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Why are Japanese game names so strange?

Sakura

Member
It is mostly cultural. Western titles often prefer single word names, even if they don't really mean anything or are super generic. As an example of generic, look at the Elder Scrolls games. Why is this one called Morrowind? Because it takes place in Morrowind. Why is this one called Skyrim? Because it takes place in Skyrim. Or for nonsensical, what is the infinite in Halo Infinite supposed to mean? What about Fortnite? I get that you can build in it, but what about the nite part?
Hell, just look at the names of the consoles. The Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X. These are some of the dumbest, nonsense names.
Well there may be an argument made that single word, or short names, market better etc, one thing that is common with Japanese titles, is that they are usually abbreviated. For example, someone in this thread mentioned "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon". But nobody in Japan actually refers to this series this way, it is just abbreviated as danmachi. This is the case with most things, Konosuba, Oreimo, Tensura, Oregairu, etc. They all have long names, but are not referred to by these names. These abbreviations are also used officially. This is much more difficult to do in English, and so it gets lost in translation.

There is a second reason as well. It is true that there are many light novels (often isekai recently...) with very long names. Some of them have been mentioned here. But the reason for this is marketing. If you are in a book store in Japan looking for a light novel to read in the isekai section, there will be probably literally hundreds. And the only thing differentiating them will be their titles. So these series will often have titles that are self descriptive of what it's about to try to catch your attention. "I was a 30 year old guy who got reincarnated as a cute loli girl in a fantasy world and now I go to magic school", there is probably a series with a title like this, but anyway, you already know what it's about just reading the title and that may be enough to catch someone's interest amongst all the other things.
 

DaciaJC

Gold Member
You make it sound like western games are any better with their namings?

Some of the most played games right now:

Rainbow Six Siege - Thats just 3 random words put together.

Well
43d0fd1c4b9c3f0746b6f358c3fab28f009b702a_full.jpg


Rainbow Six is originally a Tom Clancy novel about an international counterterrorist group (Rainbow) headed by a guy called John Clark (callsign Six), and Siege is a pretty good one-word descriptor for the core gameplay of attacking or defending a fortified position/building.
 
I actually like their weird naming convention, from novels to games, food, and business. It gives a certain flavor that distinguishes their products
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Well
43d0fd1c4b9c3f0746b6f358c3fab28f009b702a_full.jpg


Rainbow Six is originally a Tom Clancy novel about an international counterterrorist group (Rainbow) headed by a guy called John Clark (callsign Six), and Siege is a pretty good one-word descriptor for the core gameplay of attacking or defending a fortified position/building.
So three random words put together?
Who wrote them first is of no relevance.


Cuz writing down Rainbow Six and explaining ohh Rainbow is the name of the group and Six is this one guy.........is no different from writing down Bravely Default.
Well Bravely cuz when you are in an attack stance you are playing Bravely.
And when you are in the Default stance you are preparing for to be attacked and block/charging up.

Octopath Traveller.....there are 8 paths you are travelling.

Same shit, just some random words put together that can be explained in context, but out of context its just gibberish.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ultimate DQ Fan
I saw the trailer yesterday for Forspoken: In Tanta We Trust and thought to myself again. Why are the Japanese games names so often completely stupid? It's like they just string together random words that sound cool to them.
Japan definitely has some odd game names, but that ain't one of them, bruv
 

Guilty_AI

Member
So three random words put together?
Who wrote them first is of no relevance.


Cuz writing down Rainbow Six and explaining ohh Rainbow is the name of the group and Six is this one guy.........is no different from writing down Bravely Default.
The "Rainbow Plans" was a real term used by the United States that designated war plans for hypothetical conflict scenarios. There were 5 plans in total (that we know of), Rainbow 1 to 5.

The name Rainbow 6 comes from there, basically Tom Clancy envisioning an hypothetical, fictional, Rainbow plan number six.
 

Deerock71

Member

Fukushuu o Koinegau Saikyou Yuusha wa, Yami no Chikara de Senmetsu Musou Suru​


Translates to this
The Hero Who Seeks Revenge Shall Exterminate With Darkness; The strongest brave who craves for revenge, extinguish with the power of darkness
Let me give it a Western twist and...

Hero with a Black Soul
 

sigmaZ

Gold Member
Oh, I have insight into this. Lived in Japan for many years. Unlike in the west where a lot of names are functional or just catchy wordplay, in Japan there's often some trying to be deep cringe reason behind names that only the person who came up with it gets. This goes for titles, company names, etc. My Japanese wife and I laugh about this all the time. The other thing especially with English titles is how the name sounds with a Japanese pronunciation (katakana).
 

tmlDan

Member
what is strange and what isn't it's a matter of culture and differences between ideologies.

I could say "why" with every country i've been to but im well travelled enough to find the beauty in differences between nations.
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
"In Tanta We Trust" is a pretty straightforward title, if that is the title of the DLC. It certainly doesn't reach the level of other Japanese developed games or media (OCTOPATH TRAVELER or some of the wild, overly literal titles of anime).
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
what is strange and what isn't it's a matter of culture and differences between ideologies.

I could say "why" with every country i've been to but im well travelled enough to find the beauty in differences between nations.
Wow dude you just blew my mind. My eyes have been opened.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
In English we say what it is then what it does.
The boat goes very fast.

In a lot of other languages they say what it does then what it is.
Very fast goes the boat.
 

iPaul93

Member
It probably has something to do with their culture, but that's what I like about Japanese games. A lot of western games have gone to shit, imo, so I stopped buying them.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
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I think they know full well that they have wacky names and they just run with it because they think it sounds cool.

It’s not like some deep part of their cultural tradition that our western minds can’t grasp.
 

SHA

Member
I would say both language and cultural difference and often the actual name change for west like how Biohazard changed to Resident Evil for west or Psycho Break changed to Evil Within.
RE less future predictive of the real world.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
They were gonna go with Western naming conventions around the PS3 Era, but they got confused with so many games being subtitled with Revelations or Origins.
 

NanaMiku

Member
What about Fortnite? I get that you can build in it, but what about the nite part?
I'm still salty about this. Fortnite was supposed to be a PvE game. You gather resources at day and build the base. At night, the zombie will strike your base. But the battle royale format was more popular, so they discard the original game.
 

PSYGN

Member
Japan likes to mix English words into their products - they think it adds depth and makes things look more sophisticated just like people getting mystical looking Chinese tattoos that actually read "sniff my finger".
 
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Felessan

Member
Chinese names are worse. They take two english words that sound remotely fantasy and put them together in an awkward manner.
Case in point, "Blade and Soul"... and many other that I struggle to remember just because how generic they are.
Though it's not Chinese
The level of knowledge in this thread is astonishing
There are little to no chinese games in the west and most named pretty straightforward.
 

Fuz

Banned
Though it's not Chinese
The level of knowledge in this thread is astonishing
There are little to no chinese games in the west and most named pretty straightforward.
You're right, it's Korean - my mistake, wrong example. But I see lots of Chinese mobile games on the play store and they often have those naming conventions.
 

sigmaZ

Gold Member
Here are two common reasons:
1. Names are more about how they sound than what they mean (especially when it's for comedic effect)
2. Japanese names often have some edgy deep meaning that only the people who come up with them are aware of (this is common even of businesses like restaurants and hair dressers)
 

Scotty W

Banned
I live in Japan. English has a lot of cache here. In many ways, it is still held in the thrall of the Meiji discovery of imperial Britain. Allow me to quote from the shirt of one of my young acquaintainces:

Joyance
All Aboard
55 Genuine—— Jump Around
BRISKNESS
Look Hopeful
Giving thanks for what we have, doing everything with a flair and a sense of fantasy.

This is 100% real. Any tiny bit of English that is recognizable is fair game, hence Jump Around. It is pretty bad here, but much worse in other Asian countries.

A lot of these strange names are likely the result of literal translation, or plugging their pet words into cliche phrases, In Tanta We Trust.
 

sigmaZ

Gold Member
I live in Japan. English has a lot of cache here. In many ways, it is still held in the thrall of the Meiji discovery of imperial Britain. Allow me to quote from the shirt of one of my young acquaintainces:

Joyance
All Aboard
55 Genuine—— Jump Around
BRISKNESS
Look Hopeful
Giving thanks for what we have, doing everything with a flair and a sense of fantasy.

This is 100% real. Any tiny bit of English that is recognizable is fair game, hence Jump Around. It is pretty bad here, but much worse in other Asian countries.

A lot of these strange names are likely the result of literal translation, or plugging their pet words into cliche phrases, In Tanta We Trust.
How about the famous hamburger chain Mos Burger. Oh, Mos stands for Mountain Ocean Sun. That makes a lot of sense. lol

To prove my earlier point, from their own official website:
Mountain, Ocean, and Sun

What Does MOS Stand for? MOS stands for Mountain, Ocean, and Sun. It means "standing tall and firm like a Mountain, having a heart that is broad and deep as the Ocean, and having passion like the Sun that never burns out." That is our founder's neverending love for human beings and nature. (This is the edgy deep stuff that only the person who came up with knows that I mentioned)
 
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Scotty W

Banned
How about the famous hamburger chain Mos Burger. Oh, Mos stands for Mountain Ocean Sun. That makes a lot of sense. lol

To prove my earlier point, from their own official website:
Mountain, Ocean, and Sun

What Does MOS Stand for? MOS stands for Mountain, Ocean, and Sun. It means "standing tall and firm like a Mountain, having a heart that is broad and deep as the Ocean, and having passion like the Sun that never burns out." That is our founder's neverending love for human beings and nature. (This is the edgy deep stuff that only the person who came up with knows that I mentioned)
This is my favorite burger chain nonsense. Chain is active across Asia.

 

bender

What time is it?
Maybe you aren't asking the right question. Why aren't non-Japanese game names more strange?
 

Draugoth

Gold Member
>Coutry has a complete different cultural, historical, thinking background
>Finds weird that their games are 'weird' by his standards

bca64tf92e061.jpg
 

Rambotito

Member
You make it sound like western games are any better with their namings?

Some of the most played games right now:

Fortnite - Spelt like that
Rainbow Six Siege - Thats just 3 random words put together.
Roblox - what?
Defense of the Ancients
Unturned
Halo Infinite
DayZ
Minecraft
Player Unknowns Battlegrounds
Red Dead Redemption


I mean they arent Infinite Undiscovery but they arent gonna be winning any Pulitzer prizes.
My favorite is still Bravely Default.

"We do not accept modifications or adjustments to configurations. Absolutely no changes will be made, and we will defend that to the death".

Pretty brave, tbqh.
 

Teslerum

Member
Team Asano love doing weird names for their games:
  • Bravely Default Flying Fairy
  • Bravely Second End Layer
  • Various Daylife
  • Octopath Traveller
  • Triangle Strategy
All of those have some connection to the game content though. Even if it is just word play.

Honestly they are not bad in comparison.
 
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Japan has, to some degree, appropriated English for various purposes. For one, there are simple loan words that retain their English meaning, as well as words that are superficially English but were actually coined in Japan. Both of these are still actual words, as in they generally have a set meaning that most people will agree on and can thus be used for communication.

On the other hand, there are English (or vaguely English sounding) words that essentially exist just to make something sound or look cool. They might be tangentially related to a specific concept the person using them is trying to express, but that's not a strict requirement. Some are just nonsense.

Japanese video game titles with English words in them mostly fall into the latter category.
 
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