Comments on: Go Directly to Jail Again

By: Todd

Todd — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:44:52 +0000

““Sasori the female prisoner,” “Yoko the Devil Hunter,” and “Miyu the Vampire Princess” would be equally good translations.”

Other translation options are less clear. For instance, is it “Terrifying High School for Girls”, or “High School for Terrifying Girls”?

Also, I’m sure it will surprise no one that there is no reference to anything called “Jailhouse 41″ anywhere in this movie.

By: El Santo

El Santo — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:32:48 +0000

“Although none of this excuses the convenience store I saw in Tokyo called ‘Oh Felching.’ ”

Not quite as good as that, but my favorite thing along those lines from my Tokyo trip was a little boutique in (I think) Harajuku called “Nudy Boy.” Obviously, they sold clothes.

By: KeithA

KeithA — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:50:43 +0000

Although none of this excuses the convenience store I saw in Tokyo called “Oh Felching.” Someone learned some English slang but didn’t, perhaps, fully investigate the meaning of that slang.

By: MatthewF

MatthewF — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 08:33:48 +0000

Surprised Website-reader me

By: Joshua

Joshua — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 05:40:20 +0000

It’s also related to word order and how it’s translated. Japanese puts all modifying words and clauses before the noun, and apparently whoever translates these titles doesn’t want to mess with the word order, probably to keep the Japanese “feel” to the title. “Sasori the female prisoner,” “Yoko the Devil Hunter,” and “Miyu the Vampire Princess” would be equally good translations.

By: El Santo

El Santo — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:18:28 +0000

I call that the “Modifier Noun Proper-Name” formula. Heaven knows it’s sufficiently ubiquitous to deserve a name of its own.

By: Blake Matthews

Blake Matthews — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 23:00:55 +0000

Is it part of the Japanese language to have a two-word description of a person in a title: Female Prisoner Scorpion, Devil Hunter Yoko, Vampire Princess Miryu(sp.), Magical Student (whatever), Sukiyaki Western Django, etc.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:04:28 +0000

Yeah, that’s a pretty direct translation. It’s a lot pithier (is that a word?) in Japanese.

By: MatthewF

MatthewF — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:23:12 +0000

Does anybody know if the titles of these films are straight translations? As they’re always so random. During my time in japan, many times I saw random collections of english words thrown together to form a ‘cool’ slogan; Terminal Monkey Dance Lightning!