American cartoons are known for taking a few cues from anime, whether it's the anime style or basing stories on what happened in popular anime series. However, the reverse isn't unheard of, either. Plenty of classic anime feature shout-outs to Western cartoons and animated films. Anime might do this because the creator is a fan of a specific series, but it can also happen because the series is popular in Japan.

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Sometimes, a character is designed to resemble a popular Western cartoon. Other times, the entire series could have been inspired by an overseas cartoon. Then there are the times when an anime just gives a Western cartoon a cameo.

10 Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt: The Series Is A Love Letter To Western Animation

Panty and Stocking laughing at Brief

Not only is Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt given an animation style heavily influenced by Western animation, but many characters are also designed to resemble various Western cartoon characters. For example, Chuck, Panty, and Stocking's pet sidekick heavily resembles Gir from Invader Zim.

The series is filled with shout-outs to Western cartoons, from Panty meeting up with Johnny Bravo to a pair of ghosts based on Ren & Stimpy.

9 Dragon Ball: Three Of The Series' Villains Are Named In Honor Of Disney's Cinderella

Babidi Buu

In the Dragon Ball franchise, the evil alien wizard Bibbidi awakened the entity Majin Buu and, to further his goals, split himself into multiple entities, notably his "son" Babbidi.

Put those names together and what have you got: "Bibidi, Babidi, Buu," which is a reference to the Fairy Godmother's spell and song, also known as "The Magic Song," in Disney's animated Cinderella movie.

8 Fruits Basket: Kyo & Yuki Once Get Compared To Tom & Jerry

Fruits Basket Tom Jerry

In the Fruits Basket series, rivals Kyo and Yuki often find themselves turning into a cat and a rat, respectively, when embraced by a member of the opposite sex.

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While cats and rats have likely been seen as enemies forever, their rivalry has at least once been jokingly compared to the famous animated duo of Tom & Jerry by Tohru's friends.

7 Shaman King: Two Ghosts Are Based On Ren & Stimpy

Ren Stimpy Shaman King

In the Shaman King series, the Guardian Ghosts of Tamamura Tamao are a tanuki named Pnchi and a kitsune named Conchi.

While technically a raccoon dog and a fox, they have been patterned off of a famous cartoon dog and cat pair: Ren & Stimpy, one of Nickelodeon's early '90s shows.

6 Ultra Maniac: One Episode Parodies The Powerpuff Girls, Complete With The Theme Song

Ultra Maniac Powerpuff Girls

In Ultra Maniac's eighth episode, a trio of triplet girls from the Witch world appear based on Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup from The Powerpuff Girls. A background song resembling the Powerpuff Girls' can be heard playing while Pine, Bamboo, and Plum get ready to help Nina.

Series creator Wataru Yoshizumi is known for being a fan of the Western cartoon. Notably, the series was popular enough in Japan it received an anime adaptation.

5 FLCL: The Series Turns Into South Park For A Brief While

South Park In FLCL

In FLCL's fifth episode, the animation briefly shifts so that it suddenly resembles the animation in South Park, which, while mostly computer-animated, is designed to resemble paper cut-out stop-motion.

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While many references to American animation in anime reflect series that actually became popular in Japan, the director claimed in the commentary that many Japanese viewers were confused by the reference at the time.

4 Porco Rosso: A Betty Boop Cartoon Appears In The Cinema

Porco Rosso kissing Betty Boop

Betty Boop is a cartoon that proved popular enough in Japan that it's considered an early influence in anime. The Betty Boop cartoon "A Language All My Own," in which Betty entertains the people of Japan, was believed to be a love letter to her popularity in the country at the time.

References to Betty Boop have appeared in various anime, ranging from Dr. Slump to Creamy Mami. In one of the more well-known shout-outs, in Porco Rosso, the characters watch an animated film in a theater whose heroine is visibly based on Betty Boop.

3 Astro Boy: Japan's Mighty Atom Was Based On Mighty Mouse

Astro Boy waving

Osamu Tezuka has said that one of the inspirations for Astro Boy was Mighty Mouse, an animated superhero mouse and parody of Superman, also making Astro Boy an indirect parody of him as well.

Astro Boy's Japanese name, Mighty Atom, is more directly taken from the mousey hero and he even shares some poses with the earlier character.

2 Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Squidward Appears In One Episode

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's characters

In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, a beastman resembling Squidward Tentacles from the SpongeBob SquarePants series can be seen making an appearance behind Viral during a scene.

This isn't the only shout-out to Western cartoons in the series. The same episode also features a character based on Candace from the animated series Phineas and Ferb.

1 Billy Bat: Billy Bat Ends Up Turning Into A Mickey Mouse Parody

Billy Bat manga Urasawa

Billy Bat is a thriller manga revolving around a cartoonist who develops a series around a character called Billy Bat, a detective in a world of animals.

As years go by in the story, however, Billy Bat ends up turning into a Mickey Mouse parody, complete with a television show and a theme park. There are even characters corresponding to Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks.

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