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Proposal: Anime & Manga

Every anime has a romanized Japanese title (romaji). Most popular anime also has an English title.

For example, this question can be written as

  1. How many times did Louise and Saito kiss in the anime "Zero no Tsukaima"?
  2. How many times did Louise and Saito kiss in the anime "The Familiar of Zero"?

My question is: Should we allow both forms to be used in questions and answers? Strictly speaking, this is an English website, and the Romaji form is not English. However, the English form seldom convey the original meaning of any Japanese phrase completely, and some users may prefer the originality.

By the way, I'm assuming that the Japanese Kanji form ("ゼロの使い魔") would NOT be acceptable because not everyone can read it. Let me know if you think otherwise.

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    I actually think that it should be expanded to not only titles, but to techniques and other unique things that sound better in japanese rather then english. For instance, I would throw myself off a building before I ask a question about "Catastrophic Planetary Construction" rather then "Chibaku Tensei".
    – Madara's Ghost
    Commented Nov 5, 2011 at 17:57
  • @Truth: I don't necessarily agree to that, because "Catastrophic Planetary Construction" makes more sense to someone who has no idea what "Chibaku Tensei" means. The context would be lost on other users who aren't familiar with the language. However, there's no reason you can't use both, I feel.
    – Seiaeka
    Commented Nov 24, 2011 at 20:08
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    I think it's better to go with both. Personally, I never watch anything dubbed, so I know every anime by its Japanese name, and only a few by their English name. In contrast, there are people who only watch dubbed and never watch subbed/raw so the Japanese name would completely escape them. Granted, it's fairly simple to look up the other name, but it would be easier to have the norm being both titles. (Or more, for example, this season's "Boku ha/wa tomodachi ga sukunai" is also known as "Haganai" or "I don't have many friends."
    – Warren L.
    Commented Nov 25, 2011 at 9:27

2 Answers 2

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Yes, all types should be allowed.

People may search for any type of name, and it'd be great if those people ended up on SE.

I'd be tempted to upvote an answer (or question) that included the other forms of the name.

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    I think it should be encouraged that both be used, one given with the other following in parenthesis. Using the example given in the OP: "How many times did Louise and Saito kiss in the anime "Zero no Tsukaima (The Familiar Zero)"? or conversely: How many times did Louise and Saito kiss in the anime "The Familiar Zero (Zero no Tsukaima)"? I find that listing both titles is quite common on anime sites and I personally have never found it confusing.
    – cledoux
    Commented Sep 18, 2011 at 4:16
  • I agree. I know most animes by their Romanji title, such as "Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora", so seeing the title "Shattered Angels" would confuse me, but as Truth points out in a comment on the next answer, seeing "Poketto Monsuta" would be confusing for someone looking for Pokemon. Having both makes the most sense to me.
    – Evelyn Lumish
    Commented Jul 4, 2012 at 0:31
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To prevent confusion, it think it is best to pick one of the two. Which one does not really matter (to me) as I (and others as well I suppose) will get used to whatever is chosen.

Personally, I would go with the Japanese title (romaji) titles, as it is closer to the original.

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    But then again, people who watched the english dubbed version for instance will look for Pokemon and not for Poketto Monsutā.
    – Madara's Ghost
    Commented Nov 5, 2011 at 17:54

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