Wakfu is a series rich in shout-outs.
- In the first season opening, Yugo hits a ? block with wings from beneath to reveal Az.
- Zaaps are a reference to ZAP Tickets, half-price subway tickets. (Ankama's offices and studios are located less than a block from a subway station, and many of the employees take the subway to and from work.)
- Yugo has the ability to create portals, and what is the most powerful item in the world? The Eliacube, duh... Not to mention the fact that his clothes are orange and blue.
- Season 1 episode 1:
- The episode begins with a man in a cloak and large hat pushing a baby carriage across a bridge when he is accosted by bandits. This should sound familiar to fans of Japanese media.
- The villager in the loo reading a "Plébowl" magazine (also seen in episode 12).
- Season 1 episode 2: A giant tree grows up instantly, evoking My Neighbor Totoro
- Season 1 episode 3:
- One of the items mentioned in the store is Captain Amakna's Shield.
- The Black Raven's "Raven Rounds" recall certain other avian projectiles.
- Season 1 episode 4:
- The Rapunzel Fairy Tale, of course, with princess Ydalipe.
- Several characters from UFO Robo Grendizer can be seen in the flashback.
- Season 1 episode 6:
- See Sistine Steal on S-U tropes page.
- Vampyro watching Eva with a magic mirror references Dr. Claw watching the heroes on a TV.
- Season 1 Episode 8: Word of God is that Miniature Senior Citizens Ratafouine and Chouquette were inspired by Happōsai and Cologne from Ranma ½.
- Season 1 Episode 9: Part of the lock on Ruel's house is a DanceDanceRevolution clone and uses the theme song as a passkey.
- Season 1 Episode 10:
- The statue in the museum is similar to a statue of Rocky.
- A Freeze-Frame Bonus reveals Fry and Bender among the Gobbowl spectators.
- Grendizer also shows up again in the crowd.
- Also, Maliki appears in the audience◊. Doubles as a Creator Cameo, since Maliki (the author) was working with Ankama at the time.
- Season 1 episode 11: Ruel's Pastel-Chalked Freeze Frame is inspired from Space Adventure Cobra, where this trope is frequent. The 3-episode Gobbowl arc is in fact similar to the 4-episode "Rug Ball" arc from this same anime.
- Season 1 episode 12:
- "Those Bontarians are crazy!"
- This episode also features an incident similar to one from Asterix in Britain, where the ball from a sport match flies far away over the sea to hit someone on the head.
- Season 1 episode 13: There is an eighth passenger aboard...
- Season 1 episode 14:
- Sadlygrove attacks an Albatrocious for stealing his dinner off the boat, which brings the group bad luck.
- A woman is offered in sacrifice to an ape who lives behind a humongous door.
- Willow uses a line from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) in the original French, only using a hammer instead of a sword.
- Season 1 episode 16:
- When Grougaloragran casts his aural-stun spell at the group, the incantation he recites is, word for word, the Dragon Slave's.
- Enutrof speaking to Ruel through a ray of light is reminiscent of a very well-known series of French ads, themselves spoofing the Don Camillo movies.
- Sadlygrove is unable to pronounce "Grougaloragran" correctly; he even call him... "Gurren Lagann"!
- Season 1 episode 18:
- The female captain uses a Hurricane of Euphemisms similar to those of Captain Haddock, and says something quite close to his Catchphrase: "Tonnerre d'Ogrest" (for "Tonnerre de Brest").
- While searching a name for their adventuring party...Evangelyne: And what about "the Fellowship of the Ring"?
Ruel: Too obvious. It's surely taken already...
- Season 1 episode 21: Adamaï in mentor mode starts speaking like Yoda. Yugo promptly lampshades it.
- Season 1 episode 22: The Iop greeting dance has some moves very similar to Dragon Ball Z's Fusion Dance.
- Season 1 episode 25:
- "GIGA DRILL!", anyone?
- Razortime's eyepiece and "voice" are by Nox's command.
- Season 2 Episode 3: In the end credits, the ghouls are dancing like the zombies in "Thriller".
- Season 2 episode 8:
- This one is full of shout-outs to the American Superheroes Genre, notably with "Mister Fabulous", the "Laughing Buffoon" (the Green Goblin) and the "Justice Clique".
- The Justice Knight also does the Gendo Pose at one point.
- Season 2 episode 10:
- The two snow squirrels at the start of the episode are an obvious homage to Scrat and Scratette from the Ice Age movies.
- The hooded man's gesture in the bar is rather reminiscent of Obi-Wan's Jedi Mind Trick. The waitress even calls him "Obi".
- The prosecutor does some poses very similar to characters in the Ace Attorney series.
- Also, this one introduces a character named Evangelion (actually a gender-bending Eva).
- Season 2 episode 11: A few with the Brak'n'Black players:
- Leolbrake the Ecaflip looks like The Joker.
- Albarus the Osamodas has a bowler hat and overall allure evocative of the droogs from A Clockwork Orange.
- Aktator the Pandawa has fallen in a barrel of bamboo milk when young and gotten extraordinary strength out of the deal — similarly to Obelix of Asterix.
- Season 2 episode 12:
- The Kamehame Hadoken taught by Maude, a.k.a. the Masked Gobbowler to Kriss Krass is an obvious Dragon Ball parody.
- Another Sistine Steal, lampshaded by Ruel.
- The lone chair before the prison cell of The Mmmmmmmmmporpg can't help but make one thinks about The Silence of the Lambs.
- The Mmmmmmmmmporpg himself is named after a real-life French meme.
- Ruel shouts out, "You Shall Not Pass!!", another reference to The Lord of the Rings.
- Season 2 episode 13:
- Amalia's complaint about the noise and smell of the Pandawas is a reference to a famous speech by Jacques Chirac
- Ruel's remark about 20 centuries of Pandawa culture alludes to a famous quote of Napoléon Bonaparte.
- A Pandawa named Pandiego de la Vega.
- Season 2 episode 14: About all the "Bard Academy" contestants are a parody of some kind:
- Pandallica
- Lady Glagla
- "Grand Corps Petit" is spoofing French slam poet Grand Corps Malade.
- Shanon Stone gets interrogated and changes the position of her legs to which we only see the shocked reaction of Ruel, Sadlygrove and Yugo.
- Ruel says the song he wrote is called Kama Chameleon
- During Pandallica's performance, Mei Kusakabe and a younger version of Naruto Uzumaki can be seen in the crowd.
- Season 2 episode 15:
- The "Mini-Wakfu" Sudden Videogame Moment using different styles:
- Rubilax makes a reference to Kamehameha, but he obscures it by replacing some of the letters with Ws (a running gag throughout the episode).
- Season 2 episode 16: The statue on top of the fountain of a toddler peeing is clearly inspired by the Manneken-Pis.
- Season 2 episode 18:
- Yoda and Megaman balloons can be seen at the fair.
- Luffy appears in the crowd at the fair.
- The wrestling organizer at the Trool Fair is named Leonzi Trool.
- Season 2 episode 19: "For a Fistful of Kamas"
- Season 2 episode 20: A scene very reminiscent of Titanic's "King of the world" one. Complete with a Suspiciously Similar Song to "My Heart Will Go On".
- Season 2 episode 21: And another, this time to the prologue of 2001: A Space Odyssey, with a monkeyfied Ruel throwing a bone in the air in slow motion, along with the appropriate music.
- Season 2 episode 22:
- The episode is called "The Silence of the Rings" (Note that "rings" ["anneaux"] and "lambs" ["agneaux"] are one letter apart in French.)
- The rings look a lot like The One Ring.
- During the fight against Cassis' mooks, Amalia's moves and the way she directs her vines are inspired by Andromeda Shun of Saint Seiya.
- The MMO itself has plenty of references itself, most notably the Dragoturkeys (the primary source of transport in the game) which are quite obviously modeled after the Chocobo.
- In Season 3, Toxine's costume appears to be a homage to Deadpool — fitting, given her psychopathic personality.