Why do some translators change Japanese titles to be longer?

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by LysUltima, Dec 26, 2021.

  1. LysUltima

    LysUltima Riichi! Tsumo! Toitoi! Suuankou!?

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    Everyone knows about the long title trope for Japanese works, LNs/WVs in particular.
    However, I was watching some anime the other day, and I saw an interesting series. うらみちお兄さん. Uramichi-oniisan. The title is the main character's name. Easy to translate, right? It's a sorta niche slice-of-life series, so all the viewers probably know what "oniisan" means, so what translation needs to be done? Uramichi-oniisan. Easy. If the translator wanted to anglicize it more, it could be "Mr. Uramichi," since the usage of "oniisan" is closer to "mister" than "big brother" in this case.
    But no. The translator decided that Uramichi-oniisan was too short. "Let's make it longer! Why? Who cares!" And so, "Life Lessons with Uramichi" was born. It sorta but not really fits the show, but whatever. They must've wanted to anglicize it and wanted something more descriptive than "Mr. Uramichi," even though many English shows have been successful with a similar title, e.g. Mr. Bean, Monk.
    Except the title they actually decided on was "Life Lessons with Uramichi-oniisan." They didn't even try to anglicize it. They just said, "Oh, Uramichi-oniisan? Too short. English viewers like long titles. Let's add a few more words to it."
    I don't understand it at all, but whatever.
     
  2. akki

    akki [Ani's C☕ffee-mate #3] [Shady Merchant]

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    Maybe they haven’t actually made changes. Sometimes you see a novel/manga/anime has an official name but then also other names it’s known as. Could just be that~
     
  3. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    I have to say this one is quite confusing to me too~
     
  4. Deleted member 41274

    Deleted member 41274 Guest

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    Longest title longest peepee
     
    Sawanara murasaki and otaku31 like this.
  5. Gandire Alea

    Gandire Alea [Wicked Awesome Translator]

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    Some people just can't be satisfied unless they change somethings to how they want it to be??
     
  6. lnv

    lnv ✪ Well-Known Hypocrite

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    It isn't about it being long or short, but it being easier to memorize. Uramichi isn't something an english speaker will remember or be able to pronounce. Life Lessons is. It is lucky enough it wasn't changed to Life Lessons with Bob-Bro