Haiyore! Nyarlko 12 – notes and the like

Time

Note the time.

Statue

The carved wooden bear there is called the carved wooden bear (木彫り熊), one of the common souvenirs from Hokkaido. It’s only relevant because the writer of the Nyarlko light novels is from Hokkaido too.

Scenes

Consider the whole first half of this episode one huge reference. The scenes of Mahiro walking in the empty city are all echoes of Beautiful Dreamer, the 1984 sequel of Urusei Yatsura. In the movie the characters first get trapped in a time loop (this brings back endless memories) then in a dreamworld where everyone else disappears.

The TV only airs reruns. Phones don’t work. In general Nyarlko and Urusei Yatsura show curious similarities in both story construction and character development. I can’t be arsed to write them all down. If you’re interested, check at NyaruRef.

Also worth noting that the prequel of Nyarlko, Haiyoru! Nyaruani’s Remember My Love was based on the third Urusei Yatsura movie, also titled Remember My Love. Let’s brace ourselves for another Urusei Yatsura reference episode for Nyarlko W as well (judging from the patterns, it’ll be based on the first movie).

Clock

This clocktower is based on the famous old clocktower of Sapporo (Hokkaido). Also, note the time.

Sutaffuuu

Let’s all cry “Staff! Staff!” together. Everyone in his address book except for Nyarlko and Yoichi are members of the Nyarlko production team.

Trapezohedron

That’s the crystal Nyarlko gave him back in episode 2. It’s based on the Shining Trapezohedron from the Haunter of the Dark. As it was demonstrated in earlier episodes, it can act as a gateway through spacetime. This time it spits out the Mirror from the previous episode.

Here!

This could be a reference to the Ikkyuu-san opening or the standard opening sequence from YuruYuri. The latter is also related by that Ghutatan’s voice actor (Mikami Shiori) also did Akari.

What...

“What… the hell?” (なん…だとっ) is the “catchphrase”  of Bleach. The lloigor’s transformed form resembles the lloigor from the cover of the Japanese edition of Colin Wilson’s 1969 novel Return of the Lloigor.

Do

This is a reference to the Japanese ventriloquist Ikkokudo (いっこく堂) whose signature move is to articulate words but pronounce them later, making it appear as if his voice is delayed. Nyarlko’s puppet (seen above) is also a part of this reference.

HD

A reference to the Genie Family (ハクション大魔王), where the the main characters (Daimaou and Akubi) “say” this when they come out of their lamps. Jars. Whatever it’s called.

Lines

These lines are a common internet meme nowadays, but they originate from the gay manga Kusomiso Technique (くそみそテクニック), where one of the characters says pretty much the same, asking another character to check out his balls.

Light

Reference to the final episode of Ultraman Tiga, where the monster Ghatanothoa (Gatanozoa) locks the hero in a crystal, but he’s freed by the “light” of the hope and prayers of the children around the world. Remember that it was Ghutatan who petrified Mahiro. In Out of the Aeons it says that whoever looked at Ghatanothoa would be petrified.

Hellsing

His monologue about adult games is very similar to the maniac monologue of the Major (the main villain) in Hellsing chapter 27. Yes, this was the “other reason” he calls himself Major, that I mentioned in the episode 11 notes.

Key

Key is a famous studio for visual novels (Clannad, Little Busters etc). Nyarlko’s looks on screen reference the Key adult game (spinoff of Little Busters), Kud Wafter.

Leaf

Leaf is another visual novel studio (Utawaremono, To Heart etc). Nyarlko’s looks on screen reference Amanatsu Purin from Le Prince de l’Etoile (星の王子くん).

Tentacle

I hope you sense the irony of a giant tentacle monster going on about how it loves porn.

Haha

Saying ultramaniac in a show full of Ultraman references. Talk about dumb puns.

Dokey

It’s the Dorombo Gang’s catchphrase from Yatterman. The girls’ poses also reference the same. By the way, this line is “standard” translated in Yatterman as “Okey-dokey, Ma’am!”.

War

Again quoting a line by the Major in Hellsing. One of his minions is the Japanese meme creature Spoo (スプー) by the way. Can you find it in the crowd? The maid from My Maid is an Amorphous Blob (うちのメイドは不定形) also appears in the crowd (the maid with the handlike appendages in her hair). She’s a shoggoth too, by the way.

Transform!

Finally she does her transformation sequence properly. It’s Kamen Rider X’s great henshin (大変身). Her next line also quotes a Kamen Rider, but that time it’s Den-O.

Fang

Gundam 00 reference. They often say this line (行けよファング ike yo fangu) when using Fin Fangs.

Mi-Go

That’s a Mi-Go.

Echo

Kamen Rider W reference. The hero says pretty much the same a lot.

Ice Lancer

Her Ice Lancer is a mix of Tekkaman Hiver’s sword and Tekkaman Blade’s Tekka Lancer from (guess what) Tekkaman Blade 2. Luhy’s VA (Kouda Mariko) also did Tekkaman Hiver.

Shthan

“Nyar shthan, Nyar gashana” is the (sanity-wise very costly) chant to summon Nyarlathotep in the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG.

Pose

Her poses here mimic what Kamen Rider Black does after he transforms.

Flag

Famous last line. (Probably gained fame as such after it was used in episode 111 of 太陽に吠えろ taiyou ni hoero.)

Scene

Typical tentacle hentai scene. What he says quotes the final boss of the shooter DoDonPachi and DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu.

5

The Go-ongers’ pose from Engine Sentai Go-ongers.

Bane

Her “I command the sword that cuts evil” (我は魔を斬つ剣を執る) line references Demonbane. The way the sword “activated” bottom up is very similar to Great Exkaiser’s Thunder Flash from Brave Exkaiser. The sword’s name (shown on screen) references the title of the PS2 version of Demonbane (機神咆哮デモンベイン Roaring Machine Deity Demonbane’s). The pose itself is very common in anime, God only knows what it references.

Pun

All these puns. 罪を憎んで人を憎まず (tsumi wo nikunde, hito wo nikumazu, hate sin, not the people) is a proverb. 人を憎んで詰みゲーを憎まず (hito wo nikunde, tsumige wo nikumazu, hate the people, not the piled-up games) is what Nyarlko says. Here “piled-up games” stands for the games that someone buys but hasn’t played yet (so they keep “piling up”). Notice how both the proverb and Nyarlko’s version have tsumi and hito. Why can’t I hold all these puns?

Sega

She’s playing on a Sega Game Gear.

This entry was posted by Vale.

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