Discussion References in Manga/Anime

[destiny4ever]

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru

Episode 6

Sanada makes a reference to Star Wars when explaining why he looks so worn out. “Feels like I just suppressed my dark side to become a Jedi.”

Hotori makes a reference to Scanners after Sanada tells her that he doesn’t have a scanner. “Scanners? I thought you were training to become a Jedi."

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Welcome to the NHK

The brand name of the cigarettes Satou smokes is Warlboro, a reference to the brand name Marlboro.

 

[Crude]

Kuragehime's opening is chock full of references to famous movies. In order of appearance:

- Star Wars
- Singin' in the Rain
- Mary Poppins
- Emperor of the North Pole
- God of Gamblers
- 007 James Bond
- Game of Death
- The Graduate
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Plus in one of the most recent episodes, Nicole Ritchie, Paris Hilton and Sean Connery are mentioned.

 

[saladesu]

In Durarara!! (in addition to what has already been posted), a character has Jigoku Shoujo's catch phrase "Ippen, Shindemiru?" (would you like to try dying once?) as her message tone, and many other manga/novels make appearances as they are being read by some characters, such as Yotsuba&!.

The animation studio BONES seems to have been making a shoutout to 2 other series it animated in Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto. In one episodes, one of the character's fantasies is accompanied with the distinctive roses and golden caption box at the bottom (see this pic, I can't explain it properly) of Ouran High School Host Club. In another episode, I may be just reading too much into it, but a character had a pocket watch much like that used by Ed in Fullmetal Alchemist

 

[Roflkopt3r]

No idea if this has been posted already, but I thought it was funny:
20th Century Boys Chapter 70

A pupil named "Inoue" wants to make his japanese history report about Miyamoto Musashi. This is probably a reference to Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond, which is about Miyamoto Musashi.
The teacher replies "But make sure to capture the social background and not just the sword fights!" - could this be a slight taunt against Inoue?

Now I wonder if the following pages of the same scene also refer to mangaka and their works? The pupils and their topics are:
-Inoue and Miyamoto Musashi (Takehiko Inoue - Vagabond)
-Egawa and the Russian-Japanese War
-Okano and Abeno Seimei

20th century boys generally contains a lot of references to (especially old!) manga. The ever-present "friend" logo is a reference to a symbol in a Shonen magazine, but that's even going a little into the plot...

 

[R4n]

^ Still about 20th Century boys, i got a feeling that the duo mangakas in the manga refer to Hiroshi Fujimoto and Moto Abiko. They wore the same beret hat as the caricature of those duo mangaka. Of course, i have no proof for this, it is just a hunch.

Urasawa Naoki-sensei loves to put a lot of historical references in his manga. In his newest manga, Billy Bat, the references are so rich and interesting that i could have written a book from it. Check it out~

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In Harlem Beat, there is a character named Kobayashi Sumitsugu who joins a Kendo club in middle school and joins the basketball club in high school. Then he becomes the captain of the basketball club. Inoue Takehiko himself joined Kendo club in middle school and became the captain of basketball club in high school. Of course, calling Kobayashi a reference to Inoue seems so far-fetched because both of them have vastly different characteristic... but i find the similarity interesting

 

[Roflkopt3r]

^ Still about 20th Century boys, i got a feeling that the duo mangakas in the manga refer to Hiroshi Fujimoto and Moto Abiko. They wore the same beret hat as the caricature of those duo mangaka. Of course, i have no proof for this, it is just a hunch.

A translator even explained the reference, hope I can find it... somewhere where they explain their name as a duo, there is a footnote by the translator.
Edit: here it is: http://i6.mangareader.net/20th-century-boys/50/20th-century-boys-1562198.jpg

Their name in the manga: Ujiki+Kaneko = Ujiko Ujio
Reference to: Authors of Doraemon, writing under the synonyme Fujiko Fujio

Could this be a reference to SAW btw? http://i23.mangareader.net/20th-century-boys/78/20th-century-boys-1562383.jpg
I'm not sure though if this might perhaps be even older than SAW?

 

[R4n]

^ Oh really? haha, i am so glad my hunch turns out to be right xD
I read the hardcopy, so i never see the translator's note
EDIT: oh yeah, the name is so damn obviously a pun, how could i missed it xDD

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I am not sure if anybody ever mentioned this, but Akira-sensei modeled one character in Dr. Slump from his editor. He himself shows up in the manga quite frequently.

In Meitantei Conan, there are a lot of references about mystery novels and famous detectives. There is 'Cafe Poirot' and 'Restaurant Colombo'. He even spoiler the ending of the 'ABC Murder' by Agatha Christie in one of the case...

Genshiken is a manga about otaku culture, of course there are manga/anime/games references galore. In fact, Ogiue is so obviously looking for Full Metal Alchemist yaoi doujinshis (Roy x Ed, to be precise) in Comiket...

 

[Crude]

Could this be a reference to SAW btw? http://i23.mangareader.net/20th-century-boys/78/20th-century-boys-1562383.jpg
I'm not sure though if this might perhaps be even older than SAW?

I've never read 20th Century Boys, but isn't the character on the screen a reference to Ninja Hattori, which is by the creators of Doraemon? I mean he looks a lot like him.

 

[Roflkopt3r]

I've never read 20th Century Boys, but isn't the character on the screen a reference to Ninja Hattori, which is by the creators of Doraemon? I mean he looks a lot like him.

Oh absolutely! That guy is definitly wearing a Ninja Hattori mask.

It's one of countless references and direct mentionings of old manga. After all a good part of the story takes place between 1967 and 1970, so there are many manga of that time mentioned. And Ninja Hattori ran in 1964 – 1971 according to Wikipedia.

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Here is another one from 20th Century Boys. The way it's phrased makes it obvious that it is a reference, but I wouldnt have understood it without the editor's sidenote, according to which this is a reference two both Ashita no Joe and Kyojin no Hoshi.
Dialogue:
"What's your name?"
"I... I am patrol officer Hoshi!"
"Hoshi-Kun... guess that makes me Yabuki Joe."

Explanation added by the editor: http://www.mangareader.net/111-3831-18/20th-century-boys/chapter-192.html

 

[saladesu]

Many names in Fullmetal Alchemist are references to military vehicles or weapons; for example, Roy Mustang gets his name from the P-51 Mustang, Riza Hawkeye from Grumman E-2 Hawkeye (incidentally, her grandfather's name is Grumman), Alex Louis and Mira Olivier Armstrong from the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, Maes Hughes from the Hughes H-4 Hercules, King Bradley from the M2 Bradley tank and so on.

Guess this is also a shout-out by Ohba-sensei for his/her other series, when s/he put Bakuman's Azuki Miho's birthday as 5th November (the day a certain character in Death Note dies). Also, when Saikou returns to the classroom to retrieve his notebook, Shuujin says to him "it's not like it's a death note, is it?" (or something to that effect).

 

[destiny4ever]

Lol, John titor is actually a person irl.
I never would have thought of that and never knew that.

As Zeltrax says it, John Titor is mentioned in Steins;Gate.

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Pepsi and other real life advertising are used in Tiger and Bunny.

Thanks to Jeffry2009 for the pic!

 

[Bromamura]

Bleach
Maybe it's just the translation but iirc in one of the more recent chapters one of the characters mentioned playing Tekken.

One Piece
Alot of references in the name of characters.

• Marshall D Teach modeled on Edward Teach, both known as Blackbeard
• Kuma modeled on Bartholomew Roberts
• Rayleigh's name referring to Sir Walter Raleigh
• Trafalgar Law's name a reference to the Battle of Trafalgar
• Doflamingo's name a reference to Don Quixote, then of course there is the contrasting perception of chasing dreams by both characters.
• Kizaru's Design was modeled on the actor Kunie Tanaka.

I'm sure there's plenty more.

Edit: I didn't pick up on it the first time but upon later reading I found out that the 2nd Epsiode of GITS SAC 2nd GIG appears to be a reference to Taxi Driver.

 

[Organizized]

One Piece
Alot of references in the name of characters.

• Marshall D Teach modeled on Edward Teach, both known as Blackbeard
• Kuma modeled on Bartholomew Roberts
• Rayleigh's name referring to Sir Walter Raleigh
• Trafalgar Law's name a reference to the Battle of Trafalgar
• Doflamingo's name a reference to Don Quixote, then of course there is the contrasting perception of chasing dreams by both characters.
• Kizaru's Design was modeled on the actor Kunie Tanaka.

I'm sure there's plenty more.

Ah, can't believe I (and anyone else) hasn't mentioned those yet.. I'll add some to that list.

• First of all, I'm not so sure about Trafalgar Law's name being a reference to the Battle of Trafalgar as much as the real-life Edward Low (which Eichiiro Oda himself said he was based on).
• Both Marshall D. Teach's (Blackbeard) and also Edward Newgate's (Whitebeard) names are based on the real-life pirate Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard like you mentioned.
• Roronoa Zoro's name is based on real-life pirate François l'Olonnais
• Eustass Kidd modeled after real-life pirate William Kidd.
• Capone Bege is named after gangster Al Capone, as his crew is all mafia-themed and stuff.
• X. Drake is based on Francis Drake who was a Vice Admiral and renowned hero of the English, but considered a pirate to the Spaniards for the many raids he launched on their ships. Not exactly the same as X. Drake who ditched the Marines to become a pirate, but his name and the fact that he was Rear Admiral and now a pirate is enough.
• Not only Kizaru's appearance was based off a Japanese actor, the other admirals' are as well: Akainu is modeled after Bunta Sugawara and Aokiji is modeled after Yusaku Matsuda.

Yeah, there are probably too many references to count in One Piece... so I'll just leave it at that...

 

[saladesu]

Rurouni Kenshin
Ohkubo Toshimichi was, in real life, one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration. There is a character by the same name and of course who looks like the real Ohkubo in the manga, and the interesting thing is the similarities (or not?) in the way they were assassinated.

Spoiler

Real life Ohkubo was allegedly assassinated by six discontented clansmen on his way to Tokyo. It's interesting that in the manga, Watsuki depicts that his death was actually caused by Seta Soujirou, but that the clansmen took responsibility for his assassination, thus Soujirou and the Shishio faction got away scott-free.

Just thought it was pretty interesting how Watsuki manipulated historical facts a little to suit his purposes

There is also Saitou Hajime who was based off his real-life counterpart with the same name. They did not really look similar, but they were both captains within the Shinsengumi. Both the real-life Saitou and manga Saitou go by the alias Fujita Gorou and served as policemen after the restoration.

 

[Bromamura]

Ah, can't believe I (and anyone else) hasn't mentioned those yet.. I'll add some to that list.

• First of all, I'm not so sure about Trafalgar Law's name being a reference to the Battle of Trafalgar as much as the real-life Edward Low (which Eichiiro Oda himself said he was based on).
• Both Marshall D. Teach's (Blackbeard) and also Edward Newgate's (Whitebeard) names are based on the real-life pirate Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard like you mentioned.
• Roronoa Zoro's name is based on real-life pirate François l'Olonnais
• Eustass Kidd modeled after real-life pirate William Kidd.
• Capone Bege is named after gangster Al Capone, as his crew is all mafia-themed and stuff.
• X. Drake is based on Francis Drake who was a Vice Admiral and renowned hero of the English, but considered a pirate to the Spaniards for the many raids he launched on their ships. Not exactly the same as X. Drake who ditched the Marines to become a pirate, but his name and the fact that he was Rear Admiral and now a pirate is enough.
• Not only Kizaru's appearance was based off a Japanese actor, the other admirals' are as well: Akainu is modeled after Bunta Sugawara and Aokiji is modeled after Yusaku Matsuda.

Yeah, there are probably too many references to count in One Piece... so I'll just leave it at that...

Wow that is indeed very interesting, I had no idea both Aokiji and Akainu were based on actors as well.

As its probably well know in Bleach Kubo likes to reference famous architects in the names of his Espadas:

• Barragan is named after Luis Barragan the mexican architect.
• GJ's name takes inspiration from Nicholas Grimmshaw.
• Nnoitra's name based on that of Richard Neutra and Paul Gilger.

Also to add one to Rurouni Kenshin there's Okita Soji, another captain of the Shisengumi who appears in the OVA and briefly in the manga. He was even shown to cough blood as a reference to the real life Okita who perished from tuberculosis.

 

[destiny4ever]

Kuragehime's opening is chock full of references to famous movies. In order of appearance:

- Star Wars
- Singin' in the Rain
- Mary Poppins
- Emperor of the North Pole
- God of Gamblers
- 007 James Bond
- Game of Death
- The Graduate
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Plus in one of the most recent episodes, Nicole Ritchie, Paris Hilton and Sean Connery are mentioned.

Regarding Kuragehime, I don’t know if this pic really happened in the anime, but if it did, that pic is a reference to one of the scenes of the movie “Howl's Moving Castle”.

 

[Akiyama]

Starbucks in manga / TWGOK, Bleach, and Soul Eater

 

[k-dom]

I'm currently reading manhwa Ares and in chapter 60 we got this picture

Spoiler

I doubt I'm wrong when I say there is some painting reference here

Spoiler

 

[Asarii]

20th Century Boys - using the hand arrow ☜ talking about Shonen Sunday.

20CB also made a lot of references to classic rock music and their respective artists. I think Janis Joplin was mentioned as well as the Woodstock festival.

 

[destiny4ever]

Harry Potter was mentioned at the beginning of episode 6 of Daily Lives of High School Boys.