History PunBasedTitle / AnimeAndManga

** The "Go!" in ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure'''s title is supposed to be a play on the series constantly using the phrase "Gokigenyou", a royal way of saying "Pleased to meet you!", which starts with the syllable "Go" in Japanese, thus making the full title "Gokigenyou! Princess Pretty Cure".

* Despite what you may think at first glance, ''Manga/YandereKanojo'' is not about [[{{Yandere}} that kind of girl]]. Rather, the female lead Reina is a [[JapaneseDelinquents delinquent]] (which are often referred to in Japan as 'yankii') who dotes on her OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent boyfriend (from which the 'dere' part of the title is derived).

** The American episodes sometimes go to "gems" such as "Doin' What Comes Natu-rally" and "Smells Like Team Spirit". Japan sometimes fall to this ("Do Coil Dream of Electric Mice!?")

** Done away with as of ''Best Wishes'', however, which goes back to the style of the early episodes.

* ''Anime/KillLaKill'' manages to pack a surprisingly large number of puns in its title. 'Kiru', depending on how it's written in Japanese, can mean 'to wear (clothes)' (着る), 'to cut' (切る), 'to kill a person' (斬る) and, of course, the English word 'kill' (キル), all of which are good for describing the show.
** The OST follows suit by having most tracks be named for weird variants on the show's title in a HurricaneOfPuns that often makes very little sense to those who can't speak Japanese.
* ''Franchise/PrettyCure'''s Japanese title, "Purikyua", (プリキュア) is a pun on the word "Purikura" (プリクラ), which are photo booths which take pictures in Japan.

** "Shima" means both "striped" and "island", which could refer to two things: the stripes on Shimajiro himself or the island he lives on. ** The titular character's name, Shimajiro, is a pun on the phrase "shimasho" or "Let's do it!". [[ItMakesSenseInContext This does make sense]], seeing as the show is based on the Kodomo Challenge program, which teaches preschoolers how to accomplish important life skills.

** "Shima" means both "striped" and "island", which could refer to two things: the stripes on Shimajiro himself or the island he lives on. ** The titular character's name, Shimajiro, is a pun on the phrase "shimasho" or "Let's do it!". [[ItActuallyMakesSenseInContext This does make sense]], seeing as the show is based on the Kodomo Challenge program, which teaches preschoolers how to accomplish important life skills.

** Other episodes still have punny titles without Pokémon names, like "''Gotta Catch Ya Later!''" (a pun on the franchise's early CatchPhrase), "''[[HomeAlone Hoenn Alone]]''" (using the name of the home region of the ''Advanced Generation'' arc - this is the first episode of said arc, even), or "''Home is Where the Start Is''" (one of the arc-transition episodes when Ash returns to Pallet Town, this one bridges the gap between ''AG'' and the ''Diamond and Pearl'').

* The episode titles in ''Manga/IchigoMashimaro'', at least in English, vary between rhymes, alliteration, and this. For examples of this: "Violent Night", "The Hat's Meow", "Attack of the Killer [[=ZZZs=]]", "Into Hot Water", "Sick Jokes", "The Matsuri" (a borderline example: a matsuri is a festival as well as the name of a main character), "Schooled", and "Heart Attacks". Parts of the "An Amusing Stew (Using Miu)" episodes have titles as well: "Lack of Acute Judgment", "Thumb War", "Thrown By the Goat", "Phony", "What Possesses Her", and "Sketchy".

* ''Manga/KoufukuGraffiti'': The Japanese word for "happiness" and "appetite" happened to be pronounced the same way, as "Koufuku"[[note]]These two words are Chinese loans; and in different forms of Chinese they still sound relatively similar[[/note]]. The Japanese written title actually have one kanji taken from the two words to make the point across. There's a good reason why Creator/StudioShaft's animated adaptation prefers using this UntranslatedTitle rather than the manga's own ''Manga/HappyCookingGraffiti''; it's a series where FoodPorn and OrgasmicallyDelicious appears OnceAnEpisode.

** This troper likes how the title was adapted into Portuguese, "Amassando Ja-pão", which not only keeps the pun, but does so in a single language.

* The title of "PorcoRosso" (The Red Pig) is a pun on TheRedBaron, of course.
* The ''StreetFighter'' video games had a TV anime series titled ''Anime/StreetFighterIIV'' (that's a roman numeral "two" and the letter "vee"). The title doesn't seem to mean much by itself at first, but "two vee" is pronounced almost similarly to "tee vee", as in a ''Street Fighter TV'' series. The "V" also stands for "Victory" and since "two" can be a homophone for "to", the title can also be read as ''Street Fighter To Victory''.
* ''KidouTenshiAngelicLayer'' (Mobile Angel Angelic Layer) puns on ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Kidou Senshi Gundam]]'' (Mobile Soldier Gundam). Note that both of these titles were changed in English (to just ''Angelic Layer'' and ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' respectively).
* ''TegamiBachi'' translates to "Letter Bee," which sounds like "letter 'B.'" Considering that the author bothered to use the translation as a subtitle, it could have been an intentional pun.

* ''AILoveYou'': "ai" is the Japanese word for "love," it is pronounced like the letter I, and the second letter being "I" just completes the phrase "I love you", as well as referring to Artificial Intelligence.

* ''[[Anime/JungleWaItsumoHaleNochiGuu Haré+Guu]]'': its original title, "Janguru wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu", is usually translated as "The Jungle was always nice, then came Guu" (or "Haré always lived in the jungle, then came Guu" - the title uses the name of both main characters to make the pun). However, the last three words are regularly used in Japanese weather forecast, and can be interpreted as something like "clear with a chance of showers". Thus, the title's underlying meaning would be "The jungle is always clear with a chance of showers."

* ''[[JungleWaItsumoHaleNochiGuu Haré+Guu]]'': its original title, "Janguru wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu", is usually translated as "The Jungle was always nice, then came Guu" (or "Haré always lived in the jungle, then came Guu" - the title uses the name of both main characters to make the pun). However, the last three words are regularly used in Japanese weather forecast, and can be interpreted as something like "clear with a chance of showers". Thus, the title's underlying meaning would be "The jungle is always clear with a chance of showers."

* ''AILoveYou'': "ai" is the Japanese word for "to love," it is pronounced like the letter I, and the second letter being "I" just completes the phrase "I love you", as well as referring to Artificial Intelligence.

* "Koufuku" in ''Manga/KoufukuGraffiti'' is usually written with two kanji that means "happiness" in general, but in this case the second kanji was switched with a homophone which when put together means "happy stomach." There's a good reason why Creator/StudioShaft's animated adaptation perfers using this UntranslatedTitle rather than the manga's own ''Manga/HappyCookingGraffiti''; it's a series where FoodPorn and OrgasmicallyDelicious appears OnceAnEpisode.

* "Koufuku" in ''Manga/KoufukuGraffiti'' is usually written with two kanji that means "happiness" in general, but in this case the second kanji was switched with a homophone which when put together means "happy stomach." There's a good reason why Creator/StudioShaft's animated adaptation perfers using this UntranslatedTitle rather than the manga's own ''Manga/HappyCookingGraffiti''.

* ''AILoveYou'': "ai" is the Japanese word for "to love," it is pronounced like the letter I, and the second letter being "I" just completes the phrase "I love you."

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' dub episodes are often a pun on the featured Pokémon, such as "''To Master the Onix-pected''" and "''Turning Over a Nuzleaf''".

* A rather ironic example is ''Anime/GirlsUndpanzer''. The Japanese pronunciation of "panzer" is "panzu", while the word "panties" is pronounced as "pantsu", as Lampshaded in some of the show's trailers. The irony comes in the fact that this show has [[MagicSkirt no panty shots]] at all (despite the presence of other forms of {{Fanservice}}).

* A rather ironic example is ''Anime/GirlsUndpanzer''. The Japanese pronunciation of "panzer" is "panzu", while word "panties" is pronounced as "pantsu", as Lampshaded in some of the show's trailers. The irony comes in the fact that this show has [[MagicSkirt no panty shots]] at all (despite the presence of other forms of {{Fanservice}}).