Mal's dialogue in episode 10 of Trigun shows up verbatim in an old interview with the writer

I was reading a 1998 Animerica interview and realized the exact line Mal says to Vash about "trusting the same people" is pulled straight from it. Has anyone else caught hidden references like that in classic anime?

2 comments

2 Comments

finley_price2423d ago

Wait have you ever noticed how much anime just pulls from interviews and behind the scenes stuff? I remember watching Evangelion and finding out that half of Gendo's speeches were basically lifted from a 1995 book about psychology that Anno was reading at the time. Like the part where he talks about people being afraid of being hurt so they build walls that's almost word for word from that book about attachment theory. It makes you wonder if these writers are just really inspired by their favorite books or if they're running out of original ideas and grabbing whatever sounds deep. But the Mal thing is wild because that's a pretty specific line to just drop into a show like it's nothing new.

bennett.mason23d ago

The evangelion thing is a good catch, but I think we're missing the bigger picture here. These writers arent copying books or interviews because they're out of ideas. They're doing it on purpose as a game with the hardcore fans. Like that Mal line, it's so specific that nobody would catch it unless they dug through a 20 year old magazine. That's not lazy writing, that's a hidden easter egg for the people who really care. Same with Anno dropping psychology book quotes, he knew the fans would eventually find them and start these exact conversations. It turns watching the show into a scavenger hunt, and honestly that's way cooler than just writing something original.