Disgaea/Shout Out

There's a reason it's Reference Overdosed.

Disgaea: Hour/Afternoon of Darkness

• Kurtis's design is clearly based on Cyborg 002 from Cyborg 009, as is the item "Accelerator," a set of teeth that makes you move faster (009's ability to shift into Bullet Time was activated by a switch in his mouth).
• The Chinese comedy Shaolin Soccer with the Shaolin Belt. On the description of the belt it says "No, it will not make you good in soccer."
• The next episode "spoiler" for Chapter 11 is one huge shoutout to Legend of Galactic Heroes. "Another page in the Netherworld's history..."
• E.T. gets a nod in things that appear in the Galactic Graveyard.
• The Prism Rangers are one huge spoof of Super Sentai.
• Flonnezilla.
• Captain Gordon DEFENDER OF EARTH is essentially Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.

Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories/Dark Hero Days

• That plant girl who's actually a guy? His name is Bridget.
• Adell himself is a big King of Fighters shoutout. He has the garb and personality (honor before reason, massive love of battle, etc) of Adelheid Berstein, the color scheme of Iori, and some of Rock Howard's moves (Vulcan Blaze derived from Neo-Deadly Rave, King of Beasts derived from Rising Tackle, Crimson Flame similar to one of Rock's charging punches).
  • Adell ^{[dead link]} looks uncannily like Vanessa from KOF.
  • He also does rider kicks.
• The caption for Axel's Love Dynamite attack that says "I voted for Pedro!"
• Zenon Rozalin's "Dark Liberation" looks exactly like the second impact.
  • The Gun skill "Totenkreuz" also brings to mind the strange, tall skinny crosses that always appear in Evangelion explosions...
  • The "Holy Flare" holy dragon skill also uses the Evangelion cross explosion, and some of their abilities also have a Triforce in their imagery.
• Tink's Sonic Roll is Sonic's spin dash. The original PlayStation 2 version takes it further by adding the Spin Dash's revving up sound effect.
• Aqua Demon's "Electronic Gamer": No, it's not a new magazine.
• Sapphire's "S Splash" channels Noriaki Kakyoin.
• The Prism Ranger's Prism Justice and Prism Hurricane, but what else do you expect from a Super Sentai parody?
• Entei's Kienzan attack has it form a disc of fire, then sling it at its foes, not unlike Z Krillin's move of the same name.
• Charred Newt: It didn't get better.
• Sesshoumaru: Hurry up and find the damn jewel shards!
• The Accursed: What a horrible night to have a curse.
• Accelerator: ("Why teeth?") is a reference to Cyborg 009—the title cyborg entered "Acceleration Mode" by pressing a button on one of his back teeth.
• The item Wizard Robe has the following description: "I put on my Robe and Wizard Hat." Had to do a double take when I first saw that one.
  • This Ascended Meme makes a comeback as the Wizard Hat in Z.H.P.
• The version of the "Turbulence" Spear technique here looks very much like Nanoha's Starlight Breaker (specifically, the angle is the same as when the spell was used in the first season), which is reason enough to give Rozalin a spear, even if she's terrible (Rank C with Spears unless she has the Spear Technique Scroll) at using it.
• Cosmos Muscle: We are moved to tears by the size of it.
• Cosmo Gun: A gift from a faraway Cosmic King.
• Berserker: Its love for you is like a truck.
• Karate Chop: Not quite judo, but works nonetheless.
• Snapping Gloves: You brought this upon yourself. Dance fight!
• White Tiger: 2 men + tiger - common sense = disaster.
• Bagh Nakh: Beware the eye of this tiger...
• Fist Of Anger: Water can flow or crash. Be like water.
• Macho Fist: ’Tis but a scratch. I’ve had worse.
• Elven Bow: A famous elf used it to return a lost ring.
• Assassin Bow: Best if shot from a grassy knoll.
• Exorcist Bow: Use this if someone’s head starts spinning.
• .44 Magnum: You gotta ask a question--do you feel lucky?
• Sledgehammer: Trust me, I know what I’m doing.
• Godfather: It’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.
• Primitive Axe: Inspired by a giant monolith.
• Cardinal Staff: Hit 70 home runs with this.
• Rune Staff: Some crazy moon language is carved in it.
• Spikey Shell: Jumping on this one is a bad idea.
• Devil Matrix: You can’t be told what the Devil Matrix is.
• Greed: Don't stop till you get enough.
• The Unique: You are not a beautiful snowflake.
• Fortune: I am a leaf caught in the winds of fate.
• Pravda Pendant: You’re just paying for the name, really. - Reference to the Prada brand.
• Mint Gum: Recovers HP. Double the pleasure, double the fun. - The Doublemint bubblegum motto.
• Frog Sweat: Collected from pro Froggers.
• Chloroform: "Mama said knock you out!"
• Cha-Ching: Hit by a smooth criminal.
• Oh, come on! The Rifle Demons aren't obvious? They have a cannon for a hand, never miss, and come from an alternate Earth where they have destroyed the planet and have used the technology to enhance themselves.
• Then, there's the Z-Pirates. Just one blonde guy with a glowing golden aura (A Violator, to be precise) who comes riding a yellow cloud. It's freaking obvious who he's a shout out to.
• The new Spear skill, Brunhilda, gloriously rips off Valkyrie Skirt. It appears again in Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten.

Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice

• Cosmos Muscle: We are moved to tears by the size of it.
• Superalloy Seed Destiny, anyone?
• When he levels up, Almaz hums "Charge". It's a bit odd, as he's not really annoying. In Japanese, he says Cha-la-la-la-cha-cha!
• Spartan Shield: Because...This.is.not.Sparta.
• Each tier's name of the Male Brawler class makes a reference to a Fighting Game, in order: Fury Fatalist, Fight Artist, Champ of Fighters, Viper Fighter, Lethal Combatant and Boulevard Fighter.
• Gold Knuckle's personality is a homage to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He even uses the same slang.
• Mr. Champloo's "On the Next..." segment places Mao as the lead character of a cooking anime similar to Chuuka Ichiban. As an added bonus, the main character of Chuuka Ichiban is also named Mao.
• Members of the Diez Gentlemen include:
  • Bo Tie, an exercise instructor parodying Tae Bo.
  • Pauline, an orphan girl parodying Little Orphan Annie and Nello from A Dog Of Flanders.
  • Se-To-Oh, a cocky duelist who summons a bunch of monsters in one turn and sacrifices them for his Black-Eyes Blue Prinny. It's a normal Prinny. ...Do I really need to say it?
  • Beyond X is sometimes a school nurse and sometimes Miss Machiko but her true identity is...
• Several attacks, especially the magichange attacks, are clear shout outs to various anime and video game series:
  • The sixth sword skill, Mach+ Slash:^[1] Zankantou Hoshinagi no Tachi
  • Gun-type special, Mega Gun Launcher: The Hyaku Shiki's Mega Bazooka Launcher, with the red-blue positron beam.
  • Mao's Blast Finger: Domon's Shining/God Finger
  • Mao's Shine Beam: Leo Aiolia's, the Gold Saint, Lightning Plasma from Saint Seiya. He even wears a golden crown akin to Aiolia's during the Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten iteration of the attack.
  • Almaz' Spinning Swordance has him wield three katanas: two in each hand and the third in his mouth.
  • Aramis' Zombie Armor: Zombie Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann!
  • Marjoly's Omega Drain: Spirit Bomb.
  • Cyborg Kurtis' Solidus Punch: Android 16's Hell's Flash
  • Mid-Boss' Spinning Attack: Combattler V's Choudenji Spin
  • Prinny Kurtis' Power of the Red Moon is reminiscent of Vegeta using the fake moon to transform into his Great Ape form
  • Thursday's Surprise Robo has him creating some miniature versions of him that descend from a ladder, attack the target and then explode in a skull-shaped mushroom cloud.
  • The Death Class' Nightmare Gate: Nanoha's Divine Buster
  • The Dragon Class' Dragon Flash: Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon, complete with user holding the target ala Goku.
  • The Nekomata Class' Cat Paw: Domon and Rain's Rabu-Rabu Tenkyoken
  • The Succubus' Magichange attack Summon Vampire: G.F. Diablos' Dark Messenger
    • Before that there's Love and Destroy which is Sailor Moon's Moon Spiral Heart Attack.
  • Sapphire's Shunpu Moondance. Wishing Star, anyone?
  • The Infinite Graves sword skill: Unlimited Blade Works.
  • The Valkyrie special attack in the remake Absence of Detention is SaGoZo Combo's SaGoZo Impact.
• In one of the next episode previews, Salvatore offers Almaz a number of ways he can deal with his dwindling time limit. One of these is to fly around the Netherworld fast enough to turn back time.
• Sapphire mentions having read about using chainsaws on demons
• When Almaz returns to life there is a burst of feathers on the screen, which resembles the effect of a Phoenix Down.
• The console Mao's father broke, starting the whole thing, was a Slay Station Portable.
• One of the in-between chapter cutscenes was entitled Fist of the Nether Star.
• From Raspberyl Mode: "There, there, alien! Stick out your index finger and let's confirm our friendship!"

Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten

• Many Weapons and Equipment are reference to outside Media, in name or description;
  • Silent Killer: Shhh... be vewy vewy quiet.
  • Wannabe Axe: Yo, I'll tell you what you want, what you really really want.
  • Spikey Shell: That's what you get for being first.
  • Green Onion: You can be an Idol, too!
    • To add, it can be stolen from the leader of Artist Pirates, who is a blue-haired twintailed Archer.
  • White Tiger: "Welcome to the World of Magic". A reference to performers Siegfried and Roy.
  • Exorcist: Makes you wanna spiderwalk... for exercise
  • Blood Shark Duh duh, duh duh... Hear the music?
  • Ancient Hero The hero's name was AAA (Referencing the High Score name entry in many games)
  • Spartan Shield No! Hold it up higher! Ugh, no dining in hell for you!
• Quite a few "On the Next..." segments in the series contain thinly veiled references to the title of an actual anime or manga series. However, one of the segments decides to throw those shreds of subtlety out the window, and calls the show being previewed Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
• In the opening, Flonne unleashes a barrage of meteors upon the Earth and when they crash, numerous familiar tall skinny crosses sprout in their wake. Made even funnier by the fact that they were caused by an angel.
• The Eryngi's Erynger Roll is the Dempsey Roll
• Emizel's Grim Specter is a reference to Ichigo's Hollow Form.
• Vulcanus' Mandatory Repo is a dead ringer for Kamen Rider OOO's TaToBa Kick. The target even drops medals after the attack hits.
• The Alraune's Thorny Blaster screams Giga Thorn Breaker.
  • Valvatorez' Space Battleship Iwashi ^{[dead link]} is clearly referencing Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren, right down to Valvatorez using a Giga Core Drill on the moon to activate it.
  • There's also the Black Drill pirate ship part, which has the description "Trust in me, to find trust in yourself!".
• Desco's Evil Sword Balmung magichange skill is Zengar's Zankantou.
  • Her Final Boss Arises and True Godly Weapon are Overlord Zenon's Dark Revenge and Super Hero Aurum's Demon Slayer. Appropriate since she's a final boss in-training using the attacks of previous final bosses.
• The Catsaber's Hairball Incident magichange skill has it steamroll the targets with a giant ball of yarn that grows bigger as more and more objects get stuck to it, Katamari Damacy style.
• The Ghost's Pac-ghost Chaser throws enemy into a maze filled with dots and is chased by the ghost who has now taken on the appearance of Pac-Man. The fact that it's done by a Ghost is even funnier.
  • I call dibs on Clyde!
• The Nekomata's Boxer Kitty is a dead ringer for the Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken, complete with a similar battle cry, the name of the attack flashing onto the screen, and the target exploding. She also uses it when you create her on those voting for the Succubus.
  • Their Flaring Kitty Shot magichange skill is Gouenji Shuuya's Fire Tornado from Inazuma Eleven, complete with the shot scoring a goal.
• Upon creating a Slime, a cut scene will play in which the slime transforms into a hand with it's pointer finger up and says "Yes, we can". The senators even acknowledge it as 'Slime Obama'!
• Upon creating a Mothman, it will deliver a speech when a Nekomata runs up and tries to toss a paw glove at him only for the Mothman to quickly duck under it and let the Bouncers take her away.
• Upon creating a Dragon, several characters will place one ballot in seven ballot boxes, each one marked with a certain number of stars. When all seven are filled, a dragon is summoned.
  • The Dragon's dialogue in the same scene takes the reference further, as it recites some lines that were spoken by Shen Long.
• The Dragon gets a double reference with it's Dragon Assassinator, first releasing a dragon of fire it uses to batter its enemy before absorbing it for a power boost like Hiei, then proceeds to punch a hole through the victim in a fashion very reminiscent of Goku's finishing strike against King Piccolo.
• When you create an Undead Dragon, it makes a literal Spirit Bomb with votes, and the senators say that he must be the legendary Super Dragon.
• In the new Omega Comet, an arrow is fired that travels through all the planets in the solar system, finishing with the sun, a direct rip on "Supernova" from Final Fantasy VII.
• One of the zombies' attacks? Thrill Steps.
  • Additional reference in the zombie intro sequence: People are walking along a zebra crossing during an otherwise normal day, when someone turns into a zombie and takes a nibble from a passerby, infecting him. Soon after, the whole world is infected and zombified.
• Both the Alarune's magichange skills, Flower Wave and Twin Heart Attack, finishing moves from Heartcatch Pretty Cure.
• If the Great Flonzor X, Laharl Kaiser V, and Getter Mao are anything to go by, Flonne, Laharl, and Mao are apparently Go Nagai fans, though Laharl Kaiser V looks more like a Gundam.
• Pram's Ice Mirror is Haku's Demonic Ice Mirrors.
• If you get the Fuka epilogue, you receive trophy. The title of the trophy? The Melancholy of Fuka Kazamatsuri.
  • Additionally, Fuka's Prinny Kaiser XX has an animated Super Move Portrait Attack in the fashion of recent Super Robot Taisen games. Bonus points for Prinny Kaiser XX being a Humongous Mecha.
• The Succubus' Raging Dromi is clearly Andromeda Shun's Nebula Chain attack.
• Disgaea 4's iteration of the 'Rising Dragon' Fist Skill is a nod to Shiryu's Rozan Shoryu Ha, more exactly, the scene where Shiryu first masters the technique, complete with a Prinny wearing the Old Master's hat at the top of the waterfall.
• Who knew Genjuro Kazamatsuri was inspired by Jurassic Park into making demon clones?
• Prism Red's Rainbow Legend which gathers "former" Prism Rangers to face their enemy is a reference to the Legendary War.
• If you create a Witch and send her to the support group and then talk to her, she'll come up with a idea to freeze a sardine into a blunt weapon. Just like Joachim did, only he found it.
  • Even more. The Durundal is a high-mid rank sword, which is also the Infinity+1 Sword of Karin, with her ultimate skill, Sonnestark becoming the ultimate skill of the Cockatrice. Also, the true final chapter deals with a mythological area filled with Malice, being used by someone close to the cast. Much like the final part of From The New World.
• Creating a Beastmaster produces a cutscene where the new character is playing Drill Sergeant Nasty to a squad of prinnies. The dialogue is bowdlerized, but you'll recognize it immediately.
• When Fuka talks about the work she was forced to do as a prinny, she mentions being forced to look for some kind of "Ultra Dessert"...
• The Space Detective Gun is a miniature version of Daitarn 3's Leg Cannon.
• Before you can create a Bouncer (whose innate evility increases the Defense of adjacent allies), you must pass a bill to "Make a Man who will Fight for your Honor".
• The scene you get when you create a Gunner is a reference to a scene at the end of Castle of Cagliostro (which is also referenced in the Flash animation for Marisa Stole The Precious Thing).
• When choosing a hobby during Pirate Creation, there are quite a few;
  • Sorry, Rule 1 &2
  • Keeping a Death Notebook
  • Holding My Boombox High
  • Dancing for Safety
  • Diagnosing Murder
• The Fun Facts during Pirate creation as well;
  • Solved Da Linci's Code
  • Voted for Fubuki... Twice... (A reference to the DLC character contest)

1. ↑ Essentially this game's version of the infamous Dimension Slash