Lettered Sequel

Suddenly, Z.

"Z is the final letter of the alphabet and thus the most prestigious."

— Ichiro Mizuki, Mazinger Z theme singer

Normally, to name Sequels you just simply add a number or some words, so the sequel of Foomovie will be titled Foomovie 2? Wrong, it's Foomovie Z!

This trope is a title naming convention for sequels, adaptations, or work expansions of a franchise in which they just add a letter or two to set up the name. Sometimes the titles will end in a rather cool sounding letter such as Z or X (or both). The letter sometimes stands for something meaningful and relevant to the plot, or just being thrown at random until the creator explains what it means.

This practice is commonly seen in Japanese works because they use different writing systems and apparently combining kanji or kana letters with an alphabet letter will bring "X" Makes Anything Cool into a new height. Alphabets are also pronounced in more literal way in Japanese, making it sounded more badass, such as Ekkusu (X) and Zetto (Z).

It should be noted that a title ending in roman numerals is not this trope. Nor is a title that just happens to end in a letter, such as Malcolm X and World War Z. It has to be the sequel or adaptation titles in which the work or franchise with the original title was released first.

In many video game titles, it commonly overlaps with Super Title 64 Advance for the titles that end in "DS", "U" or "X". Related to Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo, "X" Makes Anything Cool and Stopped Numbering Sequels, not to be confused with One-Letter Title.

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Examples

Anime and Manga

• A Certain Scientific Railgun S and A Certain Scientific Railgun T are the follow-up seasons to the popular A Certain Scientific Railgun staring Mikoto Misaka. Funnily enough, sister series A Certain Magical Index used Roman numerals for its second and third seasons.
• The season sequels of the Dragon Ball anime series are titled Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT. The protagonists are often referred to as "the Z Fighters", but what the Z means or why they'd need a group name for a loosely affiliated group of friends and rivals is never explained within the show.^note The real-life explanation is that, since manga creator Akira Toriyama was thinking of concluding the story soon whilst in the middle of the Saiyan arc, Toei Animation wanted a name change on the basis that the series was going through a Time Skip and a change of tone; Toriyama suggested the name "Dragon Ball Z", as Z was the last letter of the alphabet. Toriyama himself never agreed with a name change to begin with, nor did the aforementioned arcs become the last, so the use of the letter Z lost its meaning. "GT" stands for "Grand Tour" according to the company.
• The direct sequel of Getter Robo, Getter Robo G.
• Gundam:
  • The franchise has Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ as the sequel of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, and there is also Mobile Fighter G Gundam and After War Gundam X.
  • In a sense, there's also ∀ Gundam ("Turn A Gundam"). As revealed late in the series, it's not just another Alternate Universe series, but the Distant Finale to all of them, past, present, and future. This makes the title a Genius Bonus, as "∀" is a mathmatical symbol meaning "all items in a set."
  • In a downplayed example, Victory and Wing sometimes get written as "V-Gundam" and "W-Gundam"/"Gundam W".
• The second season of Haiyore! Nyarko-San anime is called Haiyore! Nyarko-San W, as a reference to Kamen Rider Double, while the OVA conclusion is tiled Haiyore! Nyarko-San F, with the F standing for "Final."
• The second season of Himouto! Umaru-chan is called Himouto! Umaru-chan R.
• Mazinger Z is an inversion; it is indeed a part of the whole Mazinger franchise, but it actually is the title of the original manga that started everything.
• The eleventh movie of One Piece, One Piece Film: Z. Named after the initial of the main antagonist, Zephyr.
• Powerpuff Girls Z, the anime adaptation of the western series The Powerpuff Girls (1998), as opposed to the original's Chemical X, they use Chemical Z.
• Sonic X, the adaptation for popular video game series Sonic the Hedgehog from a story arc in Sonic Adventure with Chris Thorndyke.
• Saber Marionette J is followed up by Saber Marionette J Again, Saber Marionette J to X, Saber Marionette R and the manga-only Saber Marionette Z. The letters are the initials of the places where the main characters are located: J stands for Japaness which is based on Japan, R is for Romana which is based on Rome, X means Xian which is based on China, and Z is the oddball as it's the initial of a new starring character, Zero. The first series (J) is followed up directly by J Again and then J to X, whereas R and Z are distant sequels.
• Sailor Moon has Sailor Moon R (the second season) and Sailor Moon S (the third season). The letters stand for "Romance" and "Super", respectively. In fact, "S" is actually pronounced "Super", as evidenced by the eyecatch and various printed materials (which in turn makes the subsequent season name, SuperS, fall into Department of Redundancy Department).
• The Slayers anime's fourth season is called Slayers Revolution. The fifth season (which is just Part 2 of the fourth) is called Slayers Evolution-R. The reason why the R was moved from the front of the word to the back is not explained.
• A spinoff of School Rumble revolves around Harima in a series of alternate stories is titled School Rumble Z.
• Symphogear did this for each of its sequel seasons. Season 2 was called G, Season 3 was GX, Season 4 was AXZ, and Season 5 was XV. The exact reason for why the seasons were named this way is known only to the creators.
• You Are Being Summoned, Azazel has the second season aired in 2013 under the name Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san Z.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!'s manga adaptation has Yu-Gi-Oh! R, while the first Sequel Series to the anime goes by the name Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

Film

• The tenth and the latest movie chronogically in Friday the 13th is titled Jason X. While the preceding films used the "part (roman numeral): subtitle" structure (such as Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood), this is the only one with X alone. In the DVD featurette, it's officially pronounced as "ex".
• In an example combining Pun-Based Title and a lampshade to the amount of Fanservice, the sequel to Piranha 3D is Piranha 3DD.
• Super Hero Taisen sequel is titled Super Hero Taisen Z, increasing the super hero cast, adding up more Kamen Riders and Metal Heroes.

Live-Action TV

• The 2007 spiritual successor of 1972's Kaiketsu Lionmaru series is titled Lion Maru G.
• Kamen Rider :
  • Older series in the franchise in the Showa era are fond of this, beginning with Kamen Rider X, Kamen Rider ZX, Kamen Rider BLACK RX (which also a sequel to Kamen Rider BLACK), Kamen Rider ZO, to Kamen Rider J. Most of the letters are unexplained.
  • In the series Kamen Rider Double, the title alternatively uses the letter W.
• The Darker and Edgier Milestone Celebration revival of Ultraseven is titled Ultraseven X, and the sequel to Ultraman Ginga is titled Ultraman Ginga S.

Music

• AKB48 has the sub-group for celebrating Natto Day named Natto Angels. In 2010, however, the group had been replaced entirely different members save for Miyazaki Miho, and changed the name into Natto Angels Z. The entire 48 Family also spawned a handful of team units based on their original group such as Team A, Team K and Team B (for AKB48), Team N, Team M and Team BII (for NMB48). There is an one-shot joint unit from the family named Team Z.
• English-Irish pop group Liberty X originally went with the name Liberty after being formed from a TV talent show's runners-up. They changed it after received a legal challenge from another band with same name.
• Idol group Momoiro Clover became Momoiro Clover Z after their lineup change because the sub-leader stepped down.
• After six years of hiatus, the subgroup Petitmoni of Hello! Project went active again with a new concept and name as Petitmoni V.

Video Games

• Another Code: The second game was titled Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories. When remade as part of Recollection, the title was shortened to Journey into Lost Memories.
• Castlevania: Rondo of Blood was originally released in Japan as Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo, being the first game set beyond Simon Belmont's timeline in the first two Castlevania games. The SNES version, a Reformulated Game known as Castlevania: Dracula X in North America and Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss in Europe, became Akumajō Dracula XX (pronounced "double ecks" rather "ecks ecks").
• The fourth installment of the Digimon World video game series is titled Digimon World X in Japan, but since its tie-in movie, Digimon X-Evolution, didn't see a release in the States, the U.S. version of the game changed the title to Digimon World 4.
• Though the Etrian Odyssey games are numbered with the Roman system (except Untold 2), the "X" in Etrian Odyssey X doesn't stand for 10 (it's the ninth game overall, and the sixth main one), but for Cross. In the West, the trope is replaced with Word Sequel (Etrian Odyssey Nexus).
• GITADORA started as Guitar Freaks and Drum Mania XG, which was a spinoff of the original series. This was followed by XG2 and XG3 before becoming GITADORA.
• Guilty Gear: Guilty Gear: The Missing Link was given a follow-up in the form of Guilty Gear X, which had its own follow-up in Guilty Gear XX and its various expansions. However, Word of God would eventually relegate GGX and GGXX to sideplot status with the coming of Guilty Gear 2: Overture, released almost ten years after the original. (That said, unlike most Gaiden Games, the events of X, XX, and Accent Core Plus are very much in-canon and shape the plot of future games.) Guilty Gear 2 was then followed by, strangely enough, Guilty Gear Xrd (pronounced "igzird" but clearly evoking "X third" — as in GG3).
• The vehicular combat spin-off of Jak and Daxter is titled Jak X, following the franchise's odd title names from Jak and Daxter, Jak II, and Jak 3.
• Mega Man:
  • Mega Man X, the second series of the franchise, named after the future successor of the original hero, X (whose name was given to him by Dr. Light because of his limitless potential).
  • In a even more Distant Sequel, Mega Man ZX, "ZX" is pronounced as Zekkusu. This is because the series is a direct successor to the Mega Man Zero series (itself a Sequel Series to MMX) and the first game sees the protagonist(s) wield the powers of Zero and X in conjunction.
• Lesser-known Atlus title Maken X has this by way of Visual Pun. When ported from the Dreamcast to the PlayStation 2, the game was retitled Maken Shao. Comparing the characters used for both versions (魔剣Ｘ vs. 魔剣爻), the "爻" ("shao") is meant to evoke a "XX", building off of how the original already had an "X" in the title.
• Metal Slug X is an enhanced version of Metal Slug 2. The series went back to Numbered Sequels until Metal Slug XX, the PSP port of Metal Slug 7.
• Monster Hunter:
  • In Japan, the expansions of the mainline games have letter G added to their original names, alluding to the inclusion of the Harder Than Hard G Rank difficulty. For example, the expanded version of Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) was identified as Monster Hunter 3 G; same for Monster Hunter 4 turning into Monster Hunter 4 G (in the international releases, Word Sequel is used instead; hence Unite for the expanded second-generation game and Ultimate for the expanded third and fourth generation games). Uniquely, the next installment is lettered from the get-go: Monster Hunter X (X standing for "Cross"), with the G Rank expansion being called Monster Hunter XX; the international releases once again resort to Word Sequel (Generations and Generations Ultimate respectively). From Monster Hunter: World onward, Word Sequel supersedes this trope worldwide for the series.
  • Monster Hunter Frontier Z got its name for having the Z Rank, itself placed even higher than the already difficult G Rank.
• Played with in Mortal Kombat X. It's the tenth mainline game in the series, but the X is always pronounced as the letter X (with the "X" also meaning "next", both in the sense of the game being available on then-next gen consoles and the story focusing in part on a new generation of characters). It was also preceded by a title that wasn't numbered and succeeded by a title that was numbered.
• The successor of Nintendo console Wii, the Wii U. The U stands for "You", in analogy to Wii standing to "We".
• Pokémon:
  • The titles of the Generation VI games departed from the previous themes of colors and/or precious materials (Red/Blue, Gold/Silver, Ruby/Sapphire, Diamond/Pearl, Black/White), instead going with Pokémon X and Y.
  • There is also Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, the sequel to Pokémon Colosseum. Officially, the "XD" stands◊ for "Extra Dimension."
  • While not a sequel, In-Universe, Porygon evolves into Porygon2, which then evolves into Porygon-Z rather than Porygon3.
  • In-Universe, certain Pokémon with Mega Evolutions introduced in X/Y have two possible forms, one bearing the letter of each version. For example, Charizard can evolve into Mega Charizard X or Mega Charizard Y.
• A sequel to Super Bomberman (in name alone), the first Bomberman game since 2010 was named Super Bomberman R.
• Super Robot Wars:
  • As a Massive Multiplayer Crossover, SRW gives a nod to the franchise series it's based on by using their cool letter naming convention in nearly all of their games, such as Super Robot Wars Z, Super Robot Wars EX, Super Robot Wars W, Super Robot Wars K, Super Robot Wars L, Super Robot Wars GC (and XO), Super Robot Wars MX, and Super Robot Wars UX.
  • In-Universe itself, the original super robo is named Super Robot X.
• In Japan, Super Smash Bros. is known as Great Melee Smash Brothers. The sequels, Melee and Brawl, are known respectively as Great Melee Smash Brothers DX and Great Melee Smash Brothers X (DX stands for Deluxe). Subsequent installments avert this trope in favor of Super Title 64 Advance (for Nintendo 3DS and for Nintendo Wii U, just like the international versions) and Word Sequel (Special, again like the international versions which use Ultimate) respectively.
• The Tenchu game exclusive for the Xbox 360 known as Tenchu: Senran was localized into Tenchu Z, apparently because it sounded cooler.
• Wangan Midnight:
  • The original Wangan Midnight was followed by Wangan Midnight R, which makes hidden cars available, and makes challenge even more difficult.
  • Maximum Tune 3 was followed by WMMT 3 DX, which added a few new cars, one new song, a new course, and 20 more stages (as if 80 wasn't enough!). And then came WMMT 3 DX Plus, which added yet another course, more cars and four new songs (two of which were remixes).
  • Maximum Tune 5 had two region-specific versions with regional-exclusive features not available in each other. WMMT 5 DX addressed this issue by bringing back region-exclusive features from each other.
• Warriors Orochi, pictured above, goes with a rather odd route: Warriors Orochi 2, the Japan-only Warriors Orochi Z, and then Warriors Orochi 3. This didn't exist with the Japanese versions as the second game is actually an updated port with a Word Sequel title (Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin) while Z is a Compilation Re-release of the first two games. As such, this puts the series in a similar situation as Dynasty Warriors, with the mainline Japanese releases being one number behind that of their Western counterparts (i.e. Warriors Orochi 3 is Musou Orochi 2, Warriors Orochi 4 is Musou Orochi 3, etc.).
• The thematic sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles 1 is called Xenoblade Chronicles X (the X stands for Cross).
• Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z is a zombie-slashing spin-off of Ninja Gaiden.

Real Life

• Many Honda and Yamaha motorcycle lines love this, such as Honda Supra◊ (manufactured in 1997) into Honda Supra X◊ (manufactured in 1999), and also Supra XX for its manual version and Yamaha Jupiter◊ (manufactured in 2001) into Yamaha Jupiter Z◊ (in 2003).
• The early lines of Mac computers:
  • The original Macintosh was replaced with (among others) the Macintosh XL and the Macintosh SE.
  • The Macintosh II spawned the Macintosh IIx, IIcx, IIci, IIfx, IIsi, IIvi, and IIvx. The letters didn't carry that much meaning.
• Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft has Windows Me, wherein "Me" stands for Millennium Edition. It's the last of the MS-DOS based Windows 9x line of operating systems, where the names were appended with the release year instead (1995 and 1998 respectively).
  • The next ones were the Windows NT line, wherein NT stands for the Intel i860's codename, N10. It was later expanded to mean "New Technology" for marketing purposes.
  • The last is Windows XP, wherein "XP" is a shortening of the word "experience" so as to highlight it's enhanced (at least in comparison to the more business/company oriented Windows 9x line of operating systems) user experience.
• Sony Xperia smartphone series have Xperia S, Xperia U, Xperia P, Xperia SL, Xperia T, Xperia TX, Xperia J, Xperia V, Xperia L, Xperia E, Xperia C, Xperia M, and the best among them, of course, Sony Xperia Z.

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