Ask John: What is With Weird Titles like Bubblegum Crisis?

Question:
What’s the fascination with the Japanese giving their anime series weird titles like Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 or Cowboy Bebop or Serial Experiments Lain? If anything, they should stick to names like Trigun or Tenchi Muyo! or Gundam.

Answer:
While I can’t provide a definitive answer on the Japanese tendency to create very long and often obtuse titles, the trend is definitely there, and isn’t always limited to English language titles. In many cases, though, the titles are actually appropriate to the shows if you consider them in the correct context. Toshimitsu Suzuki has stated in interview that the title Bubblegum Crisis was intended to suggest a bubblegum bubble that got bigger and bigger until it burst, paralleling the rising action and climax of an epic story. The original Bubblegum Crisis story arc supports this by naming the third, climactic episode “Blow Up.” To differentiate the original OAV series from the new TV series, the name “Tokyo 2040” was simply added onto the original title. In the case of Cowboy Bebop, “Cowboy” suggests “Western,” both the freedom and style of America, and the frontier law spirit of the American west. “Bebop” suggests the jazzy free-spirit style of the show. So, in effect, Cowboy Bebop perfectly sums up the tone and style of the show. In the case of Lain, the title “Serial Experiments” makes sense in the context of Lain’s first appearance as a series of abstract, experimental illustrated prose poems printed in AX magazine monthly leading up to the premier of the television animation series.

Consider also, though, that names we may take for granted may be source for debate as well. Trigun is a simple one-word title, but also has significance to the show as it refers to “three guns.” Tenchi Muyo!, literally meaning both “This End Up” and “No Need for Heaven” has long been up for interpretation, and “Gundam” is merely a word invented by Yoshiyuki Tomino. Consider that Shin Seki Evangelion, which is commonly known under its Westernized name of Neon Genesis Evangelion, actually means “New Century Evangelion.” New Century Evangelion makes sense, and even “Neo Genesis Evangelion” could be understandable, but what does “Neon Genesis Evangelion” mean?

Further complicating matters, anime series also often have subtly different Japanese and Westernized names. Kiki’s Delivery Service is also known as Majo no Takkyubin, which literally means “Witch’s Express Mail Service.” Vision of Escaflowne is also Tenku no Escaflowne, which means “Escaflowne of the Heavens,” and “Fushigi no Umi no Nadia” literally means “Nadia of the Mysterious Seas,” but also has the English language Japanese title “Secret of Blue Water.”

Long anime titles are sometimes long because they make reference to other works. For example, Millennium Queen, “Shin Taketori Monogatari Sennen Jouo” makes reference to the traditional Japanese folk-tale “Taketori Monogatari;” “Soreyuke! Uchu Senkan Yamamoto Yohko” (Go! Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko) is a direct parody of “Uchu Senkan Yamato,” Space Cruiser Yamato; and Top o Nerae! Gunbuster (Aim for the Top! Gunbuster) is a direct reference to the classic girls’ tennis pro anime TV series from the late 1970s Ace of Nerae! (Aim for the Ace).

Long and sometimes obscure serpentine names aren’t limited to only English titles, either. Perhaps no single series defines this characteristic better than Dragonball, with movie titles like “Ryuken Bakuhatsu! Goku ga Yaraneba dare ga Yaru!” (Dragonfist Explosion! If Goku Can’t Do It No One Can!) and “Moetsukiro! Nessen, Ressen, Chou-gekisen!” (Burn Your Spirits to the Max! Close Battle, Violent Battle, Super Bloody Battle!). Other Japanese titles including “Choujiku Kidan Southern Cross” (Superdimensional Calvary Southern Cross), Shin Shirayukihime Densetsu Pretear (New Princess Snow White Legend Prettier), “Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman” (Scientific Ninja Team Gatchaman), “Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari” (Dual! Parallel Adventure Story) and “Bannou Bunka Neko Musume,” which literally means “All Purpose Cultural Cat Daughter” (commonly known as Super Cat-Girl Nuku-Nuku) further exemplify the Japanese fascination with providing what Westerners may consider excessively descriptive, unnecessarily long titles. In the absence of any other immediate explanation that I know of, I think it’s safe to classify this characteristic as simply an intrinsic element of Japanese culture. As the examples provided herein explain, some seemingly obscure names are actually logical when taken in the proper context. In other cases, titles such as Vs Knight Lamune & 40 Fresh, Trouble Chocolate and Jungle wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu, which translates as “Jungle is Always Fine Occasionally Guu” seem to be chosen entirely for their sound.

But consider that if Japan didn’t have its tradition of obscure and convoluted names, we wouldn’t have anime titles like “Dengeki Oshiyoki Musume Gotaman R,” which is commonly translated as “Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gotaman R.”