Forum - View topicWhy is a title of an anime always in romaji?
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FreelancerD
Posts: 1 |
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When you check out an anime, it's title will always be in romanization of Japanese. For example, a title like "Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei", instead of a translated title like "Goodbye, Mr. Despair".
One is going to check out an anime, the first thing he will see can usually be the title. But when the title is in a form which you cannot understand in the first place, isn't it sort of frustrating? It's not about respecting Japanese culture or something, but a decent, understandable title could always be another attraction to the audiences. |
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Unicorn_Blade
 Posts: 1153 Location: UK |
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The potential problem with that is in case of anime that have not yet been licensed. I used to send a lot of info to an imdb-type of film community in my country and I did a lot of adding info to the database of films (cast, plot, etc), and we never could just randomly translate names of films/series into our language. Just in case film would get licensed and the title translated into something different. Then going through all the titles with wrong names that were translated by members would be extra work, and quite tedious.
Besides... I dont know, in many cases you still understand. I mean, Sayounara is quite a good example, most people will know what it means anyways. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Titles aren't always in romaji. And not all titles which are in romaji are left as is when the show is released in English.
There are always examples where a show's title should have been translated. Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei is not one of them. What sort of a weird name is "Goodbye, Mr. Despair"? It sounds better in its native language. |
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einhorn303
 Posts: 1180 |
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This is a matter of personal taste, but "Goodbye, Mr. Despair" sounds fine to me. There are also some cases where the English title is much better than the original Japanese title, even when they've been completely changed. "Ghost in the Shell" is far more iconic than Kōkaku Kidōtai/"Mobile Armored Riot Police." |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Typically titles aren't given an English equivalent in the Encyclopedia until there's a licensed, English release of that title. That's not because they're too lazy to change it, it's because if the anime isn't given an official product title (ie it's not being released in North America, England, Australia, etc), it's not an official name so the Japanese version, which is an official title, stands.
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11419 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Always? Where? Last I checked none of the Gundam titles say Kidou Senshi in the U.S.
Not at all.
It could be, but you have to remember some properties are niche enough as it is, let alone the entire American anime industry itself. And besides, literal translations can sound weird or obscuring. Arms Alchemist (wrongly accused FMA ripoff) First Step (of?..) Mysterious Play (a play? boring!) Hikaru's Go (who the hell's He-car-uu, and wtf is going?) Dog Demon (ooh~ spooky) Man-Wolf (Michael J. Fox?) Little Jubei (sounds corny) Beast Claw (the one by Wes Craven or a remake?) Insect-master (cool! a Discovery channel spinoff) Wandering Swordsman (the word "sword" might attract people) No Need for Tenchi! (did I need him in the first place?) Heaven and Earth (sweet, is this related to Ridley Scott's epic?) Fresh Baked!! Ja-pan (I think they misspelled Japan) Battle Fairy Yukikaze (fighting fairies? *rolls eyes*) Congrats to anyone who can name all of these titles in always-romaji without looking them up. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15553 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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It gets especially complicated when a show's name might have a double meaning in Japanese, for example Hayate no Gotoku would technicly translate to "Like the Wind", but instead was given the english title Hayate the Combat Butler. But as it is this is a case where the english name is often used in official, but often find people online who prefer the Japanese name. It could also be a bit silly trying to translate K-ON!, you would end up with "Light Music Club" which lacks the short charm of the original name.
With the case you mentioned of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, yes it is pretty common to know it translates pretty easily to "Goodbye Mr. Despair". But it may be that it is a very japanese cultured show, so much so that it is pretty hard to get some of it's jokes across the language barrier, it often means you will need have some knowledge of japanese culture to begin with. Sayonara and Sensei are fairly easilly known Japanese words, and recognise, while with Zetsubou, it is pretty much one of the first jokes, and you will hear it very often. I could also add Japanese titles that are in themselves English words: Lucky Star, Working!!, Angel Beats and Pandora Hearts. Also some series do use their translated name very often, example is that The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is usually accepted in it's translated name. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Out of the fourteen examples that Tony K. provided, I got eight. Or at least, I believe I got eight, I haven't checked the encyclopedia to confirm.
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Skylark
 Posts: 827 Location: ORE NO TSHIRT |
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Hrm the topic is kind of null I think, because a title is a title. Like a song title, as long as it sticks in your mind it doesn't matter if it's english or not, even if you don't know the language at all. For example, I only heard the song "Mein Herz Brennt" to know how to spell and pronounce the song title and I don't know any German at all. For me, Japanese titles (romanised or otherwise) stick out in my mind as much as english titles and I never have a problem remembering. Character names are another matter; depending though on how much of an impression said character left on me.
As for Tony K's list, here's my crack at it (mostly trying direct translations if I don't know the series offhand): spoiler[Arms Alchemist = Busou Renkin First Step = Hajime no Ippo (never seen the series but it's pretty obvious) Mysterious Play = Fushigi Yuugi Hikaru's Go = er... Hikaru no Go? (I remember seeing a title like this in passing somewhere on the forum) Dog Demon = Inuyasha? Man-Wolf = No idea. Something like Oukami shounen I'd guess Little Jubei = again no idea but I'd hazard Jubei-chan Beast Claw = Kemonozume (ew. not a fan) Insect-master = 
Wandering Swordsman = Rurouni Kenshin No Need for Tenchi! = I got nothing Heaven and Earth = Tenjou Tenge (vague memory) Fresh Baked!! Ja-pan = Yakitate Japan Battle Fairy Yukikaze = Sentou Yousei Yukikaze (literally fighting fairy or battle fairy, never heard of the series or movie or whatever it is if I'm right)] Just for kicks. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I haven't checked, but I believe No Need for Tenchi! = spoiler[Tenchi Muyo!] and Man-Wolf = spoiler[Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade]. Not so sure about the latter actually.
I think the real lesson here is that sometimes literal translations can sound really silly. In those cases, non-literal translations or keeping the titles in their native Japanese is a good idea. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Insect Master = spoiler[Mushi-shi]
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Skylark
Posts: 827 Location: ORE NO TSHIRT |
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Of course. How I didn't pick that up when Tony K used Ginko as his avatar for ages, I'll never know... |
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garfield15
 Posts: 1531 |
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This thread just gave me an awesome idea for a game.
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killmyself
 Posts: 168 |
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Goodbye(farewell would make more sense, sayonara is signifying death within the context of the show and goodbye sounds stupid), Mr. Despair isn't even really a correct translation it is a convenient one because english doesn't have an equivalent honorific for sensei. Sensei is used as a loan word in english anyways so there is no reason to even try and translate it. As already explained if you watch anime you probably know what sayonara means and zetsubou is explained like a minute into the series and is used as a running gag. As Tony K pointed out you end up with stupid titles that don't really make sense from direct translations as well.
Also stop being [expletive] intellectually lazy how does it hurt you to learn what a couple words in another language mean. That is the same non-thought process people use when they bitch about someone using "big words" in english. You don't know what words mean and are too lazy and/or stupid to learn thus everyone else should change how they converse. Edit:Translating Zetsubou as despair doesn't really make any sense either since it is being used as a nickname essentially. That would be like translating azunyan to AzuMEOW. |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11419 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Yup! All the ones you guessed are correct. And dtm and dormcat got the rest.
That's correct. |
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