Every year, third-year high school students aspiring to attend college in Japan take various standardized tests. Students began taking this year's National Center Test for University Admissions on January 13, and test takers immediately noticed a surprising amount of pop culture references.

For example, one question in the initial geography, history, and civil studies section discussed the Celtic legend of King Arthur. The question's answers related to King Arthur, Rama, and Gilgamesh. Although they are all legendary or mythological figures, they are also Servant characters in Type-Moon's Fate/Grand Order game. The other multiple-choice answer for the question referenced Homer's Iliad , which also appears as an item in the game.

In addition, the "Geography B" section included a question asking students to match an image of Finnish animation with a sample of Finnish text. The correct answer showed anime of Tove Jansson's Moomins characters, which are popular in Japan. The other images on the page showed The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, which is an anime of Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf books, and Vicke the Little Viking, which is a German-Austrian-Japanese animated television series.

Although the question is amusing, it also confused some students and sparked a controversy in Japan. The question required test takers to identify the setting of the The Moomins as Finland. However, the setting of the story is actually Moominvalley, which has no true analog in the real world. Jansson was Finnish, but her books and comic strip were originally published in Swedish. Another possible answer for the question included Swedish text.

Various textbooks and other educational materials in Japan have already used anime characters. Images of textbooks with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Puella Magi Madoka Magica characters surfaced online last year.

Source: Gigazine via Nijimen