Anime and Manga
- A Yaoi Genre anthology published by Poe Backs
is titled BLT48, down to using the same font stylization for the logo. However, it does not reference Idol Singers. - A Case Closed chapter makes a reference to a detective contest called "Detective 48". Gosho Aoyama also created the AKB48 Satsujin Jiken manga.
- Gintama features a raunchy parody of the group called Galaxy Kingdom Bitches 48 (or GKB48 for short), a group formed from the prettiest girls from across the galaxy, whose popularity is owed to their simulating sexual favors for their fans. They're also a ruthless invading force who have brainwashed most of their fans and have destroyed countless planets.
- King of Prism: Shiny Seven Stars'' introduces YMT29, a male example from protagonist school Edel Rose's natural enemy Schwartz Rose. All members are broken up into several subunits, and part of an even larger unit called The Shuffle.
- Monster Musume features ANM48, an idol group made up of Little Bit Beastly girls used to show that the comparatively more "monstrous" members of the MC's harem will have a harder time being accepted by human society. However, ANM48 don't appear again after the first chapter.
- Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals: In Episode 2-A, Lee, Neji, and Tenten dress up as 'Idols', despite the uniform they wear being exactly like the one for AKB48.
- Wake Up, Girls! features a rival group to the titular unit, called I-1 Club, that they face in the first two seasons.
- In the Yo-kai Watch anime, Jibanyan is a huge fan of the girl group NyaaKB48. In the dub, they're known as Next Harmeowny, a spoof of Fifth Harmony.
Video Games
- In Dead or Alive 5, the downloadable Idol Singer costumes are divided up into Team D, Team O, and Team A.
- In Persona 5, one of the presents Joker can buy for a girl is a CD titled Best of KGB49.
- Touhou Project: One of the stories in Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia has Hata no Kokoro, a Mind Hive of the spirits of 66 theatre masks, rebrand herself as "KKR48" and put on a 48-mask play titled "Ningyo-yaki in Love" (a parody of AKB48's "Fortune Cookie in Love").
- In a Yakuza 5 substory, a producer named Fuyumoto (fuyu is winter and aki is autumn) invites Haruka to a live idol contest called SBR99 (Sotenburi 99, after the game's version of the Dotonbori area in Osaka). Fuyumoto himself lampshades this by admitting that many thought SBR99 is an idol group. SBR99's regular contestants also wear plaid costumes very similar to AKB's iconic "Iiwake Maybe" one, but purple instead of red (maybe a subtle shoutout to rival group Nogizaka46).Haruka: SBR99? Oh, I've heard of that! But I didn't know it was the name of an event.
Fuyumoto: Yes. Many people are under the mistaken impression that it's the name of a group. Anyway, I'm glad you've heard of it.- Life Imitates Art as Produce 101 and Produce48 aired years after the game's launch, and those shows even used a purplish pink color scheme.
Real Life
- In 2023, the NHK Party in Japan rebranded as the Seijika Joshi 48 (SJJ48, "Politician Women 48") party, with a pink color scheme and female former entertainers as candidates, including former HKT48 member Mao Yamamoto at one time.
