By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
And luckily for anime fans, the Hot Girl Coach didn’t shy away from nerding out in so many of her new releases last year.
Before Megan dropped, her single “HISS” made headlines after she seemingly dissed others in the industry with her infamous “Megan’s Law” line. But amidst all the drama, you might have missed Megan’s anime reference in the music video and on her socials — specifically, to the 2014 series Tokyo Ghoul.
In the “HISS” music video, Meg is sporting a white hairdo — just like the protagonist of Tokyo Ghoul, Kaneki Ken. Megan herself made the connection to the character on Instagram just before the song’s release.
“Remember when Kaneki really turned into KANEKI … yeah thats how i feel lol,” Megan wrote in an Instagram caption.
And if you’re a fan of Tokyo Ghoul, you might have spotted another subtle reference in the “HISS” music video — Megan’s half-and-half look, which could be a nod to how Kaneki is half-human, half-ghoul.
In May 2024, Meg announced “BOA” — the last single before the release of her third album. And fans instantly caught on to the anime references, both in Meg’s outfits and in the title of the song itself.
The tagline in the “BOA” promos reads, “Curse of the serpent woman.”
In the music video, Meg sports Boa Hancock’s iconic hime-haircut, along with her snake staff. She even proves lethal to the other characters in the video, which seems pretty in line with Boa Hancock and her ruthless leadership as a Warlord.
And this may be a stretch… but was that an Ace reference?
As soon as the Megan tracklist dropped, fans were instantly buzzing about the possibilities for Track 7. But releasing “Otaku Hot Girl” didn’t come without its challenges.
Before the album’s release, Megan told her fans that she had an exciting anime sample for the track. But later, in an Instagram Live before a performance in Dallas, she shared that she had run into some trouble.
She explained that an unnamed production company had asked her to rerecord the track on the Tuesday before the album’s Friday release. The production company reportedly had originally cleared Megan to use both a sample from the soundtrack as well as character names, but made a last-minute decision and told Megan to either remove the character names from the songs or scrap the sample completely.
But when the album dropped on June 28, fans realized that “Otaku Hot Girl” had both an anime sample, and was FULL of character names. Thankfully, the production company had rescinded their decision, and fans were able to hear the record as Meg intended.
“Otaku Hot Girl” did NOT disappoint with the references. The main show referenced is 2020 hit Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK) — and not only did Megan sample the soundtrack, she also managed to get the protagonist’s voice actor to hop on the song.
Itadori Yuuji — JJK’s protagonist — is known by many for his iconic moment when he’s asked about his type in girls. In “Otaku Hot Girl,” dub voice actor Adam McArthur says the memorable line… with a twist. “I like a tall woman with a nice big ass… Like Grammy-winner Megan Thee Stallion.”
In the song, Meg raps, “Can’t touch me, like Gojo,” and “White wig on, I’m finna go Gojo,” which are perfect references to the show’s most popular character, Gojo Satoru. He’s known for his shock of white hair and his “Infinity” technique that makes him quite literally untouchable.
“Fighting demons in my head like I’m Itadori” and “…bow down when I pop out like Sukuna” are both references to Itadori Yuuji and the spirit he’s possessed by — King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna — who has a tendency to “pop out” when Yuuji’s not expecting it.
The song’s final JJK reference sees Meg mentioning the most powerful JJK technique: “cause he wanna get caught in my Domain Expansion.” Usually, you wouldn’t want to be caught in anyone’s Domain Expansion, but for Meg? I wouldn’t mind.
While those are all the JJK references in “Otaku Hot Girl,” the song also sees Megan return to her Naruto roots, with a couple of incredible bars. “I’m not finna argue with a Sasuke avi. Incel mad I’m a weeb and a baddie,” she raps.
“Couldn’t be like me with a Sasuke Sharingan,” Meg declares, referencing Sasuke’s Sharingan technique of being able to copy any jutsu. And then my personal favorite: “Sexy jutsu, feel like Naruto,” where she references the wild-fox protagonist himself.
And it’s not just in Meg’s album releases that she has referenced her favourite shows; she also made several references in some of her most iconic collabs.
In April, Megan hopped on a track with everybody’s favourite Memphis born rising star – Glorilla. And Meg’s verse featured a bar that had fans talking.
“I’m the female titan, I’m steppin’ on bitches. I’m showin’ my titties, I tore up the city.”
And the final music reference I spotted in 2024 came from Meg’s collab with BTS’s RM in their track “Neva Play.” As many of the Meg/BTS collabs do, this one went viral on social media, but did you spot the DBZ reference?
“Blue hair like Bulma, big Chi-Chi’s.”
She also showed out as Gojo at the Crunchyroll Awards, which was perfect as she announced the winner of Anime of the Year — which of course, went to JJK Season 2.
And as well as the JJBA girlies (and Bruno) she made sure to pay homage to Thee Magical Girls as well, exploring Amsterdam dressed as Sailor Moon, as well as strutting around Seoul in a pair of Sailor Moon Jimmy Choos (I’m not jealous at aaaalll).
There’s nothing I enjoy more than seeing Meg authentically nerd out. I love that she never shies away from showing off her interests. I can’t wait to see what 2025 brings for her.
My personal favourite anime reference Meg made this year? Thanks for asking! It’s gotta be “BOA” – the hair, the snakes. She’s so major. LMK yours in the comments below.