Lucky Charms Title - Television Tropes & Idioms

Just... ignore the Ship Teasing Subtext and concentrate on the little star, okay?

"The first challenge one confronts with Face/Off is the curious, I might even say misplaced, "forward slash" in the title. Are "Face" and "Off" separate talents on the title's resumé?"
— Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese

There are many ways to name something, but if you're looking to add a bit of variety, why not throw some symbols into it in place of letters? This comes in two varieties. The first kind, extremely present in anime and the songs within it, is adding meaningless symbols into the title. These symbols can give the show its own identity, but since you can't exactly pronounce a symbol, they just end up being there for decoration. Hearts and stars are especially common, much like the marshmallows in a bowl of Lucky Charms. These usually end up being removed when the title is brought over to the West. One is tempted to count in tildes (~), which are ridiculously common in Japanese titles, but these actually serve a function—the same function that a dash or colon would serve in a Western title (and as such tildes are often simply changed to colons for the Western release).

The first variety, unless you're the sort that compulsively downloads character sets, may end up looking very, very strange when it pops up in a Web browser that doesn't fully support Unicode.

The second variety is common in the West. Instead of writing actual letters, replace them with numbers. Of course, this practice is just as common as part of "133t-speak" on the Internet, so the implications of it may vary, from looking cool to just looking silly. It can sometimes be used to make a political point, especially by using $ in place of S; examples of this are best left as an exer¢i$e for the reader.

May include a Heart Symbol. Apply this to speech, and you get Say It With Hearts. Letters 2 Numbers is a sister trope.

Examples:

Series Titles with Symbols

Lucky☆Star
Yotsuba&!
- Only translations have an ampersand, though - and you can pronounce it.
Kujibiki♥Unbalance. The remake series does this to distinguish itself from the original. In fact, the Genshiken characters, when they refer to this series, actually pronounce the heart, calling it "Kujibiki Heart Unbalance".
UG♥Ultimate Girls
Excel♥Saga
Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash ☆ Star
M*A*S*H.
The dollar sign ($) in place of an S seems to be popular:
- The $treet
- The 1970s series Vega$
- The 1990s series Arli$$
- There actually was a movie titled just $.
- The multi-national Game Show $ale of the Century did this everywhere except the United Kingdom after Reg Grundy acquired the format. The original NBC daytime series, with Jack Kelly and later Joe Garagiola, rendered its title $ale of the ¢entury.
- And then there's Ri¢hie Ri¢h.
- The Marty Feldman vehicle In God We Tru$t
- How to Beat the High Co$t of Living
- The Simpsons episode "$pringfield"
- Ca$h Cab. Though only in the American version.
- $crooge Mc Duck comics.
- Stan Freberg's "Green Chri$tma$." ("Christmas has two S's in it, and they're both dollar signs!")
Metal Gear Ac!d. The sequel was Metal Gear Ac!d².
The movie "I ♥ Huckabees", where the ♥ is pronounced "heart".
Commercials for the TV show "Dirt" render the title as D!rt
[●REC]
Penguin Musume♥Heart
We ♥ Katamari, in which the heart is pronounced "love".
- Not to mention that the game includes a song titled "DISCO ☆ PRINCE"
×××HOLiC The 'xxx' is silent, being replaced by whatever addiction the current episode is about. Whether you pronounce it correctly as "Holic" or more clearly as "Triple X-holic" is your choice.
Hunter X Hunter (as in xxxHolic, the X is silent; it's just "Hunter Hunter".)
.hack//, which is pronounced "dot-hack," just like "dot-com" which is what the title is supposed to be invoking. The title logo on the majority of .hack media has the "dot" as a 6 sided shape with the word "DOT" clearly written in it in roman letters (in both English and Japanese logos) makes it clear what the intended pronunciation is. The party in the first set of games being called "The Dot Hackers" by other characters in the meta-series reinforces it.
Hλlf-Life The symbol is a "lambda" which is the scientific symbol for a substance's half-life. Which means it should correctly be pronounced "hhalf-lifealf-life". Pronouncing the original Greek letter would yield "Hllf-life." Once again, Rule Of Cool trumps the rules of spelling.
φnal Approach (Final Approach - the Greek letter is a phi)
Koihime†Musou
Blue Dragon RalΩGrad
Transformers is an odd case. In some cases it is spelled Trans * Formers, where the * is either faction's symbol. Then there was the Japanese-only Headmasters, whose full title is Transformers: The★Headmasters (or, rather, トランスフォーマーザ★ヘッドマスターズ)
Gun X Sword (as in xxxHolic, the X is silent; it's just "Gun Sword".)
Lovely★Complex, which is the full name of the official title, Love★Com.
Uta∽Kata
Candy☆Boy
Rosario+Vampire, where the "+" is actually the word "and".
- Except it isn't, because the title is "Rosario To Vampire".
  - Except it is, because "to" is the Japanese word for "and".
∀ Gundam, usually pronounced "Turn A Gundam". The ∀ is a mathematical symbol meaning "For all" (in the sense of "The following applies to every member in the set").
The "A"s in "Stargate" are always rendered in the show's titles as the Ancient symbol "At" (A symbol resembling the Greek letter Λ crowned by a small circle).
- Until the first one changes back to a plain ol' A.
GRΣΣK. Yes, Sigmas rather than Epsilons. No one said frats were smart.
- GRSSK?
- The really annoying thing is, "Grεεk" would look just as foreign, as well as being right...
The Anime/Manga S-cry-ed is a good example. There does not seem to be any reason why the dashes are there, This Troper's not even sure if they're there in the original Japanese. This leads to most Americans pronouncing it "ess(pause)cry(pause)ed" However, the Japanese announcer voice in the anime simply calls it "Scryedu"
Maria†Holic
Parodied by Renkin 3-kyuu Magical?Pokaan, where the question mark is supposed to be a symbol that failed to render properly.
Kamen Rider AgitΩ The Omega is pronounced like an "O".
Princess Princess + which is pronounced as "Princess Princess Plus".
Fate/stay Night
One Piece has a skull and crossbones in the O, a silhouette of Luffy in place of the I, and an anchor for the last E. An early volume's Q&A segment features a Japanese reader referring to the series as "NE PECE," which the author said was very common at the time.
Chaos;Head — the first a also sports umlauts in the series logo.
The Japanese version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is titled "Quiz $ Millionaire" (クイズ$ミリオネア)
Ojamajo Doremi# (generally pronounced "Ojamajo Doremi Sharp")
A new level in Lucky Charms Title has been reached by Hidamari Sketch. Its third season is titled Hidamari Sketch x☆☆☆, pronounced "Hoshimittsu" or "Three Stars".
+Anima is actually pronounced Plus-Anima.
Black☆Star from Soul Eater always has his name like that, and the title of the show has Soul's logo between "Soul" and "Eater."

Music

80s J-pop band TOM☆CAT
The OP and ED songs for the Shinigami No Ballad anime were provided by a singer called K○Y.
Hello! Project examples:
- Athena & Robbikerottsu: Honkimekimeki♡Tokimekimeki, Yuugure☆Sherbert.
- Buono!: Renai♥Rider, Muteki no ∞ Power.
- Berryz Koubou: Sakura→Nyuugakushiki.
- ℃-ute: Tsuugaku Vector ☂, ★Akogare My STAR★, Suiiitsu→→→Live.
- Country: Onna no Ko no Torishirabe Time♥.
- GAM: Icha♡Icha Summer.
- Heike Michiyo: L♡M→Baby, Star★Man.
- Kirarin☆Revolution: Happy☆Happy Sunday, Happy☆彡, Hatten×Joy, Love da yo☆Darling, Koi☆ka na, group Kira☆Pika, Kirarin☆Land, ☆☆☆.
- Matsuura Aya: ♡Momoiro Kataomoi♡, Zettai Tokeru Mondai X = ♡, ○○ -Joshikousei no Shuchou-, ×3
- Minimoni: Gyutto Dakishimete <FOREVER>.
- Morning Musume: The☆Peace!, Yuki / Ai x Anata ≥ Suki, Hare Ame Nochi Suki♡, Tomodachi(♀)ga Ki ni Haitteiru Otoko kara no Dengon, "Suki da yo...", "Suggoi Nakama", "Sugoku Suki na no ni.. ne".
- Odoru♡11, Happy♡7.
- Satoda Mai to Fujioka Fujimaki: Ojisamatte Daisuki!♪
- SI☆NA.
- S/mile♡ge.
- Viyuden: Issai Gassai Anata ni∮A•ge•ru♪, Koisuru♡Angel♡Heart.
- Producer Tsunku's name is written as つんく♂.
- Hello Project also like using the 〜 symbol. These songs include:
  - Abe Natsum I: Too Far Away ~Onna no Kokoro~, 25 ~Vint-sinq~.
  - Berryz Koubou: Yume wo Hitotsubu ~Berryz Kamen Ending Theme~, Happiness ~Koufuku Kangei!~, Joshi Basket-bu ~Asaren Atta Hi no Kamigata~, Nicchoku ~Geinoujin no Kaiwa~.
  - Buono!: Shoushitsuten ~Vanishing Point~.
  - Country Musume: Iroppoi Onna ~Sexy Baby~, Senpai ~LOVE AGAIN~.
  - Ecomoni: HELP!! ~Ecomoni. no Acchii Chikyuu wo Samasundaa.~
  - GAM: Junketsu ~Only~.
  - Goto Maki: ALL MY LOVE ~22seki~.
  - Iida Kaori: pretty much half of her discography,
  - Maeda Yuki: Gwenchana ~Daijoubu~.
  - Matsuura Aya: From That Sky ~Kaedama wa Katamen de~, YOUR SONG ~Seishun Sensei~, Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS~,
  - Melon Kinenbi: THE Nimaime ~ON MY WAY~
  - Minimoni: Rock n' Roll Kenchoushozaichi ~Oboechaina Series!~.
  - Morning Musume: Sotsugyou Ryokou ~Morning Musume Tabidatsu Hito ni Okuru Uta~, SEXY BOY ~Soyokaze ni Yorisotte~, Say Yeah! ~Motto Miracle Night~, Mr. Moonlight ~Ai no Big Band~, HELLO TO YOU ~Hello! Project 10nen Kinen Theme~, HOW DO YOU LIEK JAPAN ~Nihon wa Donna Kanji Dekka?~, Chokkan ~Toki to shite Koi wa~, Chokkan 2 ~Nogishita Sakana wa Ookii zo!~, Roman ~MY DEAR BOY~, Samui kara Fuyu da mon! ~Doumoukoumonaissu yo, Mikitty~, Kotatsu no Uta ~jyuken story~, Go Girl ~Koi no Victory~, Megami ~Mousse na Yasashisa~, Yuujou ~Kokoro no Busu ni wa Naranee!~, Ai no Sono ~Touch My Heart!.
  - Nakazawa Yuko: Shinki Itten ~CHANING THE MIND~.
  - Ongaku Gatas: DREAMIN' ~Gatas Brillhantes H.P. no Ouenka~.
  - ROMANS: SEXY NIGHT ~Wasurarenai Kare~.
  - Shekidol: Ai wa Muteki ~Hatachi no Yoru no Chikai~.
  - T&C BOMBER: ENDLESS LOVE ~I Love You More~, Matayacchata ~Shibuya de ALL no Hi~.
  - W: Dakishimete ~Nikki Tsuki~, 18 ~My Happy Birthday Comes~.
  - Viyuden: Bi ~Hit Parade~, Ai ~Suite Room~, Aijou ~Aki no Sora to Watashi no Kokoro~.
The band ¡Forward, Russia!. Even stranger is the other way of writing their name, ¡FФЯWДЯD, RUSSIД!, which might be transliterated as "¡FFYAWDYAD, RUSSID!"
Futari Wa Pretty Cure Splash Star OP — "Makasete★Splash☆Star★"
- The ending theme for Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Go Go! has some ☆s in its lyrics, as Karen and Kurumi are so kindly demonstrating for us up at the top.
- In Fresh Pretty Cure, the lyrics for the second ending have some (^^)s thrown in, as does a song from the first Vocal Album.
Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, Rena's Image Song, "Egao Happy Peace♪"
- Same with Inoue Orihime's Image Song, "La La La♪".
- Higurashi also gives us "Sukisuki ∞ Nii Nii" for Satoko.
- When They Cry in general, some of the letters in the title are red.
Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome have this in spades. Both series' first opening theme has a star in it ("Shining☆Days" and "Dream☆Wing", respectively), and these titles are shared by the final episodes. In fact, the working title for Mai-Otome (舞-乙HiME) was 舞☆MAiD.
- The title 舞-乙HiME counts too, since 乙HiME is meant to be pronounced "otome," which would normally be spelled 乙女.
The opening theme for Tokyo Mew Mew has the ☆ as part of its kanji lyrics.
- As does the ending theme of Yes Precure 5 GoGo.
The opening theme for Lucky Star has a ♥ in it.
Usopp's first Image Song is titled "Usopp☆Drop".
One song by J-pop group Plus-Tech Squeeze Box is simply titled "☆".
There's a Thelma Aoyama B-side called I☆You - pronounced in the lyrics as "I Star You".
One of this troper's favorite Porno Graffitti songs is entitled World☆Saturday Graffitti. The album version is World☆Saturday Graffitti (★★★).
The Dance Dance Revolution series has one song whose instrumental version is called "Candy☆", and whose vocal version is titled "Candy♥".
- Konami has a lot of fun with this elsewhere in the Bemani series: "Happy☆Angel", "Sweet Sweet ♥ Magic", "Love ♥ Shine", "Love Sugar→♥", "Stars★★★"... Need I mention "Magic Door (Theme of SPACE(Saturn)MACO"?
  - It's ♥ Love² Sugar → ♥, actually.
- Be For U has a song titled Peace (^^)v
- Also, the artist Ryutaro Nakahara goes by Ryu☆
Gravure idol Yuka Kosaka's debut mini-album is titled Ero♥Puri★Trance ~Yuka-chin Mahou wo Kakechauzo~.
The second opening to Hayate The Combat Butler is called Shichiten Hakki ☆ Shijōshugi!
- And it has a (O_O;) in its kanji lyrics!
The band !!! (pronounced "chk chk chk"). Yes, that's the whole band name.
Groove☆Master, Sumomo's Image Song from Chobits (ft. Shinbo).
And Bass Hunter has an album titled LOL <(^^,)>
French house group Justice has an album titled †. (It's pronounced "cross".)
The group Hear'Say. Another reason to hate these talent competition reality shows...
Led Zeppelin's fourth album. The cover has no title, and the label has four symbols where the title would be, one representing each band member. Since no one can actually pronounce or write those symbols (apart from Jimmy Page's which resembles "Zoso"), it's mostly called Led Zeppelin IV.
One of German industrial band KMFDM's albums has a title consisting of a burst, a skull-and-crossbones, a bomb, a spiral, and a banging fist. It's universally called Symbols.
The Icelandic post-rock group Sigur Rós has an album entitled ( ), usually referred to as "The Bracket Album." (Despite the fact that they are actually parentheses, not brackets.)
American indie-rockers stellastarr*
Sunn O))) — they named themselves after the logo of their preferred brand of amps. (On the logo the O))) looks more like a circle with soundwaves coming from it.)
missmishi at 208.27.111.121 wonders how have we gone on this long without mentioning N*SYNC.
- Or AC/DC?
- →↑→ or "Tich Tich Tich" were an Australian Underground group of the late 1970s that used this.
- Maybe it should be in Names with Symbols below. And next time, just say This Troper.
  - Also, fixed. "I wonder" does not a question make.
Prince's album and film Sign '☮' the Times.
- And his old name.◊
Ministry's ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ, also known as "Psalm 69."
In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Minako has song (both in and out of universe) called Kiss² Bang ². Much like the lyrics state it's meant to be pronounced "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"
The OP single for Kanamemo has a second song titled Wake Me Up (^_-)b!
Bob Dylan's song "Love - 0 / No Limit". The title is meant to be expressed as a mathematical problem, pronounced "Love minus zero divided by no limit". The quotient, according to Dylan, is "absolutely unlimited love".
Irish girl group B*Witched.
Japanese speedcore duo DJ Sharpnel's albums UG☆Psyclone and Running★★★All Night!!
- The latter album also features a Lucky Star remix titled LITTLE GOD CH@NNEL.
Hero/Heroine by Boys Like Girls.
Citizen/Soldier by 3 Doors Down (although, being about the U.S. National Guard, it is appropriate).
Japanese pop/rock band High and Mighty Color entitled their debut album G∞VER. After some confusion as to how to translate that (Pandora typed it out as "Goover" at one point,) The Other Wiki stepped in and stated that it's supposed to be "Go Over." Songs on the album include the title track (G∞VER) and RUN☆RUN☆RUN.

Numbers In Place of Letters

The video Game Driv3r.
Se7en, which arguably brought the whole 133t-speek numbers/letters deal into the mainstream. Damn it.
- Older Than They Think: Austin division's version of the Mini was originally called "Austin Se7en"
  - An early internal name for the successor to Windows Vista was Windows Se7en. In a rare moment of intelligence, Microsoft simplified it to simply Windows 7 by the time the official announcement came around.
NUMB3RS
The film Murd3r 8y Num8ers.
Thir13en Ghosts, the modern remake of William Castle's Thirteen Ghosts.
S1m0ne, which actually makes sense, as the titular computer-generated Idol Singer's name is derived from the phrase "Simulation One".
L4yer C4ke
The boyband 5ive.
- The Jackson 5ive sometimes used this one first.
The Avril Lavigne song Sk8er Boi.
Many Prince songs. (I Would Die 4 U, When 2 R in Love, etc.)
Roman numeral example: Menace Ⅱ Society.
Does the punny acronym title of Men In Black's sequel, MIIB, count?
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
Lucky Number S7evin, although to convey this properly I'd have to find a way to flip the 7 upside-down. And, yes, it's upside down because it's standing in for an "L".
Thr3e
Quoth Tom Lehrer: "I am reminded at this point of a fellow I used to know who's name was Henry, only to give you an idea of what an individualist he was he spelled it HEN3RY. The 3 was silent, you see."
Left 4 Dead
- In The Stinger of Yahtzee's review of the above, he derides this trope with "There's a special circle of hell 4 people who replace words with numbers"
TR2N
The recently announced Thi4f
- Shortly after the announcment of the above, John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun spoofed this on these photoshop jobs.
All sen10r classes of 2010. You know who you are.
Bandslam, which featured Sa7m.
SURV1V3 by Jonathan Underdown, one of the soundtracks from Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (though this troper is uncertain if it's officially spelled that way as he's only seen such usage in the internet and has not yet come across the track on any official OST/album)

Names with Symbols

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations features the Phantom Thief Mask☆DeMasque. The fandom has recently come to a consensus that the star is "pronounced" by pausing and making a "jazz hands" gesture. Interestingly, the ☆ was added in the American release; the Japanese name of the character was "Kamen Mask", "Kamen" being Japanese for "Mask".
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney has the following exchange:
  Trucy: When I sign my name, I always put in a little diamond! "Trucy ♦ Wright" See? Cute, don'tcha think?
  Apollo: It's a little confusing. Won't people think your middle name is diamond?
  Trucy: Hey! You could write your name like "Apollo = Justice"!
  Apollo: I do like justice, but that's taking it a bit far.
Excel Saga's opening theme tune is sung by the Excel♥Girls, played by the seiyuu duo of Yumiko Kobayashi and Mikako Takahashi.
The singer P!nk.
The star spirit Geno in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. When asked for his name answers "♥♪!?" but tells you to call it Geno after the doll it is possessing.
Black☆Star in Soul Eater, another one with the star being part of their name.
The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (now The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known as Prince).
- I thought he was now Prince The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Prince?
B*Witched.
In Snow Crash, the hacker named Da5id.
In The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester, several characters spell their names with symbols. Examples: Dr. Wyg& (pronounced Wygand), @kins.
The seminal Cyber Punk novel Neuromancer gave us Lady 3Jane, a clone daughter of the founding fathers of the artificial satellite that the story takes place on.
Author Jennifer 8. Lee. Yes, her middle name is the numeral 8, with a period after.
Black★Rock Shooter, a fanmade Vocaloid character spun off from Hatsune Miku's song of the same name.
KoЯn

Other

$cientology, used as a slight against said institution.
Likewise, the slur Micro$oft.
- Although this troper has seen an alternative explanation of the abbreviation M$, alluding to the fact that Microsoft's first product was a Basic interpreter.
- The abbreviated form M$ft may have been suggested instead by the occasional Windows system error messages that begin "$Mft is corrupt..." (these actually refer to a Master File Table).
- More recently, Appl€ has appeared as a slight against the company that makes iPods.
- Also NA$CAR.
- And $tarbuck$
- Di$ney
- 4Kid$
- The Objectivist student organization at this troper's college sometimes places a $ inside the capital O in their group's name on posters.
When Advanced Dungeons And Dragons was the monster that all the small role-playing game companies contended with, it was common to refer to the company that owned it as T$R.
- And then there's the latest Dn D edition, known as "$e". This was originally a typo, but has since reached a full-blown meme.
- See also Game$ Work$hop
The now-defunct British satellite channel L!ve TV.
The red "Na" in Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni is officially part of the title.
- The official dub calls it When They Cry.
- Higurashi Daybreak by Tasogare Frontier: The b is officially off-color, although the color depends on the material - if the rest of the text is white, the b is normally black, but if the rest of the text is black, the b is red. Spelled in Japanese, the "bu" (ブ) is treated the same way.
The novel Vampire$ by John Steakley. The film adaptation, John Carpenter's Vampires, eliminates the dollar sign and therefore misses the entire point.
- Sadly, recent editions of the book itself have followed suit, dropping the $ to tie in better with the movie, even thought he company the book is named after is still unchanged. Very sad.
The revisions to Guilty Gear XX generally had strange names: "Guilty Gear XX ♯Reload" (pronounced "Sharp Reload"), "Guilty Gear XX/" ("Slash") and "Guilty Gear XX Λ Core" ("Accent Core"). Even the "XX" part of the title is actually pronounced "Igzex".
Sony's U R Not e ads for the Playstation.
Parodied in The Middleman with the super-addictive !!!!. Yes the drink is called !!!!. It is pronounced by stamping your foot and doing jazz hands.
There's a Lost episode called "?" This refers to something specific in the plot, but was also so named in tribute to the episode's intended director, Darren Aronofsky, who directed the movie π (that's Pi, of course). Aronofsky had to bow out of the episode, but the title remained.
The computer programming languages C++ ("see plus", you only pronounce one plus since it's actually a Genius Bonus of sorts; "++" means "+" so C++ means "C plus 1" within it and its predecessor "C") and C# ("see sharp", despite actually using a pound sign, which is subtly different from a musical sharp symbol, which has led to its nickname "D flat", or Db)
- Well, "see octothorpe" doesn't roll off the tongue.
TETЯIS, of course.
And Toys 'Я' Us
The Famous, (and often parodied) I ♥ NY T-shirts
- Leading to the infamous I ✈ NY shirt
  - And plenty of other X ♥ Y merchandise as well. Sometimes parodied with other playing card suits, as in I ♠ My Cat or I ♣ Baby Seals.
House of Leaves.
While presumably pronounced "slant," the science fiction novel / is somewhat disorientingly titled, particularly since it's uncertain that is the title unless you look at the copyright page (which for clarity's sake describes the situation rather than simply putting a / on the page.)
The Bittorrent client "μTorrent", which we're supposed to pronounce "uTorrent". Geek options: muTorrent for the linguistics geek; microTorrent for the science geek.

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