Forum - View topicTranslating Titles
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The Winking Samurai
Posts: 82 |
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I have a question I'd like answered, if you please.
I know that some anime have english titles to begin with, like Dragon Ball or One Piece, but a lot of them have japanese titles. My question is, how do they pick what titles to translate? For example, in America "Rurouni Kenshin" is "Rurouni Kenshin", but "Hagane no Renkinjutsushi" is "Fullmetal Alchemist". Why is that? Does it depend on how well it slips off the western tongue? Is there some other litmus test? Please explain. |
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Edensin
 Posts: 21 |
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I'm no expert on the subject, but i always thought it was basically based on how well it slips off the western tongue (to sue your words). Rurouni Kenshin sounds pretty damn good, and can still attract viewers. Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, on the other hand, cannot.
On a side note: I think they changed Rurouni Kenshin to Samurai X. I'm not too sure if they named only the OAV's that. I didn't watch it when it was on American T.V. If anyone can answer that question while answering the forum question it'll be greatly appreciated. ^^ |
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joel_s95387
Posts: 1804 Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn |
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The TV series, released by Media Blasters, was left as Rurouni Kenshin but the movies, released by ADV were changed to Samurai X.
I'm no expert but I also think that it's how easy it rolls off the tongue because I watch a lot of spanish, french, and english films and the same title is always different. Sometimes it is a direct translation and sometimes the title is something totally different. I wonder if the company licencing the series has any say in the titles. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9903 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Renkinjutsushi (錬金術師) is an alchemist, literally. Hagane (鋼) means steel, but "Alchemist of Steel" is kinda lame, don't you think? 
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 1325 Location: San Diego |
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Sometimes, it's because the original Japanese creators say so.
Gainax wanted "Shinseiki Evangelion / New Century Evangelion" to be called "Neon Genesis Evangelion in English." As a more common example, most Ghibli films have their English titles picked out by the studio execs before they're ever released in the US. "Neko no Ongaeshi / The Favor-Returning Cat" became "The Cat Returns," "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi / Sen and the Mysterious Disappearance of Chihiro" became "Spirited Away," etc. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6921 Location: Kazune City |
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I once took apart the kanji in "Hagane no Renkinjutsushi," and came up with something like "forge metal transform artist of steel," and there's no way of making that into something cool in English. Heck, they refer to it as Hagaren over there, which should tell us something. . .
I think these days, the trends are going towards leaving titles in Japanese, but if titles are long and bulky, like FMA, they get TLed. "Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou" (His & Her Circumstances) is another one, and it's not quite the same as the literal "Circumstances of a Boyfriend and Girlfriend." If a title is short, and fairly distinctive, it's more likely to be left in Japanese, like Haibane Renmei or Ai yori Aoshi. Koi Kaze sounds more cool/artistic than the English "Love Wind" would sound, imo. When a readily available English title is available, it gets TLed--I don't know what "Record of Lodoss War" is in Japanese, but I'm sure it's longer and less compact. Ai yori aoshi, on the other hand, is based on a Japanese pun that won't carry over to English--the "Ai" sounds like the word for "love" but is written with the kanji for "indigo," so you get something like "Bluer than Indigo." Overall, I think it's a marketing thing--people will be less excited about "that title that's all in Japanese and I can't pronounce it" unless it's relatively short & easy for non-Japanese to say. I've heard enough people stumble over titles like Haibane Renmei to make me wonder if they'd leave the titles of shows like Full Moon wo Sagashite or Kimi ga Nozomu Eien anywhere near intact, if ever they were licensed. (I predict "Looking for the Full Moon" and a shortening to "KgNE.") Of course, these trends aren't 100% -- the recently announced release, "Diamond Daydreams" manages to retain only one word of its orginal title, "Kita he ~ Diamond Dust Drops." (Kita he = "to the north" / "Northward," fyi) Though I admit, the feeling of the series is captured by "daydreams." |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9903 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Ahhhh, don't translate kanji character by character! 錬 (forge, extract, or transform) 金 (gold; also can refer to general metal) 術 (special tricks, particularly mystic arts) 師 (a person with expertise; a specialist; a master; a teacher) If you combine 錬 金 術 together (renkinjutsu)  the mystic art to extract/transform (something) into gold it's alchemy!  And, of course, 錬金術師 alchemist.
Lodoss Tou Senki |
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Actually, I've always thought that Steel Alchemist sounds better than Fullmetal Alchemist. - abunai |
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Edensin
Posts: 21 |
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It may be alittle off topic...but i get annoyed that they call him the Fullmetal Alchemist. I mean.....he's not even fully metal.
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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That was just the OVAs and movie. The TV series was released by AnimeWorks and the movies and OVAs where released by ADV. The name change was done for copyright purposes. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
Posts: 6921 Location: Kazune City |
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Don't worry, I know you can't translate character by character. . .that's how to make the kind of over-literal English that HK subs are made of. I intended it as an example of why the title couldn't be TLed 100% literally. And after all, if we did do it on a per-kanji basis, 無茶 would be "no tea," and yet it means "reckless, absurd." Ah, the mysteries. |
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shirokiryuu
Posts: 714 Location: Northern California (SF Bay Area) |
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Hasn't anyone forgetten that Arakawa choose it herself?
http://tinypic.com/j5ijqw.jpg if not, then explain why the japanses releases has "fullmetal alchemist" under the hagane no renkinjutsushi title? |
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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If I understand your question you are wondering why some titles retain their Kanji name, while others use the translation. Period and fantasy series and series based in asia tend to have a higher ratio of untranslated titles. Shows like Otogi Zoshi, Kai Doh Maru, Kenshin, Ha Ken Den, and Saiyuki tend to keep their names untranslated, especially since the Japanese DVDs don't ususally have an English subtitle. When I first saw Yotoden in English I didn't recognize the title since it was called something odd (Ninja's Wrath or something like that) that was never printed on the Japanese release. Same goes for the US release of Yoma whose American title slips my mind. Twelve Kingdoms is also a bit odd, but doesn't bither me as much. For the most part these types of shows keep their Kanji names.
There are those titles that are not refered to by there Kanji names since they do not take place in historic Asia. These seem to be fairer game for a translated title over the untranslated title. There are some titles like Ginga Eiyu Densetsu that are commonly refered to as Legend of Galactic Heroes which I've never seen it refered to in Japan. Same goes for Gunmu, although Battle Angel isn't a translation of the 2 Kanji. This isn't as strange to me since it doesn't take place in Asia and is SF. The other thing about translating is that most proper nouns should remain untranslated. This is why I could never refer to Kujaku Oh as the Peakock King. When you go around translating all the proper names into their component Japanese names start to sound too native American. "Stone River, go and introduce yourself to Dr. Red Tree." FMA falls into the category of "Kanji title with second English title in Japan" which is probably the most common. In this case the original creators/producers come up with an English title before it's even translated. This reminds me of Clamps Seiden which is commonly refered to in the US as Rg Veda, since the alternate title can be found on the import manga. This often applies to the four kanji followed by katakana titles. Series like Kidou Senshi Gandamu and Seisenshi Danbain were already given their "Mobile Suit Gundam" and "Aura Battler Dunbine" translated titles (complete with spelling) years before their US debuts. |
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Shorty22
 Posts: 504 |
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Several anime titles are also the lead character's name, so as long as the name is remains intact, I don't see much reason to change the series title, you know? Straight forward examples would be Inuyasha, Naruto, or Kikaider. Less direct would be Rurouni Kenshin, Yugioh, or Cardcaptor Sakura.
When they decide to change the character's name, there's no choice but to change the corresponding title such as the Megaman (Rockman) series and Zatch Bell (Gash Bell). |
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor
Posts: 1325 Location: San Diego |
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"Looking for the Full Moon" has been licensed, at least manga-wise, and while it says "Full Moon o Sagashite" on the cover, the spine suggests that it might be convenient to just call it "Full Moon." I suppose they might do a similar thing with the show. |
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