[Pellissier]

Episode 19:

1) 50 foot reference, spotted by Dop:

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

You've got to love that scene, not so much a reference as a direct copy, er, I mean a homage. yes, that's it, a homage.

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2) The reference found by the almighty Suzumiya Haruhi is so good it is criminal:

Spoiler:

The characters that Hiyori drew were Odoroki Housuke and Garyuu Kyouya from Gyakuten Saiban 4 / Ace Attorney 4:

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3a) Weekly mammoth contribution by AVPlaya, part 1:

Spoiler:

Kona no Petto
There sure are plenty of dog references in L*S. We know that the Hiiragi Twins wanted one, since EP13 the sponsor graphics has been a husky, and now Kona mentioned that she has a game dog. I think everyone can agree that the game she's playing must be Nintendo's first big hit for the DS, Nintendog. In this game you do talk to the dog, so it matches what she said.

The cutest Nintendog cover:



That CHINCHIN is ADORABLE!
Okay before you think I'm dirty, hear me out. As most of you have figured out, "chinchin" is what little children called a penis. But that's not what Tsukasa was asking... they were talking about DOGS so she was asking a very valid question about dog training terms. "ちんちん", in addition to be a term for male genital, is also used to describe the act of a dog standing on its hind legs. Why is it called that? Well, most Japanese, like you and me, believe that it's because when a male dog performs this trick, it's penis will be shown to all. Thus the girls all blushed (except Kona of course). What Miyuki said was that it's an imported term from Chinese. Well, I personally never heard of such usage, but it's possible. "親親" (qing1 qing1, same sound as ChinChin) means literally "kiss kiss". It's used when you wanted someone to kiss you. When a dog raises its hind leg and thus raise it's head, it's possible that the trainer could be asking the dog to raise its mouth high enough to kiss the trainer. Thus our MiWIKI has a plausible point.

Good looking Chinchin right there!



Gundam Research
Due to possible licensing issue, L*S could never reference Gundam out-right, even though you can tell they're dying to do so. Finally in this episode they can't wait much longer so they let it all out, hoping that their expertly applied censoring skills will avoid Bandai lawsuits. According to the Japanese Gun-ota, the following is what some anonymous akiba-kei chibi-cosplayer interview her lolicon gun-ota hentai chichi about:

Canon Series:

• V - Mobile Suit Victory Gundam or V Gundam, 1993
• W - Mobile Suit Gundam Wing or New Mobile Report Gundam W - 1995
• X - After War Gundam X or Mobile New Century Gundam X - 1996

Parody Series:

• Gundam Serial Murder Cases: It's actually "ポートピア連続殺人事件" (Portopia Serial Murder Cases) , a 1983 adventure game made by Enix for NEC PC and Nintendo Famicom.
• Famous Detective Gundam: - Of course this is "名探偵コナン" or "Detective Conan/Case Closed" The image shown here looks like "Turn A Gundam" though.

Gundam Chara Age versus Densetsu no Shojou A:

• Amuro Ray (15) - K****a (18): According to wikipedia, Amuro was 15 at the beginning of One Year War. Perhaps by the end of the War, he's 16 and thus Girl A is correct.
• Bright Noa (19) - K****a in years (20): Again, Bright is also just about 20 at the end of the One Year War. Guess that's the reference age point for the anonymous otaku - end of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series.

PC version of Portopia:



The Good Gift
When Kona-jiji returned with a bag of omiyage from the neighbor, Konata asked "What? A vase?". This is another Mobile Suit Gundam reference. Right before the Zeon colonel M'Quve died, he stated "Uragan, give the vase to Lady Kycilia, it's very valuable!". Only a highly-trained child of a Gun-Ota would automatically feel that something valuable should instinctively be a vase. A lolicon dad also should not using Princess Maker-like lines when describing his own lilo-moe daughter.

Makube and his valuable Vase:



Tsukasa's Fear
The movie Tsukasa used to keep herself awake is the very famous Japanese horror classic "呪怨" (JuOn). The film has been remake by Hollywood as "The Grudge", and the most scary thing in that movie is how all the main characters living in Japan all became English speaking gaijin.

You know how long it takes to put on all this makeup?



Otaku-Nee-San
Yui-Nee-san is actually reading Fate/stay Night manga volume #3. She's actually an otaku!!! Actually if you think about, what else is she doing in the Izumi house? Reading Kona's wall of Otaku manga. She has been turned...

Rider is so sexy...



Konata Decoration
Thing in Konata's Room:

On Top of TV: - Atelier Sai 1/6 Mikuru Asahina Waitress Version Pink
Hanging next to bookself: Large version of "彗星ヒヨコ" (Suisei Hiyoko) from the Gundam parody 4-koma manga "機動戦士ガンダムさん"
Wall Posters - Kiddy Grade (?) and ???

Kawasugi!



Nanako the Violent Teacher
When Nanako said to Konata "Correct It!", that seemed to be reference to Mobile Suit Gundam's Bright Noa. When she hits Konata, two person appears in the flash": Akira and Kanata. The hitting scene is from the Thai martial arts movie "The Protector" (ワンカット in Japanese) starring Tony Jaa. The quotes on the black boards are from: Che Guevara, Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre, and John Lennon.

I kick loli-ass!

3b) Weekly mammoth contribution by AVPlaya, part 2:

Spoiler:

Typhoon Family
When the girls were talking about the weather after the Typhoon, they were making a Japanese pun. What Konata was trying to say is "台風一過" (Tai Fuu Ikka), which is the calm weather after the typhoon, but she thought she the term was "台風一家" (Tai Fuu Ikka), which means "The Typhoon Family". Then she proceeded to make seemingly funny comment about the big typhoon's siblings. Kagami, knowing the real meaning of the term, asked Kona if she's serious. Of course she was. Seemed like Tsukasa was in Kona's boat as well. This happens to a lot of kanji-semi literate Japanese teens.

The Typhoon Family Photo:



Pro Baseball In Japan
The Japanese pro-baseball season is now in full-swing. Overtime game would push midnight anime further back, forcing many otaku to re-adjust their VCRs. There are no Tivo-like service in Japan (I checked) so even with a DVR, they will have to do this manually. Thus many otaku in Japan hated baseball with a passion. Trivia: It seemed that Nanako's favorite Pro Baseball Team is the Lotte Chiba Marines, and the main reason for this was that one of the team's star pitcher, 小林宏之 (Kobayashi Hiroyuki), is Katsukabe KyoEi High School's most famous alumni. He helped the team won its' first Japan Series title in '05; I remember him cus I watched the game. What's really unbelievable was the fact that Kona-jiji was watching baseball... isn't he an otaku? Another trivia - The Koshien Summer High School Baseball Tournament (something I watch live every night) does NOT hurt the Otakus as much because 1. All games are played during the day and 2. The games have a 15 inning max rule. Otakus should only hate PRO baseball, but I doubt many can tell the difference.

Yoshimizu loves his senpai:



Cool Biz
As many of you know by now, Cool Biz is the environmental policy promoted by the Koizumi government - from the first working day of June to the last working day of September, salarimen in Japan should try not to wear a neck tie or a jacket. All AC should be set at 28 Celsius. Maybe Kona-dad's not so lolicon after all...

Former PM Koizumi with his Cool Biz shirt:



Waitress Kagamin!
In the imaginary sequence where Kagami became a waitress, she's actually Cosplaying as an actual waitress of a famous Japanese restaurant chain for American food, Anna Miller's. The restaurant actually started out in Hawaii and then expanded to Japan, and it's famous for its breakfast and Pennsylvania Dutch pies. Cospla-Ota also love their cute and a little ecchi uniform, which is probably why it's in L*S. While you have to admit Kagami is super tsundere in their orange apron, It's too bad that KyoAni really failed to show the most interesting part of the uniform - the apron's "supporting feature" (see below).

A real Anna Miller's waitress-san demonstrating why cosplayers love her dress:



Wonderful Discoveries!
The show they Hiiragi Twins are watching is again, a very popular TBS show "世界・ふしぎ発見!" (Discovery of World's Wonder!). It's a combination travel/quiz show where they show the audience a place or city in the world and what' so special about it. There will be trivial questions asked during the show and the 6 or so tarento (talent-less guests) will try to answer them correctly in order to win the big prize - a travel package furnished by LOOK JTB (name beeped), Japan's largest travel agency. The TBS staple is the longest running quiz show ever, having just broadcasted their 1,000th episode this year.

The joke here was the LOOK JTB travel package offered was "one month trip to (a frozen) Tundra", like that's an ideal vacation. The "wonder" featured that night was Australia's Ayer's Rock, based on the voice over from the TV. The Ota in me found that the show DID recently visit Ayer's Rock this year, with it's 998th episode aired on 2/17/2007. The date doesn't quite match up but you can't expect KyoAni to be 100% accurate all the time.

Takeuchi Kanae (show's on-location host) in Australia:



Quickie Reference: Kona's desire to know more about their school's "idol" and the staus of her "bodyguard groups" is probably a reference to "D.C. ~ Da Capo" and "SHUFFLE" games.


Shower/Bath in Japan
Nanako-sensei was shown to have taken shower/bath before going to bed. This is normal in Japan, just in case you don't know from watching all those anime. People do not shower in the morning; a bath is always before bed time. The Japanese believe bath is stress-relieving and it's required for a restful sleep. Another reason for the absence of morning shower (unthinkable in the US) is the lack of the need for deodorant (good luck finding it in Japan) - when you don't really smell bad when you wake up, you're less likely to want a full shower. However, some Japanese has been adopting the morning shower to appear Westernized. These people ended up taking a shower in the morning and a bath at night, as many Japanese will tell you, they can't fall asleep without a proper Ofuro.

Joy is falling asleep after being neck deep in a Japanese tub!

3c) Weekly mammoth contribution by AVPlaya, part 3:

Spoiler:

Melon Pan!
Hiyori's lunch is another otaku staple food called the Melon-pan. It's a sweet-bread that's popular in Japan and Asia. Although mostly green, Melon-pans are not made from melon fruit but it's named after its appearance. It gets its flaky top via a thin layer of cookie dough, while the rest is a sweet bread. Sometimes you can find them filled with custard or other fillings. Melon pan became an otaku favorite since it's the only food Shana from Shakugan no Shana will eat. A version of Melon pan also exist in HK and Taiwan, where its called "Pineapple Bread". It's unclear where the bread originated, but it's pretty much certain that is not Europe.

Also many Westerner will find it strange, but bread is absolutely huge in Japan. Every street has a bakery or sorts and most Japanese eat toasts for breakfast now (as you can tell from anime). IMHO bread in Japan and other part of Asia are 100 x better than the bread in the US, and since they really fuse the best of all worlds, the best bakeries in Japan are even better than the best bakeries in Paris. You really have to visit one of them to really know the incredible variety and flavors Japanese bread offers. Same goes with Cakes and other sweets, but that's another post altogether.

One of the best selling lunch food:



Bizarre Jump
Hiroyi's Awesome Twisting Action is A Reference to ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), one of the biggest shonen manga ever. At 92 plus volumes, it's also one of the longest. What she was parodying I have no idea; never got into Jojo.

It's bizarre that Jojo never got himself an anime.



Apollo Who?
The two chara in Hiroyi's non-slumping sketches are 王泥喜法介 (Odoroki Housuke) and 牙琉響也 (Garyuu Kyouya) from the DS hit game 逆転裁判４ (Apollo Justice, Ace Attorney in the West). This is the 4th game of the Gyakuten Saiban series, the first 3 is know as "Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney" in the West. Non-gamers like Yutaka have no idea who they are. Hiroyi is probably going to yaoi them in a doujin... from the looks of it, Odoroki is seme and Garyuu is uke).

Odoroki in the middle, while Garyuu is on top:



Cosplayer in Saitama
The cosplayers the girls meet are of course cosplaying Edward and Roy of "Full Metal Alchemist". The keitai strap "Ed" was holding is Al, Ed's poor body-less brother.

Even cosplayers are cuter in Anime...



Bowling Fun
The pseudonym Fujoshi Hiroyi reserved their bowling lane under was 枢木スザク (Kururugi Suzaku) of "Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion" The CLAMP series seemed to be a favorite doujin target for the BL community.

SOS-Dan Bowlers and their score by the 7th frame:

• HARUHI: 155 (she's good!)
• KYON: 88 (he sucks!)
• YUKI: 129 (she sucked at first but got better)
• MIKURU: 19 (she's there for Kyon's enjoyment)
• ITSUKI: 92 (busy watching Kyon's, most likely)

Spoiler for A little NSFW...:

Okay, I think Suzaku's a uke...

Poster Bug
The poster Yutaka's trying to post is a newsletter from the Nurse's Office on Athlete's Foot (水虫, mizumushi) prevention. Due to the long raining season and the mostly humid condition of an island nation, Athlete's Foot is a problem bothering most people, especially active students. Everyone is taught how to prevent Athlete's Foot in school, and medication for them is a big category in Japan.

An office poster on Mizumushi prevention:



Attack of the 50 foot Yutaka
In our favorite Fujoshi's imagination, Yukata-chan became a gozilla-like monster. The picture she has in her head is a parody of the poster of the 1958 science fiction classic, "Attack of the 50 foot Woman". Compare the anime to the poster below:

I think we'd all prefer a 50 foot tall Yutaka:



YAOI?
These no-ota L*S girl sure know how to ask questions. First we have a question about chinchin, now Yutaka drops the bomb and ask the forbidden question: What is Yaoi. I think most people knows about it, so I'll just post the two possible meanings Hiroyi could have given:

Accepted Definition： "山なし", "落ちなし", "意味なし" (Yamanashi, Ochinashi, Iminashi), signifying the lack of climax, punchline, and meaning in a graphical story about two men having sex.

"Real" Definition ： "やめて", "おしりが", "いたい" (Yamete! Oshiri ga Itai!), signifying what's usually said after the aforementioned men on men sex took place: "Stop! My butt hurts!"

Super Yaoi!



Sea of Trees
In the LC, Shiraishi bragged about being an "outdoorsman" for going to popular vacation spots like Jogashima Island (the location for all the live-action EDs). Akira then mentioned the benefit of "Forest Bathing", a popular excuse for outdoor travel as it was wildly believed that the air in the woods contain a lot of negative ion which will improve your health. I have never heard anyone using this term in the West.

Akira-sama then asked Shiraishi to take a trip to the "Tree Sea of Mount Fuji". The stated reason for the trip was to "fetch her some of Fuji's famous water". While Fuji-san's water is famous for tea-making (quality of water is a huge deal for tea-otakus), the parody here is that in a 1993 special of a very popular comedy show "ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで!! (Downtown no Tsukaiyaarahende!!) called the 罰ゲーム (Batsu Gemu), where a comedian was punished to goto France to fetch some Evian water from the source. The REAL reason for the trip was that the famous 青木ヶ原 (Aokigahara or"Tree Sea") in the foothills of Mout Fuji is a popular suicide spot for the Japanese. Due to it's location, it's also considered THE most haunted place in all of Japan, inhabited by kami, oni, and ghosts of past victims of suicide. Shiraishi is scared for that reason, but of course Akira-sama just wanted him to off himself while he's there... That's why Akira said "you have past the line of Death." The producers were probably to film his suicide for the finale ED. Oh Joy! I think death of Shiraishi is what many viewer were calling for.

Stuff on Shiraishi's neck: A cross, ring of garlic, and a couple of Japanese charms - all good stuff to bring to a haunted forest.

Spooky!