The structure of anime episode titles

Of course you know I have to mention some tokusatsu cliches to this. Kamen Rider Kuuga had one rule when it came to titles: two kanji (much like Haruhi). Every episode had two kanji in it’s title, no more and no less. Some examples were 復活, 変身, and 自分. Kamen Rider Kiva was heavily music themed and thus referred to something related to music in the episode title. Examples: Rolling Stone: Door of Dreams, Quartet: Listen to Your Heart’s Voice, and 80’s: Angry Rising Blue.

This was carried over into the anniversary series of Kamen Rider Decade last year when the episodes focusing on those Riders kept the same title structure. (超絶, and Second Movement ♬ Prince Kiva respectively). The current series, Kamen Rider Double refers to a Gaia Memory used in the episode with a latin letter in a phrase, and then the episode title. This will be carried over into the second episode of the arc. (L on the Lips/Singer-SongRider and L on the Lips/You Are a Liar)

Super Sentai doesn’t use episode title themes, but they refer to episodes as something special (like Acts, Tasks, Lessons, etc). It’s nothing too special, but it separates the series a little bit.

Here’s a couple more this post reminded me of:
“Everything in Karin is so embarrassing”
“Wolf and a vague allusion to Spice”
“Something actually happens! The Dragonball Z episode we’ve all been waiting for”.

Your post made me think of 3 TV series, 1 of them American & 2 of them anime.

1) A long long time ago in a country far far away, I followed the American sitcom “Friends.” The sitcom itself isn’t terribly memorable, but every episode title is always in the form of “The One Where Joey Does X” or “The One Where Phoebe Goes to Y.” The producers said in an interview that they realized people who watch sitcoms often don’t remember elaborate episode titles; instead, they always refer to episodes as “the one where so-and-so did this-and-that, etc.” — so rather than spend the time to make up fancy titles, they came up with this helpful memory aid!

2) Last Exile — each episode title is an term or phrase taken from chess, such as “Zugzwang” or “Sicilian Defense,” with connections to what happens in the episode. Ah, now I want watch Last Exile again (such a good steampunk anime…!)

3) Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex — the producers add a “stand alone/complex” prefix to each episode title to signal whether an episode is a one-shot story that stands alone, or whether it’s part of a larger, complex story arc that will reach its climax in the last 2-3 episodes. In fact, the complex episodes have been woven together as full-length movies for each season of GITS:SAC.

Hey, good post. I’ve also often noticed the particularities of a series’s titles; I tend to think of it as a little mark anime writers and directors leave to show us they’re giving the show some thought. It reminds me how they say that, when reading 4-koma manga, you’re always supposed to start with the title as it’s part of the joke. I think, a lot of time, episode titles can be an important part of the episode as well.

Another thing that’s interesting to consider is the way they integrate the episode title into the show. The most common way is just to show a title slide immediately after the break that follows the OP, but some shows do this in different ways, and sometimes they use the timing of title to increase the dramatic effect. I also remember some shows that would show the title at the very end of an episode to serve as a sort of “coda”, which was always interesting. It’s a small thing, but I think even the way a director makes use of the title can help shape the viewer’s impression of the work.

Incidentally, among this season’s new shows, here are some examples of patterned episode titles:

– In Amagami SS, the episode titles always contain a single word written out as 4 katakana characters
– In Shukufuku no Campanella, all of the episode titles follow the same pattern as the title ([something] no [something]), which suggests the last episode will almost certainly be titled “Shukufuku no Campanella”.
– In Highschool of the Dead, all the episode titles are in English and end with “DEAD” just like the title.

And one of my favourite examples of interesting/silly episode titles is Hayate no Gotoku!. He is My Master was also famous for its silly episode titles.

Anyway, good observation and post. :)

I usually prefer the shorter episode titles. For some reason, titles with two sentences irk me a bit.
I hate it when the titles are too literal with the episode, I like it when titles foreshadow the episodes’ events or symbolize stuff

My favorite show’s episode titles overall is probably Cowboy Bebop because I Love how they refer to the episodes as sessions and how they use famous songs and such. It’s so innovative.
I also love the FMA and Deathnote titles.

<3 Ultimatemegax's comment.

In addition to that, the live action series GARO structures its episode titles similarly to anime, but it’s much less spoilerish compared to some shounen episode titles. It uses two-kanji words that describe something that happens in the episode, but you wouldn’t usually know what the episode title means until you watch it. Great way to keep the suspense, even though the episode preview gives itself away a lot of the time…

In contrast, the similarly-styled anime Karas uses a three-kanji theme for its episode titles.

I always found it interesting how some shows in Japan usually go with a certain “pattern” or theme with their episode titles. It’s really a good way to stylize a series.

Bringing up episode titles reminds me of some series that theme their episode titles or have a pattern the refers to something about the show. All the episodes of Baka to Test to Shokanjyuu for example were titled ___to___to…, always leaving the last part blank. Or the sections of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei episodes that were always plays on words or modern references in the form of famous literature titles, since that show used 1900’s-1940’s Japanese culture as a motif often.

There don’t seem to be lots of shows with a unified theme to episode naming, but I’ve always thought it was neat when I have seen it.

Very very interesting subject. And since you mentioned Spice and Wolf– Why is the show called “Ookami to Koushinryou,” but the English title is “Spice and Wolf”? And then the title scheme is translated “Wolf and Whatever” and it doesn’t make sense. :(

Railgun’s DVD specials do a great sendup of the pattern– It looks as if the guy making the special is just ranting about his day or talking about whatever inane thing passes his mind and slapping it into the title format.

For some reason the shows with the short, descriptive titles always stick in my head. But aside from that, I like the way that some series play with the episode titles to add effect. I remember Haibane Renmei had titles that were basically separated into three parts concerning three details of that episode like “Cocoon. The Wall. New Clothes.” Then the title of a really striking episode was just “birds”. Another example would be the recent Tatami Galaxy. It’s not as forceful as Haibane Renmei, but up until the final episodes, the episode titles were the names of all the clubs that Watashi joined. Then episodes 10 and 11 had titles with a completely different feel to them, and with good reason too. Just when you think the show has settled into a pattern, it throws a curveball at you.

The first category never fails to bring smile on my face simply for the nostalgy value. I remember how shocked I was watching Sailor Moon when a bad guy died without it being mentioned in the title :D

A good example of a unique naming technique was House of Five Leaves last season. The title was always a random line spoken in initial scene. Took me some time before I uncovered it :)

That’s interesting. It seems like there are so many different schemes to naming episodes, and every show uses something slightly different. I never paid much attention to titles before, but I’m starting to notice them now.