VA SungWon Cho wants you to use the english name of the animes
SungWon Cho is a voice actor better known by the name of ProZD, he is an American voice actor who has done characters in a few animes like Ousama Ranking and Eighty Six, and also voiced in some games like Borderlands 3.
He recently became a hot topic because of a post he made on his profile, complaining about fans who “don’t speak Japanese but use Japanese anime titles”.
He published the following:
“Listen, if Japanese isn’t your first language and you come up to me and say how much you loved the movie ‘Koukaku Kidou Tai’ or some shit and I Google it and find out it’s Ghost in the Shell, I’m going to throw you in a locker .
That’s why I can’t use MAL, “Majo no Takkyuubin”, my God just write KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE”.
This is something that at one time I hit myself here on the site too, do I use the Japanese or English name of the anime? There was a time when I decided to change and just use the English names of the anime, but I started to receive comments from people without knowing which anime I was talking about.
In general, at least looking at the comments on Você Sabe Anime, I noticed that Brazilians prefer the Japanese names of anime, currently I try to see what is the best known name among fans to use.
Obviously his comment generated several responses, in favor of what he said as well as against it too, check out some of the responses:
“You can say that 90% of popular programs are in both languages and anyone will understand why both are used. Yuru Camp, Mushoku Tensei, Oreimo… Extreme examples go both ways and nobody uses “Even with Eighth Grader Syndrome, I Want to Be in Love” instead of Chuunibyou”
“You’re an obese Korean living in the US, you can’t control how people use Japanese. Clearly YOU should have been stuffed in some closets growing up, maybe then you weren’t a condescending fat asshole”
“Ask yourself a question. Would you rather watch something called Hajime no Ippo… or Fighting Spirit? Because not every localized name works, friend. You get silly names like Loser Rangers or Fighting Spirit…. or Doozy Bots”
“Attention everyone! This 5’5 fat Korean will shove you in a closet!”
“Yeah, stop saying Shingeki no Kyojin. Speak alien motherfucking Portuguese. Everyone knows it’s Attack of the Naked Titan.”
“I’m in favor of everyone calling the anime/film/series whatever they want and minding their own business shingeki no queijin, boku no peak macadamia, ice gays, lerigo, the hundred, brooklyn nine nine”
“People are taking it as ‘always use the English name’ when it’s really ‘use the name people use’ for better known anime”
“I’m complaining but my god”
“Counterpoint: The type of person who calls Shin Megami Tensei “True Goddess Reincarnation” is a total psychopath”
“Mob Psycho 100 being the same title in both Japanese and English. Also congratulations to the Land of the Lustrous/Houseki no Kuni fandom who use both interchangeably”
“Some names look better in Japanese and some in the translated version, it’s not that deep. No one is going to call it “Konosuba” whatever the English name is. It’s Konosuba, wherever you like it or not. It also helps to standardize the internet, since each country has a translation”
“You will never stop me from being a big weeb and saying ‘Houseki no Kuni’, I’m sorry”
“Just to note, we also don’t have time to say the anime’s complicated title. We’ve shortened it to DanMachi, Anohana, and Kimi no Uso. We also don’t expect you to say Jujutsu Kaisen in English. In fact, I prefer some titles in English as well.”
“Have you heard of JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken: Daiyamondo wa Kudakenai?”
Some other people pointed out that SungWon Cho is only referring to famous anime and not the unknown ones, but he didn’t say that either.
Anyway, from what I could see, at least the majority of people don’t see a problem calling anime by their titles in Japanese, and also in English, each one uses what they want sincerely since the vast majority of anime have several titles.
We have the Japanese name, the English name, the abbreviation, among the names of the other countries, but anyway, that’s it.