List of cultural references: Difference between revisions

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.

==Literature==

[[File:PNC PA BG009.png|thumb|Entropic construct based on Ghroth from the Cthulu Mythos in Project Neural Cloud.]]

*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.

*Girls' Frontline

**In the third part of {{doll name|Type 64|SMG|4|costume=costume3}}'s Neural Upgrade story, {{doll name|M99|RF|5}} 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 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, {{doll name|AUG|AR|5}} and {{doll name|IWS 2000|RF|5}} 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, {{doll name|Tokarev|HG|3}} compares Lee-Enfield's reasoning skills to those of "a certain famous detective ... (who) also happened to be British". {{doll name|Lee-Enfield|RF|5}} 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 {{doll name|M4A1|AR|4}}'s increasingly violent actions during this chapter.

**In {{doll name|RO635|SMG|6|costume=costume3}}'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 [[Minor Characters#Pavel|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 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 [[Arthur Hume|Hume Dolls]].

**In [[Isolation Forest]], {{doll name|SCAR-H|RF|5}} 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.”

**Lewis Carroll's ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' is referenced in {{doll name|TAR-21|AR|4|costume=costume2}}'s costume “The Lost March Hare” and {{doll name|Spitfire|HG|4|costume=costume1}}'s costume “The Last Alice”.

**{{doll name|Contender|HG|5|costume=costume1}}'s costume “Opera Ghost” references ''The Phantom of the Opera'' by Gaston Leroux.

**{{doll name|M327|HG|5|costume=costume1}}'s costume “It Follows” visually references ''It'' by Stephen King. The costume shares its name with a horror movie unrelated to King's novel.

**{{doll name|Mk23|HG|4|costume=costume6}}'s costume “Coroner Nyandyke” references the main character of R. Austin Freeman's detective novels, Dr. Thorndyke.

*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.

**The [[PNC Events|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.

**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.

**In [[Dusty Memories#Guest in the Palm|Guest in the Palm]], [[Qiongjiu]] compares the contaminated lands roamed by the [[Elmo]] to the ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jianghu 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.

==Visual arts==

***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]], {{doll name|Stevens M520|SG|5}} becomes nicknamed Reinette and {{doll name|Stevens M620|SG|5}} 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 [[Notebook/Charming Furniture Expo]], {{doll name|MG36|MG|5|costume=costume1}} adopts a hamster and names it “HAL 9002” in reference to the character “HAL 9000” from Stanley Kubrick's ''2001: A Space Odyssey''.

**{{doll name|PPD-40|SMG|4}}'s pose in her main artwork is based on Vsevolod Tarasevich's 1943 war photograph [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RIAN_archive_93172_Defenders_of_Leningrad.jpg Defenders of Leningrad], which shows a Soviet soldier holding up a PPD-40.

**{{doll name|M950A|HG|5|costume=costume4}}'s costume “The Warbler and the Rose” is named after a piece (黄鳥、長春) from Japanese ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai.

**{{doll name|P90|SMG|5|costume=costume2}}'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.

*Project Neural Cloud

**{{hero name|Croque|guard|3}} 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.

**{{hero name|Fern|warrior|3}} and {{hero name|Magnhilda|warrior|3}}'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'' ({{hero name|Magnhilda|warrior|3}}), ''Kung-Fu Hustle'' ({{hero name|Daiyan|sniper|3}}) and ''Bocchi the Rock'' ({{hero name|Undine|specialist|3}}).

*[[Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium]]

**[[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]].

**The Classified Briefing [[Classified Briefings#Flower Tosser|“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 [[GFL2 Weapons|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''.

File:Mechty DBZ parody.jpg|Manga parody of episode 23 of ''Dragon Ball Z'' in [[Mechty]]'s dorm animation.

File:Zhaohui JJBA parody.jpg|Parody of ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders'' in [[Zhaohui]]'s dorm animation.

</gallery>

*{{doll name|Thunder|HG|4|costume=costume1}}'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''.

==Myths and legends==

*Girls' Frontline

**The Sangvis Ferri units Gaia, Ouroboros and Cerberus are named after beings of Ancient Greek mythology.

**In [[Zero Charge]], it is revealed that the [[Rossartrist]]s 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 {{enemy name|Morridow|boss}}, [[Machlian]] and [[Minor Characters#Badbsca|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 [https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv7627147/ interview] four years prior.

**In {{doll name|PA-15|HG|5}}'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

**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]]

**[[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.

***“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.

***“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.

**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 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

**The 2050 Beslan School Siege, taking place at High School No.1 in Beslan, North Ossetia, references the real-life 2004 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_siege 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.

**In {{doll name|KSVK|RF|5|costume=costume3}}'s Neural Upgrade story, Ashe James teaches Dushevnaya the song "Ashes of Dreams" from the game ''NieR''.

**{{doll name|Lusa|SMG|5}}'s quotes make multiple references to international football.

*Project Neural Cloud

**{{hero name|Simo|sniper|2}}'s name and role are references to famous Finnish World War II-era sniper Simo Häyhä.

***Python was also nicknamed “Old Ironsides”, a nickname of the warships HMS ''Britannia'' and USS ''Constitution''

**{{hero name|Bonneville|warrior|3}} is likely named after the Triumph Bonneville motorcycle.

*[[Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery]]

**The email address “[email protected]” appears in the Secret Document [[Secret Documents#Warszawa Incident Original Report|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.

**The [[Reverse Collapse Collection]] contain more references.

*[[Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium]]

**An interesting case of cultural overlap occurs in [[Dusty_Memories#Discordant Pitch|Discordant Pitch]], when [[Jiangyu (GFL2)|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 [[GFL2 Achievements|achievements]] of the game contain many references.

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