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Shenl742 wrote:

I've heard that if you actually use bleach on your hair to make it blond, it could actually end up turning an orangy color, especially if you're out in the sun too long.

That's what I thought of all this time, that Bleach refers to Ichigo's hair, which is the first distinct thing Kubo wanted readers to notice about him. Plus, I thought of the term "bleach" by itself was some sort of street slang for people messing with their hair colors back then.

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I've heard that a "Bubblegum Crisis" is supposed to be a portmanteau for an entangling situation that only gets worse the more you struggle, similar to the American phrase "tar baby", but I've honestly never heard it actually used in that context anywhere.

A "portmanteau"? A "word or morpheme whose form and meaning are derived from a blending of two or more distinct forms (as smog from smoke and fog) "? Like "slithy", "mimsy", or "frumious"? I don't see it. Perhaps some other figure of speech was meant?

I could be wrong, but I vaguely recall reading some interview or some second hand info that stated "I My Me Strawberry Eggs" or Ai Mai Mi! Sutoroberī Eggu, was just a completed random title, chosen because of how "fun" it sounded or something like that....

I seem to recall that the title Bubblegum crisis has to do with the show was made in the 1980s during the bubble economy in Japan. So, it's like...bubblegum...good times, and a crisis, everything's ready to pop or explode.

How the title Bubblegum Crisis applies to the series isn't definitively explained within either incarnation of the series. The explanation that I've heard (which I believe originally comes from one of the staff members for the OVAs) is that the title refers to the heightened state of tension in the setting caused by the situation blowing up nearly to the point of exploding, much like a bubblegum bubble stretched to the max. It won't take much of an event to make the situation "pop." I fully agree, though, that "bubblegum" carries an extra connotation in the U.S. which runs contrary to the content of the title, and that did always confuse me about the series before I sat down and watched it. (I assumed it was a shallow, light-hearted story about battle-clad pop singers.)

And yeah, the title for Kiddy Grade has always bothered me, too, as a bad use of Engrish. It is somewhat justified by the agents all having letter grades which indicate their relative power levels and the fact that many of the agents look like kids (spoiler[especially compared to their real ages]), but I always felt that there had to be some better option for a title.

The 'bodacious' in the title Bodacious Space Pirates seems to be entirely Sentai's invention, as none of the translations of mouretsu I could find comes close to that meaning. It ranges from 'violent' to 'intense' to 'hard-working', the latter of which seem to fit the anime. So my guess is that this was just Sentai trying to attract the default anime target group of teenage boys.

As for misleading titles, how about
Black Magic - it's sci-fi, not fantasy
Appleseed - nothing to do with fruit or agriculture
Candy Boy - none of the main characters are boys
Silent Möbius - what does that even mean?

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I've heard that a "Bubblegum Crisis" is supposed to be a portmanteau for an entangling situation that only gets worse the more you struggle, similar to the American phrase "tar baby", but I've honestly never heard it actually used in that context anywhere.

Not being priorly familiar with the phrase, one must remark that "tar baby" would be a useful vernacularism for Unix users.

Zin5ki wrote:

Quote:

I've heard that a "Bubblegum Crisis" is supposed to be a portmanteau for an entangling situation that only gets worse the more you struggle, similar to the American phrase "tar baby", but I've honestly never heard it actually used in that context anywhere.

Not being priorly familiar with the phrase, one must remark that "tar baby" would be a useful vernacularism for Unix users.

To my knowledge, the first instance of "tar baby" appears in the Brer Rabbit tales which were later adapted by Disney. The tar baby scene was adapted as well, as far as I know.

Kimiko_0 wrote:

The 'bodacious' in the title Bodacious Space Pirates seems to be entirely Sentai's invention, as none of the translations of mouretsu I could find comes close to that meaning. It ranges from 'violent' to 'intense' to 'hard-working', the latter of which seem to fit the anime. So my guess is that this was just Sentai trying to attract the default anime target group of teenage boys.

As for misleading titles, how about
Black Magic - it's sci-fi, not fantasy
Appleseed - nothing to do with fruit or agriculture
Candy Boy - none of the main characters are boys
Silent Möbius - what does that even mean?

The "Bodacious Space Pirates" title was included as an English subtitle under the Japanese logo on the official Japanese website. I'm pretty sure Sentai did not come up with it.

Appleseed is a good addition as well. According to dictionary.com, a Möbius is a reference to the Mobius strip, invented by German mathematician whose last name is also Möbius. Wikipedia defines a mobius strip as

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s a surface with only one side and only one boundary component. The Möbius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. It can be realized as a ruled surface. It was discovered independently by the German mathematicians August Ferdinand Möbius and Johann Benedict Listing in 1858.

Now what a "Silent Mobius" is all together...you got me.

poonk wrote:

No catboys to choose from? Not even Ritsuka from Loveless? I'll abstain from voting then.

Well, Blair was once a hot catboy in the Soul Eater manga, so technically she counts. :3

Appleseed the manga:

At the climax of the second volume they use a literal appleseed to shut down the city computer and resolve the crisis of that arc.

A portmanteau is two words combined into one. Like 'hamburglar'.

Like others have said before me, Bubblegum Crisis is referrring to the 80's economic bubble that was on the verge of bursting.

Last edited by Fencedude5609 on Sat Oct 13, 2012 3:27 pm; edited 1 time in total

Divineking wrote:

I'm surprised Bodacious Space Pirates wasn't on the list. Sure the space pirates thing is (barely) accurate but "Bodacious" makes you think of them walking around just being sexy and ridiculous, and while the crew was all female at one point, fanservice was pretty much non-existance.

I still really wish Sentai would have changed the title for the US release but eh.

Except the actual title is Mouretsu Pirates, and while their status as "Bodacious" is somewhat arguable, they are clearly MOURETSU!

Kiddy Grade's title refers to the idea that Eclair and Lumiere are "kiddy grade" - minor heroes, not major ones like Alv and Dvergr, or so we think. It's a key part of the storyline, although never stated explicitly.

Bubblegum Crisis was explained, but I don't remember where - something about dealing with the consequences of an economic crisis - the bursting of a bubble. The setting of the series is in a world that is recovering from such a crisis, with the new economic "miracle" being due to "voomers" (older version) / "boomers" (newer series) providing cheap labour.

I Me My Strawberry Eggs, on the other hand, never made any sense to me. I (mostly) enjoyed the show (apart from the occasional creepy bits), but the title bewildered me.

I kind of have to disagree with Zombie- Loan being misleading. When I read the title I thought it was about zombies and money loans; but I guess I can see how someone could think it was loaning out zombies.

how did oreimo aka My little sister can't be this cute not make this list it is probably the number 1 example

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The List - 8 Most Misleading Anime Titles