Black Cat
Let's get the obvious one out of the way first, given Kentaro Yabuki has a tendency to do this particular Shout-Out:
- Besides the Expy deal on the main page, Yami's conveniently named spaceship is called the "Lunatique", taken from Professor Tearju's surname.
- A blink-and-you'll-miss-it Homage appears in Chapter 134 of the manga: Lala plays a target shooting game while dressed as Train Heartnet, the protagonist of Black Cat, right down to using Train's "Hades" firearm and tattoo of the Roman numeral "XIII".
- As if the parallels weren't already blatant, Yami is seen in the background of the same panel wearing the clothing of Eve.
- Bounty hunter "Kuro" looks exactly like Train was during his time with the "Chronos" organization. Likewise, Kuro's demeanor echoes the same persona Train had before he met Saya.
- The chapter titles for 149 and 150 in the manga where Kuro appears in are called "The Smiling Cat" and "The Determined Cat", respectively. These are directly lifted from episodes 4 and 5 of the Black Cat Animated Adaptation, respectively when Train goes to save Eve from weapons dealer Torneo Rudman.
- Early in the manga, several characters go to sing karaoke at a place named "Kuro Neko", as in "Black Cat".
Other References
- In the first episode, when Peke turns into Lala's outfit, the anime does a shot-for-shot homage to Sailor Moon's classic suit-up sequence.
- In Episode 4 of the first Animated Adaptation, there's a brief Shout-Out to the Halo franchise with one image showing Rito standing in the sunset of a cratered wasteland holding a gun similar to the MA5B Assault Rifle from Halo: Combat Evolved, and another depicting a space battle in the shadow of a gas giant with part of a Halo-like structure and the Covenant capital city "High Charity".
- Episode 5 features Zastin starting up his spacecraft in a manner similar to the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam, complete with the Fun with Acronyms on the boot-up screen. Doubles as Actor Allusion when Zastin's voice actor was the second pilot of the Strike Gundam.
- During Episode 7, Ren goes to see a movie about a fighter named "Pocky" to try and learn how to be masculine. He isn't the only one: the boy sitting next to him in the theater is a dead ringer for Shinji Ikari.
- Let's not forget those Dragon Ball references either
- In the first chapter of the manga, Lala states though she has a tail, it doesn't mean she'll transform when she looks at a full moon, referring to the Saiyans and their habit of turning into their "Oozaru" forms when a full moon appears.
- Furthermore, Lala changes into several different costumes from that series, one being the classic Goku red battle-outfit and another being Bulma's rabbit outfit from the original story arc.
- Lala's father Gid threatens to destroy the Earth if Rito isn't worthy of Lala. In the manga, he implies he doesn't mean to do it with a fleet of Devilukean starships: he'll do it personally and states he's merely suppressing his power - were he to release it, he can easily crush the planet to pieces. The latter is a reference to the Dragonball villain Freiza and his proclamation of his tiered Power Levels.
- Lacospo is eerily similar to Emperor Pilaf. Both are small evil guy, have odd colored skin, pointy ears and wear a smilar outfit.
- Ren/Run's method of switching genders by sneezing is from Launch changing personalities when she sneezes.
- Starting with Chapter 12 of "Darkness", Mikan visits a grocery store called "Super Vegeta", his moniker for when he goes Super Saiyan. In Chapter 49, the sign for the store has the emblem of the Ginyu Force, along with various vegetables used for Saiyan name puns such as a carrot and lettuce.
- In the bonus Chapter "20.7", a shoot of Magical Kyouko shows a villain named Pierre Ogi revived as a cyborg, with the cyborg replacements being identical to Mecha Frieza's.
- Chapter 70 of "Darkness" has the Devilluke family into a formal event in the space with cameos of Jaco, Beerus and Zeno from Dragon Ball Super.
- During Episode 7 of "Motto To-Love-Ru"), Peke is reading a manga
◊ with familiar characters on the cover. Since To-Love-Ru and Mayoi Neko Overrun! were published in Jump SQ (and both are illustrated by Yabuki), this can be seen as a Breaking the Fourth Wall instance as To-Love-Ru characters appear in the background of Mayoi Neko Overrun! at least once per chapter. This makes it so that Peke is reading a comic that has its fellow characters in it. - During Peke's "malfunction" in Chapter 153/Episode 9 of Motto To-Love-Ru, Lala ends up in a tiny swimsuit, Haruna in a Playboy Bunny suit, and Oshizu dressed as Enma Ai. Doubles as another Actor Allusion as Oshizu and Enma share the same voice actress.
- Occasionally references to PlayStation appear:
- In the end of second chapter of manga, Lala is playing with a console very similar with the first .
- After Run accidentally gives Riko spicy food, the speech bubble for him gurgling in the water has the controller's face button symbols.
- Momo's favourite game is published on the RS3.
- In Chapter 12 of "Darkness", a PlayStation Portable is seen among a collection of items Rito likes.
- Some of the handheld consoles Rito, Lala and her sisters play with throughout the manga looks suspiciously like the Nintendo DS, particularly the Nintendo DSi variant with its noticeable camera eye.
- A "Darkness" chapter has Rito and Nemesis play at one of New Super Mario Bros. games.
- In the To Love-Ru Darkness manga, Momo purchases a game called "Love 無双", as in "Love Musou" or more famously known internationally as Love Warriors.
- In one of the extra chapters of "Darkness", Rito and Momo think something is worrying Mikan at school and one of the possibilities Rito visualizes is Mikan being bullied - by two kids that closesly resemble Gian and Suneo.
- Two to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. In the "Darkness" 44.5th chapter Rito is seen holding a bag of various bizarre items. The logo on the bag reads: Stardust Store - JOJO HAND, featuring pictures of the Luckland Communications logo. In Chapter 53, Yami is seen in the library reading a book whose cover features Oingo and Bingo in Tohth's artstyle. Part of Oingo's name can be seen on the spine and a picture of Iggy is shown on the back cover.
