Shout-Out/Anime and Manga

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


This page lists Shout-Outs seen in various Anime and Manga series.

Japanese works tend to be very fond of these.

For related tropes, see the index page.

  • Highschool of the Dead features as a main character Hirano Kohta. No, not that one.
  • Jean-Luc Pikachu from the The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga series, complete with a Starfleet communicator! Also, Felix the Caterpie.
    • 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, 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 of been a fan [dead link]
      • I'm suprised that no one's done a crossover with either of those two with a character in Pokémon.
      • There already has. Just check Fan Fiction.Net.
    • 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.
  • There are so many Shout Outs to Fist of the North Star in most comedy anime that we'd be here all day pointing them out, but...
    • Excel Saga: After F City is destroyed, the rest of the series is more or less a continuous Shout-Out, with Excel as Ken fighting the Z Gang from the first episode along with a sidekick named Pad, a reference to the original Bratty Half-Pint, Bat.
    • Great Teacher Onizuka: Onizuka fights a group of punks harassing his students with Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken, the series' signature Spam Attack. He also draws Ken's seven-point scars on his chest with magic marker and screams about a woman named Yuria, Ken's fiancee.
    • Mari, the Huge Schoolgirl from the original Project A-ko, is pretty much just Kenshiro in drag.
    • In the episode of Abenobashi set in a parallel Hong-Kong-action-movie world, Sasshi undergoes a painful (and funny) training, at the end of which he looks like Ken, complete with scars on the chest. And when Mune-Mune hugs him, his head expands and then he deflates like a balloon, returning back to normal, a G-rated version of the many splatterrific deaths of the show.
    • I just saved you a lot of time.
  • There are also quite a few JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Shout Outs:
    • Puni Puni Poemy: The alien that Nabeshin fights uses Jotaro Kujo's Star Platnium Stand to deflect Nabeshin's attack, complete with ORAORAORAORA. Nabeshin lampshades this by noting that "it's kind of Stand-ish...".
    • Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: In one of the Tachikoma Days shorts, a Tachikoma gets a Stand which it uses to reset the world. Two for the price of one: not only does the Tachikoma pronounce "The World" as "Za Warudo", but the Stand's ability to reset the world references Made In Heaven, another JoJo's Stand which actually can reset the universe.
    • One particular episode of Hayate the Combat Butler has head butler Klaus suffer a nervous breakdown after being forced into a vacation. His antics culminate in him running around an Elaborate University High while wearing a copy of the stone mask that turned Dio into a vampire. When the mask is broken by Yukiji Katsura (mimicking the original JoJo's Ki Attacks, no less), he proceeds to call out "WRYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Another episode has Talking Animal Tama wearing Jotaro's Nice Hat in one scene, while his Catch Phrase ("Yareyare da ze") is displayed in the background... But then again, Tama and Jotaro have the same voice actor.
    • It's even funnier in the second series when the narrator, voiced by Norio Wakamoto, says ZA WARUDO for a commercial break, because he did the voice of Dio for the CD Drama.
    • Asuma Sarutobi of Naruto also uses some of Jotaro's lines. Same VA? Yeah.
    • Another Actor Allusion happens with Taizou Kiritsubo, leader of B.A.B.E.L. in Zettai Karen Children. When trying to wake up Director Fujiko, after several ineffectual attempts, he justs bangs on her door while shouting "ORAORAORAORAORA!".
    • In one episode of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Kamina uses Dio's battlecry of "MUDAHMUDAHMUDAHMUDAH!". In another, Kittan uses Jotaro's "ORAORAORAORA!".
  • Frieza's third form in Dragonball Z is a shout out to the titular monster of the Alien movies.
  • 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 Osamu Tezuka.
    • Also, in Kimba the White Lion, Astro Boy cameos. Twice, in fact. 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!
  • 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 Mahou Sensei Negima, who (in the anime) died trying to protect her little sister's tsuwabuki garden.
  • 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.
  • A scene in Popotan features Mii imitating the famous MGM Lion... and in the process giving you diabetes.
  • 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.
  • Jan-Puu from Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl uses the Catch Phrase oneeniisama from Maze Megaburst Space when addressing Hazumu. Both series are from the same creator.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • The Japanese title of Martian Successor Nadesico, Kidou Senkan Nadeshiko (Mobile Battleship Nadesico), is a play on Uchuu Senkan Yamato (Space Battleship Yamato), Kidou Senshi Gundam (Mobile Suit 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.
  • Love Hina also has several Star Wars reference. 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 Strike 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.
  • 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. [dead link]
    • 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 Buellers 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.
  • The anime Hand Maid Mai does a shoutout 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.
  • 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, Prince of Tennis, ×××HOLiC and Gundam SEED.
  • Ichigo Mashimaro; 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.
  • In Persona 4: The Animation, when Yu commanded Chie to sit on his lap he was channelling a certain memetic manga.
  • Most of the characters in Bastard!!!! are named after 80s metal musicians. Then again, the entire show is rife with such Theme Naming, extending to countries, organizations and even spells.
  • The seventeenth episode of the 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!"
      • Maybe, or it might just be a reference to the BDSM phrase that Sorcerer Hunters was quoting.
    • 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.
  • 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 aswell. Twice in the 3rd volume of the final arc someone is seen with a Nu hankercheif.
  • I would list this under Konami, however this is a Yu-Gi-Oh!! anime reference only. 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 [dead link] four cards represent four characters from the Konami videogame "Sexy Parodius", a parody of Gradius.
    • Likewise reason with the above (being that they're all from Shonen Jump), Katekyo Hitman Reborn 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).
  • 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.
  • Pucca has a sequence during a costume party where the band dresses up like Devo.
  • 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 Pretty Cure, 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. It wasn't like this originally-Sazae used to toss a bean or rice cake and catch it in her mouth at the end of the show. After a kid almost died doing this, they changed it to rock-paper-scissors.
      • Yayoi also has a Kamen Rider Ryuki alarm clock. This is because Kamen Rider airs right before Pretty Cure.
  • Sailor Moon has a most unlikely shoutout to Robocop in a moment when Robocop's "Prime Directives" ("1. Serve the public trust, 2. Protect the innocent, 3. Uphold the law.") appears in the display of Mercury's visor, mimicking its appearance in Robocop's Robo Cam vision.
    • 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.
    • In the dub, the elephant dance was changed to "I wear Sailor Moon underwear!"
    • You want unlikely? They actually reference Top Gun in an episode... Visual proof.
    • In the English translation of the manga (but not in the original), Rei says that she likes to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer on TV.
    • 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)...
  • Wolf's Rain is not notable for Shout Outs, but has at least one: 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...
  • 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. Towards the end of the series, the English dub added a The Simpsons reference ("Thank you, come again!")
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • The blackboards in Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei purely serve this purpose, and that's after the normal dialogue, which is full to bursting with offhand comments on current events and media.
  • Bubblegum Crisis is loaded with Shout Outs:
    • One of the biggest souces 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.
  • Naruto's bright orange outfit is a Shout-Out based on what Goku wore in Dragonball Z.
    • Speaking of Naruto and Dragonball, there is no way in hell Kishi didn't have the Kamemeha Wave in mind when he drew this picture of Kisame.
      • Kishi loves shouting out to Dragonball. 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 Yu Yu Hakusho.
  • The English dub of Alien 9 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!"
  • The Fullmetal Alchemist manga contains a shout out to The Fly. "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 backround.
    • Also, in 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?
  • 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 a Weird Al Effect of sorts.
  • Bougen Honey, an h-manga, features a character named Alice Hartman, an American exchange student whom the story implies is the granddaughter of Full Metal Jacket's Sgt. Hartman. Her grandfather is explicitly stated to be a Marine sergeant whom she picked up some Japanese from; incredibly profane Japanese in the form of stereotypical Drill Sergeant Nasty-speak.
  • 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.
  • 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 link.
  • [[Sketchbook Full Colors|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.
  • In Fruits Basket, the gang goes to a forest near a lake one day. Kyo remembers the rumors of a violent bear in the forest that attacks travelers. Its name? Jason. Yuki can only conjure the image of a bear in a hockey mask.
  • 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.
    • A conversation of Jump manga ordering talked about how some of the guys favorite ecchi mangas (like To LOVE-Ru, Is, and Ichigo 100%) did worse than others due to people not wanting others to see they had ranked those higher, thus getting lower status and less color pages.
  • In 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".
  • 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 Mahou Sensei Negima, used as a source of inspiration for one character.
    • The series also references Fist of the North Star when Ikki wears a headband with 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".
  • 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.
  • In episode 4 of Oniisama e..., 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.
  • 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.
  • And 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).
  • 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 Flash Back 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Renge from Ouran High School Host Club 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 Catch Phrase. (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?" Refering 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 coincidentially becomes an Actor Allusion in the dub.
  • 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?!")
  • 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.
    • Amber looks almost exactly like C.C. of Code Geass, although their personalities are very different.
  • 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".
  • When we see Kanuka's Grandmother remembering her (American) pilot husband taking off on his last mission. The plane is clearly labeled "Lovely Angel" (Tsukasa Dokite was the designer of the classic Dirty Pair before Patlabor). Unfortunately, it's taking place during the Korean war winter of 1950-1 so the B17F he's flying is Just Plane Wrong.
  • 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".
  • Little plastic ducks in the first episode of Witchblade. They are not just random toys in completely made-up scene. It's awesome Shout-Out: read their tragic history (also see several links in comments). There's even book about them!
  • In a recent chapter of One Piece we see some snails (which are used for a lot of things in One Piece) that are able to function as security cameras with the lead one having weird looking eyes, which is look a lot like the Rinnegan from Naruto, which grants multiple bodies a shared line of vision.
  • 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.
  • In Hidamari Sketch:
    • Episode one shows a crossword puzzle on screen for a few seconds. If you solve it, the answers are the names of a bunch of other popular anime.
      1. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
      2. Mariasama ga Miteru
      3. Da Capo
      4. Utawarerumono
      5. Azumanga Daioh
      6. Miyuki
      7. Popotan
      8. Kino's Journey

Final Answer: Hidamari

      • And Miyako won that puzzle.
    • In episode one, you can see that Yuno has six volumes of Hidamari Sketch manga.
    • And then there are of course all those Cosplay outfits as worn by Yoshinoya-sensei. Her statement that she is "forever 17" is also a reference to seiyuu Kikuko Inoue.
    • The "I'm 17" bit is also a point of comedy for My-HiME's Midori Sugiura. In an "On the Next..." episode voiceover, a few characters express their disbelief about Midori's real age, and Yukariko (voiced by Inoue) tells then that they should take Midori to her word.
  • Listen closely during Lena's first big fight scene in Mai-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!
  • Episode 5 of Macademi Wasshoi, 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 shut out to Rose of Versailles Look at them both carefully they're almost the exact same.
  • Muteki Kanban Musume begins each episode with a parody of the MGM "roaring lion" Vanity Plate, with main character Miki Onimaru in place of the lion.
  • 2nd season The Tower of Druaga anime. An candy is called Babylim Namco, a shout out to Namco, the company that made the game.
  • 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?!"
  • Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, if it doesn't have the prize for best Shout Outs, it's in the running for the most. Including, but not limited to: A Tachikoma reading lips 2001-style, HAL9000-like cameras, a photograph-analysis scene lifted from Blade Runner, various affectionate Take Thats to The Matrix, a lampshaded homage to the sniper battle in Full Metal Jacket, "sauce" used as an euphemism for "source," The Silence of the Lambs and other psychological horror movies, French and Italian black-and-white movies, Metropolis, J.D. Salinger, Richard Dawkins (one of the Tachikomas makes reference to The Selfish Gene at one point, even gesturing with the book), William Gibson (prosthetic eyes from Zeiss), Flowers for Algernon, Neon Genesis Evangelion as well as numerous others.
    • The show also features various homages/Shout Outs at its own movies. Starting with the Majors attempt to open the tank in episode 2, she also shoots somebody from outside the window with optical camouflage, mirroring one of the earliest scenes in the original movie. Lastly, we have another homage to the second GITS movie Innocence in the movie Solid State Society (which plays after the anime), which mirrors the scene when Batou is mowing down the white puppets while the Major is doing her hacking. Only in this scene, it were white soldiers. Batou even says "Isn't this the way we've always done it?"
    • Not to mention the 2nd Gig episode that was a homage to Taxi Driver.
  • 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).
  • Princess Resurrection has a child-like android among its characters. Her recharging station looks exactly like the one for the Borg.
  • 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 roughtly 22 hours at a stretch), and is willing to do anything for what he percieves to be the right thing.
  • The Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer film has a scene from the school festival in planning that's chock full of Shout Outs as a number of people cosplay as other series popular at the time, such as a guy dressed as Darth Vader waiting in line at the school's infirmary.
    • Episode 72 (adapted from manga chapter 78), in which Ataru and his classmates made an amateur film, featured several references, including to Gone with the Wind, Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (with Shinobu acting out the iconic "Kaikan!" scene), Cyborg 009, and (maybe) The Sound of Music
    • Episode 122 (the episode that introduces Kitsune) features a Call Back to the previously-mentioned one: Kitsune is looking through the window of a movie theater where the "Kaikan!" scene from Sailor Suit and Machine Gun is playing, and an Imagine Spot follows showing that it reminds him of Shinobu.
    • Episode 118 featured another amateur film, this time directed by Megane, which featured a scene of Ataru running away from a bomber airplane while wearing a suit and tie -- likely an homage to the crop duster chase scene from North by Northwest (at least, AnimEigo's episode notes identify it as such).
    • Episode 121 starts with Princess Kurama's crows using a database of every male in the universe in an attempt to find her perfect mate. One of the candidates displayed for a split second is a Pierson's Puppeteer.
  • 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.)
  • The entirety of Jinki Extend is one big shout out to other Mecha anime. See the article for more details.
  • Gash 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 thats ignoring the new ZAFT suits are called Zakus and Goufs.
    • Casting Tohru Furuya for 00's Ribbons is probably the best part of the 30 year anniversary. Of course the fact he turns out to be the main villain, the first to pilot a Gundam and him Gundam Jacking the 0, which is pretty much a more stylish RX-78 maskes it so awesome one might just fall over from shock.
    • The final episode of Mobile Suit 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.
  • One filler episode of Eyeshield 21 was a mystery. They paid tribute to two popular mystery manga/anime titles: Detective Conan with their "door closing" commercial stinger and The Kindaichi Case Files with their "suspect matrix."
  • Cowboy Bebop
    • Episode 9 "Jamming With Edward has a weird conspiracy theorist named Yuri Kellerman, a reference to 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).
      • On top of that, Yoko Kanno's soundtrack itself contains homages and Shout Outs to everyone from John Hiatt to Tom Waits.
    • There are whole websites dedicated to index the numerous references you can find in Cowboy Bebop.
  • In Umineko no Naku Koro ni, if you look at the show that Maria's usually watching on the TV, you'll find that she's watching the series's predecessor. More evidence of Rosa's A+ parenting skills?
    • The joke is funnier when you realize that Yui Horie voiced both Hanyuu and Maria.
    • Two episodes later Kanon arms himself with Rena's trademark billhook cleaver while investigation the mansion's boiler room. Not that it does him any good...
    • And in episode 5 of the VN, Rudolf, who is voiced in the anime by the same guy who plays Jack Bauer, starts singing the first few lines of the Jack Bauer song.
    • And then Jessica's concert in the second arc is one giant Shout-Out to Touhou and Nico Nico Douga. Even more so in the VN, where she's singing "Tsurupettan", but even in the anime, her band is cosplaying some of the main characters.
      • The anime has Jessica perform her Image Song instead of "Tsurupettan", but it's still Shout-Out-overdosed in the form of Higurashi Catch Phrase-peppered lyrics.
    • And also, there's that time when Beatrice gets a bit pissed at her butler. Her response to his smart remarks: Urusai! Urusai! Urusai!
    • And when George and Shannon go to the aquarium, George wears a t-shirt labeled "Tomitake Flash!"
    • One of the boats that travel to the island is named the "Hanyuu Maru"
    • Battler once remarks that he read in a book once that the most unsolvable murder is the one that never occurred at all (or rather, the one that nobody realizes has occured). The book's name? Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.
    • A couple more Shout Outs to Higurashi in the Umineko VN: First, Bernkastel, in an effort to cheer up Battler, says "Miiiii? Ni~pah!" Second, when Lamdadelta's taunting Battler about his theories, she suggests it might all be because of the Rokkenjima Syndrome causing everyone to go crazy. Later, to get Lambda to go along with her, Bern threatens to tell Lambda the ending of Higurashi.
    • EP7 of the VN acknowledges the fact that the anime changed the song Jessica sang. Will is talking to Jessica, and tells her that he liked the songs she sang. "Both the 'pettan, pettan' song, and the 'dokkyun, dokkyun' song"
    • Possibly the best thing that could happen to a fan translation group happened to Witch Hunt when a group in episode 4 was nameda after them. This was even confirmed by the author in a letter he sent to them telling them of how happy he is with their work (which is well deserved).
    • The BGM system0 opens with lines taken from Star Trek: First Contact.
    • Another Touhou shout out, in EP7 of the VN, while discussing the mystery novel And Then There Were None, Gaap suggests the culprit might be a 495-year-old witch.
    • Yet another to Higurashi, this time in Umineko's manga; the "Previously On..." for chapter 12 of the 4th episode features Sakutaru dressed like Keiichi (fearful of footsteps behind him), Beatrice dressed like Rena (with a simplified version of Rena's billihook), and Ange mimicking Rena's famed "USODA". It even ends with a panel showing a Cicada.
  • 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!"
    • In the Japanese version of the Hellsing OVA , Jan shouts "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right!... We're the only ones with invincible mode." instead.
    • 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.
  • The Battle Athletes Victory series has a pair of athletes recite the Konami Code to break the concentration of their opponents in a three-legged race.
  • Ponyo on the 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 shououts 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.
  • In one episode of Ah! Megami-sama: Sorezore no Tsubasa, Skuld sets one of her inventions, controlled by a SNES controller, to reset with a variant of the Konami Code (SET SET instead of B A). It could be coincidence, but...
  • 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.
  • 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 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.
  • Student Council's Discretion: Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star, Dragon Ball and Dragonball Evolution, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, K-On!!, Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note, Clannad... Did I miss any? By the way, the show has only been going for two episodes so far.
    • You did. These were only (part of) the most obvious ones. Most of the lines in this show were Shout-Outs, but a particularly frapant example is the 1:1 remake of Strike Witches. And don't even get started on the cut scenes. Actually, if you want to list all the Shout-Outs, you need to make another wiki specially for this.
      • Before the opening theme of the first episode: Forest.com, Keisato, Kai!, followed by the black butler, Lucky Star, Evolution, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (the second season, too, nonetheless), the costumes, and Lucky Star again. This time way too blunt. WAY TOO BLUNT. This makes 12 blatant shout outs for 2 minutes and 20 seconds.
    • How did it shout out to DBE? Was it a Take That?
      • -->Minatsu: "Then let's make it into a story about collecting seven balls with stars on them!" Ken: "Evolution" Minatsu: "Don't mention that one!"
  • 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.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Chie-sensei is an Expy of Ciel from Tsukihime, though I guess it could count as a shout out as well.
  • Bleach has a number of these:
    • Anime episode #5. While referring to his leech bomb-throwing hollows, the hollow Shrieker says "Say hello to my little friends", a reference to Al Pacino's line in Scarface.
    • In episode 133, Ikkaku teaches a Kendo class. One of the boys is a cowardly, easily cowed young man who nevertheless completes the training. The short brown hair, baby-face features, and the near constant praise from Ikkaku about not "running away" make it seem as though the writers were paying homage to something. Then again, the boy's name was Shinji for crying out loud. The only way to make it more obvious was for the English dub to hire Spike Spencer (who already plays Hanataro and D'Roy in the dub).
    • A scene in episode 141 pays homage to a well-known Haruhi Suzumiya scene. In it, local Casanova Wannabe Keigo walks into his class at sunset singing that he forgot something. The same thing happened in Haruhi when Taniguchi walked into his class in sunset to get something he forgot.
    • Pretty much everything about Mashiro is a huge Kamen Rider reference.
    • And in the recent fillers, Muramasa's Geass-pakutou. Seriously. It's got the Geass symbol on the guard.
    • It's possible that the superhuman drug Mayuri used to TKO Szayel was a shout out to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's Giorno Giovanna, whose Gold Experience accelerates its target's perceptions beyond the ability of their bodies to keep up.
    • Charlotte Cuuhlhourne's release is a reference to Sailor Moon.
    • One omake had Orihime ask Sado which outfit would be best to fight in. One of them is the orange uniform from Dragon Ball.
      • Bleach has a surprising amount of shout outs to Dragon Ball. Yammamoto looks very similar to max power Roshi in many scenes. The scene where Ulquiorra and Yammi arrive in karakura town is obviously based on Vegeta and Nappa's entrance (in fact, that whole mini saga itself was very similar to the Saiyan Saga). Lets not forget that unreleased Ulquiorra's cero is basically a green version of Freeza's death beam.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • This page from the Azumanga Daioh "supplemental comics" suggest that the scary movie in question is The Ring.
  • The English dub of Welcome to The NHK! 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.
  • 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.
  • Kurohime: A mysterious shinigami looks a lot like, well, a mysterious Shinigami.
  • Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu. Umm... One piece of advice: watch the background. By the time you see Fumoffu, you would already be dead from laughter.
  • 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, the car crashes involving tofu in Miami Guns, even a badly drawn picture on the chalkboard in Pani Poni Dash!...
    • Strangely, it also seemed to have gotten one in Summer Wars.
  • Dragonball Z: Buu was created by Bibidi, and Bibidi's son is Babidi. Put them together and what do you get? Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo!
  • The World God Only Knows. You dare to test your knowledge in this manga? You think you got the right stuff? You want the shout-out? You can't handle the shout-out! And all the other works you thought were "overloaded" with shout-outs? Forget about it. From direct to subtle, the manga has allusions you cannot even begin to perceive. Try to realize as many allusions as possible without looking at our folder of collected shout-outs in the article, well organized in order of appearance and linked to the source itself. Or, don't even look at it and try to catch 'em all. Go ahead, make our day. We dare you, we double dare you.
  • Bondage Queen Kate is set on a distant desert world called Dune. Creatures called "Sand worms" are among the indigenous species present on the planet.
  • Not to be left behind, B Gata H Kei has a few of its own:
    • There was a parody of Mariasama ga Miteru 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?"
  • 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.
  • In the Saiyan Saga of Dragonball Z, 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.
  • 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 Darkhorse.
    • 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.
  • Soul Eater features a number of music references:
  • In the English dub of Elf Princes 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), contains the names Londo, G'Kar, Delenn, Loren (Babylon 5), and ends with "Bah weep grana weep ni ni bong" (Transformers.
  • 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...
  • 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.
  • Hanaukyo Maid Tai
    • 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.
  • In Pokémon Special, Dia has a Wii and every single one of its controllers in his room.
  • In the anime Black Butler, the creepy island is actually drawn after a painting by Arnold Böcklin.
  • Fans of Neon Genesis Evangelion know (or at least should know) that the female pilots follow Theme Naming after naval vessels. While Asuka's family name Soryu isn't a ship's name, her middle name Langley is the same as two US Navy carriers. Guess what the UN carrier in Macross Zero is called.
    • Soryu is a ship name, a fairly famous one. The Soryu was one of the Japanese carriers sunk at Midway.
  • The various Huckebeins from diverse anime are named after the German WW 2 plane Focke-Wulf Ta 183 "Huckebein", which itself was probably named after Hans Huckebein, the unlucky raven.
  • Countrouble has a clear one to Detective Conan
  • Domina no Do has a similar Shout-Out to Detective Conan
  • When cops find Cat Eyed Boy lurking in a graveyard, one of the police wonders if he's "Keetaro, that graveyard kid" (referring to Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro who was originally knows as "Kitaro of the Graveyard").
  • Jewelpet Sunshine once parodied Flashdance by having Garnet dance to What A Feeling for a competition. And the entire sequence was almost the same!
  • 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.
  • The Baccano! Light Novels have a habit of referencing American movies, particularly gangster flicks. This goes meta in Bullet Garden, when several Mask Makers mooks have a Tarantino-like Seinfeldian Conversation about how they're totally having one of those Tarantino-like Seinfeldian Conversations.

"Then I guess I'm Steve Buscemi."
"No, I'm Buscemi."
"I wanna be Buscemi."
"Don't be stupid. How can a girl be Steve Buscemi?"
"But he's Mr. Pink, right? That means it's okay for a girl to be him."

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