Thread: References in DM

Interesting about Zork. I think only the English manga named him Zorc.

So we are talking mainly for the anime/manga and not cards.

Main character names are taken from old egyptian gods -Seth, Isis etc.

A good series of name puns- Yugi=game,Anzu=peach, Bakura=tapir, Kaiba=seahorse, Mokuba=wooden horse, kujaku=peacock etc. as well as more obvious nicknames - "dinosaur" , "insector", "ghost" etc.

In the 1st manga chapter Yugi thinks that finishing the puzzle will grant him a wish, like in Dragonball..

In the porno tape chapter, Yugi and Jou refer to an urban myth that says that if you squint hard enough at a censored pixeled **** scene, you can see past the pixels and see the actual deal (they both failed though)

hope i didn't make mistakes here..

DARKMASTER: Ah, okay. And yeah, I guess it's mainly about the anime/manga, unless a card is referencing something, like the Toons.

girlwithnonick: Those are correct, as far as I know.

Ok, heres one:
you all remember how the duel arenas were in the manga, before the duel disk right?

The reason that Siegfried hate Kaiba was because Kaiba presented to Pegasus the model of the duel arena (like the manga) before Siegfried does.

Phew, this could bring out some results. In the manga, pretty much everything was a reference.

- Capmon = Pokemon
- Magic and Wizards/Duel Monsters = Magic the Gathering
- Monster Fight = Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
- Virtual Pets = Tamagotchis
- Jet-Black Panther Warrior = A reference to American comics, as said by Mr. Takahashi
- Zombire = Spawn
- Ishtar = the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of 'fertility, love, war and sex'
- Dungeons, Dragons and Dice/Dungeon Dice Monsters = Dungeons and Dragons, in title anyway
- Monster World = Dungeons and Dragons, in rules
- Atem = one of the names of Atum, the Egyptian god who was finisher of the world
- Revolver Dragon = Its appearance and effect relate to the game of 'Russian Roulette', obviously also relevant to Bandit Keith

The duel against the MeiKyuu brothers was a reference to the dungeons in RPG games, where the final boss would be waiting at the end after clearing the dungeon.

While it's not really part of DM, Reshef from DM8 was based on a Syrian war god named Reshap.

The Taiyou brothers in YGOR where based on the alias Pegasus used in DM8, Taiyo Tenma.

Siegfried's deck, and Siegfried himself, reference Richard Wagner's "The Ring Cycle" which were four operas telling the story of a magic ring with the power to rule the world.

Dartz's cards, like Shunaros, Diablo, ect., references many religions around the world, possibly relating to the fact thatthe Orichalcos was seemingly almighty and trumped other kind of magic or god until Atem's puzzle rejected the seal.

Originally Posted by Arynis

- Zork's name (Or is it Zorc?) is a reference to the Zork computer game series. Makes sense, especially with Bakura's RPG in the manga.

But Zork isn't an RPG computer game; it's a text adventure. I guess you could argue it's the same kind of thing, because the story is told in the second person and you do have sort of imagine yourself in the role of the character.

These are a bit obvious and probably well known, but as long as we're making a list:

-In the only dub name change aside from Duke Devlin that I might have some sympathy for, Amelda's dub name, Alister, is likely a reference to Alister Crowley. When you take into account all the occult business Doma had going on, it's actually kind of appropriate.

-One of the Millennium World chapters (I think it's the one right after Yugi and the gang first meet up with Atem in the RPG), Honda's handkerchief is a reference to Nu from Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. It was a nod to Yugi's appearance in the Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo manga, which Takahashi himself drew at Yoshio Sawai's request.

-Riho-chan from Nightwalker has a cameo is episode 54 of Duel Monsters. I remember seeing some pics of Naruto and Saint Seiya characters cameos, as well.

-Sory, Panazonic and Cora-Cola are some of the brand names seen throughout the manga. Jonouchi's "Air Muscle" sneakers from the second volume look like Air Max Nikes and the D-Shock watch Honda gets for Miho in the Toei series is a reference to Casio G-Shock. Both were must-have fads in the 90s.

-Jean Claud Magnum is Jean-Claude Van Damme, obviously. Additionally, Bandit Keith seems to be made up of every negative movie clich� about Americans ever invented.

-Chapter 25 of the manga and the corresponding Toei episode have tons of Bruce Lee references (the manga even flat out mentions his name, along with a short movie career). The Virtual V.S. arcade game Yugi plays has a character called Burce Ryu (Dragon 1 in the anime) who looks like a Bruce Lee clone. The guy who plays against Yugi wears the same legendary yellow-and-black outfit Lee wore in Game of Death (and which would later be paid homage in numerous films, including Kill Bill).

Originally Posted by Dr_Watson

These are a bit obvious and probably well known, but as long as we're making a list:

As long as they're not obvious as in 'Elf Swordsman is a references to elves', I wouldn't worry. Making connections which aren't there would be worse.

- In the manga, I believe it's the Air Muscle chapter, they directly reference the Tokyo Shock Boys
- The Japanese pronunciation of Orgoth from 'God Orgoth' is the same as the famous Orguss anime
- Big 2 and his love of penguins, including especially the design of his Deck Master Penguin Nightmare, are a reference to the Batman villain the Penguin
- Obviously, Noa's first deck is based around the seven days of creation, which is why he claims he will beat Kaiba in seven turns. Things get a bit strange when he summons Vic Viper, but the imagery is apparent. After this, his deck changes to Japanese folklore
- When escaping from Noa's virtual world, Jonouchi exclaims "I'll be back!" in English, in his best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression, from The Terminator
- The fact that Kaiba plays 'Kaiser Seahorse' is an amusing reference to the meaning of his name
- The Ziggurat mentioned in the name of Sky Fortress Ziggurat is a reference to the massive temples build by the Mesopotamians
- Needless to say, Sugoroku's exploration of Atem's tomb in 1960 is a very loving reference to Indiana Jones

A bit off topic, but I had to Google the Dengeki Network because that's immediately what I do with anything, aaand...

Originally Posted by Ryusaki

- In the manga, I believe it's the Air Muscle chapter, they directly reference the Tokyo Shock Boys

Originally Posted by Wikipedia on Dengeki Network

They have since become a huge success, mainly from the influence of Yu-Gi-Oh! Creator Shigeru Miyamoto, and stunt co-ordinator Rahm Jas-Ali

Originally Posted by Wikipedia on Dengeki Network

They have since become a huge success, mainly from the influence of Yu-Gi-Oh! Creator Shigeru Miyamoto, and stunt co-ordinator Rahm Jas-Ali

Haha, he wishes.

And I'm not convinced a very quick reference in a Shonen manga would have shot these guys up into the limelight XD.

Someone here before mentioned this archaeologist that Shadi Yami no Gamed in the Toei series was based on a real one.

In volume 1, the evil TV broadcaster worked for ZTV, which is also a TV broadcast station in Dragon Ball Z.

also yugi's grandpa's shop is named "kame games" which is a reference to "kame house" , the house master roshi lives in in DB/Z/GT.

i remember takahashi saying he's a fan of the DB series..it really shows..

Originally Posted by Dr_Watson

-Riho-chan from Nightwalker has a cameo is episode 54 of Duel Monsters. I remember seeing some pics of Naruto and Saint Seiya characters cameos, as well.

Hmm... it'd be interesting to see those. Do you know approximately when they occurred, or do you have pics?

Originally Posted by russ869

Hmm... it'd be interesting to see those. Do you know approximately when they occurred, or do you have pics?

I think the Naruto one I have, I remember posting it before somewhere, I'll just post it again for the sake if it being easy to find. I'm forgetting the number of the episode right now >.<




Actually, I kind of want to see the one from the Bobobo manga, just for lulz. Anybody have that one?

Hah yeah there they are the InoshikaCho team and that tennis guy with the hat.

The Bobobobo reference.
I think it is in the YGO! manga and not the anime.
I want to see the Saint Seiya one even though I haven't seen that anime XD.

Originally Posted by DARKMASTER

The Bobobobo reference.
I think it is in the YGO! manga and not the anime.

Yeah, I think it was something about the handkerchief Honda used when Yugi and the others met up with the Pharoah after summoning Ra.

Speaking of Bobobo, I loved that Atem cameo he had there. lol

Originally Posted by Geno

Yeah, I think it was something about the handkerchief Honda used when Yugi and the others met up with the Pharoah after summoning Ra.

Speaking of Bobobo, I loved that Atem cameo he had there. lol

I think that she/he wanted to see the cameo FROM BOBOBO MANGA not the BOBOBO cameo in YGO.. anyone has that Atem cameo ?

I know, I was expanding on what DM (though now that I look at the thread, I only repeated something that was already mentioned. lol)
The cameo that was in Bobobo was this one.

I know the picture quality sucks, but I found it on somebody's Photobucket. xD;

Originally Posted by DARKMASTER

Hah yeah there they are the InoshikaCho team and that tennis guy with the hat.

The Bobobobo reference.
I think it is in the YGO! manga and not the anime.
I want to see the Saint Seiya one even though I haven't seen that anime XD.

Wow, I never noticed Ryoma Echizen there. There's a Saint Seiya YGO reference?

There's a 5D's cameo in Bakuman.

There's a HiHiPuffyAmiYumi episode that's a dedicated reference to YGO but IIRC the card game was called "Stupid-Oh!" lol.

I also remember one of the rea~lly old Nickolodeon magazines had a splash page where American cartoons met Japanese anime, and Bart and Lisa Simpson both had Yugi's hair, lol.

Yeah I have seen that HiHiPuffyAmiYumi YGO! reference episode. Well I think it was more a reference for the card games and their tournaments in general.

I have see that a screenshot of that Simpson episode where they showed a poster of Dark Yugi in Simpsons style.

Originally Posted by Geno

I know, I was expanding on what DM (though now that I look at the thread, I only repeated something that was already mentioned. lol)
The cameo that was in Bobobo was this one.

I know the picture quality sucks, but I found it on somebody's Photobucket. xD;

It's good enough for me. (lol "If only Sawai could draw better")

Originally Posted by NekoKING

There's a HiHiPuffyAmiYumi episode that's a dedicated reference to YGO but IIRC the card game was called "Stupid-Oh!" lol.

I also remember one of the rea~lly old Nickolodeon magazines had a splash page where American cartoons met Japanese anime, and Bart and Lisa Simpson both had Yugi's hair, lol.

Hmm, seems there's an awful lot of YGO references if we look carefully enough.

Ah, I remember that Nickelodeon magazine (I should have bought it! It was hilarious. XD, Dark Yugi on a skateboard, and Yugi in a frilly dress...)

Originally Posted by DARKMASTER

Yeah I have seen that HiHiPuffyAmiYumi YGO! reference episode. Well I think it was more a reference for the card games and their tournaments in general.

I have see that a screenshot of that Simpson episode where they showed a poster of Dark Yugi in Simpsons style.

I remember that. Budget cuts reduced the children's library to a Yu-Gi-Oh! price guide and "Everybody Poops: The Movie".

In venture bros. on Adult Swim, Dean finds an Ancient Gear Fist card. lulz

Wow, I seriously can't believe I neglected to mention this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px2zX-M2alQ#t=15s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuMdBnwAyfM#t=1m23

It might make the "Saint Katsuya" parody some of you might have seen that much more funnier.

Lol, Its like the same footage XD. Specially that fists action screams plagiarism.

Whoah. I knew the Armor cards were channeling sentai, but to parody Saint Seiya? Even the left fist/right fist bit? Something new every day.

Originally Posted by Tatsunoboshi Horoko

Wow, I seriously can't believe I neglected to mention this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px2zX-M2alQ#t=15s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuMdBnwAyfM#t=1m23

It might make the "Saint Katsuya" parody some of you might have seen that much more funnier.

Ah...Saint Seiya, I loved that show back in the day...Those "armor" anime series always got to me(Samurai Troopers FTW). Valon's pose at the end reminds me of the Meteor of Pegasus.

Not sure if anyone's posted it, but there's a 5D's reference in Bakuman. A poster of Yusei is on the wall in one of the scenes. This was when 5D's just-just came out, though.

This one is kinda obvious, but the Duel Monsters World virtual game is based on The Legend of Zelda games, because of the sprites and the fairy-that-helps-out-players bit. I'm not too clear on this one, however.

I totally remember that Yusei poster in Bakuman. I was like "This manga just gets ten times better!"

...I fail to remember what chapter it was though. D:

I like all egyptian references, but I loved seth/horus myth as Seto and Atem subtext.

I just stumbled upon this: apparently the 'Necrophedius' (which is the spelling that the French manga uses, no silly 'Necrophades' here) from Zork Necrophedius comes from a monster in Dungeons and Dragons, the Necrophidius. It was introduced in 1981.

Originally Posted by Necrophidius

It appears as the skeleton of a giant snake topped with a fanged human skull. Small white pupils can be seen in the eye sockets.

Takahashi, you nerd XD.

So we finally have an explanation of Zork's origin XD.

Originally Posted by Ryusaki

I just stumbled upon this: apparently the 'Necrophedius' (which is the spelling that the French manga uses, no silly 'Necrophades' here) from Zork Necrophedius comes from a monster in Dungeons and Dragons, the Necrophidius. It was introduced in 1981.Takahashi, you nerd XD.

Haha, that's awesome right there.



I guess that explains the trouser snake the snake around Zork. XD

Yeah, I looked at the Google images and immediately saw where Takahashi was coming from. So the ultimate boss of the ultimate RPG is half text-based adventure, half Dungeons and Dragons creature.

Originally Posted by Ryusaki

Yeah, I looked at the Google images and immediately saw where Takahashi was coming from. So the ultimate boss of the ultimate RPG is half text-based adventure, half Dungeons and Dragons creature.

Considering that Takahashi stated he likes playing games, it accounts for his nerdiness and a really cool easter egg. Although a lot of the games in the first seven volumes contain a lot of easter eggs in general, no? (Or wait, you already listed some of them. XD)

Not to mention the first Zork looked like an assault mode version of Summoned Skull.
To add a bit to the references of the BIG BAD.

Originally Posted by maatkare

It's good enough for me. (lol "If only Sawai could draw better")


Hmm, seems there's an awful lot of YGO references if we look carefully enough.

Ah, I remember that Nickelodeon magazine (I should have bought it! It was hilarious. XD, Dark Yugi on a skateboard, and Yugi in a frilly dress...)

Speaking of magazines, I still remember reading one of the issues of my magazine subscription, which was comparing the main singer of this band called Tokio Hotel to Dark Yugi, saying that they looked a lot alike. While this is so far from the truth, it isn't even funny, it was sort of strange that a popular American magazine that is read by celebrities and commoners all over the country would actually focus on something like that.
And I remembered that Hihi Puffy AmiYumi episode. I laughed hard when they showed that.

The Death-T Arc had it's fair share of Bruce Lee references, starting with the aforementioned arcade game. That was a foreshadow of the Death-T. The Death-T itself was a reference to 'Bruce Lee's' "The Game of Death," where Bruce had to go up a 5(or 4)-floor tower with an opponent on every floor. The Dragon-1 lookalike who beat up Yugi-AND Dragon-1, also wore Bruce's yellow jumpsuit which he wore in the movie.

The main bad guy was some sort of racketeer that was a good guy to the public, just like how Kaiba was an idol to everyone, including the audience of the Death-T, but was actually pretty evil.

This might be stretching it, but on the final floor of the tower, Bruce Lee had to fight Kareem Abdul Jabar, who used the same flawless free-flowing fighting style as Bruce(Jeet Kune Do-'Way of the Intercepting Fist'), unlike all of his previous opponents who used different styles and had different weaknesses. On the final floor of Death-T, both Yugi and Kaiba fought via Duel Monsters, while all of Yugi's previous opponents in Death-T fought with different games.

^ 10 points for that. X)

Talking about Zorc's, ehm, thingy, I heard it's a reference to an American horror movie from the '70s or '80s, where suddently a monster shaped like that appeared from the crotch of one of the characters. Do you know more or is it just a rumor?

Originally Posted by DARKMASTER

^ 10 points for that. X)

Lol, it's hard to believe it wasn't mentioned before, seeing how the manga foreshadowed and flourished the Death-T arc with Bruce Lee's "Game of Death" references.

Well it had a small hint also latter in the fillers.

Remember the Bruce Lee is God bottle of alcohol that 4K!ds censored?

Great find, NeoKING. That's somehow a huge and subtle reference at the same time, and I've certainly never heard anybody mention it before. It always seemed so random that Death-T began with Yugi and Jonouchi fighting a Bruce Lee fan, because Takahashi specifically stated that Kaiba's limo picks them off the street straight after.

The Toei series goes further by adding in the battle suit martial arts fight with two of the Game Masters.

Originally Posted by Ryusaki

Great find, NeoKING. That's somehow a huge and subtle reference at the same time, and I've certainly never heard anybody mention it before. It always seemed so random that Death-T began with Yugi and Jonouchi fighting a Bruce Lee fan, because Takahashi specifically stated that Kaiba's limo picks them off the street straight after.

The Toei series goes further by adding in the battle suit martial arts fight with two of the Game Masters.

That's not the end of it, pal, lol.

Apparently-And this might be a bit of a stretch, or one hell of a coincidence-Takahashi used ideas from the original and produced versions of The Game of Death. Wait, original and produced versions? Allow the annoying Bruce Lee fan in me to help clear that up a bit.

A while back, in September, I somehow found myself reading a biography on the Kung-Fu legend in the school library. It turns out that, despite how seemingly invincible this man was, during the shooting for The Game of Death, Bruce had fell to a serious illness. Eventually, he died. He never got to film the entire movie, only being able to film the fight scenes of the film instead.

The original story for the movie had a retired martial arts champ(Bruce) in confrontation with Korean gangsters who tell him about a mythical tower where skilled martial artists guard each floor. At the top of the tower is a secret treasure, which-to this day-isn't really specified in any of the film material. In order to make Bruce challenge the tower, the Korean mafia kidnaps his younger brother and sister. And so, Bruce and four other martial artists challenge the tower and their martial artists.

Because of Bruce not being able to finish the film, another director, an American one, took the original concept, bastardized it, changed the story completely(including implying that the final battles filmed in the mythic tower take place on the upper floors of a RESTAURANT), and had a Bruce Lee fake do all of his non-close-up scenes,(And this famous scene), and taking close-up scenes from other Bruce Lee films and re-dubbing the dialog.

Takahashi-sensei seems have made a special twist on some of the aspects of the film, such as the Mokuba's confrontation with Yugi and Jonouchi resembling that of the Korean mafia's in the original script, the siblings' kidnapping becoming Sugoroku's capture, and the 4 other companions being Yugi's friends(Johji/Miho included). The bad guy-being-good-to-the-public is an aspect from the "fake" version of the film.

Another thing that's probably not taken from the movie, but might fit in is the final battle against Kaiba and Yugi in Death-T 5. In the film, Bruce defeats Karim Abdul Jabar by discovering he has an abnormal weakness to light when he opens the windows of the tower(which is why he wears sunglasses, even though the entire floor is pretty dim). In the anime/manga, when Yugi defeats Kaiba, Kaiba sees the 'light' via the Penalty Game and-Okay that one is stretching it by a lo~ng yard, lol.

Ummm, let's see...Fun facts: The Chinese and Japanese title of the movie both contain the characters and pronunciation of Yugi's name. "Sǐw�ng d� Y�ux�('Game of Death)"-Y�ux� being the Mandarin Chinese word for 'Game' and Yugi's name in the Chinese editions, and the 'Yūgi' in the Japanese title "Bruce Lee in G.O.D.: Shibōteki Yūgi(Bruce Lee in G.O.D.: A Deadly Game)" for...yeah. Not much info there though.

Oh, one more thing to annoy the living daylights out of you people by not shutting up(which I should probably do by now): After Bruce died, he was so great at the time, that MANY directors made 'fake' Bruce Lee movies as a way to get recognition. They often used Bruce Lee 'clones' as actors that looked like the star and had names such as 'Bruce Li' or something. This was known as the 'Bruceploitation' era of the 70's. 'Game of Death' was one of the most reproduced movies during this era, having unofficial sequels, spin-offs, alternate stories, or parodies.

I guess you can say Dragon-1 was a reference to Bruceploitation(all the Bruce clones you see in real-life fighting games are officially considered byproducts of Bruceploitation as well), and so are all of the YGO medias that illustrate incorrect portrayals of the Death-T story, such as that Game Boy Color game that used Death-T as a plot but had Yugi playing Capmon the whole way, or the version used in Destiny Board Traveler. Even the TOEI anime's rendition of the arc can be considered a reference to it.

And while we're on the subject(I'm almost done I swear!), it's from this scene of the movie that I got the phrase you see under my username. Better than 4Kids dubbing at least...or is it?

Alright, my lips are sealed now, .

Almost forgot about this one, too:

Three Musketeers of Doma's members are each named after a Musketeer from the story by Alexander Dumas.

Rafael - Olivier d'Athos de La F�re
Amelda - Ren� d'Aramis de Vannes (Nickname: Alameda)
Valon - Porthos (Nickname:baron du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds/Du Vallon)

Originally Posted by Tatsunoboshi Horoko

Almost forgot about this one, too:

Three Musketeers of Doma's members are each named after a Musketeer from the story by Alexander Dumas.

Rafael - Olivier d'Athos de La F�re
Amelda - Ren� d'Aramis de Vannes (Nickname: Alameda)
Valon - Porthos (Nickname:baron du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds/Du Vallon)

I went all this time not realising that the Three Musketeers of Doma were named after The Three Musketeers!?

Doma has so many references...

So the group of these 3 should really be called the Three Musketeers of Doma and not the 3 swordsmen of Doma/Doom(lol).

And this brings me to if that Doma name of the organization has any meaning(which probably was mentioned before somewhere, but I forgot).