This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
- There used to be something here about how Bible passages are cited and how it relates to the title of Eureka Seven, making this fall under "It Makes Sense In Context". If anyone knows what used to be here, feel free to sub it in.
Ninja Vitis: Seems to me that Boogiepop Phantom doesn't really belong here either, since it's the name of a character in the show, which is in turn derived from the fact that this character is a "phantom" of Boogiepop, who is another character. Thus the title actually makes sense.
Eyclonus: The English title for Neon Genesis Evangelion is not exactly a random mishmash of words if you look at the direct meaning of the words used. The Japanese title is not so bad, if the events of Episode 25-26 happened in December 1999, but otherwise the translation drops Century for Genesis which some people seem to skip over a bit. Discussing this with a Greek friend of mine, I've got the following summary:
- Neon - Explicitly means new one in Greek, Neo means new in Greek, but Neon also implies a replacement of an existing thing.
- Genesis - After checking several print and online dictionaries the agreed definition seems to be Origin, Creation or Beginning
- Evangelion - In Greek this is Good News or when you trace it to Christianity it becomes Gospel as in Good News Bible
Looking at the above I think that the peson who came up with the English name deliberately chose it as the meanings of the words used reflect the "feel" of the series, more so than a direct translation of the Japanese title. I don't think its a word salad title, as much as a title that is intentionally ambiguous, hides the "final twist" under the viewer's nose and is still relevant to the show's themes no matter which interpretation of the word's meanings you use, which makes it mind screwy like the rest of NGE.
Laconic/TL:DR: English Licensor owns an English-Greek Thesaurus and probably a philosophy degree.
Prfnoff: "A Horse, a Bucket and a Spoon" was never an episode title on Monty Pythons Flying Circus. Someone seems to think it was.
Removed this:
- The Lost Boys - It turns out that the title is a reference to the Lost Boys in J. M. Barrie's stories about Peter Pan and Neverland. And the audience is supposed to guess this because vampires never age? And the vampires in this movie were supposed to be teens? And the audience is supposed to know that they're teens despite the Dawson Casting? Especially since they mix twenty-something actors with actual teen actors and it makes Kiefer Sutherland seem even older when he already looks about 30?
This is a pretty dubious example. The title clearly refers to the villains, a pack of punk vampires, and sounds like a suitably dark gang-style nickname for such a group. It makes a decent amount of sense even if you don't get the Peter Pan reference.
