A while back, I wrote a post about the structure of anime episode titles. Today I’m going to focus on the actual titles of anime series and how they’ve changed over the years…
After giving it some thought, I’ve realized that I can’t find as many trends in anime series titles as I could in their respective episode titles. But there are at least two prominent structures I was able to think of, one which was more common in the past and is rare nowadays, and the other which is common in the current times but not so much in the past.
The old anime title trend was, as TV Tropes calls it, “Adjective Noun Fred.” It refers to 3-4 word titles, the first word being an adjective describing the second word, which is a noun, usually a job or status of some sort, and then the third word, which is someone’s/something’s name. This trope was very common for older anime, just to list a few examples…
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon
Shoujo Kakumei Utena
Mahou Sensei Negima
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Kidou Senshi Gundam
Serial Experiments Lain
Magic Knight Rayearth
Great Teacher Onizuka
Witch Hunter Robin
Space Battleship Yamato
Irresponsible Captain Taylor
Nurse Witch Komugi
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha
Vampire Hunter D.
There were also some shorter variations of this title trope, usually without the adjective and just the job/status and name of the main character.
Cardcaptor Sakura
Rurouni Kenshin
Fullmetal Alchemist
Detective Conan
Shakugan no Shana
What’s interesting is that this trend, which was so common, has become rare nowadays. All of the above listed examples are from series that are at least 5-6 years old. I’m sure there are some newer series I didn’t think of that follow this trend – Kemono no Souja Erin from 2009 and the currently airing Mahou Shoujo Madoka for example – but for the most part, unless it’s based on an old franchise, this trope hasn’t been used regularly at all in the past few years.
So what is the new anime title trend of the current times? I can make it short and sweet – exclamation marks!
Angel Beats!
Durarara!!
Hayate no Gotoku!
Hayate no Gotoku!!
K-ON!
K-ON!!
Natsu no Arashi!
Mayoi Neko Overrun!
MM!
Chu-Bra!!
Ladies vs Butlers!
Stitch!
Asobi ni Ikou yo!
Basquash!
Onii-chan no Koto…!!
Cardfight!! Vanguard
Nyan Koi!
Pokemon Best Wishes!
Kaichou wa Maid-sama!
Toradora!
Working!!
All of these series have come out within the past three years, which is why it seems pretty plain that the exclamation marks are a recent trend for anime titles. I’m sure there were a few for older anime (though Yu-Gi-Oh! and Tenchi Muyo! are the only ones I can think of at the moment), but I’m pretty sure exclamation marks weren’t nearly as common in anime series titles as they are nowadays. Strangely, as I mentioned in my post about anime episode titles, exclamation marks were actually common in the episode titles of many old series, but not in the series titles themselves. It’s the opposite nowadays, with exclamation marks being common in series titles but not so much in episode titles.
Of course, a lot of anime, old and new, don’t follow either of these tropes. They follow the titling tropes of other works of fiction, often having titles that consist of just the name/occupation of the main character(s) or an important place/item/status/event. Some are more elaborate, like Ore no Imouto…etc., and Bakemonogatari, or more symbolic like Clannad and Darker than Black. But to summarize, one can argue that there is a different feel with the titles of old anime versus anime produced within the past few years.
Reflecting on the change from the “Adjective Noun Fred” trope for anime titles of old, to the exclamation marks of the now, all I can say is that it conveys the changing times. My interpretation is that anime, among other things, was less savvy and commodified back in the day, thus the titles of old anime were down to earth and honest, describing just what the series is about – a revolutionary girl named Utena or a wandering samurai named Kenshin for example. But in recent years, anime has become mass produced, so there’s less staying power for any one title. Thus, the exclamation marks, together with a snappy, vague title, like Dragon Crisis! or Working!!, are meant to be enticing and almost “mysterious” in a way, so they can reel in as many curious otaku as possible before they’ll most likely be replaced by something else next season.
And on that note, I wonder what the next anime titling trend will be? Perhaps stars (or other symbols)…
Black★Rock Shooter
Lucky ☆ Star
Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica
Or maybe we’ll just go from exclamation marks to question marks…
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?
As always, it’ll be interesting to see how anime, titles and all, change over the next time period. In the meantime, can you think of any other trends/tropes in anime series titles besides the ones I’ve mentioned?
Hey, this is quite interesting, I’ve never thought about it, but, yeah, I’ve noticed some of this trends in the titles (specially the exclamations marks, which are getting increasingly annoying :P)
Other trend that I’ve seen, although not as spreaded as the ones you wrote about, are the titles that, how to say it, are more like complete frases rather than titles. The first ones I can think about right now are Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? and Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, but I’m sure I’ve seen a couple more around.
Another interesting post, as always!
Anime titles that contain full sentences/phrases could definitely be a new trend. Now that you mentioned it, I can’t think of any series produced in the past few years that contained such long titles as Ore no Imouto… and others.
It’s quite startling, when you put it all together like that.
It is.
That really reminds me of Sentai names, where they are always “Theme-related-adjective Sentai Something-ranger/ger”. And it also made me think about the constant exclamation marks in Shonen episode titles.
I’m not familiar with Sentai but their titles sound similar to the old school trope of adjective-noun-name.
Exclamation marks are indeed common in long-running shonen/kids anime (which I mentioned in my post about anime episode titles) but not so much in the series titles themselves. Now that I think about it, most shonen titles are pretty short and usually contain the name of the main character (Naruto, Inuyasha, Detective Conan, Gintama) but I wonder if that will change one day.
awesome analysis!
Thanks!
Goodness, such horrendous abuse of punctuation marks! I really cannot stand to see so many exclamation points in all these titles. “Chaos;Head” was bad enough, soiling the elegant semicolon; and no space, either. I honestly don’t see the necessity of adding obligatory emphasis to titles in the form of exclamation points. “Angel Beats” and “Durarara” would have sufficed for titles, especially considering how awesome the shows were. “!!” isn’t even a valid combination of punctuation marks; an exclamation point cannot be followed by a second one. It’s a grammatical fact. It’s not as if fans will scream the name any louder if it has exclamation points in it.
I feel like I added thirty years to my age with that ramble.
Good points. Like I said, I think the reasoning behind the exclamation marks is, naturally, excitement, which creators need in order for their anime to sell well amongst all the other mass produced series each season/year. I’ve also noticed that anime OP/ED songs titles have started to take a liking to exclamation marks too.
Wow. Tack this onto the list of things I don’t really think about. I look at exclamation points and say, “Why, dear gods, WHY?” but other than that…huh. I might just have to start keeping track of this. Or hoping you say more about it in the future. Either of those is a feasible option at this point, hahah.
Glad I gave you something new and interesting to ponder =)
Heh, I don’t think I’ll make another list of anime titles with exclamation marks but I’ll continue to take note of them in my head as I come across them in coming seasons.
My profecy
¿ Anime titles trends for 2011 ?
[ [ Anime titles trends for 2012 ] ]
/* Anime titles trends for 2013 */
Nice predictions. Let’s see if they happen! XD
I find it hilarious that nowadays the only thing differentiating a first season from a second season is a second exclamation mark. And then you’ve got series like Working!! that already have two exclamation marks. There’s no way that’s getting another season…
I don’t mind one exclamation mark, but yeah, differencing the titles of a series’ different seasons by adding an exclamation mark is kinda lame. It’s also impossible to convey verbally so you’ll just end up saying “K-ON season one” and “K-ON season two” anyway (do they expect you to say the name of the second season louder than the first to emphasize that extra exclamation mark?)
And yeah, I don’t get the deal with two exclamation marks either. Perhaps it’s for aesthetic purposes more than anything.
Almost all my posts have exclamation marks!!
Guess I am watching too much anime.
Really? Maybe you are becoming too inspired by anime =P
I would also say that the new trend of “!” and “!!” titles you’ve noticed makes it harder to figure out what the anime is about, whereas the earlier trend sort of telegraphed or alerted you to what the main character or theme would be. Just looking at the list of !-titles, I can’t figure out what most of them might be, even something like “K-ON!” (which ought to be phonetically spelt “keion”?) or “Working!!” (who or what is working, and working at what?!).
On silly side note, “Adjective Noun Fred” sounds like a great anime title if you just add an exclamation point. “Adjective Noun Fred!” — see? (Sounds like a J.C. Staff title…)
Right, all those “!” titles just seem like vague little blurbs meant to give you a quick shot of curiosity about what they’re about in the hopes that you’ll decide to watch them. Older anime was content to just get to the point of who/what the series is about =P
Wow, I never though about the structure of anime titles. This is good stuff.
I’m looking forward to the eventual use of kaomoji/emoticons in anime titles… They’re already appearing in light novel titles LOL
I never even thought of emoticons in anime titles, but considering Japan’s obsession with them, it’s certainly a possibility. But like I mentioned in an above comment, such a title is fine in typed language but how would you actually say such a title verbally? So I guess they can’t eradicate all normal words from titles thankfully.
Interesting, I had never really paid attention to that. Nice analysis. Maybe the future are reversed anime titles:
Arodarot
Noilegnave
Nugliar
Eh, who knows. I guess time will tell.
Anime titles containing a reversed word is actually very clever and innovative. I would like to see a series do that, especially if it was significant to the series in some way, like it had to do with themes of reflections or backwards-ness (though I wouldn’t want it to turn into a trend like the exclamation marks).
Yeah, I’ve noticed the abundance of exclamation marks, too. I don’t find it particularly necessary or appealing. And I don’t like the fact that a lot of those shows’ second seasons differentiate in titles with another exclamation mark.
I liked it better in the old days. Like with Cardcaptor Sakura. All three seasons under one name. With the only changes being the OP and ED. I also don’t like when “2nd season” is added to the title. But hey, that’s just my opinion.
Back in the days of Cardcaptor Sakura, anime series were longer. It was usually just OVAs that had less than 26 episodes. Once it become commonplace for TV series to only have 13 episodes, anime become more mass produced and their titles shortened just like their episode count.
Whao. You’re looking into this too much, stop researching :D lol
An interesting observation. I would have never thought about that.
I’m disappointed not seeing Shinryaku! Ika Musume in the list.
Love this, I didn’t realize this trend until you pointed it out.
I guess I do like the one name trend, except for the exclamation marks. If you ask me, the old style really does feel a bit dated. Nowadays it’s all about the brand, meaning quick-hit, one name titles that don’t need abbreviations to be recognized instantly.
Great pick up :D