This article provides a list of allusions in The Big O anime series. According to the series creators, The Big O is filled with "inside jokes" and homages to other anime, manga and tokusatsu series as well as western works. Thus, such allusions make up a crucial aspect of the show and reveal much about the show's meaning and influences.
First Season
From Act:03 onward, the first season opening featured the Queen-inspired song "Big-O!" composed by Rui Nagai. The title sequence was an homage to the Ultraseven TV series, featuring black silhouettes of the eponymous Big O and his operator, among others.
Roger The Negotiator
* Dorothy 1 looks very much like the Ultraman monster, Baltan.
Dorothy Dorothy
*The character of R. Dorothy is compared to The Nightingale of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
* The 'R.' prefix to R. Dorothy's name is a reference to the naming convention for humaniform robots in Isaac Asimov's Robot/Foundation Series.
Electric City
Underground Terror
Bring Back My Ghost
A Legacy of Amadeus
*R. Instro teaches R. Dorothy how to play Chopin's "Prelude No. 15 (D-flat major, Sostenuto)".
*Gieseng's profile consists of a biography of Nikola Tesla.
The Call From The Past
* Chiaki Konaka is known to add references to the Cthulhu Mythos in his works. This episode references H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Dagon, the Sea Titan, is named after the deity of Lovecraft's novella and its "servants" are inspired by the Deep Ones, the frog-men worshippers of Dagon.
*Dagon is really just a megadeus. In its first appearance, it did look like a creature from the outside.
Missing Cat
*R. Dorothy's questioning of her ability to remember a melody ("Whose Memory do you think this song belongs to? This song inside me?") strongly echoes that of Blade Runner's Rachael. ("I didn't know if I could play. I remember lessons... I don't know if it's me, or Tyrell's niece.")
Beck Comes Back
Winter Night Phantom
Daemonseed
*The license plate on Norman's motorcycle reads "".
===Enemy Is Another Big!===
*Big Duo is the air megadeus, analogue to Giant Robos GR-3.
*The battle between Big O and Big Duo contains scenes similar to those seen in two of the Angel battles in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Big Duo grabs Big O's head in a manner similar to Sachiel grabbing Eva-01's head, and Big O assaults Big Duo in a manner similar to Eva-01 attacking Eva-03/Bardiel.
R.D.
* Roger mentions the R.D. cannot harm humans in this episode. It seems that androids follow Asimov's 3 Robotic Fundamentals. Unfortunately, R.D. seems to defy these laws.
Second Season
For its second season, the show sported a brand-new opening sequence, this one an homage to Gerry Anderson's UFO, right down to the song "Respect" composed by Toshihiko Sahashi.For the American broadcast, the original opening was used.
Roger The Wanderer
**As Roger wanders the alternate Paradigm City as a homeless man, he looks up at a pair of gargoyles perched on the side of a building. These two statues closely resemble Brooklyn and Broadway, two gargoyles of the series Disney's Gargoyles.
Negotiation with the Dead
The pillars in Roger's sitting room have a pattern consisting of repeated upper-case W's followed by lower-case O's, forming WoWoW, possibly a reference to one of the show's networks.
Day of the Advent
Leviathan
* Schwarzwald's leaflet is printed on the back of a copy of William Blake's Behemoth and Leviathan.
* Schwarzwald's quote "Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names" is lifted from Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan.
The Greatest Villain
* The color of the suits Beck and his henchmen wear - yellow, red, and greenish blue - are likely (made much more clear during the RX-3 scene) a reference to the classic Super Sentai colors.
* Roger's use of the O Thunder to quickly and anti-climatically end the battle is a probable homage to a similar scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Eyewitness
* While Roger is walking through a parking complex, the nose of a vehicle sticks out from behind a support beam--the design of the front is of the Batmobile from Batman: The Animated Series, albeit purple instead of jet black.
Stripes
The Third Big
* Big Fau's name was probably derived from the name Faust.
* Big Fau is the sea megadeus, analogue to Giant Robos GR-2.
Hydra
*The three-headed electrical Hydra is probably based on Godzilla's King Ghidorah. Its name could also be a reference to mythological Lernaean Hydra.
Twisted Memories
The Big Fight
The War of Paradigm City
*Schwarzwald quotes William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Plate 16) when he says "The Giants who formed this world into its sensual existence, and now seem to live in it in chains, are in truth the causes of its life & the sources of all activity; but the chains are the cunning of weak and tame minds, which have power to resist energy."
*The character of Gordon Rosewater paraphrases from William Shakespeare's As You Like It when he says "if it's true about this world, if it's one enormous stage, then we're just merely actors playing out our roles on it. We don't need to have any memories. But I've always wondered why can't there be those who can change their roles?"
The Show Must Go On
*Big O, Big Duo, and Big Fau represent the legendary creatures Behemoth, Ziz, and Leviathan. In Jewish belief, there is a legend that the Behemoth and Levithan will have a battle at the end of the world, which is enacted by the fight between Big O and Big Fau.
*Big Fau may have a reference to Frankenstein's monster, due to its long head, the objects on the sides of its head that resemble the bolts on the head of Frankenstein's monster, and the nature of its reconstruction.
Musical Allusions
In an interview with AnimePlay, designer Keiichi Sato said "Yes, some songs go beyond the realm of 'showing respect.' I asked Mr. Sahashi to create a musical score that integrated musical homages that can be recognized by viewers over the age of thirty. We chose Mr. Sahashi because he has a frightening amount of musical knowledge about TV dramas overseas."
One of the main battle themes, Stand a Chance is a reworking of Vangelis' end titles theme for the movie Blade Runner, with a more orchestral sound, while the bombastic and brassy False has more than a hint of John Barry's James Bond work to it, and the eerie and spectral Touch betrays a Twilight Zone influence.
First Season
From Act:03 onward, the first season opening featured the Queen-inspired song "Big-O!" composed by Rui Nagai. The title sequence was an homage to the Ultraseven TV series, featuring black silhouettes of the eponymous Big O and his operator, among others.
Roger The Negotiator
* Dorothy 1 looks very much like the Ultraman monster, Baltan.
Dorothy Dorothy
*The character of R. Dorothy is compared to The Nightingale of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
* The 'R.' prefix to R. Dorothy's name is a reference to the naming convention for humaniform robots in Isaac Asimov's Robot/Foundation Series.
Electric City
Underground Terror
Bring Back My Ghost
A Legacy of Amadeus
*R. Instro teaches R. Dorothy how to play Chopin's "Prelude No. 15 (D-flat major, Sostenuto)".
*Gieseng's profile consists of a biography of Nikola Tesla.
The Call From The Past
* Chiaki Konaka is known to add references to the Cthulhu Mythos in his works. This episode references H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Dagon, the Sea Titan, is named after the deity of Lovecraft's novella and its "servants" are inspired by the Deep Ones, the frog-men worshippers of Dagon.
*Dagon is really just a megadeus. In its first appearance, it did look like a creature from the outside.
Missing Cat
*R. Dorothy's questioning of her ability to remember a melody ("Whose Memory do you think this song belongs to? This song inside me?") strongly echoes that of Blade Runner's Rachael. ("I didn't know if I could play. I remember lessons... I don't know if it's me, or Tyrell's niece.")
Beck Comes Back
Winter Night Phantom
Daemonseed
*The license plate on Norman's motorcycle reads "".
===Enemy Is Another Big!===
*Big Duo is the air megadeus, analogue to Giant Robos GR-3.
*The battle between Big O and Big Duo contains scenes similar to those seen in two of the Angel battles in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Big Duo grabs Big O's head in a manner similar to Sachiel grabbing Eva-01's head, and Big O assaults Big Duo in a manner similar to Eva-01 attacking Eva-03/Bardiel.
R.D.
* Roger mentions the R.D. cannot harm humans in this episode. It seems that androids follow Asimov's 3 Robotic Fundamentals. Unfortunately, R.D. seems to defy these laws.
Second Season
For its second season, the show sported a brand-new opening sequence, this one an homage to Gerry Anderson's UFO, right down to the song "Respect" composed by Toshihiko Sahashi.For the American broadcast, the original opening was used.
Roger The Wanderer
**As Roger wanders the alternate Paradigm City as a homeless man, he looks up at a pair of gargoyles perched on the side of a building. These two statues closely resemble Brooklyn and Broadway, two gargoyles of the series Disney's Gargoyles.
Negotiation with the Dead
The pillars in Roger's sitting room have a pattern consisting of repeated upper-case W's followed by lower-case O's, forming WoWoW, possibly a reference to one of the show's networks.
Day of the Advent
Leviathan
* Schwarzwald's leaflet is printed on the back of a copy of William Blake's Behemoth and Leviathan.
* Schwarzwald's quote "Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names" is lifted from Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan.
The Greatest Villain
* The color of the suits Beck and his henchmen wear - yellow, red, and greenish blue - are likely (made much more clear during the RX-3 scene) a reference to the classic Super Sentai colors.
* Roger's use of the O Thunder to quickly and anti-climatically end the battle is a probable homage to a similar scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Eyewitness
* While Roger is walking through a parking complex, the nose of a vehicle sticks out from behind a support beam--the design of the front is of the Batmobile from Batman: The Animated Series, albeit purple instead of jet black.
Stripes
The Third Big
* Big Fau's name was probably derived from the name Faust.
* Big Fau is the sea megadeus, analogue to Giant Robos GR-2.
Hydra
*The three-headed electrical Hydra is probably based on Godzilla's King Ghidorah. Its name could also be a reference to mythological Lernaean Hydra.
Twisted Memories
The Big Fight
The War of Paradigm City
*Schwarzwald quotes William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Plate 16) when he says "The Giants who formed this world into its sensual existence, and now seem to live in it in chains, are in truth the causes of its life & the sources of all activity; but the chains are the cunning of weak and tame minds, which have power to resist energy."
*The character of Gordon Rosewater paraphrases from William Shakespeare's As You Like It when he says "if it's true about this world, if it's one enormous stage, then we're just merely actors playing out our roles on it. We don't need to have any memories. But I've always wondered why can't there be those who can change their roles?"
The Show Must Go On
*Big O, Big Duo, and Big Fau represent the legendary creatures Behemoth, Ziz, and Leviathan. In Jewish belief, there is a legend that the Behemoth and Levithan will have a battle at the end of the world, which is enacted by the fight between Big O and Big Fau.
*Big Fau may have a reference to Frankenstein's monster, due to its long head, the objects on the sides of its head that resemble the bolts on the head of Frankenstein's monster, and the nature of its reconstruction.
Musical Allusions
In an interview with AnimePlay, designer Keiichi Sato said "Yes, some songs go beyond the realm of 'showing respect.' I asked Mr. Sahashi to create a musical score that integrated musical homages that can be recognized by viewers over the age of thirty. We chose Mr. Sahashi because he has a frightening amount of musical knowledge about TV dramas overseas."
One of the main battle themes, Stand a Chance is a reworking of Vangelis' end titles theme for the movie Blade Runner, with a more orchestral sound, while the bombastic and brassy False has more than a hint of John Barry's James Bond work to it, and the eerie and spectral Touch betrays a Twilight Zone influence.
Bone Regrowth
bones are made of a network of calcium laid down by cells. As kids grow, special cells at the end of bones add new calcium to the network of bone. Children have layers of these cells in the shape of plates at the ends of their bones. These are called “growth plates,” and they close up when kids reach their full adult height.
bones are made of a network of calcium laid down by cells. As kids grow, special cells at the end of bones add new calcium to the network of bone. Children have layers of these cells in the shape of plates at the ends of their bones. These are called “growth plates,” and they close up when kids reach their full adult height.
The LL Cool J-Kool Moe Dee battle was a renowned long standing hip hop rivalry between the two well known rappers.
It began with Kool Moe Dee responding to LL for some apparent offenses that had occurred in the past.
The cover of Kool Moe Dee's 1987 album How Ya Like Me Now features a red Kangol hat (LL Cool J's trademark) being crushed under the wheel of a Jeep.
In the title track, while not mentioning LL by name, refers to another MC, who had copied his style and apparently questioned his ability to sell records. He also evokes the title of LL's recent album Bigger and Deffer with the line “I'm Bigger and Better, forget about Deffer!”,
In the rhyme, he relays some of what his "beef" is:
:How you think I feel to see another MC
:Gettin' paid , usin' my rap style
:And I'm playin' the background meanwhile
:I ain't with that; You can forget that
:You took my style, I'm takin' it back
:I'm coming back like "Return of the Jedi"
:Sucker MC's in the place that said I
:Could only rock rhymes
:Only rock crowds
:But never rock records
:How ya like me now?
He also continued with:
:I'm the real king. Rap is a jungle
:I never understood how one could go
:To a party watch me, stand around and jock me
:Become a rapper; then try to rock me
:Scheming like a demon, you're screamin' and dreamin'
:I'm from the old school, I used to see men
:Die for less; but I'm not living that way
:I'll let my mic do the talkin'
:And let the music play
He also mentions along the way that he's "talking about battles, and never had a battle yet". Interestingly, both this as well as copying someone's beat were the same criticisms MC Shan had leveled at him in his earlier record "Beat Biter".
LL responded on the Walking With a Panther album with "Jack the Ripper" where he, not mentioning Moe Dee by name, nevertheless derides a "washed up rapper", and "old school sucker punk" and then twice makes a direct jab at the title of the first record, saying "How ya like me now, punk?", and at the climax of the rap, "How ya like me now? I'm gettin' busier'; I'm double platinum, watching you get dizzier...". "Jingling Baby", also contained shots at Moe Dee, without any direct references.
Kool Moe Dee fired back with an even more aggressive response entitle "Let's Go"; where he now mentions LL, by making an alliteration of pejoratives beginning with the letter "L", ("lower level, last, least, etc.") and concludes by saying "Just usin' your name, I took those 'L's; hung 'em on your head and rocked your bells!" (Referring to the big LL hit "Rock the Bells")
At the same time, several other MC's were dissing LL; notably Ice T, whose "I'm Your Rap Pusherman" cleverly snuck in attack by having the pusherman he was playing offer the buyer (also played by him) several rappers (the premise was to "get high" off of their lyrics instead of dope), whom he cheered as "good stuff"; but when he got to LL Cool J, he said "aw no, I don't want none of that; you can keep that!". MC Hammer also took a shot at him, (along with DJ Run, and Doug E Fresh). LL responded on the "Mama Said Knock You Out" album with "To Da Break of Dawn"; where he makes fun of all three, with such statements as "Star Trek shades" (referring to Kool Moe Dee's characteristic eyeglasses), "Jheri curl juice" (aimed at Hammer), and "hip hop raccoon", aimed at Ice T.
While this song was not one of the bigger hits on the album, the hit " the title track", again threw back the line "how ya like me now".
Kool Moe Dee fired back on Funke, Funke Wisdom with "Death Blow", where he calls To Da Break of Dawn "another dumb move", and mocks "'Star Trek shades'? Man, cut the joke!" He also in the same track answers the other singles: "If Mama said knock me out; come do it! You can't win and that ------ knew it", and a reference to "your jingling ho's", and also "And Marley Marl can't save you from fallin". This refers to the fact that LL had begun being produced by DJ Marley Marl, of Juice Crew fame, who had produced several other acts. By this time, the insults had gotten really nasty, and the rap is also filled with several violent and phallic references. These "jock" references had begun in "Let's Go", and LL added a couple of his own in "Mama Said Knock You Out", and now Moe Dee would go even further with it. He concludes with another alliteration of negative "L" words (with a different rhythm, so it does not sound like a repeat of the one in his last response), and
:"And now you're down to a broken L
:Your records ain't hot and you're shows don't sell.
:Yo, tell 'em how you fell L,
:hard as hell",
with the last three words being a direct sample of LL himself. He also openly challenges LL to a live battle.
After this, the battle started to die down. LL's next album 14 Shots to the Dome
contained the track, "(NFA) No Frontin Allowed" which begins "Mad madness trashy brother from way back. We're blowin mics since the days of 8-track"; and even mocks Kool Moe Dee's use of the "alphabet", and "Mr. Funky" (referring to the title of his previous album) and adds "Rippin' on that old school kid". There were also increasingly more references to guns in the lyrics. Kool Moe Dee had one other studio album after that, ' and then his career waned. Clearly, Moe Dee's attacks were more hard-hitting; but it was LL who still managed to come out with a successful career; basically winning by default. He would later gloat on this on "I Shot Ya Remix"; "..Crushed Moe Dee, Hammer and Ice-T's girl".
Kool Moe Dee had commented
:"I always said that the reason LL can never win a battle is because he talks so much about himself , that he cant talk about anything else . He used his charisma , energy and vocabulary - which is basically a combination of my style , T la Rock & Run but in battling its more . Like when I hit him with the Ls (lower level, lackluster etc) it wasn't just insulting, but it had poetic value to it".
He also continued that part of his issue with LL (as well as Run) were that ....he felt like "nothing that came before them mattered , and that his money could validate that."
(The FOUNDATION MOE DEE INTERVIEW)
LL Cool J - Kool Moe Dee battle
LL Cool J - Kool Moe Dee battle
It began with Kool Moe Dee responding to LL for some apparent offenses that had occurred in the past.
The cover of Kool Moe Dee's 1987 album How Ya Like Me Now features a red Kangol hat (LL Cool J's trademark) being crushed under the wheel of a Jeep.
In the title track, while not mentioning LL by name, refers to another MC, who had copied his style and apparently questioned his ability to sell records. He also evokes the title of LL's recent album Bigger and Deffer with the line “I'm Bigger and Better, forget about Deffer!”,
In the rhyme, he relays some of what his "beef" is:
:How you think I feel to see another MC
:Gettin' paid , usin' my rap style
:And I'm playin' the background meanwhile
:I ain't with that; You can forget that
:You took my style, I'm takin' it back
:I'm coming back like "Return of the Jedi"
:Sucker MC's in the place that said I
:Could only rock rhymes
:Only rock crowds
:But never rock records
:How ya like me now?
He also continued with:
:I'm the real king. Rap is a jungle
:I never understood how one could go
:To a party watch me, stand around and jock me
:Become a rapper; then try to rock me
:Scheming like a demon, you're screamin' and dreamin'
:I'm from the old school, I used to see men
:Die for less; but I'm not living that way
:I'll let my mic do the talkin'
:And let the music play
He also mentions along the way that he's "talking about battles, and never had a battle yet". Interestingly, both this as well as copying someone's beat were the same criticisms MC Shan had leveled at him in his earlier record "Beat Biter".
LL responded on the Walking With a Panther album with "Jack the Ripper" where he, not mentioning Moe Dee by name, nevertheless derides a "washed up rapper", and "old school sucker punk" and then twice makes a direct jab at the title of the first record, saying "How ya like me now, punk?", and at the climax of the rap, "How ya like me now? I'm gettin' busier'; I'm double platinum, watching you get dizzier...". "Jingling Baby", also contained shots at Moe Dee, without any direct references.
Kool Moe Dee fired back with an even more aggressive response entitle "Let's Go"; where he now mentions LL, by making an alliteration of pejoratives beginning with the letter "L", ("lower level, last, least, etc.") and concludes by saying "Just usin' your name, I took those 'L's; hung 'em on your head and rocked your bells!" (Referring to the big LL hit "Rock the Bells")
At the same time, several other MC's were dissing LL; notably Ice T, whose "I'm Your Rap Pusherman" cleverly snuck in attack by having the pusherman he was playing offer the buyer (also played by him) several rappers (the premise was to "get high" off of their lyrics instead of dope), whom he cheered as "good stuff"; but when he got to LL Cool J, he said "aw no, I don't want none of that; you can keep that!". MC Hammer also took a shot at him, (along with DJ Run, and Doug E Fresh). LL responded on the "Mama Said Knock You Out" album with "To Da Break of Dawn"; where he makes fun of all three, with such statements as "Star Trek shades" (referring to Kool Moe Dee's characteristic eyeglasses), "Jheri curl juice" (aimed at Hammer), and "hip hop raccoon", aimed at Ice T.
While this song was not one of the bigger hits on the album, the hit " the title track", again threw back the line "how ya like me now".
Kool Moe Dee fired back on Funke, Funke Wisdom with "Death Blow", where he calls To Da Break of Dawn "another dumb move", and mocks "'Star Trek shades'? Man, cut the joke!" He also in the same track answers the other singles: "If Mama said knock me out; come do it! You can't win and that ------ knew it", and a reference to "your jingling ho's", and also "And Marley Marl can't save you from fallin". This refers to the fact that LL had begun being produced by DJ Marley Marl, of Juice Crew fame, who had produced several other acts. By this time, the insults had gotten really nasty, and the rap is also filled with several violent and phallic references. These "jock" references had begun in "Let's Go", and LL added a couple of his own in "Mama Said Knock You Out", and now Moe Dee would go even further with it. He concludes with another alliteration of negative "L" words (with a different rhythm, so it does not sound like a repeat of the one in his last response), and
:"And now you're down to a broken L
:Your records ain't hot and you're shows don't sell.
:Yo, tell 'em how you fell L,
:hard as hell",
with the last three words being a direct sample of LL himself. He also openly challenges LL to a live battle.
After this, the battle started to die down. LL's next album 14 Shots to the Dome
contained the track, "(NFA) No Frontin Allowed" which begins "Mad madness trashy brother from way back. We're blowin mics since the days of 8-track"; and even mocks Kool Moe Dee's use of the "alphabet", and "Mr. Funky" (referring to the title of his previous album) and adds "Rippin' on that old school kid". There were also increasingly more references to guns in the lyrics. Kool Moe Dee had one other studio album after that, ' and then his career waned. Clearly, Moe Dee's attacks were more hard-hitting; but it was LL who still managed to come out with a successful career; basically winning by default. He would later gloat on this on "I Shot Ya Remix"; "..Crushed Moe Dee, Hammer and Ice-T's girl".
Kool Moe Dee had commented
:"I always said that the reason LL can never win a battle is because he talks so much about himself , that he cant talk about anything else . He used his charisma , energy and vocabulary - which is basically a combination of my style , T la Rock & Run but in battling its more . Like when I hit him with the Ls (lower level, lackluster etc) it wasn't just insulting, but it had poetic value to it".
He also continued that part of his issue with LL (as well as Run) were that ....he felt like "nothing that came before them mattered , and that his money could validate that."
(The FOUNDATION MOE DEE INTERVIEW)
LL Cool J - Kool Moe Dee battle
LL Cool J - Kool Moe Dee battle
Average Joe to CEO is an ongoing internet reality show which takes an Average Joe to the CEO of their own successful business. While being mentored by success coaches, cast members create and develop a real business which provides real income, to be showcased in the reality show.
Blog
www.averagejoetoceo.blogspot.com, used with permission.
Blog
www.averagejoetoceo.blogspot.com, used with permission.