You may not be an anime fan, but surely when you read this your inner Malaysian spirit will reach peak Genkidama levels!
Being a small country, not many foreigners think of us in their day-to-day lives. Thus, for a very well known country, such as Japan, to recognise us is something to be proud of!
Therefore, we made a compilation of the top 9 times Malaysia appeared in or was referenced in your favourite animes – enjoy!
Hyouka (Ice Cream)
Let’s start with a sensational one first. Mystery lovers will definitely know this anime or at least have heard of it. The storyline revolves around four friends who are members of the school’s literature club. However, they always end up solving mysteries around the school together.
Halfway through the anime, the four friends decide to do a club meeting at Chitanda Eru’s house. In the episode, the hero, Oreki Hotaro, leaves the table to look for a bathroom but accidentally enters Chitanda’s room. In the scene, postcards featuring wild animals in Malaysia and the Jalur Gemilang, and Malaysia stamps can be seen scattered on her table.
Source: Youtube
Did you manage to catch that? Crank up the exposure and you can see a much clearer view.
Source: Desu Zone
Nana Maru-San Batsu (Fastest Finger First)
Putting aside its weirdly suggestive English title, if you love doing competitive quizzes, you should definitely try this anime that tells the story of how Koshiyama Shiki, the bookworm hero, managed to contribute to his club through his vast knowledge.
During the final round of an intense quiz competition, the teams were presented with a wordplay question that should translate to ‘a pose that looks like your tooth hurts,’ Whatever that is. And the answer was ‘Delight at Johor Bahru‘. Huh?
Unless you’re a master of the Japanese language, don’t force yourself to understand LOL.
Source: Dark Anime
Shokugeki No Souma (Food Wars)
One of the few cooking anime that provides sumptuous food porn with recipes that will legit work in real life. With proper skills of course. If you love food but still haven’t watched it, do it now. The anime has been going strong for 4 seasons.
In the second season, the school held its annual cooking competition, with a different theme for each round. When it came to the ‘curry’ theme, Sagatsuka Nao whipped up a foul-smelling curry laksa dish that took the judges by surprise because the taste contradicts its smell.
Source: YouTube
Sangatsu No Lion (March Come In Like A Lion)
Heard of ‘Honey and Clover’ before? Well, this anime was created by the same author! This romantic, slice-of-life anime tells us the story of Kiriyama Rei, who lost his family in an accident and has been slowly trying to fit in with his neighbours by playing shogi (Japanese Chess) and literally hanging out at their place everyday.
In one of the episodes, Rei received a postcard from his foster family, who had travelled to Malaysia.
Source: Desu Zone
Cowboy Bebop
Yep! Who would’ve thought that we were also referenced by the Japanese, even back in the 80s. An otaku of any generation should have at least heard of this legendary anime that oozed cool with cyberpunk visuals and a funky jazz soundtrack. The story focuses on the adventures of a group of bounty hunters that work in a spaceship called ‘Bebop’.
The group travelled a lot in the series and in one of their trips, they landed on the streets of Malaysia. The fact that bus tickets use the ringgit currency proves it!
Source: YouTube
In the same episode, you can definitely see a quick cut of Kuala Lumpur and the KLCC Twin Towers from afar.
Source: YouTube
Mayonaka No Occult Koumuin (Midnight Occult Civil Servant)
Given that this is a fairly unpopular anime, most people wouldn’t know about it so it’s our job highlight Malaysia’s appearance in it! As a paranormal exterminator, Miyako Arata has to work in an occult group and utilise his skills to translate non-human speech.
In episode 5, Arata encounters an entity called ‘Pandora’ who has the ability to collect emotions all around the world. As a fun fact, she was looking for the feelings of lost love in Asia, and found out that a woman in Malaysia had them! Is that why we have so many single people in Malaysia, hmm?
Source: Dark Anime
Source: Desu Zone
Danshi Koukousei No Nichijou (Daily Life Of High School Boys)
That’s right! All of us have heard of this anime before! Plus, you don’t have to be that sharp to notice this scene. This humorous slice of life anime took our Malaysian pride to a different level when the protagonist, Tadakuni, used our country’s flag as his trump card in playing ping pong quiz with the other boys with the theme “Countries that have a moon on their flag.”
Sadly Malaysia was the only country he could come up with. But honestly, we’re secretly pleased with this. Vote Tadakuni for the president!
Source: YouTube
Psycho-Pass
Here’s another popular mystery anime. The cyberpunk anime tells us the story of a future Japan where people’s souls can be measured and evaluated through technology. It’s highly gory, so really, kids should not watch this.
In the first episode of season three, Kei Mikhail, tThe Public Safety Bureau member, was approached by a Malaysian immigrant that crashed into their city. She tried to communicate with a translated Malay text that reads, “How much longer do you need? Please provide help.” The anime touched a lot of political issues and according to fans, Malaysia was not portrayed in a good light in this series.
Source: Reddit
Nichijou
Last and of course, the most important one of all! The anime that all of you have been waiting for. Every otaku in Malaysia will rage if this one was not included.
Nichijou is a humorous slice of life anime that captured the hearts of many with its ‘chibi’ like character designs and random humour. The show is usually focused on the three main characters, Aioi Yuko, Naganohara Mio, and Minakami Mai.
There are a lot of Malaysia references in this anime, like the time when Yuko greeted Mai with ‘Selamat Pagi,’ instead of the usual ‘Ohayo’ and received a peculiar ‘Selamat Malam,’ from Mai as a reply.
Source: YouTube
There was even a time when sepak takraw came up when Mio was trying to look for her mother one morning but found a note instead that reads, “Mio, I went out to play sepak takraw with the neighborhood committee. – Love Mom.”
Source: YouTube
Cool huh? Did we miss any more references? Tell us in the comments section below!
Also read: The Pope Was Given This Cute Anime Coat on His Japan Visit, Happily Puts It On To Meet People
