The bizarre fanservice fighting anime Keijo!!!!!!!! (aka Hip Whip Girl) parodies many different action series. However, while some attacks (“Shoryucans”) are fairly obvious in their origins, the final episode of Keijo!!!!!!!! features a reference that might not be so familiar to current anime fans. When rival character Maya Sakashiro performs the attack “Heaven and Hell,” she’s actually referencing the mecha anime, King of Braves Gaogaigar.
During “Heaven and Hell,” Maya’s breasts emit a different color light (left green, right purple) before she thrusts forward to strike down her opponent. This is a parody of Gaogaigar’s own signature move, “Hell and Heaven.” With Hell and Heaven, Gaogaigar’s left hand glows green as its hand glows purple, and the two come together to deliver a finishing blow.
Gaogaigar’s abilities are divided such that its left half consists of defensive techniques, while its right half houses offensive ones. Hell and Heaven combines the protective energy of the left side (Heaven) with the destructive energies of the right (Hell). This allows it to destroy monsters as it safeguards the core within, which is actually a human victim transformed by the enemy.
Similarly, when Maya attacks Nozomi with the move, she uses her left breast to redirect the impact of Nozomi’s own attack and strike with her right one. This is also why the Japanese kanji for Maya’s “Heaven and Hell” is written as “Shield Breast and Spear Breast” (盾胸と矛胸).
In the manga version of Keijo!!!!!!!! Maya’s attack is called “Hell and Heaven,” instead of the other way around. This was possibly changed in order to match the Japanese writing more directly.
If you’d like to watch Keijo!!!!!!!!, the entire series is currently available on Crunchyroll. And if you’d like to learn a little more about Gaogaigar, I wrote an article here on Apartment 507 showing how Voltron: Legendary Defender pays homage to it.
