Eagle-eyed fans spotted a quick nod to an iconic scene featuring Willem Dafoe in the latest episode of One Piece anime that premiered on June 15. The scene from the 2018 film At Eternity’s Gate was hard to miss, thanks to its memeability.
But much before One Piece sparked buzz with its nod to the Hollywood scene in Episode 1,133, many other popular anime referenced iconic scenes from the West — from frame-by-frame tributes to cheeky nods and Hollywood-inspired sequences.
Here’s a look at seven such instances where Hollywood found a place in the anime world.
Gintama Episode 225 x Prison Break
Gintama never shies away from parodying other anime, bringing laugh-out-loud moments to your binge sessions. Apart from its barrage of references from other anime, the show hilariously riffs on the American TV series Prison Break, which ran from 2005 to 2017.
From the title to the jailbreak scenario, the 225th episode of Gintama mirrors the tone, plot beats and character designs of Prison Break, taking the breakout thriller’s tropes and poking fun at it with its over-the-top humour.
Titled ‘So in the second season of Prison Break they're already broken out of prison, but the name works once you realize that society is a prison’, the episode makes meta-commentary as usual, depicting the plot central to the Paul Scheuring-created series.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2 finale x The Prisoners
Season 2 of the hit romcom anime Kaguya-sama: Love is War went all out with references to other shows — be it anime or Hollywood movies and series. In the final episode of Season 2, Kaguya, Miyuki, Fujiwara and Ishigami play a game where they all blow a red balloon and the one who pops it first, loses. When Fujiwara keeps pumping the balloon, it becomes enormous in size, making Ishigami fear that it will envelop him.
During a moment when he imagines him escaping from the huge balloon, he sees that he gets buried underneath it and his face is translucently visible through the rubber. This scene is a tribute to the dreadful moment from the 1967 British cult TV series The Prisoners, where the white, inflatable sphere Rover, a surveillance tool used by the Village to control the inhabitants, runs over an unidentified man.
FLCL x South Park
Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s animated sitcom South Park found several references in the 2000 anime FLCL — one of which was a spoof. In the series, 12-year-old Naota is sometimes seen wrapping his hoodie around his head and speaking in a muffled voice, similar to the way Kenny from South Park often does.
There’s also a brief sequence in FLCL where the animation style mimics the look of South Park during a conversation between Kitsurubami and Amarao about attacking Canti. A tiny Kenny ornament also appears in the show when Canti destroys a car.
Soul Eater x Twin Peaks
Did you know that David Lynch’s ’90s cult television series Twin Peaks was referenced in the crooked and janky world of Soul Eater? Twin Peaks was not just a sensation among Americans, but also for the Japanese, as coffee commercials, fanzines and photobooks featuring references to the show spread all over the country.
In Episode 12 of Soul Eater, known for its off-kilter plotline, eerie music and dreamlike sequences, a character similar to The Man from Nowhere pops up. Soul recalls his recurrent nightmare where he finds himself in a black-and-red room and comes face-to-face with a dancing devil. This scene is reminiscent of the Red Room of the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks. It also features Maka dressed as Lara Palmer, played by Sheryl Lee, in Twin Peaks.
Cowboy Bebop: A potpourri of Western references
Cowboy Bebop is all-things Western when it comes to anime. The Shinichirō Watanabe-directed cult anime series is heavily influenced by Western films, particularly Spaghetti Westerns (like the lone wolf bounty hunter trope seen in Spike Spiegel’s character), Sergio Leone films, and American mob movies. Several moments in the series have referenced films like The Long Goodbye, Desperado, Convoy, and the Dollars Trilogy.
While the opening scene of the first episode, with the couple shot in the bar, is a nod to Bonnie & Clyde, the bar fight scene in the first episode is inspired by Desperado. Not just that, Spike is also a devout follower of the philosophies of Bruce Lee, as seen in his use of nunchucks during his fight scenes.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure - ‘Is that a JoJo reference?’
JoJo is a treasure trove of pop culture references, particularly to music and films, and its Western nods are among the best. From characters named after famous bands and songs to nods to Quentin Tarantino and Sergio Leone films, the anime is a melting pot of references.
While the entire Steel Ball Run arc seems to be inspired by Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy, Jotaro Kujo is partly based on Clint Eastwood's iconic ‘Man with No Name’. Another character, the serial killer Yoshikage Kira, is a homage to British singer David Bowie. So, the next time you watch a film or listen to a song, you may want to ask, ‘Is that a JoJo reference?’