10. GOGO Curry
A very small yet funny nod to the American chain of the same name. Noted by the Gorilla head behind a ring during the word chain game against Jibril.
9. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
Referring to the popular animated series of the same name, the characters strike hilarious poses and make stoic or stern faces while commenting about silly events occurring around them.
8. Phoenix Wright
Taking a cue from the popular video game ‘’Ace Attorney’’ the heroes we know as ‘’BLANK’’ call out the famous phrase ‘’OBJECTION’’ during the coronation of Kurami after she used magic to win a gambling tournament to determine the new king of the country. After playing a high-stakes game of chess, BLANK then uses this gag a second time to decide who will be the new monarch.
7. Gears Of War
During the beast-man game to decide the fate of all humanity (the Human Race), we cut to a flashback of the beast-man representative (Izuna Hatsuse) Grandfather playing earlier versions of this third-person shooter game where he ducks behind walls and vaults over the same walls to shoot his opponents.
6. Konami Code Sotted
In Episode 8 during talks with the beast-man race, the Konami code can be seen in the bottom right screen when Sora is telling the beast-man how they came from another world that lives with the wonderful video games the beast-men love to use.
5. Detective Conan
Episode 8 was full of drama and suspense. Shiro had to throw us a curve with her imitation of Conan Edogawa, a famous high school super detective turned child. She even goes as far as to get slightly shorter to match his stature.
4. Doraemon
During the most intense game of word chain ever seen, Jibril the God killing creature from the heavens calls Steph ‘’Dora-chan’’ in a callback to Doraemon, causing her to change into the famous animated character. Also used in a bath scene when Sora (Male MC) is trying to use his smartphone to peep at some girls in the bath.
3. CalorieMate
A nutrient-dense and calorie-rich snack from the Otsuka pharmaceutical company in Japan that was originally released in 1983. CalorieMate was a very fast and easy meal substitute for students and salary workers alike. Often these threats are referenced in anime as the ‘’I’m too lazy to get food’’ – or even more close to home, – the ‘’I cannot afford a fancy meal’’ trope.
2. Time Bokan
A small but not insignificant scene harking back to the 1970’s anime ‘’Time Bokan’’ can be seen during the word chain game between Jibril and Sora to determine the owner of a library full of knowledge for the entire human race over the course of centuries.
1. YU-GI-OH!
A super small nod to the popular card game of the same name where Sora holds up a hand to show relevant cards during a game. This just goes to show you, two decades have passed and we still cannot escape the clutches of a card game.
