Martian Successor Nadesico
As a character, he is socially inept and frequently depressed or morose; in addition, he is a fairly skilled artist who refuses to believe in his own talent—an exaggerated parallel of Gallagher himself. From a design standpoint, he was originally conceived as a parody of the character Ruri Hoshino, from the "Martian Successor Nadesico" anime series. Piro's facing of trials and tribulations as he struggles with his unconfident nature is one of "Megatokyo's" major ongoing themes. Piro is stated to have learned to speak Japanese through watching and reading large amounts of anime and manga.