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The Wonderful World of Naming These Things




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Jlbkwrm
Old Regular


Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 94
PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2002 4:41 am Reply with quote
Prenote:First, I like the Encyclopedia. Second, The inclusion of the additional titles makes this a fairly minor issue. But, I'm picky, and I'd like to add series correctly, etc.

So, I'm poking around the Encyclopedia, and I've come up with a few questions:

What should the 'main title' for an entry be? English or Japanese (Fancy Lala is listed under the Bandai-given title, whereas Spirited Away is listed under Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi)?

To further complicate things, say I want to add Mizuiro Jidai--Do I use Mizuiro Jidai? Aqua Age (the translation frequently used by the Japanese company)? or The Blue-Green Years (title popularized by fansubs)?

Then there's the whole title: subtitle deal. Take something like Please Save My Earth (Movie). The full title is Please Save My Earth: From Alice, to Rin; this is considered fairly useless as an additional title, since the entire front part is a replication of the main title.

Problem comes in when I go to add Please Save My Earth (OAV). Since there's no sub-title, I'd have to add it as Please Save My Earth OAV (OAV). Which really isn't a big deal, I'm just curious.

So, yeah.
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Second Impact



Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Fri Jul 05, 2002 12:35 am Reply with quote
I think you should always use the original, Japanese title when adding a series to the database. English and fansub titles should be 'alternative titles' because that's what they are. And yes, I know that some series have official English titles in Japan (ex: Meitantei Conan/Detective Conan), but I still think the Japanese title should be used, even in those cases.

The various names of anime/manga series is a problem. I've been noticing it for quite some time while trying to buy products online: I search under 's' for 'Shoujo Kakumei Utena,' and then try 'r' expecting it to be listed as 'Revolutionary Girl Utena,' only to find it later listed simply as 'Utena.' Don't even get me started on the Utena movie!
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Case



Joined: 09 Apr 2002
Posts: 1016
PostPosted: Fri Jul 05, 2002 9:49 am Reply with quote
Not to be contradictory here, but since this Encyclopedia is an English-language guide, I think it's only logical to use the official English titles (if applicable) for the main titles.

In thoery, a majority of the people who use the Encyclopedia for reference will not be fluent in Japanese, and many of them will probably not recognize a majority of the original titles. Just as an example, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing or Gundam Wing would probably be more recognized by a lot more of the readers than Shin Kido Senki Gundam W or New Mobile Report Gundam W would.

Also, you have to consider the fact that romanji spellings of the Japanese titles aren't really standardized in any way. In the case of Gundam Wing, I have seen the romanji written as Shin Kido Senki Gundam W, Shin Kiido Senki Gundam W, Shin Kido Senkai Gundam W, Shin Kido Senki Gundam Wing... You get the picture. In contrast, English release titles are somewhat standardized, with a single English spelling given right on the video box (and perhaps in the opening). A person doesn't need any knowledge of transliteration standards, nor really any spelling skills at all, to enter that into the database.

That's my two cents. ($1.50 allowing for inflation.)
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Second Impact



Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Sun Jul 07, 2002 1:47 am Reply with quote
Well, that was your opinion, and I respect that. However, I just wanted to comment on a few things you said.

sailormech wrote:

Not to be contradictory here, but since this Encyclopedia is an English-language guide, I think it's only logical to use the official English titles (if applicable) for the main titles.


--Yes, but anime is Japanese. No matter what Americans want to call it or if it's dubbed in English, it will always be Japanese. My main argument for the Japanese title being listed as the main title is out of respect for the creators. However, I want to remind you that alternative titles get listed in the encyclopedia the same way that main titles do, so even people who are not familiar with the original titles will be able to look up information on their favorite anime series easily.

Quote:

In thoery, a majority of the people who use the Encyclopedia for reference will not be fluent in Japanese, and many of them will probably not recognize a majority of the original titles. Just as an example, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing or Gundam Wing would probably be more recognized by a lot more of the readers than Shin Kido Senki Gundam W or New Mobile Report Gundam W would.


--You don't have to be fluent in Japanese to know the original titles of anime series! I'm an example of that. There are lots of people who know all the original titles of their favorite anime and who aren't fluent in Japanese. Don't selll people short Wink. As for the Gundam titles, like I said before, people could still find it listed under 'Mobile Suite Gundam' if it was entered as an alternative title to 'Shin Kido Senki Gundam W.'

Quote:

Also, you have to consider the fact that romanji spellings of the Japanese titles aren't really standardized in any way. In the case of Gundam Wing, I have seen the romanji written as Shin Kido Senki Gundam W, Shin Kiido Senki Gundam W, Shin Kido Senkai Gundam W, Shin Kido Senki Gundam Wing... You get the picture. In contrast, English release titles are somewhat standardized, with a single English spelling given right on the video box (and perhaps in the opening). A person doesn't need any knowledge of transliteration standards, nor really any spelling skills at all, to enter that into the database.

That's my two cents. ($1.50 allowing for inflation.)


--Well, I've never seen a title with so many different variations in the romanization, but that problem can usually be cleared up with the help of a person with a kanji dictionary. And yes, these people do exist!
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Dan42
Chief Encyclopedist


Joined: 02 Jan 2002
Posts: 3781
Location: Montreal
PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2002 1:19 am Reply with quote
It's good to be picky and want to add series correctly. Very good. That means I have less stuff to fix. Smile

Basically, we have decided on having the english title as main title of an anime (whenever possible). This is really just a matter of policy because either japanese or english would be fine. We chose english because, as sailormech pointed out, ANN is an english-language website. We definitely want the main title to be the official english name when the anime has been licensed. For unlicensed anime... the japanese name would probably be the best option.

Apart from that, this is not really an issue. Main titles and alternative titles are both displayed in the encyclopedia, and they both lead to the same page. Pretty much the only difference is that alternative titles have to be approved by us before appearing in the list of titles (they appear in the anime's details though). So if someone enters a title very similar to one that is already listed, like "Please Save My Earth - From Alice, To Rin", we simply will keep it as an alternative title but not list it with the other titles.
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