Shout Out / Blood Blockade Battlefront

Blood Blockade Battlefront is absolutely loaded with references to western culture and New York in general.

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• To start with we have Hellsalem's Lot, which the manga translates as Jerusalem's Lot.
• Unintentional or not, two of the major eateries in New York City are named Jack & Rocket's and Dianne's.
• Episode 1 boasts quite a few to◊ Pacific Rim.
  • The same montage has an Andy Warhol look-alike.
• Kuroneko-sama is seen strolling about in episodes one and ten, and red geraniums are featured prominently in one scene in Libra's HQ in the first episode. In season 2, she gets the final shot of the ED all to herself.
  • White cheerfully says "Love and Peace!" while striking Vash's classic pose in episode 6.
  • Plushies of Meryl and Milly are seen next to Michella's tape recorder in the season 2 premiere.
• Several buildings, among them Pennsylvania Station in the opening sequence, have giant NIGHTOW marquees.
  • Nightow's author avatar character from his manga afterwords appears in a crowd in episode 5.
• Plenty of New York City locations are faithfully replicated in the anime:
  • This mural◊ that Zapp and Leo often walk past exists in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn◊.
  • The outdoor movie theater Leo takes White to in episode 5 is a real place, located next to the High Line.
  • Also in episode 5, Femt and the King of Despair have lunch at the Plaza Hotel's Palm Court.
  • The HLC police precinct in episode 10 is identical to one that appears in◊ Person of Interest.^note The building pictured is in New York, but is actually a recreation center.
• Many backgrounds have references slipped into them:
  • One of the patrons sitting at the counter of Dianne's Diner in episode 7 looks vaguely like Shrek.
  • When Zapp is at the casino in episode 8 there's a human character in the background with a green jacket a lot like Ben 10's.
• Several of the anime's episodes have minor characters from later chapters of the manga appearing in Early Bird Cameos. The fourth episode has Daniel Law, a character who doesn't get a major role until episode 10, appear briefly, and the eighth has both the alien street gang from volume 7 and the father and daughter from volume 9 show up too.
• Episode 3, featuring Klaus's chess match against an unhuman entity that holds his life in its hands, parallels the film The Seventh Seal.
• Leo takes White to see a movie. What movie? Twins (1988).
  • Bonus point in the English dub version for imitating Arnold Schwarzenegger's & Danny DeVito's voices for said movie.
  • A much less family-friendly example is in episode 11, where Benjamin and Emma Macbeth take their very young children to see Scanners.
• An announcement comes over the hospital PA system in episode 5 paging a Doctor Bender.
• The Jack & Rockets burger restaurant in episode 6 bears a resemblance to the real-life chain Johnny Rockets, and the logos even have a similar look.
  • Nej is excited to discover the art on their burger wrappers is by Ron Jomita Jr.
  • Leo and Nej's friendship montage includes a scene where Leo tries to show Nej how to strike a Kamen Rider pose.
  • The two truck driver antagonists are named Roger and Martin.
• Works of classical music abound:
  • The preview for episode 3 uses Air on the G String.
  • Klaus's unforgettable prosfair match in episode 3, which ends with a slow swell from the minor parts to the glorious chorus of Ode to Joy.
  • The tune heard in the trailer for episode 4, and whistled at several points by one of the characters, is a slowed-down version of the overture to The Magic Flute.
  • Episode 7's preview is set to a chorus of voices humming Vivaldi's Spring movement.
  • The preview for episode 11 uses Erik Satie's Gymenopedie.
  • The OAV, "King of Kings Restaurant", has tons, from Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra (in a scene that replaces the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey with a giant bar of chocolate) to Khachaturian's Sabre Dance, which plays over the ending credits.
• One restaurant that Leo, Zapp and Zed go to in "Run! Lunch! Run!!" is such an obvious shout-out to The Sopranos' Vesuvio that the owner and his wife aren't even Expies; Zapp refers to them by name as Artie and Charmaine.
• Several manga chapters and the LN share titles with Western jazz and lounge standards, including Day In Day Out, Cherchez l'Idole, and It's Only a Paper Moon.
  • Additionally, Day In Day Out was also used as the title of a chapter of Trigun.
  • The anime adds some new ones. Episode 10 is subtitled "to the end", possibly after the Blur song; episode 11 is titled "Paint It Black", and episode 12, "Hello, world!" took its name from the anime's Bump of Chicken opening theme.
  • The song Sympathy For The Devil was even name-dropped in 'Paint It Black', to really drive it home.
• The title of a chapter centered on Chain in which she conducts a spy mission? Chain: Possible.
  • And what did they name that episode in the anime? Werewolf Mission: Chainpossible
• The supporting cast of Outlaw of Green has nods to both Swamp Thing and Arrested Development, with a genius gardener who's also a monstrously powerful but kindhearted plant-man and his ward, a young girl named Maeby.
• An extra chapter of the manga opens with a demonstration of the indestructible power of a pair of handcuffs by shooting a Beyondian creature wearing them and chained in front of a large target with an enormous rifle, in a manner reminiscent of District 9.
• One of the photos White takes with her camera in episode 11 is of three familiar-looking old men sitting around a cafe table.
• The light novel is one huge tribute to Paper Moon in both its title and its plot, which involves Zapp meeting a little girl who may be his illegitimate daughter.
• The "Blood Line Fever" album cover in episode 4 is an obvious shout out to Harry Nilsson's and Ringo Starr's "Son of Dracula" soundtrack album cover, including the same song titles.
• The first episode of season 2 has Femt mention wanting to binge-watch BBC Earth that night.
  • After the final battle, Hummer mentions having watched a movie where the main characters celebrate winning a battle in New York by eating shawarma.
    • As of episode 2, one of the Blink-And-You'll-Miss moments of the ending sequence is this◊. And what little you can see of the background is clearly from the restaurant the Avengers scene was shot in.
• In season 2, episode 6, there's a character who wears a Ghostbusters -like wardrobe.
• The episode focusing on Gilbert in Season 2 shows off his Weaponized Car, one of the weapons has a visibly VATS-like display when selecting targets. For added points, the weapon is said to be manufactured by a company called Bethesda.
• One character in season 2, episode 7 mentions Double O-s and Daniel Craig.
  • And one character looks a lot like Queen Elizabeth II.
• Season 2, episode 8 is a shout out to The Incredible Hulk VS The Thing, respectively.
  • Accidentally, one character in this episode looked a lot like Zenyatta from Overwatch.
• Season 2, episode 9 becomes a shoutout to Pacific Rim, or Ultraman.
• In season 2, episode 11, Zapp calls Zed Black Lagoon.
  • Funnily enough, that's also the name of an anime starring a gun-toting female lead, and he says this while standing next to K.K.
• The first chapter of Back 2 Back has Leo about to play the newest installment of a game that seems to be a cross between Half-Life and Modern Warfare with a protagonist that looks like Gordon Freeman with a military helmet. Leo says the series changed his life, and both games were very influential upon the industry.
• The console he plays it on is called an X Station, seemingly a cross between a Playstation and an Xbox.
• In one episode, Leo, Zapp, and Gilbert are playing what is essentially Monster Hunter on a PSPs.