History TranslationConvention / AnimeAndManga

** An old man in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJoLion JoJoLion's]]'' Shakedown Road arc chides Josuke and Joshu for their confusion, asking them if they've forgotten how to speak Japanese. Makes perfect sense in the original, which takes place in Japan and features almost exclusively Japanese characters. Makes less sense when you're reading a translation.

** Chapter 2 of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun'' has a disclaimer that says that all U.S. customary units will be converted to metric and currency amounts will be inflated to modern standards. Also, Sandman can apparently write Japanese.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' had an extremely brief scene in America, in which the characters spoke English. ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' has a much longer scene taking place... somewhere in Europe or America, which also has the characters speaking English. [[GratuitousEnglish Badly, in Kaji's case]].

* An odd example towards the end of ''Anime/BlueSeed'', which features a number of scenes set within a US Carrier Group. The original apparently had English voice actors, with a Japanese translator speaking in the background. The Japanese translation can still be heard in the dub.

* Considering ''Literature/{{Baccano}}!'' is set in 1930s America, it's probably safe to say that they are ''not'' speaking Japanese -- although [[spoiler:Firo]] does eventually become fluent in the language in the books.

* ''Manga/AstraLostinSpace'': Texts on the screens are in English and an astronaut remarks that they are speaking in English in context of noting that her native language is Russian

* In ''Anime/{{Planetes}}'', despite being presented in Japanese, most of the dialogue is presumably actually in English. In an episode where three of the characters pay a visit to Japan, Hachimaki's mother complements Yuri on how well he speaks Japanese; in the English dub, this let the viewers know that the characters were actually speaking Japanese, similar to the ''Evangelion'' example above.

* Every ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' series features English text (with [[{{Engrish}} varying]] degrees of quality), but the characters themselves speak Japanese - except, of course, in the dubbed versions. It's generally assumed that English is the lingua franca for all timelines because, to quote an example from one ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' fansite, it doesn't make much sense for a Chinese woman to speak to a group of Arabs in Japanese.
** In ''Origin'', TheFederation is apparently bilingual, with most things being labelled in both English and Russian.

** And let's spoof that up a bit by reading the manga in German.

* ''Franchise/LittleWitchAcademia'' takes place in England -- the cast is very multinational, there's a lot of SurprisinglyGoodEnglish written on notebooks and posters, and a boy from a nearby town is named "Thomas". There's also a complete lack of honorifics in everyone's dialogue and Akko (the only Japanese member of the cast) suffers from NameOrderConfusion when she introduces herself to Andrew. Despite this, in the English dub, nearly all the characters speak with American accents, including the ones who are supposed to be British.

* Almost all printed material in the ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' universe is shown on screen in English (often SurprisinglyGoodEnglish), and it is assumed that, especially after the first series, English is the spoken language in the context of the franchise, even though it is always presented in Japanese.

* In ''Anime/MarvelDiskWarsTheAvengers'', of the non-Japanese characters, only ComicBook/IronMan could reasonably be expected to know any Japanese, being an international businessman (Cap probably wouldn't, given that he operated on the European front of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII). All dialogue (aside from CallingYourAttacks, GratuitousEnglish, and the SurprisinglyGoodEnglish used by the DISK computer) is in Japanese.

* Every ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' series features English text (with [[{{Engrish}} varying]] [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish degrees]] of quality), but the characters themselves speak Japanese - except, of course, in the dubbed versions. It's generally assumed that English is the lingua franca for all timelines because, to quote an example from one ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' fansite, it doesn't make much sense for a Chinese woman to speak to a group of Arabs in Japanese.

* In ''Manga/VinlandSaga'', all the major characters, who are Danish, speak Danish (even though everything is in English/Japanese/etc for us). This becomes relevant in one chapter when an injured Thorfinn is rescued by an English woman and her daughter. Thorfinn doesn't know English well and isn't able to communicate well to the woman that she and her daughter should flee since he's there to signal a viking raid. It becomes a bit more awkward in the anime since both characters are speaking the same language while one says to the other that he doesn't understand her.

* Considering ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}!'' is set in 1930s America, it's probably safe to say that they are ''not'' speaking Japanese -- although [[spoiler:Firo]] does eventually become fluent in the language in the books.

* The animated adaptation of ''LightNovel/CrestOfTheStars'' has this in full force. For the most part the characters are all speaking Baronh but it is rendered into Japanese for most scenes (the opening narration is in Baronh as are a few preview scenes). A lot of the time English is used to render Martine which the novels make explicit is descended from English. The opening scenes of the first episode add another layer starting off in English to represent Martine then sliding into Japanese.

* ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'': Applies only in the anime: Halkegenia is presented as Japanese / English to the viewers, but Saito, as part of a SummonEverymanHero, isn't able to understand any Halkegenian until Louise, his summoner, accidentally uses a translation spell. The Japanese version had Saito speak with an echo effect applied to his voice until Louise spelled him, while in the dub, they meet and ask each other what language the other is speaking in... in perfect English. The original Light Novel has TranslatorMicrobes from the start, with Saito receiving a magical translation effect as part of his summoning, allowing him to perceive all the other characters' speech as Japanese from the beginning.

* It's only made clear in the original light novels of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' that the characters are speaking in either Japanese or English depending on their location and situation, usually in Japan or on a Mithril base/mission respectively. It helps that most of the major characters are fluent in both languages. This is mostly given a HandWave in all dubs of the anime.

** ''LightNovel/MuvLuvAlternativeTotalEclipse'': Except for the prologue, most of the series takes place in either Alaska or the Soviet Union's Kamchatka Peninsula. All the dialogue in the series is still rendered in Japanese despite the CommonTongue for most of the cast being either English or Russian.

* ''Manga/AstraLostinSpace'': Texts on the screens are in English and an astronaut remarks that they are speaking in English in context of noting that her native language is Russian

* ''Anime/MichikoAndHatchin'' is set in what is probably Brazil or a fictional country [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed based on Brazil]], and thus, the characters are surely speaking Portuguese to each other, not Japanese. That the on-screen text is always presented in Portuguese doesn't really open any room for argument.

** The [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime]] seems to follow the same language conventions as the manga until TheMovie, where Edward has moved from [[spoiler:England]] to [[spoiler:Germany]]. They're canonically speaking [[spoiler:German]] throughout the film. In the voice actor commentary for ''[[Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheConquerorOfShamballa Conqueror of Shamballa]]'', Sonny Strait commented that they weren't going to add on [[spoiler:German]] accents to the characters -- they're speaking [[spoiler:German]], so they just translated it as if it were regular speech.

* In the Japanese version of ''Manga/DeathNote'', the scenes at which Interpol convenes and speaks with a British detective, as well as Near's dealings with the American SPK and Mello's conversations with the US Mafia are all presented in Japanese; presumably, they're actually speaking English. In the [[Film/DeathNote2006 live-action movie]], Lind L. Tailor, [[spoiler: L's decoy]], was voiced by an American, while a Japanese translator made a voice-over (which is how it was done in the manga as well, although only the voice-over is shown). This is assumed to be in effect for Wammy's House as well, unless we are to believe that all the residents of an orphanage in England speak Japanese as their default language.

* In the Japanese version of ''Manga/DeathNote'', the scenes at which Interpol convenes and speaks with a British detective, as well as Near's dealings with the American SPK and Mello's conversations with the US Mafia are all presented in Japanese; presumably, they're actually speaking English.
** However, in the [[Film/DeathNote2006 live-action movie]], Lind L. Tailor, [[spoiler: L's decoy]], was voiced by an American, while a Japanese translator made a voice-over.
*** This is how it was done in the manga as well, although only the voice-over is shown.
** This is assumed to be in effect for Wammy's House as well, unless we are to believe that all the residents of an orphanage in England speak Japanese as their default language.