Monday, November 19, 2012

Talking About Popular Mangas: Names

1.   1/2 Prince
2.   Bleach
3.   D. Grey Man
4.   Fairy Tail
5.   Gakuen Babysitters
6.   Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
7.   Kaichou wa Maid-sama!
8.   Kuroshitsuji
9.   Love So Life
10. Naruto
11. One Piece
12. Vampire Knight



1/2 Prince
This manga is related to the title. Because the main girl acts as a man in the game, 1/2 prince actually means 1/2 man, and since the avatar's name is called 'Prince', and also because the game is a MMORPG kind, the character actually seems like a second you in a second world. So the tittle 1/2 prince actually does reflects the manga's storyline. However, when many first see the name they would probably be imagining a king had an affair with another girl, so when the boy comes out his blood if half royal, or some where along the lines. But i actually like the title only after i read the manga. I actually avoided clicking on this manga because i really though it would be some stupid manga about the royal life and etc, etc... So I don't think the title did any job in attracting more attention towards the manga.

Bleach
The manga name for Bleach also holds no meaning and connection at all to bleach. Bleach equals beaching agent(?) equals white?. However, when ever you mention the name Bleach, my mind would straight away think of the colour orange which is Ichigo's hair colour. I don't know if it's because i know Bleach well or it's just a psychology thing. I think the name 'Bleach' is nice and short, and since we all already know Bleach as in the substance that turns your clothes white, it's easy to remember. When you first see the title, you would be curious as to what type of manga it is because we don't see things like 'Bleach' as a title for a manga. So I think the name does attract many people's attention.


D.Grey Man
As I said in my review for D. Grey Man, the book name has no meaning because there is no connection at all to the storyline, what does the letter 'D' even stands for. It always makes me wonder how they came out with this name for the manga. However, what i think actually sort of links is the word Grey. Since Allen's hair is white, plus the Black Order always used black, white plus black gives you Grey, though it's just a wild guess, and the probability of it being correct is nearly zero.

Fairy Tail
Another manga whose title is related to the storyline. The manga is named after the guild, Fairy Tail. I really liked the idea about instead of putting 'Fairy Tale' as it should be, they changed the 'Tale' to the same sounding word, 'Tail'. The word 'Tail' in the tittle 'Fairy Tail' also holds a special meaning. Because the main focus of the manga is actually about the dragon slayers, and what does dragons have? Tails. It actually tells us that the whole purpose of the manga is about the dragons and the dragon slayers. The word fairy also does tell us what the guild is like. Even though the guild is not graceful enough to be called a fairy, but the founder of the guild does have a very fairy feeling, because of her height and the wings sticking out of her head. She really does gives out the very fairy feel. The tittle 'Fairy Tail' does gives it a very mysterious feel to it. It really makes people want to check out the manga. This is probably because many people do know the words 'Fairy Tale' since young, so when they see something that is similar, it really provokes their curiosity of wanting to know what 'Fairy Tail' means. Is it another fairy tale story? or is it something new? 

Gakuen Babysitters
Gakuen Babysitters translates to School babysitters. Gakuen means school in japanese. This tittle also tells us the setting and the main background in this manga. The whole thing started in the School's baby sitting club. Even though some of the events takes place outside the club, the whole thing revolves around the club and then slowly progresses, so if you trace back the steps, it would always led you back to the club. The tittle does not hold any special meanings, so it's not something that would attract or deter you away from the manga. It's something that just lays there quietly, waiting for someone to click. Even if you scroll pass it, nothing occurs.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
'Katekyo Hitman Reborn' translates to 'Tutor Hitman Reborn'. Katekyo means tutor in japanese. The tittle tells us alot on the main character of the manga. Even though Sawada Tsunayoshi is the main character in this show, the main purpose lies within Reborn, because he is the strongest arcobaleno. Reborn was a tutor to Sawada, his mission was to turn Sawada to be a suitable person to surpass the 9th. Reborn is the strongest Hitman. Reborn is his name. All joint together, it becomes 'Katekyo Hitman Reborn!' Most people cut it down and just call it reborn because it's the easiest to remember, but for me, i call it Katekyo. I have no idea why, maybe it's because it's the first word of the whole title. In my opinion, the title did nothing to help the manga rise to popularity. In fact, the title actually makes the storyline seems boring, because the title contains 3 long words, it is really boring looking, which makes people think the the story line is also something boring. Well, some others may think other wise.

Kaichou wa Maid-Sama
'Kaichou wa Maid-Sama' translates to 'the President is a maid'. Kaichou means 'captain' but in this case since Misaki is the student counsel president, it means 'president'. The title of this manga really gives of the frilly and fluffy feel, most probably because of the word 'Maid-sama'. However, if you read this manga, you would realised it is not all that full shoujo manga. Well this title is also given of from the main reason for all their problems. It all started because Misaki was working at a maid cafe. I can see the relation between the title and the manga. However, i find that as i read and as teh story progresses, they are starting to drift away from this title. And really, it's all about Usui.

Kuroshitsuji
'Kuroshitsuji' translates to 'black butler', where 'kuro' is a short form for 'kuroi' which means black and 'shitsuji' means butler. I can sort of see the connection between the manga and the title. I realised that in this manga, almost everything is black (clothes). However, i do not really know what they mean by 'black' here. Is it because he is a demon? or is it because he always wear black, and has black hair? But, one thing is for sure is that they are referring to Sebastian. Even though the manga's point of view is from Ciel, we can totally tell that the main reason is actually Sebastian. However, i must say that the whole manga has no main purpose. Only each arc has it's purpose. Well, the title does gives of a mysterious feel to it, must be because of the word 'kuro', it makes people wonder who the black butler is and why does the author call him the black butler.     

Love So Life
This title is totally weird, it only gives me the impression that the author has bad English skills. In my opinion, I think the author means 'love is full of life', or something around there. The title does have a connection to the manga, where the main girl who lost her mother since young and when she grew up, she is taking care of two twins, the people around her gives her lots of love, and then she herself falls in love. The title really makes it seem like it's a typical shoujo manga, but it's probably because it's one of the rare titles where they write all in English  people will pick this book up to read.

Naruto
Naruto is the main character's name, and everything does revolves around him. From the way I see it, not every manga can pull off naming their manga's after a main character's name. Like if I called 'One piece' 'Luffy' It would sound weird, and makes the manga seem like a full comedy. However, in this case, the name 'Naruto' does gives of the ninja feel. I think it's because Naruto seems like a very old name, and ninja's a usually referred to in the olden times. By putting the main character's name as the manga name, people would look out and actually remember the main character more then anything else. I must say that one disadvantage about naming the manga's by a character's name is that it does not attract people, and you must rely much on your story line.

One Piece
One Piece is actually the main purpose of the anime, where Luffy went to follow his brother, in search for one piece and to become the pirate king. They could have also named the manga 'Pirate King' but because it sounds normal, it does not give out the mystery and bring out the curiosity in the people the reads the title. Where else, when this manga is called 'One Piece' many people who see it would be curios as to what one piece means. It's a unique name, just as the manga is unique.

Vampire Knight
Here, we can totally see the relation of the word 'Vampire' in the title. But i dont really see the relation with the word 'knight'. Here i'm kind of guessing that because all the people around Yuki protects her, they are called knights. I think the title really gave it the really goth and dark feel to it. It is a really good title as compared to the other vampire mangas out there, though i must say the contents does not really match up to the title.

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