Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (TV)

In the 3rd episode when the space pirate's ship is being taken over by the goblin, and mune-mune shows up all veiny... it is a referance to evangeilion when Rei gets infected by the 16th angel.

There are lots of referances to Space Odyssey: 2001 in the third episode... look for them...

In the third episode after they get trapped in the goo and all the pictures are flashing by quickly, there is one pic of peropero from His and Her Circumstances.

The abeno angel's costumes in the third episode are from "Time Bokan" 

When Sasshi starts to get everything in the third episode there is a pyramid... this pyramid has things from a few different animes on it... it has stuff from Gundam, Space Battleship Yamoto, Akira, Evangeilion, Mazinger Z, and Laputa.

In the third episode they use such music as the Evangeilion combat music, and modified Star Wars music.

One of the five people that Sasshi and Arumi need to hook up with is a cross between Frieeza from Dragon Ball Z and a grey alien from communition.

When the city transforms in the third epsiode, it is a reference to Macross.

Sasshi and Arumi's final transformation in the third episode is called the shoppinkaiser... this is a rip on Mazinkaizer.

In the third episode the city dome looks like Ultraman's face.

In the third episode, when Sasshi and Arumi use the final transformation to turn into the shoppinkaiser they get new clothes, Sasshi is supposed to be Amuro from the original Gundam, and Arumi is supposed to be Nova from Star Blazers.

In the fourth episode the kyoncchi doll (the doll that is the combat tournament grand prize) was popular in the 80's and early 90's. it comes from a Chineese myth... a cross between a zombie and a vampire. they have appeared in movies, such as "Reigen Doushi" that came out in 1985. 

In the fourth episode Sasshi is taking notes, this is like how Kintaro takes notes in Golden Boy.

In the fourth episode when Sasshi gets the "outfit that makes you feel stronger" they are spoofing "Doraemon", in Japan, it's one of the most popular and longest running kids' series. in Doraemon, the main character pulls cool gadgets from his fourth-dimentional pocket... the gadgets usually have obvious sounding names... the actual suit style is copied from a bruce lee movie, "Game of Death".

During the battle in the fourth episode... Sasshi's face turns into Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and a super sayin from DBZ... he even does a kamehameha wave, the most popular attack in DBZ.

Arumi and Sasshi start off episode 6 by talking like your average detective film characters.... but they go back to and Osaka accent after the first few lines.

There is an error on the fourth DVD with the AD Notes. Toward the end of episode 12, the tall skyscraper is referred to as the tower from "Die Hard." However, it's actually the Glass Tower from "The Towering Inferno." Even the commentary makes the same mistake as with the AD Notes.

_Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi_ won an Agency for Cultural Affairs "Excellence Prize" at the 2002 (6th) Media Arts Festival.

In the english language version of episode 3 (Sci-Fi World), when Mr. Kouhei demands that Arumi pays for the weapons, the last explicative he uses after calling her a 'Bastard' is 'Smeghead.' The word 'Smeghead' is an explicative commonly used in the british science-fiction comedy 'Red Dwarf.'

Anime Network's listing of the show is TV-14-LS, but the DVDs all say 17+.

The abeno angel's costumes in episode 3 are from "Time Bokan".

In episode 4 when Sasshi is going through the 36 training chambers of terror... there are different numbers that appear in kanji form... they said 36 chambers, but the last number is 38.

In episode 4, after Sasshi's training, he yells "Adrian", this is a referance to Rocky.

In episode 4 on the next episode preveiw, Sasshi and Arumi do a spoof on Sazae-san, at least in the original Japanese version... Arumi talks like the title character from Sazae-san, and Sasshi does Sazae's trademark laugh... in the English dub they change it to the Simpsons, with Arumi talking like Marge, and Sasshi doing Homer's laugh.

In episode 4 when Sasshi appears after his training is complete he has the body and look of the main character from Fist of the North Star. The circular scars on his chest are a dead give away.

In Episode 4, During the panda scene (3.49) Komugi and Shrio from SoulTaker are clearly visable in the background

In episode 4, the kyoncchi doll (the doll that is the combat tournament grand prize) was popular in the 80's and early 90's. It comes from a Chinese myth involving Jiangshi (a cross between a zombie and a vampire). They have appeared in movies, such as "Reigen Doushi" that came out in 1985.

In episode 5, in the Japeneese script the second time that Sasshi's sister is whipping Sasshi she says a line that is "Charlie Hama style". Charlie Hama is known for his trademark phrases. (i.e. - "nantarukoto, Santa Lucia" or "how dare you, Santa Lucia" - nanta rhymes with Santa).

The sequence in episode 5 where they hide behind the rocks and come out with new dinosaurs is a homage to a Tex Avery short entitled "The First Bad Man".

In episode 5 Sasshi names a bunch of different swimming moves... the first named "white baby yodogawa" the yodogawa is a river running through osaka. the third is named "sea otter of dotonbori" dotonbori is a canal... sea otters live in the sea...

In episode 5 there is mention of a dragon-snake direction... if you base this on zodiac signs that means "southeast".

The name "Ragolgo" that they give Sasshi in episode 6 is a spoof on "Golgo 13".

In episode 6, the name "Arumi police" is a referance to "Move Out! Mini Skirt Police," a late-running sketch comedy show where the stars wear mini skirts and tack on "police" on the end of each other's names.

In episode 8, Sayaka (dressed as Ayanami Rei from Neon Genesis: Evangelion, TV episode 26), lists the various terms for "Big Brother" used in the Sister Princess game and anime. When she says "check it out!", the Japanese line has the word "cheki," which is used by Yotsuba in Sister Princess.

As Amiryun departs in episode 8 (an episode based around dating simulation games,) she references the visual novel Kanon; specifically the character Ayu Tsukimiya. "The taiyaki we ate together were delicious...Uguu~" It is also worth noting that actress Yui Horie voices both Amiryun and Ayu in their respective anime.

In episode 11, some of the military music is adapted from the theme from "1941," by John Williams.

In episode 12 (5:00), Sasshi's materialization - naked, curled, amid lightnings - is taken from the movie The Terminator, as is the taking of the clothes from the thugs scene.

In episode 12 (17:00), Sasshi is Indiana Jones.

In episode 12 (20:08), there is a Back To The Future film parody.

In episode 12 (21:50), E.T's silhouette is visible in the moon.