Asterix and The Falling Sky - Cultural References

Cultural References

According to Uderzo himself, this book is poking fun at certain American comics and at manga in general. Although he stated that he has no resentment against manga as a genre, Uderzo conceived the nagma alien invasion as a metaphor of the massive import of manga in Europe during the 2000s.

• The United States is famous for alien encounters.
• The Tadsilweny's favourite food is hot dogs.
• Toon says their leader is called "Hubs", an anagram of "Bush".
• Toon wants to confiscate the village's magical potion because it is a dangerous weapon. This is supposed to be an analogy to when the Bush Administration convinced the world that the Iraqis had secret weapons in the Gulf War and in the 2003 Invasion.
• Nagma is an anagram of manga.
• "Tadsilweny" is an anagram of Walt Disney.
• Akoaotaki, the great sage of Nagmas. Anagram of Takao Aoki, author and creator of the manga Beyblade
• Toon (from "toon") looks like a purple Mickey Mouse, with small ears. In a scene, he even gets black as a side effect of magic potion, like Mickey. Asterix comments by saying that black suits him well.
• The design of the mothership of the Nagmas is based on the anime robot Grendizer. In the original French version, the smaller ships that it spits are called "Goelderas", a name which literally means "rat faces", but is written in a way reminiscent of the French name of Grendizer: Goldorak. It is to be known that the Grendizer cartoon series is/was extremely famous and popular in France. (In Spanish the small ships are called "Kara-Ratas", which translates to the same thing although is also misspelled on purpose.)
• The golden armor of the Nagma leader could be a reference to the golden armors worn by the protagonists of the anime Saint Seiya, which was also famous in France.
• The "super clones" used by the Tadsilweny are similar to Superman, carry a shining green ring and have the face of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Toon also says that they can become bat or spider super clones. Toon also describes them as "security men" who "keep the peace", in a way similar to the robot Gort from the classic science-fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.
• Directly translated from French the original title is in fact "The Sky Falls on his Head", which is the only thing the Gauls fear.
• Centurion Polyanthus - Polyanthus are a cultivated variety of primrose, with several flowers on one stalk, bred in vivid colors.