I had the idea of writing a post about naming patterns some months ago but seeing Kanamemo having episode titles beginning with はじめての, (hajimete no, “My/The first…”) prompted me to refine the idea.
Punctuation
School Rumble: Trios of phrases, often ending in exclamation points
Ouran High School Host Club: FUNimation’s English titles for the series all end in exclamation points.
Yakitate!! Japan: each title is two phrases that each end in ‘!’, ‘!!’, ‘?!’
One Piece: titles are composed of two phrases, the first of which often has either an exclamation point or a question mark. Exclamation points appeared at the end of the second phrase in English early on (likely to match the first phrase) but not always in the original Japanese title.
Examples:
episode 13: The Terrifying Duo! Meowban Brothers vs. Zoro! (恐怖の二人組! ニャーバン兄弟VSゾロ)
episode 414: A Difficult Fight for Luffy! The Snake Sisters’ Haki Power!! (ルフィ第苦戦！ヘビ姉妹の覇気の力！！)
episode 415: Hancock’s Confession – The Sisters’ Abhorrent Past (ハンコックの告白 姉妹の忌まわしき過去)
Phrases/Fragments
Akikan!: the katakana カン (kan) shows up somewhere in the title, e.g. おべんきょうの時カン (jikan is usually written 時間)
Keroro Gunsou (Sgt. Frog): the title of each 10-minute half ends with であります (de arimasu)
Rozen Maiden: Japanese titles were accompanied by German words that convey the same concept (e.g. 別離 Abschied, both mean ‘parting’)
Madlax: Japanese titles are accompanied by a single English word enclosed in wave dashes (e.g. 銃舞 ~dance~)
El Cazador de la Bruja: each title ends with either 女 (onna) or 男 (otoko) except for ep. 14 (メイプルリーフ – “Maple Leaf”)
Cowboy Bebop: each title is based on a song or musical concept of some sort, e.g. “Sympathy for the Devil”, “Wild Horses”.
Eureka Seven: Similar to Bebop, this series has episode titles that make musical references. This isn’t a coincidence since Dai Sato wrote for both. Tim Maughhan recently wrote about this subject and embedded a number of videos.
Phantom: Requiem of the Phantom has titles composed of exactly two kanji, e.g. 覚醒 (kakusei, “awakening”).
Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: Episodes in the first season had a SA or C prefix depending on whether it was a stand alone (SA) or Laughing Man (C) episode. In 2nd GIG, that changed to an IN, DI or DU prefix depending on whether it was an Individual Eleven (IN), stand alone (DI), or Cabinet Intelligence Service & Gouda (DU) episode. Each Japanese episode title in either season also features an English word/phrase at the end – e.g. ネットの闇に棲む男 CHAT! CHAT! CHAT!.
Bleach’s title cards only display the episode number and is one of few series that does not show its title within its episodes.
There are also manga I’ve noticed that eschew the standard “chapter/episode #” (第#話 et al.) phrasing. Most of these come from looking through the weekly/monthly manga magazines I have.
Ordinal Numbers
Eyeshield 21: #st/th/nd down, e.g. 151st down
Zettai Karen Children: #th sense, e.g. 118th sense
Maid-sama!: 1st/2nd/3rd/etc. Course
Non-Ordinals
Neon Genesis Evangelion & Shinji Ikari Raising Project: STAGE.#
Mirai Nikki (Future Diary): Diary#:, Diary36:
Lost Brain: Sign:#, e.g. Sign.006
Kenichi: BATTLE#, BATTLE274
GOLDEN AGE: GOAL#, e.g. GOAL 82
Love & Collage: PARTS#, e.g. PARTS118
Prince of Tennis: Genius#, e.g. Genius282
Hitman REBORN!: 標的# (ターゲット – “target”; kanji is normally read ひょうてき)
Death Note: page.#, e.g. page.77
Mr. FULLSWING: #発目 (ぱつめ), e.g. 156発目: みんなの夢
Detective Ritual (探偵儀式): STATUS:#, e.g. STATUS:31
Tenjin Street (てるてる天神通り): #話目っ, e.g. 14
Saturn Apartments (Dosei Mansion): floor #
Nichijyou (日常): 日常の#, e.g. 日常の23
One Fine Day: Day #., e.g. Day 10.
Jack Frost: Violence #., e.g. Violence 7.
Detective manga like Detective Conan and MPD-Psycho sometimes use FILE#, e.g. FILE638 (Conan) or FILE:05 (MPD)
Deadman Wonderland has English chapter titles but I’m not sure if there’s a theme: 07 CARNIVAL CORPSE, #14 RING HER BELL, #19 Bloody rainy day
Along those same lines, Bleach author Kubo Tite puts in English titles for each chapter with corresponding katakana on top.
Example: 193. Conquistadores 4 [Ebony&Ivory] (コンキスタドーレス エボニーアンドアイボリー)
Those are what I’ve come across but I bet there are other similar ones out there from series I haven’t watched or read so if you have noticed any other such specific variations in either anime episode or manga chapter titles, please let me know in the comments!
Riffing on Quartets of Core Characters and K-On! Manga
April 29, 2009 in Commentary, Common Threads by Tom Langston (calaggie) | 5 comments
Over the weekend, I read the first ten chapters of the K-On! manga because I wanted to experience the original characters and flow before reluctantly dipping my toes into the KyoAni adaptation. I was unconsciously recognizing certain things that I read from my followees on Twitter (which I once called the “backchannel” – the moniker still holds) and in my Google Reader feeds, e.g. Yui in awe of Mio’s fingers. I enjoyed what I had read and will continue to keep tabs on it. However, I now feel little to no ambition to watch the anime since I believe it will cover the same bases and I’d rather spend those 25 minutes per episode on something else. I could see how certain people could be head over heels for Mio but I just wasn’t feeling much for her; my favorite characters so far have been Sawako-sensei and Ritsu.
On Monday, I thought about the comparisons some made to Lucky Star (this one in particular) and saw some credence to that theory. (I personally felt a slightly stronger comparison to Manabi Straight but I’ll humor this route at the moment.) Mio and Ritsu could be roughly mapped, like Kagami and Konata, as a studious tsukkomi and bullheaded boke duo; Yui, like Tsukasa, as an airhead who means well; and Tsugumi, like Miyuki, as a nice girl from a rich family. I’m not saying that these are exactly the same – of course not! Among the differing aspects: Konata took after her father’s perverted tastes, Yui’s parents always seem to be away on trips overseas, and Tsugumi’s vacation home and her busily-booked house.
A tangential thought slowly grew regarding the quartet structure of main characters of slice-in-life comedy series, viz. “why does it appear as often as it does?”. I’ve already mentioned Lucky Star and K-On! but there is also Hidamari Sketch. Scott of Anime Almanac suggested that the artists may be thinking in fours due to the structure of the strips but that would imply the artist being unconsciously influenced by the form, something I’m unlikely to buy into – though I would accept conscious playfulness within such restrictions. When I try to think about “regular order” manga with core casts of four, two come to my mind immediately: Hyakko and Ichigo Mashimaro, though I’m not too familiar with the latter. (For the sake of inclusion in this post, I’m considering Nobue as an “adult” figure.)
I suspect there is much cross-influence in the slice-of-life manga arena and I think four recurs as a number of core characters, constituting a solid square of sorts. Even though I could extend this inquiry into other genres, I would rather not because that would require possible explanations to strain in encompassing a breadth of dissimilar series. Examples include Asu no Yoichi (the Ikaruga sisters), Noir (Mirelle, Kirika, Chloe, and Altena), Yozakura Quartet (the freakin’ title), Burst Angel (the four girls), and Weiß Kreuz (the four guys). I don’t have much to contribute on the already existing concept of relationship squares, or quadrangles, in comedies such as Kannagi and Maburaho so I won’t at this time but may in the future if I do think of something.
While writing this, I also thought of the number five and how that frequently appears in sentai/magical girl series, e.g. Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya, and played upon by comedies like Negima and Bamboo Blade. However, I currently lack enough deep analysis spark to speculate on that. Besides, I’m certain that subject has been written on a fair amount.
Tags: character types, Common Threads, k-on!, lucky star, Manga, numbers