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This Week in Anime - What We Do in the Shadows House

SHD wrote:

Actually, it's an extension/consequence of a pun.

This may be true within the story when characters speak about "our esteemed shadow masters," but the English title comes from the fact that the Shadows have an English last name—they are called the シャドー家, or "Shadow family." As 家 as a suffix can mean "family" or "house," both シャドーハウス and "Shadows House" are attempts to translate シャドー家 into English.

Neko-sensei wrote:

SHD wrote: Actually, it's an extension/consequence of a pun. This may be true within the story when characters speak about "our esteemed shadow masters," but the English title comes from the fact that the Shadows have an English last name—they are called the シャドー家, or "Shadow family." As 家 as a suffix can mean "family" or "house," both シャドーハウス and "Shadows House" are attempts to translate シャドー家 into English.

Yes, I know. The point I was trying to make is that the entire reason why it's "shadow" in particular - why it's Shadow family and not like, Soot family, etc. (even though soot is what they seem to be made of, technically they're not real shadows) is because of the okagesama pun. Basically the whole premise and the related terminology rests on that pun.

They don't seem to be made of soot, though. We've seen Kate take baths before.

I mean, it's obviously magical soot... Yes, normal soot washes off, but also normal soot doesn't do pretty much everything it does in the show. Considering that they have enough soot to constantly spew it if necessary, to mold it into relatively large things, etc. I'm sure that they're either constantly generating soot within themselves, or they're completely made of the material, and regain the volume they lose in so-far unforeseen ways.

Also: the stuffing of Emilico's doll is made of soot, and still it's solid and moves around and whatnot. So who's to say the shadows are not the same kind?

However, the title シャドーハウス does not consist of loanwords. It's English phonetically rendered into Japanese, the same way ドラゴンボール is Dragon Ball.

SHD wrote:

I mean, it's obviously magical soot... Yes, normal soot washes off, but also normal soot doesn't do pretty much everything it does in the show. Considering that they have enough soot to constantly spew it if necessary, to mold it into relatively large things, etc. I'm sure that they're either constantly generating soot within themselves, or they're completely made of the material, and regain the volume they lose in so-far unforeseen ways. Also: the stuffing of Emilico's doll is made of soot, and still it's solid and moves around and whatnot. So who's to say the shadows are not the same kind?

Chapter 9 of the manga explicitly denies that theory. Too bad it was cut from the anime.

Kate: "Soot comes out of me, but it's not like I'm made of soot".

I'm really loving Shadows House (even if I think these current maze episodes are a little bit dragged out), but I just know its going to give me one of those unsatisfying "read the manga" endings and I'm not looking forward to it haha

Neko-sensei wrote:

However, the title シャドーハウス does not consist of loanwords. It's English phonetically rendered into Japanese, the same way ドラゴンボール is Dragon Ball.

Ah yes, I get the distinction now. Thanks for clearing that up.

Anyways, I still think the English title is grammatically incorrect. Neko-sensei, what name do fans in Japan use for this show? Wouldn't they be amused that overseas, everyone is calling this show Shadows House?