The Rose of Versailles. Look at them both carefully they're almost the exact same.
  • Episode 12 of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi is crammed with little (and large) references to a vast number of American movies. Other episodes include shoutouts to Sister Princess, Ultraman, FLCL, and a truly staggering number of references to Neon Genesis Evangelion — just to name a few.
  • In the Mahoromatic Summer Special, Slash does a Shout-Out to Cyborg 009 with his "Acceleration Device", triggered in the same manner as Joe "009" Shimamura (in a tooth). Mahoromatic also features Darius-style Boss Subtitles when a Giant Enemy Crab is approaching fast.
  • Chapter 13 of the Maison Ikkoku manga has a shout-out, at least in the English translation by Viz. Soichiro (the dog) falls asleep on a raft on the beach, which gets caught by a wave and washed out to sea. Kyoko Otonashi, Shun Mitaka, and Yusaku Godai are in a boat and hear him barking, so they retrieve him from the raft and bring him back to shore in their boat. Mitaka has a phobia of dogs, so he's acting like he's feeling sick by the time he gets back to shore. Except for Godai, none of the Ikkoku residents know about Mitaka's phobia, so they wonder why Mitaka is acting that way. Godai teases Mitaka by saying something which the English translation renders as: "Maybe it's 'a salty dog' that makes you a whiter shade of pale!" The band Procol Harum has a song titled "A Salty Dog" (also an album) and another titled "A Whiter Shade of Pale". What's more, the original title of the chapter, "ソルティー・ドッグ" ("sorutii doggu"), became "A Salty Dog", making it into a shout-out also.
    • Also, when Mitaka (who is a tennis coach) gets a dog to help him get rid of his phobia later on, he names it "McEnroe".
  • The Japanese title of Martian Successor Nadesico, Kidou Senkan Nadeshiko (Mobile Battleship Nadesico), is a play on Space Battleship Yamato, Kidou Senshi Gundam, and the term "Yamato Nadeshiko".
    • The whole series is full of these, to the point of having to having a whole major character based on Megumi Hayashibara.
  • In the Mazinger Z manga, after Boss gets his uniform shredded by the Gamia-Qs, he exclaims that this is turning into a Shameless School. Shameless School is, of course Go Nagai's first work.
  • Mwu La Flaga, gundam names sometimes don't make sense at first, until you realize that Koyasu's VA voiced Simon Harvard, the pilot of the Rafaga.
  • My Bride is a Mermaid is chock full of shout outs to all sorts of stuff. In particular, there are tons of Art Shift moments depicting characters in the style of Fist of the North Star or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Lunar's father is basically a Terminator with blond hair and occasional Total Recall (1990) references for good measure.
  • The My Mental Choices Are... anime has episode titles like Girls und Panty Shots, and in episode 8 has choice titles at the beginning which say "My Freeloader Can't Be This Smart?!" and "My Thing Can't Be This Amazing?!". And reference to the Lumberjack sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
  • My Monster Secret: Chapter 135 parodies E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, with Nagisa's antenna touching Fuku-chan's branch and the cat spaceceship replacing the bicycle in the moon shot.
  • Listen closely during Lena's first big fight scene in My-Otome 0~S.ifr~. One of the bad guys summons "Bakutenou", itself a Shout-Out to Midori's Gakutenou. This version looks like a dolphin — and at that moment the music shifts into "Journey of the Sorceror", the theme of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!
  • Mysterious Joker has one to Titanic in Episode 3, where the character Kaneari has placed a statue of himself at the nose of his ship with its arms spread out, much like Rose.
  • Naruto:
    • Naruto' bright orange outfit is a Shout-Out based on what Goku wore in Dragon Ball Z.
    • Speaking of Naruto and Dragon Ball, there is no way in hell Kishi didn't have the Kamemeha Wave in mind when he drew a picture of Kisame in Chapter 507.
    • Kishi loves shouting out to Dragon Ball. The Four Tailed beast for example, is a giant monkey similar to the Oozaru... And it's name is Son Goku. The same chapter that revealed that thing about Goku also revealed that the Nine Tailed Fox's name is Kurama. And Kishimoto himself said that the fox was inspired by reading YuYu Hakusho.
  • Fans of Neon Genesis Evangelion know (or at least should know) that most of the female characters follow Theme Naming after naval vessels. Asuka's family name Soryu is the same as that of a famous Japanese carrier sunk at Midway (Although spelt with different Kanji), and her middle name Langley is the same as two US Navy carriers. Guess what the UN carrier in Macross Zero is called. Langley was also one of the two doctors who built the HAL 9000 in 2001 a Space Odyssey (Dr. Chandra was the other).
  • In Night Raid 1931, an actor trying to remember his lines begins reciting the nursery rhyme Solomon Grundy.
  • Nurse Hitomi's Monster Infirmary:
    • A Ferengi appears in Chapter 32, and Sisko and Garak appear at a table in the background of one panel. In chapter 36, there's a teacher named Picar-sensei who looks exactly like Jean-Luc. In another chapter, Hitomi and her father see a movie called "Star Track" with a ship identical to the Enterprise on the poster.
    • In Chapter 32, the back room at the maid cafe has a "Monster Musumen: Everyday Life With Monster Boys" poster. It also appears in Hikage's manga magazine in Chapter 34.
    • A background character who looks just like Papi without wings appears in Chapter 36.
    • In Chapter 37, Kiryuin is reading a book called "Lady Vampire Camilla".
    • The director of the campground in the class trip arc is a blatant expy of Machete named Machee, who looks exactly like Danny Trejo.
    • Chapter 43 is a parody of several slasher films, including Friday the 13th and Halloween. On the last page, students who look like Hellraiser, Freddy Krueger, and a humanoid xenomorph appear.
  • Ouran High School Host Club:
    • Renge is a Cosplay Otaku Girl. In one episode, she comes to the beach with a tattoo drawn on her torso and her hair braided. When the hosts question her odd appearance, she explains that she's cosplaying Kisaragi Quon from RahXephon — she even uses her Catchphrase. (Unsurprisingly, both shows were made by Studio BONES.) For that added touch of irony, consider that Renge herself gets cosplayed in real life.
    • In the same scene, Renge says "La la!" and the twins ask, "LaLa? Like the manga magazine?" Referring to the magazine where Ouran was first serialized.
    • There's also a visual shoutout to Fullmetal Alchemist in Episode 16. Hikaru holds up a toy to show Haruhi, and it looks a lot like Ed. It coincidentally becomes an Actor Allusion in the dub.
  • Pani Poni Dash! had two of the characters from Azumanga Daioh drawn on the class blackboard in one episode as well as dozens or even hundreds of other references to other anime, including those that the voice actresses or production crew or studio (Peach Moon) has done before.
    • The OVA featured a Yukkuri, of all things.
  • Persona 4: The Animation:
  • Ping Pong:
    • One of the many nicknames Smile acquires over his life is Golgo, a reference to the main character of Golgo 13.
    • When Peco takes a test, he doodles Neon Genesis Evangelion characters and quotes all over the paper.
    • Two subtle references to Attack on Titan in the anime. One in the massive form that Kazuma takes in his match with Kong, the other in a popular film called "Attack On Robot", which shares not only a title, but the general synopsis of a large, inhuman beast no military can stand against.
  • In the Phoenix Wright doujinshi collection Official Casebook: The Phoenix Wright Files, Maya is concerned that Phoenix doesn't have any cool action moves and that the manga will suffer for it. She then points out his spiky hair and suggests that maybe he could transform into a blonde or something.
  • A scene from Plastic Memories is a near-exact copy of the scene from Neon Genesis Evangelion where Shinji lands on Rei. It features the brunette Tsukasa falling on Isla (who is a Rei Ayanami Expy).
  • Pokémon:
    • Musical shout outs can be found from time to time, usually in episode titles such as "Smells Like Team Spirit" or "Tears for Fears". The stealth shout-out award goes to Casey, however, when watching a (losing) baseball game, she says, "Where have you gone, Cory DiMario?"
    • Oscar and Andi in "The Bicker the Better" to The Rose of Versailles.
    • BW057 has Charles, a Kamen Rider homage so obvious it hurts.
    • The Electric Tale of Pikachu
    • The show also has loads of these. When discussing movies they watched when they were younger, May brings up one that's clearly Titanic IN SPACE!
    • In that same episode, the movie Max saw is a shout out to Ultraman, and the movie being shown in that episode is similar to the basic story of Super Mario Bros.. The one Ash saw as a little kid is a surprise nod to the Pocket Monsters manga!
    • Furthermore, not only is this episode named after it, but the climax apes King Kong (1933), right down to Swellow knocking it off a spire.
    • In DP we see two characters who look a lot like Sakura and Tomoyo. The animator must have been a fan◊
    • And of course, Team Rocket's names are obvious Shout Outs in both the original and the localization. Musashi and Kojiro are named after iconic samurai while Jessie and James are named after Western outlaw Jesse James. The dubbers took it further with their rival members Butch and Cassidy, along with Annie and Oakley (though only members in the dub) in Pokémon Heroes.
    • In DP, there's an episode where James strikes the Gendo Pose. And it's a riot.
      • The writers seem to be fans of Evangelion, as Georgia appears to be a Shout-Out to Asuka. Her Japanese name is "Langley", she shares the same hair and eye color as Asuka, and they have similarly hot-blooded relationships with a protagonist.
    • Zoey seems to be a Shout-Out to Kei from Dirty Pair. Dawn is her Yuri, alas their relationship fumbled part-way through the Sinnoh arc.
    • In XY027, Meowth mumbles a few lines from "Tomorrow Never Knows" as he's hit by a Flabébé's pollen.
    • In the Black and white episode, "A Restoration Confrontation: Part 2" Jessie, while wearing an eyepiece reminiscent of the Borg, says "resistance is futile".
  • Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea contains a few Shout-Outs to earlier Miyazaki movies: Fujimoto's ship looks like a boat crossed with a flaptor; the elderly ladies' knick-knack shelf contains a toy bird god, and when Sosuke puts his dad's hat on he looks a lot like Tombo.
    • Other shout-outs to Totoro in Ponyo: They have a magnet on the fridge that looks like Totoro's little white friend, and at one point, Lisa sings a line from the theme song of that movie.
  • Pretty Cure:
    • An episode of Futari wa Pretty Cure has Nagisa overhear two girls in her school talk about Pretty Cure, facefaulting whenever they insult Cure Black (unknowingly, to her face). This recalls an earlier Sailor Moon short film, "Make Up! Sailor Senshi", where Usagi overhears two girls in an open-air cafe talk about the Sailor Senshi and gets offended when they call her a crybaby. Toei Animation hasn't forgotten their Magical Girl roots after all.
    • In Smile PreCure!, Cure Peace plays rock-paper-scissors with the viewers after her henshin each episode, using a different sign each time. This is a nod to Sazae-san, where Sazae plays rock-paper-scissors at the end of each episode of the series, holding a sign with the respective symbol up.
      • Yayoi also has a Kamen Rider Ryuki alarm clock. This is because Kamen Rider airs right before Pretty Cure.
    • In the Smile Pretty Cure episode where Miyuki and Candy switch bodies, Akaoni sneezes Majorina's ring away. This is a shout out to Garfield and Friends. In one Screaming with Binky, Binky the Clown sneezes dust that came from a diamond away. Why is this a shout-out, you might ask? Because Akaoni's voice actor did Binky the Clown in the Japanese version of Garfield and Friends, therefore making it an Actor Allusion.
    • In Episode 26 of Smile Pretty Cure!, Yayoi styles her hair like Candy♡Candy, there is a Saint Seiya figure (which Yayoi wins), there is a lollipop that resembles Coffret from HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, a previous Precure series, and Majorina wins a trip to Guam at a game, referencing a Suite Pretty Cure ♪'' movie promotion with JALPAK which offered a Guam tour package.
    • Another Binky The Clown reference: Akaoni hosts a baseball game in Episode 29. This references a Screaming with Binky short in which he goes to a baseball game. Also, the background music during the ball rolling game has parts that sound a bit like "Friends Are There", Garfield and Friends' first intro. It is worth noting that the song itself was used as background music in Garfield and Friends, and characters even sang along with it.
    • The Glitter Force edit of Episode 30 is titled "Around the World in Eighty Books".
    • In Episode 33, the title of the movie the girls are in is called Ghost All Stars DX.
    • Episode 35's Akanbe parodies Kirby's trait in Super Smash Bros where it swallows characters and wears clothes resembling the character. In this case, it was Wolfrun!
    • Episode 41 has Cure Peace, after obtaining her Ultra Decor and new attack, takes a stance similar to how Son Goku had when he first became a Super Saiyan
    • In HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, the mooks used by the bad guys, the Snackies, resemble and act like the Shocker Troopers used by Gel-Shocker in Kamen Rider.
  • Princess Jellyfish's intro must have at least a dozen references, everything from Mary Poppins to Star Wars and James Bond.
  • In the Hot Springs Episode of Princess Lover!!, the circumstances may be different, but there's a clear Shout-Out to Kaiji in the form of Nezu falling down a trapdoor in silence, and Teppei's face drawn using Nobuyuki Fukumoto's distinct style.
  • Princess Resurrection has a child-like android among its characters. Her recharging station looks exactly like the one for the Borg.
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
    • Kyoko offers Homura a pack of Rocky snacks which resemble Pocky. This is likely a nod to the game Pocky and Rocky.
    • Also, the name of Madoka's teacher is Saotome. Sound familiar? For the record, her hair even resembles Ranma's to a certain degree.
    • The ending theme of The Movie, Rebellion, Kalafina's "Your Silver Garden", has chords that closely match those of End of Evangelion's infamous "Komm Susser Tod", according to this YouTube commentor.
  • Queen Millennia: Hajime notes that Yayoi's situation is similar to The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, after which she confirms Princess Kaguya is another Queen Millennia.
  • Raion Gotoki No Kuni Kara: In the manga, Kenyan exchange student Luca tells a story of having seen a movie about a lesbian couple in a secret midnight showing of a movie back in his home country. While never named, it's pretty blatant that he is talking about the Kenyan Queer Romance Rafiki, with the one shot of the movie the reader sees showing characters similar to that of the movie.
  • Ramen Fighter Miki begins each episode with a parody of the MGM "roaring lion" Vanity Plate, with main character Miki Onimaru in place of the lion.
  • At one point in Rave Master Haru is shot with an arrow and it initially appears as if it has skewered his head, but then reveals that he caught it between his teeth. This is very similar to a scene in the 6th One Piece movie.
  • The Korean manhwa Rebirth contained a scene where the God of Light Kalutika is addressing the Galactic Senate. It's supposed to be a council of gods, but the artist didn't bother to change very much (the council's leader looks exactly like Queen Amidala, though her costume is from a different scene).
  • Rent-A-Girlfriend: On Kazuya’s second practice date with Sumi, she takes him to a mall stage show where Chizuru is performing as the suit actress for the Pink Ranger in a rental-themed Super Sentai pastiche.
  • Shiratori Yuri was cast as Kiryuu Nanami in Revolutionary Girl Utena, who was obsessed over by a boy named Tsuwabuki. She was later cast as ghost-girl Aisaka Sayo in Negima! Magister Negi Magi, who (in the anime) died trying to protect her little sister's tsuwabuki garden.
  • In the Rosario + Vampire anime episode "Body Measurement + Vampire", when Ruby is playing doctor she seems to have been taking fashion tips from Dr. Ritsuko Akagi of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
    • The manga has a major one to Castlevania when the magic-cancelling whip "Belmont" is introduced, complete with a shot of Simon Belmont. The anime's version of Moka's father is also a dead ringer for Order of Ecclesia's version of Dracula.
  • Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise may have changed the name of the first man in space, the country that launched him, and the history surrounding it, but they didn't change the hardware design much.
  • In a chapter of Rurouni Kenshin, Sagara Sanosuke punches a human doll so hard that the smoking bomb inside comes out. On the bomb is painted the Straw-Hat Pirate skull-and-bones. This also refers to the fact that Oda actually used to be Watsuki's assistant before branching out on his own.
  • Sailor Moon:
    • A most unlikely shoutout to Robocop when Robocop's "Prime Directives" ("1. Serve the public trust, 2. Protect the innocent, 3. Uphold the law.") appear in the display of Mercury's visor, mimicking its appearance in Robocop's Robo Cam vision.
    • Sailor V is given several shoutouts throughout the earlier episodes before being introduced.
    • "It's Summer! The Sea! Our Youth! Also, A Ghost", features the Adams family.
    • The episode "Loved and Chased! Luna's worst day ever" is littered with Gone with the Wind references. The reincarnation of the final Great Youma is a tubby cat named Rhett Butler. When he first appears (acting as something of a Tuxedo Mask for Luna) atop a bus, the sign reads "No need for Heaven and Earth", his owner's family name is Ohara (As in, O'Hara)...
    • "Umino's Resolve! I'll Protect Naru", has an arcade cabinet with the word "Fighter" visible in the title.
    • One episode in Sailor Moon S has a Crayon Shin-chan shout out: Chibiusa runs into a cute boy... who has the exact same voice (and therefore seiyuu) as Shin. He almost performs the elephant dance for her when his mom comes along and takes him away... appropriately played by the seiyuu of Shin's mom. The reference is made a bit clearer when Chibiusa picks up a keychain of Shin shortly before the boy comes along.
    • You want unlikely? They actually reference Top Gun in an episode... Visual proof.◊
    • In the Mixx/Tokyopop English translation of the manga (but not in the original), Rei says that she likes to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer on TV.
    • In a volleyball-themed episode, the monster is a shout out to Mila from Attack No. 1.
    • In one episode, Usagi distracts Rei by claiming to have just seen Michael Jackson. Cue Rei's truly epic fangirl Squee moment.
    • Sailor Heavy Metal Papillion's name is a Pun on Iron Butterfly.
    • In the episode "A School Storm: The Transfer Students Are Idols", Ami downloads and prints a document that is supposedly a space engineering document from Columbia University, but in actuality contains the lyrics of Danger Zone.
  • When Saint Seiya was adapted to anime, Shun and Ikki got an Adaptation Dye-Job that may remind you of a famous pair of brothers. To be specific, Shun's color scheme is reminiscent of Luigi's 8-bit sprite, while Ikki's is reminiscent of Mario's back in the mid 80s. Looking at Luigi's portrayal nowadays...
  • Saint Young Men has numerous references to the life and works of Buddha and Jesus.
    • Light Yagami is shown in the background when Buddha explains that he'd be worried if a kid wanted his and Jesus' job.
    • Densha Otoko is mentioned.
  • In its first episode, Sasami-san@Ganbaranai features three sisters who transform into Magical Girls and fight a monster which looks rather similar to Walpurgisnacht's attacks. Two of them are even played by Madoka veterans Chiwa Saitō and Ai Nonaka. (But in the Studio Shaft Mind Screw tradition, this monster is made of chocolate.)
    • On another level, the sound effect of Grief Seeds cracking open is reused when Hikkikomori Sasami tries to go outside.
  • Juri Kato is one of Lain's friends in Serial Experiments Lain. In Digimon Tamers, Leomon's partner is called Juri Kato. The reason: Chiaki Konaka, director of Serial Experiments Lain, was the head writer of Digimon Tamers
    • Both shows also had characters named Alice and Reika.
  • In Shitei Bouryoku Shoujo Shiomi-chan, the plastic surgeon who can work miracles is a perverted Expy of Black Jack.
  • SHUFFLE!:
    • There's a Nyandam transformable action figure in one of the toy stores.
    • The Badass Adorable cat that appears in the show-to-commercials transition ends his combo with a Hadoken.
  • Shy:
    • The british hero David Wonder Jones/Stardust is clearly modeled after David Bowie.
    • The swiss heroine Pilse Dunant is named after the founder of the Red Cross, Henry Dunant and posesses healing powers
  • Sketchbook ~full color'S has a few shout outs. President Aria as a mascot and with lion statue from Arsenale tower, possibly Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Sailor Moon, and Night Wizard.
  • The seventeenth episode of the third Slayers season features Kerel, a character based visually off Neon Genesis Evangelion's Kaworu Nagisa, also having the same seiyuu (who also voices Xellos).
    • The Slayers manga Knight of Aqualord has Lina crossing a desert on a large flightless bird which very strongly resembles a Chocobo.
    • "Call me queen!"
    • There are several Sailor Moon shout outs, including Gourry being given Usagi's hairstyle in the first season's crossdressing episode and a "magic doctor" in the second season who looks like a slightly older Chibi-Usa.
    • There's even a Ranma ½ shout out; in NEXT, the Single-Minded Twins are perfect copies of Shampoo, at least in terms of looks.
  • In Soara and The Monsters' House, Baldur the thunder wolf and Maribel the mermaid experienced the soulmate shock when they made eye contact with each other.
  • Soul Eater features a number of music references:
  • The Story Between a Dumb Prefect and a High School Girl with an Inappropriate Skirt Length:
    • In Chapter 32, Kogori replicates the famous "Here's Johnny" face from The Shining when he sees an "inappropriate relationship".
    • In Chapter 34, one panel◊ shows Akina looking like a female version of Nobita.
  • Strawberry Marshmallow; in the manga, Nobue is a high school freshman of 16, while in the anime, she is 20 and in university. In her opening self-description in the anime, while breaking the Fourth Wall, Nobue says she is just a typical 16 year old high school student, then admits that its a lie, and that she is actually 20 and in university. Ana's dog Frusciante and Matsuri's ferret John are named after John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band Ana likes.
  • Towards the end of Space Knight Tekkaman Blade, a random man with a very strange hairstyle saves a child in a crowd as the entire city flees from the oncoming aliens immediately following The End of the World as We Know It. The extra's distinctive hair is that worn by the hero of the original Space Knight Tekkaman cartoon.
  • In Tales of Wedding Rings, the group eats at a restaurant called "Joestar's" in Chapter 27.
  • Tamagotchi:
    • In Episode 136, one of the traps Adobentchi unintentionally sets off in the temple is a large boulder that chases after him and the others, referencing the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
    • In Yume Kira Dream Episode 9, Himespetchi imagines she is on a ship with Mametchi. Mametchi holds her as she leans on the front of the boat, arms outstretched, referencing Titanic (1997).
    • In GO-GO Tamagotchi! Episode 11a, Miraitchi and Clulutchi show several outfits to Madamtchi and Watchlin to review. One of these outfits looks like a typical hero costume from Super Sentai (or by extension its overseas counterpart Power Rangers), with the top of the helmet displaying a bird's face. Interestingly, because Power Rangers is now owned by one of the market competitors of the series producer Bandai, this scene could cause a conflict-of-interest if it were given an English dub.
    • GO-GO Tamagotchi! Episode 23b references Ghostbusters in both name and basic premise.
  • Tearmoon Empire: In volume 4, Ludwig's master attempts to re-enact Liu Bei's three visits to Zhuge Liang as a test for Mia, framing it as "that ancient piece of folklore from the east".
  • Squidward Tentacles once had a cameo in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (here it is if you don't believe it.◊
    • There's also a shout-out to Spongebob in Crayon Shin-chan. In the gag dub, Parappa the Kappa is revealed to be a parody of Spongebob, although it isn't as popular in Japan, which is possibly why the Japanese version didn't have it.
    • In a flashback episode, Yoko appeared looking rather like Yomiko Readman of Read or Die, and even used the name "Yomako".
    • And then there was every single one of the Gainax Girls making an appearance in the Hot Springs Episode... in bunny costumes. Even the old lady from Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.
  • The second episode of This Ugly Yet Beautiful World had references to Please Teacher! and Ikki Tousen in two of the characters' daydreams when they try to figure out what to do with Hikari.
  • The second season of The Tower of Druaga. A candy is called Babylim Namco, a shout out to Namco, the company that made the game.
  • Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs:
  • Underworld Academy Overload!!: Shion's Holobus2000 is a reference to Nimbus 2000.
  • Virgin Ripper: There's a Clingy, Jealous, slightly-Yandere Cat Boy in a dark uniform, a pair of vicious twins with a tragic past, and a girl who hopes to go outside.
  • Wandering Son has its fair share of Shout Outs:
    • The series has had multiple references to Anne of Green Gables in early volumes.
    • In Chapter 92 Chizuru is shown reenacting a scene from Ju On for a School Festival.
    • In the anime the scene where Chi is introduced is changed to be more like how Haruhi is introduced in Haruhi Suzumiya
  • Welcome to the NHK!:
    • The English dub of the anime contains a Shout-Out to Neon Genesis Evangelion in the second episode preview — Sato shouts "I mustn't run away!" followed by Hitomi retorting "What are you, stupid?". Those are the catchphrases for Shinji and Asuka, respectively.
    • Another shout-out is to True Tears, the anime the "Moe Game" Sato worked on is based off of. Why would I say this? Well the game was named "True Words" and the main character on the cover looked almost identical to Noe.
  • Little plastic ducks in the first episode of Witchblade. They are not just random toys in a completely made-up scene. It's an awesome Shout-Out: read their tragic history (also see several links in comments). There's even a book about them!
  • Wolf's Rain is not notable for Shout Outs, but has a few:
    • The pre-credits scene from one episode has a cameo by a male prostitute who looks suspiciously similar to one who appeared in an episode of Cowboy Bebop (which was produced by the same team).
    • Also, the final image of Cowboy Bebop's closing titles is a flower lying in a puddle. Now look at the final image of the Wolf's Rain opening titles. Different puddle, different flower, but even so...
  • In Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches:
    • Yamada's partners in the Light Music Club, Sid and Nancy (who's one of the seventh witches), are an obvious one to Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Being a nickname, Nancy is an intentional In-Universe example as well.
    • Yamada and Tsubaki's first names are "Ryu" and "Ken"taro. The latter is also a gamer.
    • When Yamada and Itou are searching for the seventh witch in Chapter 60, the first girl they interview is a "stereotypical witch" named "Aiko Gagada".
    • Jin Kurosaki, one of the new Vice Presidents, is called an "Assassin" by Yamada in reference to his hoodie and demeanor.
    • When Yamada takes on the guise of the Masked DK as part of working off the 50,000 yen fee to kiss Aiko Chikushi, a witch who inherited Sarushima's power and uses it both to make money and fight crime as the Masked JK, his speech is very close to the one said by Kamen Rider Stronger.
    • Even one to Friends: Yamada and Shiraishi's very Insistent Terminology of how they're only "on a break".
    • The prank pulled on Noa in the live-action drama when she is covered with red paint while performing on stage has a certain resemblance to Carrie drenched in pig's blood.
  • Yo-kai Watch: When Nate is influenced by the trio of dancing seaweed Yo-Kai, he dances a lot like Michael Jackson, complete with "whoo!" and "jam-on!".
  • Yoshiyuki Tomino, and/or more than one of the artists who've worked with him, appears to be a fan of the Underground Comics artist Vaughn Bode, as trademarks like lumpy riding beasts, small but curvaceous fairy girls and psychedelic imagery feature prominently in several of his works.
  • Few from Your Lie in April:
    • The tune Kaori plays on the melodica in the first episode is A Morning of the Slag Ravine from Castle in the Sky.
    • There are some references from Peanuts Kaori quoted throughout the series:
      • In Episode 6: "It takes courage to sail through uncharted waters" by Snoopy.
      • In Episode 7: "When you're depressed, it always helps to lean your head on your arms. Arms like to feel useful" by Charlie Brown.
      • In Episode 11: "You know, I'm not always going to be around to help you" by Charlie Brown again.
      • In Episode 21: "We all need someone to kiss us goodbye" by Marcie.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • The art of "Illegal Summon" — a card that doesn't exist in the card game — is that of Jiraiya summoning a Toad. This is a Naruto reference that there was really no need for, but like with BoboBo they are all from the same manga publication.
    • Another anime-only card, "Cut Jewel", has art which bears a striking resemblance to Sasuke Uchiha cutting a gemm.
    • A lot of cards in the game make references to Konami's games. For example◊, these◊ four◊ cards◊ represent four characters from the Konami videogame "Sexy Parodius", a parody of Gradius.
    • One chapter of the manga involves an American superhero named Zombire, who is a clear parody of Spawn.
    • Sonic Duck is a member of Alabasta's Supersonic Duck Squadron. Big Bang Shot is Vegeta doing a Big Bang Shot.
    • For a similar reason to the above (being that they're all from Shonen Jump), Reborn! (2004) manages to snag a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shout out to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise: During one of the Omake episodes of Haru Haru's Interview Dangerous!, specifically the one with Basil. Reborn is trying to explain to Basil what teens his age do in their free time. In the cross sections of what he's saying, you can see Reborn wearing a green Duel Disk (possibly a transformed Leon).
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! GX has two characters named Rei and Asuka.
    • Though their colors are reversed: Asuka wears blue, Rei wears red. The latter's last name, Saotome, is itself a Shout-Out to Ranma ½, as the character was a Sweet Polly Oliver.
    • It also has this card.◊
    • The third season has some serious homages to Illusion of Gaia, including but not limited to: General Freed, who bears a stunning resemblance to Dark Knight Freedan; the Comet in Dark World, which is identical to the promotional art of the Comet of Destruction (both of them have roughly the same effect, too); Juudai as the Gentle Darkness while Will, his game counterpart, is the "chosen one of Darkness"; the character Johan, who closely resembles the character Lilly (and, like Lilly, has odd powers that are more handwaved than explained); and you could keep going for quite some time, if you wanted (or just look at the Shout-Out section on the GX page).
    • A one-shot character named Alice appears in the second season who seems to be a walking shout out to Rozen Maiden.
    • The English dub makes a Shout-Out to Ferris Bueller's Day Off in a Season 2 episode:
      Mr. Stein: Syrus?
      Syrus: Here!
      Stein: Bueller?
      Bueller: Here!
      Stein: Jaden? Jaden? Jaden? ...
    • Ruby Carbuncle looks a lot like Espeon.
  • Yui Kamio Lets Loose:
    • The chain of Sanzo that binds Yui is the golden fillet of obedience that was used on Son Goku in Journey to the West.
    • In chapter 1, when the gang leader remembers how Yui beat him and his gang back in 5th grade, the encounter is depicted as one to original Gen 1 Pokémon wild encounters.
    • Kiito calls Koyagi Doctor Strange for her use of Instant Runes. Turns out it's her actual nickname due to her brewing potions.
  • In Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs, Soma and Megumi from Food Wars!, another Jump series, appear among the students as Kogarashi is making crepes for one of the classes at the School Festival in Chapter 43.
  • The various Huckebeins from diverse anime are named after the German World War II plane Focke-Wulf Ta 183 "Huckebein", which itself was probably named after Hans Huckebein, the unlucky raven.
  • In Yuusha Gojo Kumiai Kouryuugata Keijiban, Veggievorn has the same appearance as Kamen Rider, and his finishing move resembles the Rider Kick.
  • Zatch Bell! has a few of these. A one-shot demon that Bari faced was named "Donpoccho" — which according to the author was a reference to Don Patch of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (although he looks more like Shrek). Later on, we have Ted, who the author says was based on Naruto (and went on to have his VA in the Japanese version) and Final Boss Clear Note, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Light Yagami — at first, anyway.

Alternative Title(s): Shout Out Anime And Manga

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