>>124951I'm not sure if it was ever a reference that the majority would catch since it was an internet thing before social media existed. I'm not knowledgeable of the Japanese internet of the 00s (or today) but I don't think the percentage of people who "got it" would be
that much lower. It wasn't clear to me from the preview or even the first episode, but Salad Bowl is definitely aimed at an older audience with storylines of homelessness, cults, hostesses, infidelity investigations and it it's even steering into cute daughter simulator territory. But, it's also not unusual for there to be references that older people would get in kid's shows. This is stuff people said of Spongebob 25 years ago.
The 3D program that Noa uses is blatantly 3DS Max as well, but that's probably not really a reference as much as it's niche knowledge that 99% of people won't catch. But, isn't that kind of how references work?