As someone who is fairly oblivious to the anime community I rarely hear about the pre-season hype. As such, I tend to base a lot of my expectations of any given anime on the cover image and title. Imagine my disappointment at the utter lack of fruit and serious basket under-representation in Fruits Basket… And with the rise of the super long Light Novel titles, things have only gotten even more frustrating, if a lot more fun!
I’ve grown pretty accustomed to anime titles by now mind you, and most of them are in fact rather standard or at least representative in hindsight. However, once in a while, I still get the completely wrong idea from an anime title and this can lead to some pretty hilarious personal subversions.
Here are the top 5 anime titles that mislead me:
5) Mekakucity Actors
Granted Makaucity was a mixed media project so the anime was part of a greater whole. Maybe that title made sense in the grand scheme. But I was personally very ready to watch a slice of life about a local amateur theatre troupe. Maybe and after school acting club. It was pretty clear in my head exactly what type of anime this was going to be.
After having watched the show, I can’t really tell you what kind of anime Mekakucity Actors is at all except that it is NOT a slice of life about aspiring young actors. I actually really do want to see a show about a theatre troupe. Theatre kids are already extra so I can only imagine what their anime counterparts are going to be like!
4) Kill la Kill
Most people know Kill la Kill. It’s a weird title but it’s so popular in the anime community that most fans don’t really give it a second thought. But I didn’t know about it. I thought it was going to be an ultraviolent blood bath revenge story that would make Kill Bill look like a CGDCT. Arguably it is a revenge-based action anime but that’s just the text. Pretty much all the story is subtext and thirst for revenge doesn’t factor in much.
There’s also no real blood to speak of and I’m not sure there’s an actual confirmed kill in the entire series. It just wasn’t at all what I thought it would be. To be fair, no title would really have prepared me for Kill la Kill so it’s as accurate as anything.
3) DRAMatical Murder
That title sort of sounds like Engrish that makes it even more charming. I did not enjoy the DRAMatical Murder anime much, but I did like the Visual Novel. In both cases, the title is just not representative.
Aside from the fact that there is no murder and pretty much no drama to speak of, the words sort of invoke a gritty noir detective story which couldn’t be further from the candy coloured, sexy sci fi adventure we were delivered. I have to say, even when I was fully engrossed in playing the game, I kept wondering hat the heck the title was alluding to. Apparently, nothing….
2) Yuri!! On Ice
I will freely admit that I am not always up to date with the kids’ new fangled words but I am pretty sure that was not yuri… Not at all. Arguably the exact opposite of yuri.
I guess the cover art makes it pretty clear although I occasionally hear fans that have such deep-rooted vitriol for this show that I have to believe someone got tricked along the way and was NOT prepared.
Honorable mentions:
I figured it would be way more fun to throw a few extra titles in here without any context and let you guys try to guess what they’re about. They’re actually pretty popular shows so you probably already know what their about but if you didn’t….
- – Princess Principal
- – Happy Sugar Life
- – Days
- – Bungo Stray Dogs
1) Neon Genesis Evangelion
Ok fine, it’s not that misleading a title, but I refuse to let this one go. Neon means something. Something specific! It’s either an inert gaseous element of the noble gas group, one that was not mentioned in the series as far as I can remember. Or it referred to a particular range of the colour spectrum. And there was nothing neon about Evangelion’s palette. Ok… maybe the green shoulders of Shinji’s Eva were kind of neon but that’s it!
I think my personal grudge is really that for years I thought the title was Neo Genesis Evangelion and that made perfect sense in my head. I took it as an affront when I realized I had misheard the title, something like 5 years down the line. And I’m still annoyed by it. Is it anyone’s fault? Not at all (o.k. maybe mine a little). But I’m still going to be petty about it and put Eva on top of this list!
There you go, 5 titles that mislead me, occasionally only through my own ineptitude!
Are there any anime you thought would be about something completely different based on the title? Maybe there are anime you are avoiding based on title only. Let me know!
The title wasn’t the ONLY thing Neon Genesis Evangelion had wrong with it… 😒
I thought it was Neo too 😔…Thank you for clearing that up.
Good! I feel less crazy now
Haha Happy Sugar Life, I went in to that one knowing but still probably did mislead alot of people with it’s artstyle and such. I think there’s been a few that did a bait and switch. Grimgar from the artstyle and such I thought was going to be your average fantasy adventure anime and actually as kind of a tear jerker. I do hope they make another season.
I read quite a few angry reviews from people who were expecting something else…
Lol! I can imagine but I guess the same can be said about Madoka , the art style and intro theme looks has a certain feel to that compared to the actual content and storyline .
I know it’s misleading, but I love Happy Sugar Life!
So misleading!
I’d like to think One Piece is an ode to women’s fashion
But two-piece sets seem to be the female characters’ garment of choice
That is super confusing! More leotards in One Piece!
The 90ies were the time when shounen anime had surprisingly domestic names: I dropped a Naruto onto my Onepiece. Where’s the Bleach?
Huh, I never thought of that
I’m pretty sure A3 is, in fact, an anime about theatre kids…er, adults.
Don’t feel bad about NGE: I’m pretty sure I mangled that title in the days where I’d only heard stuff about it, although since I watched it in 2017, I don’t remember how I mangled it anymore.
YoI I got into purely by good gossip after it came out, so I don’t think I ever thought of it as “yuri” in That Sense.
A3! – You mean ACT!, ADDICT!, ACTORS!! That’s another great title. What addicts are they talking aout? Theater addicts? I guess that works actually
I thought maybe Kill la Kill was maybe somehow a reference to the video game Live A Live, but I still don’t get it. Though it is nevertheless one of my favourite animes.
Great anime! Weird title
I thought Attack on Titan would be mecha anime about a war around a terraformed Jupiter… (What else would you attack a Jupiter moon with?)
Also there’s this iyahikei anime called Tamayura. It started with an OVA. Then there was a TV series, called Tamayura – Hitotose. Fine. The second season was Tamayura – More Aggressive. I thought to myself, well it makes sense. It certainly couldn’t be any *less* aggressive. I watched and enjoyed the show. It wasn’t more aggressive. They didn’t even poke each other with the soft cushions.
Log Horizon wasn’t an anime about the wood processing industry.
In a universe where Log Horizon, Chainsaw Man, and .hack//Roots form a genre: “we have met the enemy, and they are trees”
Love it.
Acually AoT does really sound like a mecha now that you mention it. Log horizon should have more logs
(Looks at Neon Genesis Evangelion) Oh. Is that all that confused you. To be fair for years I pronounced Evangelion as EV-ahn-gel-eon and not Evan-Gehl-ehon… Yeah. Never reviewing this. Ever. I want to see the world’s most insufferable human being… I’ll look in a mirror.
And YES I am reviewing Attack On Titan The Live Action Movies 2015 this Horror Holiday. Remember. When they finally film Evangelion the Live Action movie(s)? We are one step closer to Armageddon… Or a reboot of the Golden Girls. Something horrible.
I hope you enjoy it
Oh man, I wasn’t prepared for Kill La Kill either. But whatever weirdness the show may have, I really enjoyed the fights, and the music. The soundtrack was great.
Also, other anime which I think you missed is Bleach. Seriously. My sister saw that title once, and accused me of watching less than acceptable things on the internet, before I explained the plot to her, and showed her some clips. She laughed the laughter of the mad then.
Because the word Bleach does not bring gods of death fighting monsters with their differently designed swords.
I’ve already watched Bungo Stray Dogs, so I won’t spoil it here for those who have not watched it yet. I did reviewed it though.
I talk about BSD so much that I probably already ruined it for a lot of readers… I did review it episodically.
“Neon” comes from the Greek word “neos” which means new. It’s also where we get the prefix “neo-“ in words like “neologism” (new word) and “neophyte” (“new child” – a novice). Greek was the original language of the New Testament. The full title is a Biblical reference: it means “Gospel of the New Genesis”.
That’s why I thought the title was Neo genesis. It’s a personal problem like I said.
Awesome etymology! Thanks for this comment Mari, I learned something new!