Shout Out / Kamen Rider Gaim

• Gaim's helmet had an asymmetrical crescent-shaped crest similar to that of Date Masamune.
  • Gaim's Kiwami Arms armor is visually inspired by the armor of Oda Nobunaga.
• Not only does the Rider armor come out of a portal, but during #3 Kouta even draws a circle in the air as it does.
• The Transformation Name Announcement for Ichigo Arms is Shushutto Spark. And it's the arms that has a Ninja theme.
• The Suika Arms is a Powered Armor with Naginata and his original form is not much different from Gigantic Cocoon and his face looks a lot like a Zaku.
• Helheim draws some inspiration from Pandora, you can spot these coiled thingys among the plants that look just like some plants on Pandora.
• Ryugen Kiwi Arms pulls double duty - he looks like GekiTouja Bat and he's wielding dual blow-up DaiRinKens.
• Zangetsu could pull double duty as a Shinkenger with his Driver Call.
• The first quarter of #16 is basically a love letter to Return of the Jedi.
  • Continuing with Star Wars, Kaito and Kouta's Yggdrasill infiltration plan was basically the Battle of Endor without the Ewoks.
    • The preview for Gaim 36 where Kouta runs to Zangetsu (Takatora) battling Zangetsu Shin (Mitsuzane) as Takatora prepares to finish off his brother bears a resemblance to Mace moving in to kill Palpatine while Anakin rushes to the scene from Revenge of the Sith.
• Several to Digimon (the Inves aside): the henshin sound effects for Bravo, Knuckle, and Bujin Gaim contain a distorted riff from the insert song, Brave Heart. Then there's Yggdrassil itself and Project ARK as both the Digimon franchise and Gaim have references to Norse Mythology and The Bible.
  • Yggdrassil is also reminiscent of Hypnos, with the Cracks appearing throughout Zawame paralleling the Wild Ones materializing throughout Shinjuku.
• The various online comments in support of the Beat Riders in Episode 18 contain a few references to other shows, including referencing Aigaron and Candelira's catchphrases from Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger and the voice of the Wizard Driver from Kamen Rider Wizard.
• The show contains a bit of shout outs to Final Fantasy VII. The first being Takatora standing amongst the flames not unlike one of Sephiroth's most memorable scenes. The other being that the civilization in Helheim looks reminiscent of a prerendered background in the game.
  • Speaking of Final Fantasy, there's a character named C/Sid, and Ryoma bears a resemblance to Laguna, or—to keep with the C/Sid connection—Cid Raines.
  • After Kouta consumes the Golden Fruit in #46, he bears a resemblance to Rasler.
  • Helheim resembles Lavos from Chrono Trigger, another classic Square Enix game.
• The layout of Zawame City seen in the broadcast version (but not home video) of #33 is an almost exact copy of the layout of Gotham City. Even better, the whole business with the small number of exits making it easier for the government to isolate Zawame City narrows it down to a specific adaptation. It makes sense for this plot point, as the previous few episodes, Ryoma was pulling off something similar to Batman's scanner system in the climax.
• Gaim Kiwami Arms resembles Hakumenro from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, down to the helmet design.
• #43 has Ryoma scribbling across whiteboards and windows in a manner that may remind you of Phillip.
• The entire series is a shout out to the following:
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Inves being Witches, DJ Sagara being Kyubey, and right down to Kouta Taking a Third Option and ascended to Godhood to solve the problem.
  • Fate Series: The modern Sengoku Era being the Holy Grail Wars, the Riders being either Masters, Servants, or a combination of both, the Forbidden Fruit being the Holy Grail, Kougane being Angra Mainyu, and Kouta living in another world with Mai, just like Shirou's reunion with Saber (Artoria) in Avalon as well as Sieg's reunion with Ruler (Jeanne) in the Reverse Side of the World.
    • #39 has Kiwami summoning multiple weapons not unlike that of Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon.
  • Saya no Uta: Extradimensional creatures begin invading our realm, infecting people with a virus, and have a comparatively horrific way of turning humans into beings just like them.
  • Even to Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet which Urobuchi only had tangential involvement in, get referenced. For humanity to combat the global climate change, as well as to survive expanding into the cosmos, our biology is changed to the point of not being physically human anymore. There are also those who reject this form of adapting to the inevitable change in environment and do display some Fantastic Racism towards them. And, appropriately, when this is discovered, our hero is no longer as gung-ho about killing these creatures regardless of heroic intentions, and is horrified by those he's previously killed.