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  • Washimi/Eaglette from Aggressive Retsuko is a secretarybird, not an eagle (washi in Japanese). This is likely due to the Japanese word for secretarybird being "hebikuiwashi" (literally "snake-eating eagle").
  • Attack on Titan sounds more like an assault on the largest moon of Saturn than a conflict with multiple giant monsters called Titans. The series could be more accurately named as Attack of the Titans. Its Japanese name, Shingeki no Kyojin, literally means "Advancing Giants", which is a much more indicative and fitting title. It turns out that the Japanese title is the official name of the Rogue Titan, referred to in English as the Attack Titan but more accurately as the Charging Titan, or Vanguard Titan. Later subverted as Eren attacks the world with his Founding Titan and the Wall Titans, meaning the title was indeed justified.
  • Azumanga Daioh:
    • Mentioned in this exchange:
      Osaka: Okay, so, you know how we write "dolphins" as "sea pig"?
      Sakaki: Uh-huh.
      Osaka: But we use the same character for "pig" in "river pig" and somehow it comes out as "puffer fish", but they live in the sea.
    • Osaka herself is an example; she doesn't really fit the Osakan stereotype, and isn't even originally from Osaka, but Tomo decided to give her the nickname, and it stuck.
  • Bleach: No relation to the cleaning product. The name apparently arose from some odd, backwards word-association on the part of Tite Kubo: his original concept was calling the manga "Black", since most of the characters wear black uniforms, but then he swapped to calling it "White" after he realized the name was too unoriginal, at which he then went for the name "Bleach", because bleach makes things white. It could broadly refer to the concept of soul purification, though that faded into the background after the initial arc.
    • Starrk has the theme and appearance of a cowboy gunslinger. Despite his name being Coyote Starrk, his Animal Motif is the wolf. His background is that of a lone wolf who desperately wants to be part of the pack and his power, Los Lobos ("The Wolves"), allows him to split his souls into both companions and an entire pack of soul wolf weapons.
    • "Gerifalte" is Spanish for "gyrfalcon" but Patros's true form barely looks like one.
    • Jabalì supposedly means "boar". Aldegor's anything but boar-like.
  • Marie Itami from BNA: Brand New Animal may be a mink, NOT a weasel, but her surname, which seems to be derived from "itachi" (Japanese for "weasel") probably isn't helping matters.
  • Pointed out in Cells at Work! about Mast Cell's other name "Fat Cell", as per Truth in Television.
  • The one thing the titular group in the Chronicles of the Going Home Club does not do is actually return home, especially since the title comes from a slang term for students not enrolled into a Japanese School Club.
  • Detroit Metal City doesn't take place in Detroit and has nothing to do with the metallurgy industry. The title is the name of the in-universe metal band that is a Darker and Edgier version of KISS (based on the Detroit Rock City song of the latter).
  • Digimon:
    • There is a species called "Flymon" even though they're really closer to bees. In fairness, they do, in fact, fly.
      • Flymon's name comes from the Bombylius major or Bee-fly which is what the Pok´mon Cutiefly and Ribombee are named after.
      • Making it more complicated, there is also a Digimon species called "Flybeemon", which is entirely red and more warrior-like, compared to Flymon or other bee Digimon like "Honeybeemon" and "Funbeemon".
    • Gigadramon sounds like it's an upgrade over Megadramon, even its bio mentioned that Gigadramon is a further modified Megadramon. However, they are actually at the same level (Ultimate/Perfect), as a result, games often put them at roughly the same strength, meaning their only difference are color and attack name.
  • Doraemon: Occurs in "Soap Bubbles". The Soap Bubble Straw is a pipe or a bottle, not a straw. The Spanish dub avoids this trope by calling it the Soap Bubble Machine.
  • Dr. STONE reboot: Byakuya is not a Continuity Reboot of Dr. STONE, but rather, a spinoff.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Nobody in Frieza's (Japanese names: Freezer, Cooler, King Cold, etc.) family have any power over ice.
    • Android 17, Android 18 & Android 20 are actually Cyborgs. This one is because the Japanese name for all the "Androids" translates into English as the rather generic "artificial human", which covers actual robots such as Androids 8 and 19 as well as humans turned cyborgs like the aforementioned 17, 18 and 20; about the only way in Japanese to unambiguously distinguish between androids and cyborgs without resorting to neologism is to use loanwords (i.e. andoroido and saiboogu).
      • Curiously, some translations refer to them as C-17, C-18 and so on, with the C standing in for Cyborg, inverting the situation from above.
    • Gohan at the time of the Cell Games is usually referred to as "Teen Gohan", despite having been eleven at the time. This is mostly for the sake of distinguishing him from his prior appearances (Kid Gohan, when he was 5-10 years old) and his later appearances (Adult Gohan, when he was in his mid-late teens or adulthood). Presumably, "Adolescent/Preteen Gohan" was too wordy.
    • Thanks to Dub Name Change, Vegeta under the "control" of Babidi is given the name Majin Vegeta, after Majin Buu who has the same M on his belt as those under Babidi's control. "Majin" translates to magic/satanic human, and while Vegeta is notably extremely evil in this state, he isn't satanic nor magic. Further, other characters under Babidi's control such as Dabura, Spopovich and Yakon aren't given this moniker at all. In Japan Majin Vegeta is typically called Prince of Destruction Vegeta, however this is becoming less common as the English names become more commonly used by Japanese fans.
    • Akira Toriyama seemed to be very fond of this in general. The Ginyu Force are named after dairy products, but have nothing to do with diary products. The Saiyans are named after vegetables, but have nothing to do with vegetables. Piccolo and his henchmen are named after musical instruments, but have nothing to do with musical instruments, which was actually lampshaded.
  • The Snipers in EL, who don't ever appear to do any actual sniping in the OVAs, and in fact mostly just use pistols while running around and doing ordinary police work. Though it's possible that The Serial Rapists, while more accurate, wouldn't have gone over as well with the public.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • Alphonse is indeed an alchemist who is fully made of metal, but the title is in reference to his brother Edward, who has only one automail arm and leg. This is lampshaded via an early Running Gag where people assume Alphonse is the Fullmetal Alchemist and Ed is his sidekick, much to Ed's annoyance.
    • Less apparent in English, but the Japanese term for alchemy in Fullmetal Alchemist literally means "the art of gold transmutation", which is (almost) never done throughout the series, due to it being illegal to prevent economic chaos.
    • It's noted in the series that although the Philosopher's Stone is referred to as, well, a stone, they can come in a variety of forms, including a viscous liquid, a powder, or even as a living human being. They also aren't composed of any sort of natural mineral, but are actually created from condensed mass human souls.
  • Gangsta. itself. The name often refers to Gangbangers, yet the criminal organizations in the manga could more accurately be described as a cross between The Mafia and Yakuza.
  • Girl Detective Club is an 80s anime where, as this video shows, there's no detective work whatsoever and the three main characters are not taking part in any clubs. At least they are girls, though.
  • The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody, except his new parents (and his Childhood Friend's father) are Famed In-Story Retired Badass heroes, already making him far from a "typical nobody" since birth, and that's not accounting for his Story-Breaker Power and knowledge from his Past-Life Memories.
  • Gundam
    • In Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, the DOTS/DODS Rifle is an upgraded Beam Rifle which adds... rifling, meaning that "beam rifle" is a non-indicative name.
    • Zaku Zaku Hour on SD Gundam Force, lasting barely five minutes per episode.
    • Mobile Suit Gundam has the Gouf, whose unique weapon is the heat rod; it's an electrified metal tentacle, not a super-heated rod weapon. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing has a different version that is a thermal weapon, but it's still a whip (made of segmented blades like a Whip Sword).
  • HeartCatch Pretty Cure! has Cure Blossom's first use of the "Blossom Butt Punch" attack. After knocking down the Monster of the Week with it, an incredulous Sasorina utters "She uses her butt, but it's a punch?!"
  • Hidamari Sketch: Yuno goes on a drunken rant on various misnomers.
    • For those still wondering about it, The Other Wiki has an article on goldfish and most of them are effectively not golden.
    • The bit about blue lights is a reference to the Japanese language. The lowest light's color is often called "ao", which is an old Japanese word that refers to any color from blue to green. They now have specific terms for blue ("ao") and green ("midori") and a lot of shades in between, but "ao" still can be a number of colors. In this case, she's complaining about using the word "ao" when "midori" would be more accurate.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Esidisi of Battle Tendency takes his name from AC/DC. His powers have nothing to do with electricity; instead, his signature ability is to raise his body temperature and give himself superheated blood.
    • Unlike the rest of the Stands of the Crusaders, whose names have the colors of their appearances in them (ie. Magician's Red, Hermit Purple, Silver Chariot), Jotaro Kujo's Star Platinum has appeared in shades of purple, green, and blue, but never platinum.
    • Stardust Crusaders features Tarot Motifs in its Stand names, and while the symbolic meaning of the Arcana is generally reflected by the Stand or the user, the literal meaning often seems to be contradicted.
      • Tower of Gray, Gray Fly's Stand, sounds like it would be some sort of tower, but it actually takes the form of a large stag beetle.
      • Lovers, Steely Dan's Stand, in both the context of its Tarot Motif and its literal name, sounds like it should be split into two halves, but the Stand is entirely one being.
      • In an invoked case, Team Pet Iggy uses the Stand, The Fool. In tarot terms, The Fool refers to unpredictability, but in literal terms, as Polnareff takes it, it would refer to an idiot, something that Iggy is anything but.
      • The Nine Glory Gods Stands barely even try to match their respective gods. Geb, named for the god of the earth, is an animated pool of water. Bastet, goddess of cats and protection, is an electrical outlet that causes a person who touches it to become magnetized. Sethan, god of violence and chaos? A shadow that makes you grow younger. Osiris, ruler of the underworld? Lets the user set up games where the loser loses their soul. Atum, god of creation? The same thing as Osiris, only it also lets the user telepathically detect the answers to yes-or-no questions. The only ones that match up even vaguely are Horus (the Stand of a falcon), Anubis (powers are nothing like what you'd expect, but the spirit of the Stand is clearly based on the usual depiction of him), Khnum (sculpted humanity from clay, Stand gives the user the ability to sculpt their face and change their appearance), and Tohth (god of writing and knowledge, is a comic book that lets the user predict events).
    • Diamond is Unbreakable:
      • Red Hot Chili Pepper, Akira Otoishi's Stand, is yellow in color, not red. Also, despite what its name suggests, it has the power of creating and controlling electricity, not fire (giving him the opposite problem to Esidisi). The dub averts this by removing "Red Hot" to avoid violating copyright.
      • As a complete opposite case to the previously mentioned Tower of Gray, Super Fly, Toyohiro Kanedaichi's Stand, takes the form of a transmission tower, rather than a bug like its name would imply.
    • Golden Wind: Diavolo's Stand King Crimson is frequently boasted to have the ability to eliminate or obliterate time. In reality it only eliminates the perception of time for everyone except Diavolo himself, allowing him to experience and move normally during the 0.5 to 10 seconds the ability is active while to everyone else time appears to have skipped forwards.
    • Steel Ball Run:
      • Whatever that thing Pork Pie Hat Kid is wearing on his head is, it is most definitely not a pork pie hat.
      • Despite it being her actual name, Hot Pants does not actually wear hot pants.
  • Kaiju Girl Caramelise: The Akaishi family has a pet dog named "Jumbo King." You'd think that he'd be some kind of Big Friendly Dog based on that, but he's actually a rather small dog resembling a corgi.
  • For a series called Kill la Kill, there is very little killing happening. There is a lot of murderous intent and a truckload of violence, but after a student is offed in the first episode's Cold Open, no more onscreen deaths occur until the next-to-last episode. The title is mainly Gratuitous English for the sake of a pun — in Japanese it can be read as something like "cut the clothing" which hints at the fact that the "Life Fibers" in Senketsu and other superpower-granting uniforms are evil alien lifeforms.
  • The name of Raising Heart in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha doesn't exactly describe the Staff / Boom Stick / spear the main character wields, especially since its design doesn't include any hearts at all. This is due to the name being an artifact from the original concept of Raising Heart as more traditional heart-shaped Magical Girl wand with wings. Adding to the problem was Nanoha's memetic fan reputation for heavy-ordnance fighting, so many fansubs assumed the weapon had the more appropriate name Raging Heart....
  • Monster Musume has Doppel, an Eldritch Abomination masquerading as a Cute Monster Girl. Her nickname (her actual name cannot be pronounced or understood by humans) implies she's a doppelgänger, but she's actually a shapeshifter. Doppelgänger are exact copies or look-alikes of a single person, while Doppel can turn into anyone, and possibly anything.
    • The killer bee species is actually closer to hornets.
  • The Mysterious Cities of Gold: The eponymous Cities of Gold are not made of gold, but orichalcum.
  • Naruto: A rather blatant example: Kabutowari is a hammer and axe linked by a cable. It's referred to as the "bluntsword" and counts as one of the Seven Swords of the Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
  • One Piece:
    • Pirate crews are often named after their captains, but more confusingly, sometimes named after a characteristic of the captain that not everyone in the crew shares. The main characters, the Straw Hat Pirates, are an example, as only Luffy, its captain, frequently wears a straw hat. Another example would be the Red-Haired Pirates, named after the captain's red hair (not everyone in the crew is a redhead). There are also pirate captains whose names are also normal words that can lead to incorrect assumptions about the crews, such as the Kid Pirates (not actually children, but run by Eustass Kid) and the Buggy Pirates (no relation to glitchiness or automobiles, but has Buggy the Clown as its leader).
    • The literal translation of "Mugiwara Kaizoku" (what Luffy's crew is called in Japanese) is "Straw Pirates", which is also this, as none of them are made of straw, or even strawmen in the metaphorical sense.
    • Even a couple of the Straw Hats have these as Artifact Titles. Roronoa Zoro is called the "Pirate Hunter", even though he is a pirate himself, because this is what he was known as back when he was still a bounty hunter, and apparently no one ever changed the nickname. Similarly, "The Devil Child" Nico Robin earned the nickname 22 years before the current storyline when she was an 8-year-old child, but this is still her moniker in the present day, even though she's now a 30-year-old woman after the Time Skip.
    • This is also a case of Lost in Translation; despite his title, Whitebeard only has a white mustache and no beard. This is because in Japanese, his title is Shirohige, where hige refers to all kinds of facial hair, beards and mustaches both. Then again, Whitebeard sounds cooler than Whitemustache, and works better as a pun on Blackbeard.
    • Crocodile is not a crocodile and has nothing to do with crocodiles (though he does keep a banana-gator as a pet). He's a human with the ability to turn into and manipulate sand.
    • Usopp's hometown, Syrup Village, has nothing to do with syrup.
    • Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line, isn't named like that because it's a breeze to sail through. It gets its name because the New World, the Grand Line's other half, is much more dangerous, to the point of making the already dangerous first half seem like a paradise in comparison.
    • Devil Fruit names tend to be rather straightforward, being a single word describing their power set repeated twice (plus "Model: [animal name]" if they're a Zoan). Robin's Flower Flower fruit on the other hand allows her to grow bodyparts on any surface within her field of view, with the only actual "flower" thing about them is the visual of petals spreading when she uses her powers.
    • Kaido's right-hand man is named King. Not only is he not a king but actually a subordinate, but he is also from a race known as the Lunarians, but as far as we know, they have nothing to do with the moon.
  • Persia, the Magic Fairy: Despite her name, Persia has no connection to the ancient kingdom of Persia (or it's modern equivalents of Iran and Afghanistan). She's ethnically Japanese but was brought up in Africa.
  • The Pokémon episode "Haunter vs. Kadabra" does not feature a fight between Haunter and Kadabra. Since Haunter is never owned by Satoshi/Ash, everytime he tries to send it in battle, it disappears. In the end, Pikachu battles Kadabra, then outside of the battlefield, Haunter reappears and makes Natsume/Sabrina laugh so hard, her Kadabra who is spiritually linked to her is unable to battle because it is rolling on the floor laughing.
    • Likewise, one episode of The Johto Journeys is called "Feraligatr vs Blastoise! Sumo Battle!!" in Japan...but said battle takes about a minute at most and the actual climatic battle is Snorlax against Feraligatr. The dub refers to it as "Ring Masters" instead.
  • In Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, despite the popular belief, Manaphy isn't technically royalty at all to begin with; many Humans call it "Prince of The Sea", likely because it was rare.
  • Princess Principal has two possible interpretations, neither of which is correct. It is not about a princess who is the principal of a school (though she does go to a school). Nor is it about a princess and her bodyguard—"principal" being a term for the person the guard is assigned to protect. Although Ange acts somewhat as a self-appointed bodyguard for the princess, the higher-ups try to make her kill the princess at one point. The intended meaning is that it centers on the agency's "principal team" of spies (why they are called principal is unclear; it's implied they're not particularly high-ranking), which includes a princess. It's nearly a Word Salad Title.
  • Since Puella Magi Madoka Magica translates to "Magical Girl Madoka Magica," you might be surprised to learn that Madoka is never a typical Magical Girl (excluding alternate timelines). Up until the last episode, she spends the series as a Muggle Best Friend debating whether or not to make a contract to become a Magical Girl, at which point she becomes a patron goddess of Magical Girls and/or Anthropomorphic Personification of hope.
    • There's also the fact that "puella magi" actually means something closer to the lines of "mage's girl" than "magical girl", but this sounds nonsensical and could easily be chalked up to poor translation. However, assuming that Kyubey can be at least loosely classified as a "mage", it is ironically a more fitting title than "Magical Girl Madoka".
    • The show's Monsters of the Week are called "Witches," but they're actually bizarre Eldritch Abominations which spread despair. The name makes a bit more sense when you learn that they were once Magical Girls.
  • The third segment of Robotech (based on Genesis Climber MOSPEADA) is also called Robotech: The New Generation. However, technically, the new generation actually started with the The Southern Cross Robotech Masters'; General Leonard's opening monologue explicitly stated how the defense of the Earth was now in the hands of a new generation. The name may have been saved for the third segment due to the focus on how the younger members of the returning expeditionary force had few memories of Earth, but had they been born on Earth, they would have been roughly of the same generation (minus a few years) that fought the Masters.
  • Robot × Laserbeam is actually a golf manga about a teenager nicknamed "Robot" by his classmates for being The Stoic and his signature swing, which sends the golf ball on such a straight path that onlookers call it "The Laserbeam." Aside from the guy's machinelike precision, it is completely mundane in its setting—there are no science fiction or fantasy elements whatsoever.
  • Tuxedo Mask of Sailor Moon technically does not actually wear a tuxedo; he wears white tie and tails, which is more formal. By definition, a tuxedo (or "dinner suit") has a black bow tie and a suit-style jacket rather than a tailcoat. And either way, it's not a mask.note  For the purposes of this series however, he is wearing a "tuxedo" and a "kamen/mask".
    • Sailor Pluto has an attack called "Dead Scream." While she does represent the planet named after the mythological King of the Dead, she initiates her attack by saying the phrase in a normal to low-volume voice. The first dub at least has her shout the attack’s name when she uses it, but it still isn’t screaming.
    • Similarly, Sailor Saturn has an attack called "Silence Wall." She does bear the title of "Soldier of Silence" and her weapon is called the "Silence Glaive", but she initiates her attack by screaming the phrase.
    • In addition, Sailor Pluto (namesake named after the god of the dead and underworld) has a time theme while Sailor Saturn (namesake named after the god of time) has a death/darkness theme.
  • The Samurai Pizza Cats fight more like (and in the original Japanese version, actually were) ninjas. Lampshaded A LOT in the dub.
  • School Rumble is described by FUNimation as "The absolute funniest show you'll ever see that's not about anything that rumbles... ever!", although admittedly there is at least a school...
  • Justin Law of Soul Eater has an attack named "Law Abiding Silver Gun", which is not a gun but a guillotine blade . The name makes no sense except as a Shout-Out to B.Ichi, which had a weapon of the same which was a gun.
  • Teekyuu focuses on a tennis club (teekyuu meaning "tennis") that does everything except actually play tennis. At least one character lampshades this.
  • The title of Thou Shalt Not Die comes of as a highly ironic title due to characters dropping like flies as well as the series creator's reputation.
  • The weapon names in Tokyo Mew Mew are usually at least straightforward puns, but the Mew Berry Rod is too small to be a rod and not intended to be used by Mew Berry. And what's the "tone" in Mew Mint's Mintonarrow supposed to mean?
    • And the StrawBellBell (or whatever) didn't even have a bell originally.
  • Toriko: One of the strange and dangerous locations visited is the Gourmet Pyramid. But when Zebra uses an echolocation technique, he finds that the name is misleading; The "pyramid" seen above ground is merely part of an absolutely, mind-boggingly MASSIVE palace buried deep under the sands. the "pyramid" is just the top portion of a single tower.
  • Transformers:
    • Transformers: Armada: The Star Sabre has nothing to do with stars. The Skyboom Shield neither flies nor goes 'boom'. The Requiem Blaster is very loud when fired. Who named these things? Admittedly, given that the Requiem Blaster is one of the most powerful weapons ever, its name is fitting at least in the sense that if you find yourself on the wrong side of it, you're probably going to get a requiem soon.
    • Some characters are named for features that later incarnations won't have. Armada Smokescreen doesn't have smoke (though he did once activate such a feature in the Autobots' base... something anyone could've done). Energon Sixshot doesn't have anything to do with the number six (the original Sixshot had six forms.) Cybertron Crosswise's name has nothing to do with him, though he is a 'monster hunter' and some monsters don't like crosses... but that's really stretching it. The first use of the name was with a guy in Transformers: Robots in Disguise who had a big X on his car hood. Cybertron Metroplex turns into a bucket-wheel excavator instead of a city. G1 Ramjet? An F-15, which doesn't use a ramjet—though he does literally ram other jets. The list goes on and on. Some of these are justified by Dub Name Change (Armada Smokescreen is Grap and Metroplex is Metro Convoy).
    • Unicron Trilogy Perceptor doesn't turn into a piece of optical equipment like his namesakes usually do, instead being a combiner whose components turn into a skateboard, a bicycle, and a moped (a hovercraft, motorcycle, and ATV in Energon and Cybertron). The only reason he's called that (and he's only called that in English, his Japanese names being "Bumble" in Armada and "Cliffjumper" in Energon) is because the person who engineered the toys that combine to form him also engineered the G1 Perceptor toy.
    • Armada and Energon Jetfire turn into space shuttles, not jets (though one could argue that rocket propulsion is a form of jet propulsion).
  • The warlocks in Tweeny Witches hardly use magic at all, save for a few very old outcasts.
  • For those not familiar with Yatterman, you see that girl on the left in this image? Her name isn't Yatterwoman, nor is it Yattergirl. She's known as Yatterman-2. It could be reasoned that the "man" in this case is short for "human", but it's still somewhat confusing.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • The title means "King of Games", and refers to Yami Yugi/Atem, who goes back to his own time at the end of the first series and hasn't been seen since (save a brief cameo in the Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions movie), yet the series is still called King of Games even though the King of Games isn't in it anymore.
    • Due to Depending on the Artist, lighting, and coloring issues, Blue-Eyes White Dragon can be anywhere from a very pale, pearlescent white with a blue tint, to a shiny light blue with white highlights, to flat-out matte blue in some of the uglier episodes.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds:
      • Team 5D's is named after the five Signer Dragons, but has seven members. It does not help that there are six Signer Dragons (although it were originally five prior to Executive Meddling).
      • Jack's Evil Knockoff has three copies of Red Daemon's Dragon. However, none of them are red like the original.
  • Yuri!!! on Ice is about gay men, not gay women. The men are both named Yuri though.
  • Weekly Shonen Sunday, released every Wednesday.

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