List of cultural references

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The statue seen in Fixed Point bears a strong resemblance to the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

Taking place in a world similar to ours, the Girls' Frontline franchise contains references to many medias and cultures. The most notable and interesting ones are listed here.

For references to Girls' Frontline in other games, see the dedicated page section. See also Collaboration Events and Arknights.

Literature

Entropic construct based on Ghroth from the Cthulu Mythos in Project Neural Cloud.

The “Fiery Eyes, Golden Pupils” weapon attachment in Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium is a reference to the classic novel Journey to the West.

• The backstory of Codename: Bakery Girl written by “Hannibal”, on which the world of Girls' Frontline is also based by way of the Confidential Files, copied several elements from the short story A Colder War by Charles Stross.
  • Relics reports in the Secret Documents and Confidential Files are titled after Old Ones from the Cthulu Mythos: Ammutseba, Aphoom-Zhah, Arwassa, Atlach-Nacha, Baoht Z'uqqa-Mogg, Basatan, Bokrug, Byatis and Chaugnar Faugn.
  • The codename BOOJUM is from a monster of Lewis Caroll's The Hunting of the Snark.
  • The codename Koschei is from an evil wizard figure in Russian folk tales.
• Girls' Frontline
  • In the third part of ^SMG Type 64Type 64Type 64's Neural Upgrade story, ^RF M99M99M99 quotes Lü Meng from the Book of Wu in the Records of the Three Kingdoms: "A scholar's absence of three days thereafter must be viewed under new light" (士别三日当刮目相待). She uses the quote to praise Type 64's growth.
  • In the second part of ^SG DP-12DP-12DP-12's Neural Upgrade story, it is explained that her original name, Helen, was chosen out of spite by her owner, Troy, as a reference to the Illiad. In this Ancient Greek epic, the city of Troy is besieged and eventually razed because of two heroes fighting for the hand of a woman named Helen.
  • In 4-3N, the Three Laws of Robotics from Isaac Asimov's Robot series are invoked. As was demonstrated in Asimov's original tales, the rules are dismissed as naive and impossible to properly implement.
  • In 8-3N, ^AR AUGAUGAUG and ^RF IWS 2000IWS 2000IWS 2000 quote Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, from Plutarch, on a conversation between Julius Caesar and the seer Spurinna, who had foreseen his assassination that day: “The Ides of March are come, Spurinna,” “Aye, Caesar; but not gone.” AUG uses the quote to invite IWS not to claim victory too soon, and IWS immediately notes that the quote is probably apocryphal anyway.
  • During The Photo Studio Mystery, several references are made to Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective novels and short stories. While exploring the mansion together, ^HG TokarevTokarevTokarev compares Lee-Enfield's reasoning skills to those of "a certain famous detective ... (who) also happened to be British". ^RF Lee-EnfieldLee-EnfieldLee-Enfield then mentions Sherlock Holmes by name and asks Tokarev not to make fun of her.
  • Singularity opens with an extract of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice: “The only thing that permits us to acquiesce in an erroneous theory is the lack of a better one; analogously, an injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary to avoid an even greater injustice. Being first virtues of human activities, truth and justice are uncompromising”. The quote could be a commentary on ^AR M4A1M4A1M4A1's increasingly violent actions during this chapter.
  • In Polarized Light, the Commander quotes section 8.2 of Sun Tzu's The Art of War: "On desperate ground, fight" (圮地無舍).
    • Sun Tzu is quoted again in Project Neural Cloud, Perilous Advancement Part 10, with the well-known section 3.18: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles" (故曰知彼知己百戰不殆).
  • In ^SMG RO635RO635RO635's Neural Upgrade story, Persica asks RO questions designed to produce emotional reactions while in the presence of an “antique-looking device” as a joke. The questions and the scene are based on the Voigt-Kampff test from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and its seminal film adaptation Blade Runner, where it is used as an imperfect method for differentiating humans from Replicant androids. RO remarks that the test is “more than a century” old, which isn't quite correct since the original novel released in 1966, 98 years prior.
  • The Longitudinal Strain chapter “3-α2 Wind, Sand and Stars” is titled after a novel from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This is relevant to Longitudinal Strain because it is the novel on which Saint-Exupéry's later book Le Petit Prince was based, and this novel is tied to Pavel. Pavel also mentions The Chronicles of Narnia in the same story.
  • The science-fiction novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky is featured in part 1 of Slow Shock. One passage of the book is quoted as the origin of Martha Meitner's nickname of Laplace: “I am an animal, you see that. I don't have the words, they didn't teach me the words. I don't know how to think, the bastards didn't let me learn to think. But if you really are... all-powerful... all-knowing, like Laplace's Demon, then you figure it out!”
    • The themes of Roadside Picnic are relevant to Girls' Frontline as a generality (see Relic Technology).
  • The title of The Summer Garden of Forking Paths references the book The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges. The “Summer Garden” part is related to the Hume Dolls.
  • In Isolation Forest, ^RF SCAR-HSCAR-HSCAR-H quotes Shakespeare's Hamlet: "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them". She omits the better-known first stanza of the verse: “To be, or not to be: that is the question.”
  • In Convolutional Kernel, Nele quotes from Romain Rolland's novel Jean-Christophe to explain her ideal.
  • Virtual Pair opens with a quote from History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides: “The strong do what they can, the weak endure what they must” (“δυνατὰ δὲ οἱ προύχοντες πράσσουσι καὶ οἱ ἀσθενεῖς ξυγχωροῦσιν. ”).
  • In Virtual Pair, the original script quotes in part the disturbing nursery rhyme “My mother has killed me, My father is eating me, My brothers and sisters sit under the table, Picking up my bones, They will bury them, Under the cold [marble stone].” While the start of the song is from Grimm's The Juniper Tree, the second part was invented for the manga Black Lagoon, where it is associated with the characters Hansel & Gretel.
  • Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is referenced in ^AR TAR-21TAR-21TAR-21's costume “The Lost March Hare” and ^HG SpitfireSpitfireSpitfire's costume “The Last Alice”.
  • ^HG ContenderContenderContender's costume “Opera Ghost” references The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.
  • ^HG M327M327M327's costume “It Follows” visually references It by Stephen King. The costume shares its name with a horror movie unrelated to King's novel.
  • ^HG Mk23Mk23Mk23's costume “Coroner Nyandyke” references the main character of R. Austin Freeman's detective novels, Dr. Thorndyke.
  • In one of the Live2D animations of ^RF Hanyang Type 88Hanyang Type 88Hanyang Type 88's “Maid Gang's Midnight Radio” costume, Type 88 appears to emerge from a copy of a book titled Русские народные сказки attributed to Афанасьев. The real book is a collection of fairy tales properly titled Народные русские сказки, “Russian Fairy Tales” by Alexander Afanasyev.
• Project Neural Cloud
  • Magrasea is named in reference to Magrathea in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2). It is no coincidence that Magrasea was created by 42LAB given the importance of the number 42 in H2G2.
  • Hubble is holding the book Stardust by Neil Gaiman in her base artwork.
  • In her second Neural Expansion artwork, Hatsuchiri is reading the book At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft. Her Ultimate Skill, "Forgotten Wgah'nagl", references the ritual call from Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulu.
    • In Irradiant Awakening, an Entropic structure takes the form of Ghroth, a sentient planet from Ramsey Campbell's The Tugging in the expanded Cthulu Mythos.
  • Dupin's name originates from C. Auguste Dupin, a fictional detective from the book "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", by Edgar Allan Poe.
  • Sector Rossum is named after the play Rossum's Universal Robots by Karel Čapek. Its administrator is also named Turing after Alan Turing, the father of computer science.
  • During Critical Cascade, Antonina compares the Professor to Tang Sanzang, the leading character from the Chinese epic Journey to the West, because they act as a lure for nearby Entropics, like Tang Sanzang who was constantly targeted by monsters and demons in the tale.
  • The event Singularity Immemorial draws heavily from the science-fiction novels of Liu Cixin. This is self-admitted in Part 4 of the event. The Stellar Engines in the event are taken from Cixin's influential short story The Wandering Earth.
  • In Engrammatic Eclipse Part 6, Sangoma warns the Professor not to insist on uncovering her secrets by invoking the story of the Crane Repaying a Favor. This is a Japanese folk tale (Tsuru no Ongaeshi) where a magical crane bird turns into a human woman and marries the man who saved her before making him rich. When the man discovers his wife's secret, she disappears.
  • Photoluminescence opens with a quote from book XXII of the Ancient Greek epic The Illiad, in Samuel Butler's translation: “Die; for my part I will accept my fate whensoever Jove and the other gods see fit to send it.” This is probably intended as a commentary on Hesperus' sacrifice.
  • Gloaming Finale opens with an excerpt from Book 1, Part 8 of Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra, commenting on the perversion of heroism. This is probably intended as a commentary on Eosphorus' character.
  • The Professor's adventures during the [Snowy Encounters] seasonal event in the closet land of Arnina facing the Great Winter, are in reference to The Chronicles of Narnia, specifically its first book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
• Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium
  • Nikketa is named in reference to the bogatyr Nikita Kozhemyaka, one of the legendary knight-errants from the Slavic bylina epic poems.
  • The enemy unit Svejk from Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium is named after the protagonist of Jaroslav Hašek's novel The Good Soldier Švejk. The novel is explicitly mentioned in the enemy's description.
  • The weapon accessory “Fiery Eyes, Golden Pupils” takes the form of a small monkey with a headband and sunglasses. This is a reference to the Chinese classic Journey to the West, where the fiery eyes and golden pupils (火眼金睛) of the monkey king Sun Wukong allow him to see through illusions.
  • In Guest in the Palm, Qiongjiu compares the contaminated lands roamed by the Elmo to the Jianghu. Literally meaning “rivers and lakes” (江湖), the Jianghu designates roughly the “lands of historical China away from civilization and the law”. It's the geographical and social setting of stories involving wandering martial artists, anti-heroic vigilantes and fantastical powers and creatures, chief among them the Water Margin epic.
  • In Polished Refinement, Qiongjiu quotes the poem “Quince” (木瓜) from the Odes of Wei section of the Shijing.
  • In the Interlude Hidden Devotee, Dushevnaya invokes "Mystic Eyes of Depth Perception". This is a reference to the stories from Type-Moon studio, where certain characters possess special eyes with various powerful abilities called Mystic Eyes (魔眼). In CN, she only invokes “eyes of clear vision” (双洞察之眼).
  • In the Bizarre Encounter Sword In The Stone of season “Ashen Tale” of Artifact Recovery, the Commander comments on the fake sword found by Dushevnaya with the line “这就是传说中的村好剑吗……” (officially translated “The best sword this part of town, huh...”). This is a reference to chapter 34 of the web novel Shadow Trails in Azeroth (艾澤拉斯陰影軌跡), where the hero encounters a pair of salted fishes considered equippable weapons, called "The Best Treasures in the Village" , and comments “这就是传说中的‘村好剑’吗？” (“So that's the renowned ‘Village's Best Sword’?”).
  • In the Bizarre Encounter Underground Mine, when Dushevnaya attempts to make a cool last stand against a horde of ELIDs, the Commander orders Helen to take her and run, saying they “don't want to see her return on the fifth day, clad in white.” This is a reference to The Lord of the Ring, where Gandalf the Grey acts as the rear guard to hold back a Balrog in the mines of Moria, and later returns as Gandalf the White. The "fifth day" part references a later quote by Gandalf in the second movie: “Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day”. The reference is native to the CN script.

Visual arts

This CG from the Valhalla event references a scene from Blade Runner 2049.

The black hole from Interstellar (2014) displayed from a projector, in Novel Orbit.

BonnevilleBonneville 's Ultimate Skill references the “Akira Slide” from Akira.

CascadiaCascadia 's Ultimate Skill references Kill la Kill.

• Girls' Frontline
  • In ^RF M99M99M99's story for Notebook/Night of Sweetness and Surprise, she references the movie Devil Gambler (赌魔), an example of many infamous rip-offs of the gambling movies of Hongkongese director Wong Jing.
  • In ^HG SerdyukovSerdyukovSerdyukov's story for Notebook/Operation Mermaid, she tames a crow and names it Madam Sakamoto. Her name and appearance in the costume makes it an explicit reference to the same character in the anime Nichijou.
  • The seasonal enemy Speed Demon's Wheel is probably inspired by the 2010 absurd slasher film Rubber, featuring a murderous sentient tyre.
  • The parts in chapter 1 and 3 of Slow Shock are titled after famous paintings and other pictural works, most of them from 19th-century Europe:
    • Realist works include In the Wild North by Ivan Shishkin and The Angelus by Jean-François Millet.
    • Symbolist works of Gustav Klimt include Beech Grove, Death and Life and Allegory of Sculpture.
    • Impressionist works include Morning Sunlight on the Snow by Camille Pissarro, The Pontine Marshes at Sunset by August Kopisch, Sunlight in the Blue Room by Anna Ancher, The Wave by Paul Gauguin and Moonlit Night on the Dnipro by Arkhip Kuindzhi.
    • Expressionist works include Marc Chagall's Fiddler on the Roof, Clock with Blue Wing and The Red Rider as well as Paul Klee's Death and Fire.
    • Abstract works include The Swan, Group IV No. 1, The Swan, Group IX No. 6 and Altarpiece No. 1 by Hilma af Klint, Evening: Red Tree, Gray Tree and Tableau No. 1 of Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich's White on White and Black Cross.
    • Surrealist works include The Son of Man by René Magritte and The Persistence of Memory of Salvador Dalí.
    • Exceptions to the theme are the American works of James McNeill Whistler Harmony in Blue and Silver and Arrangement in Grey and Black and Georgia O'Keeffe's Black Iris; 17th-century Dutch Golden Age The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius; the works of 15th-16th century Albrecht Dürer Stag Beetle, Wing of a Blue Roller and Knight, Death and the Devil, as well as classical works Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich and Nicolas Poussin's The Crossing of the Red Sea and The Deluge. The final part of chapter 3 "Sunset" is possibly titled after the eponymous work by John Frederick Kensett.
  • Several chapters of The Summer Garden of Forking Paths contain references to 19th-century French works:
    • Luxury, Peace and Pleasure, The Open Window and Harmony in Red are all paintings by Henri Matisse. Other paintings include The Broken Vase (Émile Munier), Dance of the Nymphs (Camille Corot), The Cradle (Berthe Morisot) and The Card Players (Paul Cézanne). An exception to the theme is The Lamp which is likely titled from the work from British artist Amy Atkinson.
    • Two chapters are titled after classical French books: Artificial Paradises by Charles Baudelaire and La Fontaine’s Fables.
  • In The Summer Garden of Forking Paths, ^SG Stevens M520Stevens M520Stevens M520 becomes nicknamed Reinette and ^SG Stevens M620Stevens M620Stevens M620 Mirabelle after French film Quatre aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle ("Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle"), which tells the misadventures of rural artist Reinette, helped by her more worldly friend Mirabelle. M620 mocks M520 by assigning her Reinette's name, especially since she explicitly names the movie in E5.
  • In Convolutional Kernel, the Commander and Aleksei's stories are put in parallel to the 1959 Soviet film Ballad of a Soldier (Баллада о солдате). Convolutional Kernel takes direct cues from the film, such as the relevance of a can of beef.
  • ^SMG RO635RO635RO635's quotes and MOD3 appearance contain references to the tokusatsu series Kamen Rider W.
  • In Chapter 11, Polarized Light and A Snowy Night Capriccio, ^AR G11G11G11 talks about a long-running zombie show in-universe called The Flying Dead, a reference to the comics and later TV show The Walking Dead.
  • In Notebook/Charming Furniture Expo, ^MG MG36MG36MG36 adopts a hamster and names it “HAL 9002” in reference to the character “HAL 9000” from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
  • ^SMG PPD-40PPD-40PPD-40's pose in her main artwork is based on Vsevolod Tarasevich's 1943 war photograph Defenders of Leningrad, which shows a Soviet soldier holding up a PPD-40.
  • ^HG M950AM950AM950A's costume “The Warbler and the Rose” is named after a piece (黄鳥、長春) from Japanese ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai.
  • ^SMG C-MSC-MSC-MS's costume “To Matka Joanna” (lit. It's Mother Joan)references the Polish horror film Matka Joanna od Aniołów (Mother Joan of the Angels).
  • ^SMG P90P90P90's costume “The Girl from B.E.L.” references the Spy Action TV series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", with B.E.L. referring to Belgium, the P90's country of origin.
  • ^RF Hanyang Type 88Hanyang Type 88Hanyang Type 88's costumes contain references to Gundam and Needy Girl Overdose (known as Needy Streamer Overload in the West).
• Project Neural Cloud
  • CroqueCroque makes general references to mecha anime, but a specific parody of the theatre poster for the first Mobile Suit Gundam movie can be seen in one of her costumes.
    • In another costume, a Neon Genesis Evangelion DVD and parody of the cover art for the vocaloid song World is Mine can also be found.
  • BanxsyBanxsy is named after real-world street artist Banksy.
  • The chapter titles of the Joyful Reunion event are parodies of titles of Chinese martial art movies and TV series, though some were lost in translation. More references in the event's script are listed in this post, including potential connections between the character of Old Man Su and actor Yuen Siu-tien.
    • Part 1 “Enter The Jiangyu” is based on Enter the Dragon, but the original title is 骤雨过江 (“The Way of the Sudden Rain”, from the literal meaning of Jiangyu's name, “Crimson Rain”), based on a different Bruce Lee movie, The Way of the Dragon (猛龙过江).
    • Stage 1 “Once Upon A Time In Canada” is based on Once Upon A Time In China, but the original title is 师妹出马, from the 1980 movie known as The Woman Avenger in English.
    • Stage 2 “Adventures in Kung Fu Practice” (习武风云, “Trainee's High Deeds”) is based on 2010 movie 精武风云 (“Master's High Deeds”), Legend of the Fist in English.
    • Stage 3 “The Grandmistress” (一位宗师) is based on The Grandmaster (一代宗師).
    • Stage 4 “Fist of Glory” is based on “Fist of Fury”, but the original title is 精武英豪, from a 1989 movie known as Brave Hero in English.
    • Part 2 “Peerless Sisters” (绝代双娇) is based on the novel 绝代双骄, which received several movie adaptations under various translations such as The Proud Twins, Handsome Siblings and The Legendary Siblings.
    • Stage 5 “Chivalrous Loyalty” (侠影丹心, “Chivalrous Movie, Loyal Heart”) is based on the novel and film adaptations of 侠骨丹心 (“Chivalrous Bones, Loyal Heart”).
    • Stage 6 “Tiger Gate Inn” (虎门客栈) is based on the 1987 TV series 龙门客栈, Dragon Inn (lit. “Dragon Gate Inn”, adapted from a 1967 Taiwanese movie).
    • Stage 7 “Smiling Proud Oasis” (笑傲绿洲) is based on 1990 movie 笑傲江湖, Swordsman, adapting the novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.
    • Challenge Stage 1 “Girl Cop” (少女名捕) is based on the multiple TV series 少年四大名捕 (lit. “The Four Great Young Constables”, localized as The Four), adapting the novel 四大名捕.
    • Challenge Stage 2 “Calculating Commoner” (布衣神算) is based on 1984 movie 布衣神相, Return of the Bastard Swordsman.
    • Challenge Stage 3 “A World Without Lies” (天下无骗) is based on 2004 movie 天下无贼, A World Without Thieves.
  • FernFern and MagnhildaMagnhilda 's Projections contain references to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, The Thing and Kill Bill.
  • April Fools event Projections are references to ACG or movies, like Ashita no Joe (MagnhildaMagnhilda ), Kung-Fu Hustle (DaiyanDaiyan ) and Bocchi the Rock (UndineUndine ).
  • NascitaNascita 's quotes makes references to multiple series in the Kamen Rider tokusatsu franchise.
    • Mysterious Warrior Omega's color scheme is inspired by Rider Build - Genius Form from the Heisei-era Kamen Rider Build series. His pose is also similar to the main promo shot for an action figure of the same character by S.H.Figuarts.
• Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium
  • An altered version of the paiting Планета Игрек (aka Труженики космоса) by Soviet artist Gennady Golobokov is used in environments (File:GFL2 Golobokov.jpg).
  • Robella's promo video and general aesthetics are inspired by various classic Japanese tokusatsu shows. Mechty also directly refers to the Ultraman series in Escape from Cyborg.
    • In Helen's Record 7, Helen crafts a fluffy costume for the Commander, which Dushevnaya recognizes to be in the image of a tokusatsu character she calls “H*nejiro”. This is a reference to Hanejiro, a mascot creature from Ultraman Dyna.
  • The Classified Briefing “Flower Tosser” (掷花者) refers to an art piece by Banksy, representing a masked protestor about to throw a bouquet of flowers instead of a dangerous object. The eponymous political group appearing in the Classified Briefing also uses Gerald Holtom's peace symbol (☮), complementing the theme of peaceful resistance.
  • The weapon skin “Edgeless Blade”, which changes BLD weapons into a bare tree branch, is a reference to the weapon of choice and title of Shāng Bù Huàn from the Taiwanese franchise Thunderbolt Fantasy.
  • Jiangyu and Faye have Refitting Room animations referencing Kung-Fu Hustle. In particular, Faye, who famously uses an axe equipped with a scope, will perform the dance of the Axe Gang from the movie.

• 
  Manga parody of episode 23 of Dragon Ball Z in Mechty's dorm animation.
• 
  Parody of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders in Zhaohui's dorm animation.
• 
  Parody stills of Kung-Fu Hustle in Faye's dorm animation.
• 
  Parody stills of The Shining with Lainie, Lenna and Leva in the Dulcet Whisper scene of Makiatto's "Embroidered Bamboo, Blooming Shadows" costume.

Music

• The development version of Girl of the Bakehouse, titled Epiphyllum, mentioned Schubert's String Quartet No.14, Death and the Maiden.
• The true ending theme of Codename: Bakery Girl is a rendition of Ave Maria.
• In ^HG CZ52CZ52CZ52's story for Notebook/Operation New Year Visit, she reads a part from the Chinese translation of the orchestral song Das Lied von der Erde by 20th century German composer Gustav Mahler.
  • Mahler’s lyrics are taken from Hans Bethge’s rendition in German of various Chinese Tang Dynasty poems. Chinese scholars have identified the original poems used by Mahler in five of the six movements of his piece, but the origins of the third one remain debated. The lyrics might have been successively modified by Bethge and Mahler past recognition from the original. The poem read by CZ52 is from this third movement of mysterious origins, which illustrates her skewed perception of Chinese culture in the story.
• Most chapters of Longitudinal Strain are named after classical works of music:
  • “3-α1 Waltz in A minor”, “3-α3 Raindrop”, “14 Ballade in G minor”, “35-W4 Tristesse” and “35-N1 Fantaisie-Impromptu” reference pieces by Chopin.
  • “35-N2 Spring Sonata”, “5-α5 Moonlight Sonata”, “5-γ7 Choral Fantasy” and “9 Ghost” are pieces by Beethoven. “3-β3 Symphony No. 3”, “5-β6 Symphony No. 9” and “30 Symphony No. 6” are also symphonies most commonly associated with Beethoven.
  • “3-α4 Little Prelude in G minor”, “3-γ4 The Well-Tempered Clavier”, “13 Goldberg Variations”, “35-T2 Prelude No. 5” and “35-R4 Piano Concerto in F minor” are by Bach.
  • “5-β4 Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso”, “5-β5 Danse Macabre” and “18 The Swan” are by Camille Saint-Saëns.
  • “5-γ5 The Canary” and “32 1812 Overture” are by Tchaikovsky. Fittingly for the final battle map of the event, the 1812 Overture famously includes cannon shots as instruments.
  • “5-α7 Winter”, “10 L’estro Armonico” and “29 Summer” are from Vivaldi.
  • “35-W2 Clarinet Concerto in A Major” and “35-P1 Twelve Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman”” are by Mozart.
  • “12 Gnossienne No. 1” and “35-C1 Gymnopedie” are by Erik Satie.
  • “35-R2 Sommeraften” and “35-W1 Solveig’s Song” are by Edvard Grieg.
  • “8 Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” is by Rachmaninoff and “35-P2 Death and the Maiden” by Schubert. “35-T4 Moments Musicaux” could refer to a piece of either artist.
  • Other referenced classical artists are Schumann with “3-β2 Symphony No. 2 in C Major”, Stravinsky with “5-β8 The Firebird”, Handel with “16 Concerto Grosso in A minor”, Brahms with “17 Brahms Intermezzi”, Liszt with “21 La Campanella”, Mussorgsky with “22 Night on Bald Mountain”, Strauss with “26 Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, Wagner with “27 Ride of the Valkyries”, Pablo de Sarasate with “31 Zigeunerweisen”, August Wilhelmj with “33 Air on the G string”, Debussy with “35-T3 Romance”, Ravel with “35-R1 Tzigane” and Edward Elgar with “35-P3 Salut d’Amour”. “35-R3 Piano Quintet in B minor” and ranking map “Todesfuge” could refer to multiple artists.
  • More contemporary pieces include “3-β1 Gene Takes a Drink” by Michael Gordon (related to “Gene's Bar” in the event's story), “3-γ3 Vladimir’s Blues” by Max Richter, “35-T1 Étude No. 2” by Philip Glass, “35-C2 Moon River” by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer and “35-C3 Starry Starry Night” by Don McLean.
  • “5-γ8 Torna a Surriento” and “35-C4 O Sole Mio” are examples of Neapolitan songs.
  • “3-γ2 Courante”, “5-α6 Chaconne”, “23 Con Espressione”, “35-N3 Minuet” and farming maps “Quartet Rondo” and “Quintet Rondo”, labeled Largo, Andante and Presto in Normal, Hard and Nightmare difficulties, use vocabulary from Renaissance and Baroque music. “5-α8 Stradivarius’ Magic” is named after the famous instruments of the Stradivari family. “35-W3 Tour di Mantova” references the Italian town of Mantua, important in the musical history of Renaissance.
  • Other opera references include “3-γ1 Méditation from Thaïs”, titled after the piece “Méditation” from Jules Massenet's Thaïs, and “5-β7 Cavalleria Rusticana” by Pietro Mascagni.
• Russian rock band Lyube (Любэ́) is mentioned by Kalina in her “Rock 'n' Spanner” costume quote.
• The name of American hard rock band Guns N' Roses is referenced in the Notebook chapter Gun & Rose and in ^SMG SR-3MPSR-3MPSR-3MP's costume “A Gift of Guns N' Roses”.
• Children of Bodom and their single In Your Face are mentioned in Suomi's Dusty Memory. The reference is original to the CN script.

Poetry and performing arts

• In ^RF Gepard M1Gepard M1Gepard M1's story for Notebook/Gun & Rose, the Commander describes Gepard by quoting The Cherubinic Pilgrim by Angelus Silesius: "The rose is without 'why'; it blooms simply because it blooms. It pays no attention to itself, nor does it ask whether anyone sees it."
• In ^AR AN-94AN-94AN-94's story for Notebook/Night of Sweetness and Surprise, AN-94 recognizes that one of the desserts is named after the poem “Unrivalled Beauty” (绝色) by Yu Kwang-chung: "In-between the colors of Moon and Snow, You would be the third color rivaled by none" (在月色与雪色之间，你是第三种绝色).
• In Dual Randomness Hay Fever - Beginning, ^MG RPK-16RPK-16RPK-16 describes their situation after becoming surveillance targets with the famous inscription on the gate of Hell from Canto 3 of Dante Alighieri's Inferno: "Abandon all hope, Ye who enter here." She's shot down by ^AR AK-12AK-12AK-12 for quoting poems out of context. Parts of Inferno are later reused for Paradeus' prayer.
• The credits of Mirror Stage end with an encoding of the line “Apostate only am I true. I am you, when I am I” from Lob der Ferne by Paul Celan.
• During Longitudinal Strain, ^AR AR-18AR-18AR-18 takes the name Lyudmila Pavlichenko and summons the bomber Ruslan II. This is a nod to the poem (and later opera) Ruslán i Lyudmíla by Alexander Pushkin.
• In Slow Shock, Bramedb quotes the poet Hai Zi: “In BC we were too young, in AD we were too old, and nobody saw, that one truly beautiful smile” (公元前我们太小、公元后我们又太老、没有谁见过、那一次真正美丽的微笑).
  • Russian poet Alexander Pushkin is also mentioned in Slow Shock by aspiring poet Pan, who criticizes his work as too obscure.
• On ^RF M21M21M21's memento for Notebook/Mystery of the Bewitching Figure, the quote “Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one” is from the play Der Sohn der Wildnis by Friedrich Halm.
• ^HG ThunderThunderThunder's costume “Lenore's Raven” references The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.
• Odile and Odette are respectively the names of the Black and White Swan in Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake.
• The poem The Cloud by Percy Bysshe Shelley appears in Chapter 2, Act 4 of Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery.

Myths and legends

• Jefuty is named after the Egyptian god Djehuti, also called Thoth, associated with the ibis bird, the Moon, wisdom and knowledge.
• Girls' Frontline
  • The Sangvis Ferri units Gaia, Ouroboros and Cerberus are named after beings of Ancient Greek mythology.
  • Most enemies of the KCCO and some of Paradeus are named after elements of Ancient Greece and its mythology: Acheron and Troy are locations; Aegis, Argo, Aspis are objects; Aceso, Aesclepius, Ares, Coeus, Kratos and Narciss are gods and goddesses; Arachne, Cerynitis, Cyclops, Hydra, Ladon, Lycaon, Minautorus, Orthros and Typhon are monsters; and Elusinian Mysteries are a secret rite.
  • Several Paradeus units have names referring to Christian lore: the Pyxis is named after the box containing the Eucharist, the Hymnal Organ is a traditional instrument for organized prayer, and the Quill of Patmos is named after John of Patmos, purportedly the author of the Bible's Book of Revelation.
  • Paradeus' Garmr is named after a monstrous dog acting as the guardian of the underworld in Norse mythology. Moreover, the Garmr units are associated with the Avernus base, named after a gate to the underworld in Roman tradition.
    • Two other Norse references associated with Paradeus are Ráðgríðr, named after a Valkyrie, and Project Hela, named after the Queen of Hell.
  • Paradeus' Gebbennu appears to be a combination of the Egyptian gods Geb, the Earth god associated with snakes, and Bennu, the Sun and reincarnation deity in the form of a heron.
  • According to a now-deleted Weibo post by former Sunborn writer Jano, Mercurows' name is made of the words “mercury” and “Merrow”, a type of mermaid.
  • Galatea Corporation is named after the Greek goddess who transformed her mortal lover into a river after his death.
  • While Mirror Stage and its main chapters (The Real, The Imaginary and The Symbolic) are titled after concepts in Lacanian psychoanalysis, some story parts are named after Ancient Greek mythology (more are named after philosophical concepts from Ancient Greece, listed in #Others):
    • Selene’s Dream: After the goddess of the Moon, though there are no specific legends associated with her dreams.
    • The Birth of Apate: Indirect reference to the opening of Pandora's Box, in which the goddess of deceit Apate was contained.
    • Hemera Points to the Light: In reference to the goddess of daytime and her alternating cycle with Nyx, goddess of night.
    • Athena’s Owl: The animal associated with the goddess of wisdom and war. In Girls' Frontline, it is also associated with Griffin Lyons.
    • Ariadne’s Clew and Cretan Labyrinth: From the story of Theseus slaying the Minotaur.
    • Dreams on the Island of Dia: Named after the island where Ariadne was slained by Artemis after Theseus slained the Minotaur.
    • Defying the Moerae, Clothos’ Thread, Lachesis’ Measure & Atropos’ Shears: The Moerae (also called Moirai or Fates) are the goddesses of fate. Clothos spins the thread that represents each mortal's life, Lachesis decides how long their thread will be, and Atropos cuts it with her shears, deciding their death.
      • ClothoClotho in Neural Cloud is themed after the Moerae.
  • As noted by the characters in chapter Reversing Entropy IB of Poincare Recurrence, the enemy hacker Bramedb is named after Queen Medb, a legendary Irish queen known for seducing great heroes and causing great wars.
  • In Zero Charge, it is revealed that the Rossartrists name their operations after heroes from various mythologies. These operations include Operation Aeneas (a progenitor of Rome), Operation Igor (possibly after Saint Igor of Kiev), Operation Muromets (the Bogatyr of Rus' Ilya Muromets), Operation Kriemhild (the wife of the hero Siegfried and a protagonist of the Nibelungenlied), Operation Adrasteia (an Ancient Greek goddess of fate who raised the king of the gods Zeus) and Operation Eris (Ancient Greek goddes of strife). The KCCO also led Operation Marduk (king of the Babylonian gods).
  • The names of Morridow, Machlian and Badbsca are derived from the three Irish war goddesses called the Morrígna: Morrigan, Macha and Badb. Though the complete connection was revealed in Angular Gyrus - Light as a Feather I, the origin of Morridow's name was already revealed in an interview four years prior.
  • The Nidhogg Protocol introduced in Convolutional Kernel is named after a dragon of death of Norse mythology which gnaws the roots of the world-tree. Chapter 20 of Convolutional Kernel is also titled “The Dragon That Gnaws at Tree Roots”.
  • In ^HG PA-15PA-15PA-15's story for Notebook/Charming Furniture Expo, PA-15's idea to attach rockets to a chair to fly resembles the humorous legend of Wan Hu in Ancient China, who purportedly reached the Moon using a similar contraption.
• Project Neural Cloud
  • SolSol is named after the Norse god pulling the sun through the sky on a chariot, as evidenced by the fact that her blades bear the same names as the chariot's horses: Arvakr and Alsvidr. The reference is even more explicit in Inferno SolInferno Sol 's artworks, where she is seen on a chariot drawn by two horses.
  • According to his profile, AkiAki wields the tachi called Shuten-kiri (酒吞切), which is a reference to the real-world Douji-kiri (童子切), said to have been used by the legendary Japanese warrior Minamoto-no-Raikou to kill the oni chieftain Shuten-Douji. Aki directly references Shuten-Douji and the Douji-kiri in his Halloween quote.
  • PenumbraPenumbra 's background story references the Order of Assassins, a religious sect that built a state in medieval Persia: the name and methods of Penumbra's commander, Colonel Hassan, resemble those of Hassan-i Sabbah, the founder and leader of the Order; and Penumbra's blades, Al-Haqq and Al-Maliq, are names for the Muslim god (though the second should be written “Al-Malik”).
  • The Tartarus Sector in Neural Cloud is named after the underworld of punishment in Ancient Greek mythology. Three enemies are named after regions of Tartarus: Caina, Ptolemaea and Antenora.
  • Arcadia, the base of the Guardians, is also named after a region of Ancient Greece later associated with utopia.
  • The Reverse Babylon Tower is an inversion of the Tower of Babel story from the Bible: unlike in the original story, the tower isn't built in an attempt to reach the Heavens, but descends from the sky to protect the agents of Magrasea.
    • Accordingly, many Lesser and Intermediate Sanctifier units are named after virtues listed in christian works: Diligence, Fortitude, Kindness, Mercy, Moderation, Modesty, Patience, Faith, Hope, Love, Reverence and Wisdom, to which are added the trio of Crime, Punishment and Judgment. Some Greater Sanctifiers are classified as Gabriel models after the name of an angel, and the repository of the Sanctifers' core data is called the Sacred Canon, a concept of christian origins.
    • However, few Greater Sanctifiers, like Eucharist and Angelus, are named after Christian concepts. Instead, most are named after Ancient Greek mythical figures (which could reflect the progression of christian liturgical language from Greek to Latin): Atlas, Electra, Alcyone, and the trio EosEos , Eosphorous and Hesperus (it is notable that the Latin equivalent of "Eosphorous" would be Lucifer). Moreover, the core of the Reverse Babylon Tower is called the Pantheon and they maintain structures named Acropolises, furthering the duality of references to Ancient Greek and Christian myths.
  • Demiurge is named after the divinity that shaped the material world in Gnosticism.
  • The False God is also called "Great Creation", "Great Humanoid Creation", or "Poimandres", after the name of the conscious mind of the monotheistic god in Hermeticism.
  • In his enhancement quote, YuwangYuwang mentions Yuegong (月宫), the legendary lunar palace, home to the immortals.
  • Jiutian Sector (九天) means "Ninth Heaven" and its administrator is named Xuannu (玄女, Xuannü) after the Daoist goddess of the Ninth Heaven.
• Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium
  • The settlement where Mayling grew up is named Hephaestus, from the Ancient Greek smithing god.
  • Qiuhua's Passive Skill “Zao Jun's Rule”, is named after the Chinese domestic god presiding over the kitchen.
  • In Dusty Memories#First Counterattack, Ullrid explains the first part of her name is from the Norse god Ull, a skilled bow user like her.
  • Poludnitsa is named after a Slavic demon, the “Noonwraith”, who causes heatstrokes and madness. Poludnitsa is fond of making mythological and literary references:
    • In a coded exchange with the Commander in SL-1-1, she refers to herself as Harpagon, the avaricious main character of Molière's play The Miser.
    • Also in SL-1-1, she suspects a mole in her crew leaked her location to Varjagers and calls them a "Judas" after the traitorous character from the Bible's New Testament.
    • When she gives Colphne to the Commander in SL-2-1, Poludnitsa promises that she won't become an Achilles' Heel, referring to the legendary weak point of the otherwise invincible Ancient Greek hero.
    • Also in SL-2-1, she says the Commander avoided being a Buridan's ass when they decisively act on the intel she provides.
    • In Mimisbrunnr's Loop PS-1-1, she explains that she called her underground broker fairs "Mercury's Bazaar" to place them under the auspices of the Roman god of commerce. Later in PS-1-8, she compares Springfield's intel on the mole in her crew to a gift of talaria, the winged sandals of Mercury granting him great speed.
    • In PA-1-8, Poludnitsa calls her protégé Aminda by the nickname "Atalanta", after a huntress who joined the Argonauts in the Odyssey. Consequently, Poludnitsa indirectly compares herself to the leader of the Argonauts, Jason.
    • In Dusty Journal#Twisted Smile, she expounds on the origins of the Elmo's name.
  • Several Elite weapons in Exilium are named after legendary figures
    • “Papa-Figo” is named after a Brazilian version of the bogeyman (“o homem do saco”), a strange man who captures disobedient children using the sack on his back. There are variations of this figure in other regions of the world, but Papa-Figo is used here since the weapon is a variant of the Brazilian Taurus Curve. In CN, the weapon is simply named “Noisy Spirit” (喧闹恶灵).
    • The description of “Guerno” claims it is named after one of the Norse Valkyries. This is probably a flawed transcription of the name Geirönul from CN.
    • “Hestia” (Faye's Imprinted weapon) is named after the Ancient Greek goddess of the home.
    • “Samosek” (Mosin-Nagant's Imprinted weapon) is named after Mеч-Cамосёк (Mech-Samosek), “the self-swinging sword” of Russian folklore.
    • “Svarog” (Papasha's Imprinted weapon) is named after the slavic god of the forge, in reference to Papasha's job as a mechanic.
    • “Mjölnir” is named after the war-hammer of Thor, the Norse god of thunder.
    • "Skylla" (Klukai's Imprinted weapon) is named after a monster of Ancient Greek mythology.
    • “Aglaea” (Andoris' Imprinted weapon) is named after an Ancient Green goddess of beauty.
    • “Iaso” (Florence's Imprinted weapon) is named after the Ancient Greek goddess of recuperation from illness. It was previously used in the name of the Iaso's Boxes.
    • “Crowned Jackalope” is named after a legendary animal from North American folklore, a jackrabbit with antelope horns. The weapon's name matches Krolik's rabbit theme.
    • “Banshee's Whisper” refers to a wailing Irish wraith.
• Enemy mechs in Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery are named after slavic deities (most of them of dubious attribution due to lack of primary sources): Svarog, Khors, Simargl, Porevit, Marzanna, Filins, Devana and Jarilo.
  • Svarog Heavy Industries is also named after a slavic deity.
  • The name Marzanna also appears in Dushevnaya's second Active Skill, “Marzanna's Sanction”.
  • One exception to this pattern is the Diberg, named after savage warriors from Irish legends.

Sciences

• The chapters of Polarized Light are named after concepts in optics (though some titles veer into the fictionalized):
  • Chapter 1 - Unpolarized Light Source retraces the transformation of a light ray from unpolarized to polarized light: Lamp Starter, Propagation, Refraction Point, Critical Angle, Reflector, Total Internal Reflection, Sine Curve, Reversibility, Cosine Signal
  • Chapter 2 - Bifocal Prism lists equipment used in the formation and study of EM waves: Polarizer, Diffraction Grating, Waveguide, Beam Splitter, Interferometer, Aperture, Vacuum Tube, Accelerator, Spectrometer, Analyzer
  • Chapter 3 - Polarized lists chemical reactions and properties associated with "optically active" (chiral) materials: Enantiomer Overload, Recrystalization Resolution, Shattered Plane of Polarization, Asymmetric Induction, Optical Isomer
  • Chapter 4 - Crystal Recasting lists the creation steps of a reflective lens: Milling, Mixing, Pre-Heating, Sintering, Foaming, Foam Stabilization, Molding, Annealing, Tempering, Cutting, Polishing, Silvering, Virtual Image Reforging
  • Chapter 5 - Visible Horizon lists extreme electromagnetic phenomenons associated with quantum physics and black holes: Unfathomable Singularity, Observable Limits, Light Cone Frame of Reference, Causality Separating Plane, Blackbody Radiation, Escape Acceleration, Through the Event Horizon
• Poincaré Recurrence is titled after a theorem in mathematics and physics which states that certain types of changing systems will loop back to their initial state after a finite amount of time. In the context of the story, one could extrapolate that "History repeats itself" is but one case of this theorem.
• Fixed Point and its chapters are titled after concepts in topography: Singularity, Reflective Surface, Riemann Surface and Teichmuller Space.
• Eclipses & Saros and most of its chapters are titled after astrophysical concepts, several of them specifically applied to the Moon and eclipses: Long- and Short-Period Perturbation, Lunar Orbital Inclination, Ingress, Egress, Homology, Capture, Antumbra, Umbra, Annulus, Planetary Ring, Mare Crisium, Mare Tranquilitatis, Lunar Node, Third Contact, Last Contact and Outer and Inner Lagrange Point.
• The chapters of Maze Guess are named after (some fictionalized) mathematical concepts of statistics and analysis: Initial Inference, Harmonic Simulation, Interpolation Analysis, Analytic Inference, Real Analysis Simulation, Error Analysis, Transcendental Inference, Complex Manifold Simulation, Asymptotic Analysis and Bayesian Decision Theory.
• The Global trailer for Deep Dive and Project Neural Cloud's marketing used images of Conway's Game of Life.
• In her early days at the Elmo, Mayling named her Dummy assistant Jiuzhang, after the Jiuzhang Suanshu (九章算术, The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art), an early Chinese treaty on mathematics.
• The tracks in Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery Soundtrack are titled after various medical terms.

Others

The titular character from the Dinosaur Game can be seen in this CG of Project Neural Cloud.

Metal Slug reference in Sharkry's dorm.

• Girls' Frontline
  • Most map names of Operation Cube and Operation Cube Plus are named after concepts surrounding the Rubik's Cube puzzle game, though some references got lost in translation: “Seven-Step Puzzle” (七阶谜题, name of the “V-Cube 7” variant), “Corner Breaker” (角先破解, the “corners first” method), “Layer Reversal” (层先调换, the “layer-by-layer” method), “Cross Base” (十字基底, the “cross” is the first step in the CFOP method), “Directional Algorithm” (定向算法, the algorithms of the CFOP method) and “Reverse Sequence” (逆转序列, a base concept of solving).
  • Some basic Paradeus units are named after historical classes of soldiers from various cultures: Rodelero, Uhlan, Strelet, Doppelsoldner, Maccabee, Gladiator, as well as famous generals Hannibal and Murat.
  • Some story parts in Mirror Stage are named after classical paradoxes and thoughts experiments:
    • Heraclitus’ River & Cratylus’ River: From the quote "No man ever steps in the same river twice" attributed to philosopher Heraclitus. Later philosopher Cratylus is known for adding to Heraclitus' river metaphor that if a river is constantly changing, it paradoxically cannot even be stepped in once.
    • Ship of Theseus: Metaphor based on the ship Argo, of which every part had been replaced at the end of Theseus' journey. The question is whether the boat could be considered the same if its original physical form had been replaced.
    • Torricelli’s Trumpet: Also known as Gabriel's horn announcing the Apocalypse, later name given to an apparently paradoxical geometric figure first detailed Evangelista Torricelli with finite volume but infinite surface.
    • Balls and Vase: A.k.a. Ross-Littlewood paradox, an example of supertask problem where 10 balls are added to and 1 taken out of a vase an infinite number of times in a finite amount of time.
    • Cretan Liar: From Cretan philosopher Epimenides, who coined the paradoxical statement that "All Cretans are liars".
    • The Grain of Millet: A paradox from philosopher Zeno, who observes that a single grain of millet doesn't make a sound when hitting the ground while thousands do, making something emerge from the addition of many nothings.
    • The Prisoner’s Dilemma: A thought experiment illustrating the difficulties of cooperation in the face of greater reward by acting selfishly.
    • Achilles and the Tortoise: Another of Zeno's paradoxes, stating that the running hero Achilles can never catch up to a moving tortoise, as the tortoise will always have moved somewhat in the time that Achilles took to close half of their separating distance.
    • Zeno’s Circle of Knowledge: Ill-sourced quote sometimes attributed to Zeno, used to illustrate the limits of human knowledge: if the sum of human knowledge is a circle traced on the ground, the rest of the world outside the circle is what mankind doesn't know.
  • The clock motif seen throughout Poincaré Recurrence is based on the Doomsday Clock, though it works for a different definition of "doomsday" since the clock eventually runs past 12:00 into 12:01.
  • A slightly modified version of the first verse of the Song of the International Brigades are seen at the end of the credit sequence of Fixed Point:

Wir im fernen Vaterland geboren, (We, born in the distant fatherland,)
Nahmen nichts als Haß im Herzen mit. (Took along nothing except hatred in the heart.)
Doch wir haben die Heimat nicht verloren, (But we haven't lost our home,)
Unsre Heimat ist heute vor G&K. (Today, our home is in front of G&K)

• • In Longitudinal Strain, ^AR AR-18AR-18AR-18 operates under the name Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a famous World War II-era female Soviet sniper.
  • The 2050 Beslan School Siege, taking place at High School No.1 in Beslan, North Ossetia, references the real-life 2004 Beslan School Siege, which happened in the same school on the same day.
  • The title of Cartesian Theater references the absurd concept of consciousness being the result of observation by another internal consciousness, which is a circular logic.
  • The titles of the Convolutional Kernel map “Escape on the Möbius Strip” and ranking map “Leaping from the Penrose Stairs” refer to two examples of infinite figures.
  • In ^RF KSVKKSVKKSVK's Neural Upgrade story, Ashe James teaches Dushevnaya the song "Ashes of Dreams" from the game NieR.
  • ^SMG LusaLusaLusa's quotes make multiple references to international football.
  • Sier's adjutant quotes mentions the card game Gwent, which originates from the Witcher franchise.
  • ^AR Mk.18Mk.18Mk.18's English skill activation quote "I am the storm that is approaching" is a reference to a famous lyric from the song Bury The Light from Devil May Cry 5.
• Project Neural Cloud
  • SimoSimo 's name and role are references to famous Finnish World War II-era sniper Simo Häyhä.
  • VeeVee 's Sweet Alluring Pink costume depicts a Dendy Junior II video game console, a Nintendo Family Computer clone mainly sold in post-Soviet countries.
  • CentaureissiCentaureissi and Centaureissi - Unbound WingsCentaureissi - Unbound Wings make references to the Touhou Project character Sakuya Izayoi.
  • According to Quenching Operation, Python (PNC)Python is canonically named after the character Snake from the Metal Gear Solid video games series. His designers also considered the names Viper, Mamba and Cobra, as well as Fischer, from the main protagonist of the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell video games series. The glasses he wears in the Valentine CG are similar to Ray-Ban Aviators, which are associated with the Metal Gear Solid character Kazuhira Miller.
    • Python was also nicknamed “Old Ironsides”, a nickname of the warships HMS Britannia and USS Constitution
  • BonnevilleBonneville is likely named after the Triumph Bonneville motorcycle.
  • In Chromatic Spiral, Professor Karl Bateson's daughter Hayley's favorite restaurant is noted to be Paul Ruger for steak, a possible reference to New York City's famous Peter Luger steakhouse. The reference is native to the original CN script.
• Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery
  • The email address “[email protected]” appears in the Secret Document Warszawa Incident Original Report. This is a reference to the Steins;Gate franchise, where Rintaro Okabe receives an email from “[email protected]” early in the original story.
  • There are also several references to the Gundam franchise in the game: in Lone Infiltrator, guards can be distracted with Metal Suit mangas, and in Mutual Destruction, a Scout declares “For the preservation of our blue and pure world, remove the red corrosion!” in reference to the slogan of the Blue Cosmos faction in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.
  • The Reverse Collapse Collection contain more references.
• Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium
  • The title of the event Needy Cat Girl Overload (信号波重度依赖) is a reference to the game Needy Streamer Overload (主播女孩重度依赖).
  • An interesting case of cultural overlap occurs in Discordant Pitch, when Jiangyu makes a three-fingers gesture to swear an oath. Given Jiangyu's Chinese cultural theming, this most probably refers to the gesture where the index, middle and ring fingers are extended up, which can be seen in many examples of Chinese stories across time periods (though the number of extended fingers can vary). In the Western world, the same gesture, usually known as the “Boy Scout salute”, appeared and took the same meaning independently, and so Jiangyu's gesture can be easily understood across cultures (another three-fingers oath gesture using the thumb instead of the ring finger is also used in Germanic cultures).
  • The training space in Escape from Cyborg's story is modeled after the rules of a game from the Dark Souls series. Mechty alludes to the series' developer From Software when she curses the sadism of "a certain game devs".
    • The event also alludes to a previous The Division collaboration. The game contains more Division references (read Bounty Feast#Trivia).
  • The achievements of the game contain many references.
  • The beta versions of the game contained more references that were removed.
  • During the event Breaking Butterfly (LA-1-1: Ambusher of Memory), UMP40 draws a messily scribbled diagram map. Lenna internally notes it to look like a "Voynich Manuscript knockoff", in reference to the illustrated codex written in an undeciphered script.
  • The game contains references to internet memes in inconspicuous places
    • In the Crew Deck photo mode, a certain emote can be used by the Commander called "Praise the Sunborn" (赞美日光, "Praise the Sunlight" in CN) uses a similar pose to the "Praise the Sun" pose from Dark Souls. In Breaking Butterfly, Lainie also uses the phrase "jolly cooperation", which is associated with the same Dark Souls character.
    • The Crew Deck interaction for Jiangyu and Zhaohui badly playing their instruments is titled "Daiyan's not home today", referencing the viral short video "When Mom isn't Home".
    • One of the accessories for Klukai's "Cerulean Breaker" costume is called "Endless Streams, Stars Above", which is a quote from an infamous Girls' Frontline pornographic comic by madeinheaven_23.
    • The description for the accessory "Sweltering Heartbind" for Leva's "Sultry Tempo" costume reads "Its design features minimal coverage, which perfectly embodies the ardence and allure of the desert; there isn't much there... but it's still hot," the second part is almost word-for-word a memetic description for flat-chested characters.
• Famiclone consoles have been featured in Project Neural Cloud and in Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium.

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