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Is it common for anime to use English in their openings/closings?

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Aug 19, 2011 12:24 PM
#1

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Cuz I find it quite cheezy and weird-sounding.

You just can't mix Japanese and English. It doesn't work that way. Come to think of it, neither does any language combination...

I just wish they'd stop doing that, because here I am enjoying my opening, when all of a sudden an "I believe..." comes in, and I'm like -.-* "Did they really have to do that?"

Anyway... is it just me or do other people find it weird when there is English in the opening/closing themes?
Aug 19, 2011 12:33 PM
#2

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Yeah, I hear it a lot. Sometimes the whole song is in English, even. (Serial Experiments Lain OP, Evangelion ED, Hellsing ED)
Aug 19, 2011 12:40 PM
#3
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If you mean the odd word or two in the song, yes. Either because the English fits the melody better, doesn't have a Japanese equivilent or they just use it because it's an "in" thing to do. The Japanese audience are a little less likely to notice or be bothered by it than us English first languagers.
Aug 19, 2011 12:50 PM
#4

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mellors said:
If you mean the odd word or two in the song, yes. Either because the English fits the melody better, doesn't have a Japanese equivilent or they just use it because it's an "in" thing to do. The Japanese audience are a little less likely to notice or be bothered by it than us English first languagers.


Correction, it's my second language, but I am still a little bothered by it.

It seems like a lot of countries... I dunno... look up to the English or something..? Even Russians have the occasional butchered English phrase/word in their movies.

I dun get eet.
Aug 19, 2011 12:57 PM
#5

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Indulg3 said:
Correction, it's my second language, but I am still a little bothered by it.

It seems like a lot of countries... I dunno... look up to the English or something..? Even Russians have the occasional butchered English phrase/word in their movies.

I dun get eet.

Well it is the most common language. Languages borrow from each other all the time, like how we use karaoke/futon/etc.
Aug 19, 2011 1:24 PM
#6
Is a Hidden Gem

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Wait wouldn't the most language be Mandarin Chinese? Looks, yep it is. Followed by Spanish no less. Though Spanish and English are much closer in numbers, still even if you combined the two that doesn't add up to the number of Mandarin Chinese speakers.
Aug 19, 2011 1:25 PM
#7

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Mar 2011
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It is common. But, if it sounds good then sure why not and if it sounds utterly horrible, I'd just not listen/watch the OP/ED rather than ranting and whatnot.
Courtesy of Paul
Aug 19, 2011 1:32 PM
#8

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Brand said:
Wait wouldn't the most language be Mandarin Chinese? Looks, yep it is. Followed by Spanish no less. Though Spanish and English are much closer in numbers, still even if you combined the two that doesn't add up to the number of Mandarin Chinese speakers.

Worldwide, not native.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#Geographical_distribution

Although no number is going to be completely accurate.
Aug 19, 2011 1:56 PM
#9

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I wouldn't say it's common, but to hear it isn't unusual.
Aug 19, 2011 2:10 PM

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I think soo. Nearly every opening / closing I've heard has a few English words. And Kuroshitsuji's first closing is all English.

I don't think it's that weird though. I don't mind it. I like actually understanding a thing or two when I watch an anime, ahaha.
Aug 19, 2011 2:43 PM

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i've heard quite a bit of english in some of them. its cool though, makes for some good laughs at times. ~_~

Aug 19, 2011 3:05 PM

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japanese still the best

really hate english for anime
Sorry For my Bad English ^_^
Aug 19, 2011 3:11 PM

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Yes, definately. I've heard English words used in the openings for shows like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, D.Gray-Man, Digimon, etc.
Bum Bum Dum Dum

Aug 19, 2011 3:25 PM

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darkharuka14 said:
japanese still the best

really hate english for anime

It's English words in a Japanese song, sung by a Japanese singer.
Aug 19, 2011 3:39 PM

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May 2011
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Yeah, I see it a lot. I've gotten used to it, and sometimes it's not bad. Some of those people pronounce things surprisingly well for being Japanese. Even if they mispronounce the English, usually it's so bad that I can't tell it from the Japanese lyrics anyway. XP
Aug 19, 2011 3:43 PM

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Mar 2011
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When there is an english opening/ending i am a bit surprised, but not to the "Omg Wow" extent, since i do come across this some time..

It does sound a bit weird, but sometimes it's actually pretty good, depends on your tastes and what song you listening to:P
Aug 19, 2011 4:56 PM

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It's not unusual. It can sound odd but as long as the song sounds good, that's all that matters.
Aug 19, 2011 5:57 PM

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There are a lot of OP/ED and non-Anime songs that do it, I don't really see why it's much of a problem either. I think Blood C (currently airing) switches back from French to Jap and Jap to French in the OP.
Aug 19, 2011 6:28 PM

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Say what you want, but the Azumanga OP without "moonlight, moonlight sleepin'" would never be quite the same.

The topic, yeah, depends on how well they use it and all. As always.
Aug 19, 2011 7:52 PM

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*sings* Superscription of data~!

...

<.< >.> No one heard that...

I don't mind it much at all. As long as it makes sense in context. If it's a song about love and they randomly throw in an English word that makes no sense to the song...then I might mind.
Aug 19, 2011 7:52 PM

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Engrish is cool.

Oops, I meant: Engrish iz coor
Aug 19, 2011 7:57 PM

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notsureifsrs said:
Engrish is cool.

Oops, I meant: Engrish iz coor


yush it ish.

Regardless, I still don't see what's so bad about them.
Aug 19, 2011 8:39 PM

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Jan 2011
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You mean when they just throw in random english words?

I kinda like it! Its creative ^_^

But also I've seen several shows where they just have full english openings.

I also really like those. The two first ones I think of are Rainbow Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin and Deadman Wonderland. Both of which have openings that I really love!
Aug 20, 2011 7:00 PM

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I don't really think it's any different than why weeaboos mix japanese into their own language. It's exoticism -- people feel that something different or from another culture is somehow more appealing..... or is that hipster, I forget. It's all very superficial (and often annoying in both directions), but some people think it makes them sound more sophisticated.

In Japan specifically, there is a lot of educational pressure to learn english for business reasons, and knowing how to speak it fluently is regarded highly. They also listen to a disproportionate amount of english music. It's no surprise that actors and musicians like to pretend they know more english than they actually do, to impress fans (who don't know any better) and sell cds.

I am a banana.
Aug 21, 2011 12:43 AM
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They use English randomly in the title, OP, ED and in the dialogue even if they don't make sense or sound cheesy because to Japanese English sounds 'cool' just like some English speakers (mostly no-life anime freaks and fangirls) think Japanese words are cool and keep spouting them on a whims basis when they talk English like 'desu-desu' 'fuzakenna' 'baka' 'kawaiii' etc.
Aug 21, 2011 11:20 AM

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saka said:
I don't really think it's any different than why weeaboos mix japanese into their own language. It's exoticism -- people feel that something different or from another culture is somehow more appealing.....


I think so too. I hardly care about the OPs,EDs etc and the lyrics unless they catch my interest. I wouldn't mind even if the whole song is in English as long as it is not engrish.
We are the United. Even in defeat we stand united.

Aug 23, 2011 1:29 PM
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I never saw the point of dubbing openings and endings. IMO it's a HUGE mistake to do it.


Aug 23, 2011 1:34 PM

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mellors said:
If you mean the odd word or two in the song, yes. Either because the English fits the melody better, doesn't have a Japanese equivilent or they just use it because it's an "in" thing to do. The Japanese audience are a little less likely to notice or be bothered by it than us English first languagers.

^


Aug 23, 2011 5:22 PM

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Best anime ops are in Latin, Russian and English. True Story.
fuck everything and rumble
Aug 24, 2011 1:46 AM

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Some english really makes the anime OP/ED quite catchy like that of Fruit's Candy (Card Captor Sakura ED) or Dive to World (Katekyo Hitman Reborn OP).

But then again, sometimes... you just can't help but get annoyed with the wrong grammar.

I LOVE by Azusa (Op song of Amagami SS) indeed has a nice tune, but for the grammar... MEH.

As I recall, the first two lines are:
"I love you from my heart...
I love you forever with you"

???...
Momo-HimeAug 24, 2011 1:53 AM
"Them who looks blind at ANIME, looks blind at SALVATION."
Aug 24, 2011 1:53 AM

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I don't think I've found a lot of anime with English intros.

Except Ergo Proxy.
Used Kiri - Monoral in the intro.
And actually used Radiohead in the outro.
Aug 24, 2011 2:01 AM

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Narmy said:
Indulg3 said:
Correction, it's my second language, but I am still a little bothered by it.

It seems like a lot of countries... I dunno... look up to the English or something..? Even Russians have the occasional butchered English phrase/word in their movies.

I dun get eet.

Well it is the most common language. Languages borrow from each other all the time, like how we use karaoke/futon/etc.


English does sometimes feel like a filler language. If they don't know/don't have the word for something, they just use english.
Aug 24, 2011 2:47 AM
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If it's good and it still makes sense, I see no problem with some parts non-japanese or even if the whole song is english, altough it is a bit weird.
But then again, sometimes... you just can't help but get annoyed with the wrong grammar.

^And this. Another example would be God only knows (TWGOK OP)

"There is no regrets, satisfy my curiosities
There is a new world waiting, explore my possibilities
There is no guarantee, just improve my abilities"
Does this even make sense? When I heard it, I didn't even realize it was english to begin with ._.
That's another problem, sometimes japanese just plainly suck at english. There are exceptions of course (just take Utada Hikaru as example) but for the most part? Better off with just japanese if you ask me.
Aug 24, 2011 8:28 AM

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God only knows what it means.... :D

A lot of japanese people speak great english, so don't judge them all just because it's trendy to mispronounce english words in the songs their cartoons use. Most of the people who speak english in japan were taught by people who did not have english as their first language, and the phoneme structure in english is more complex. It's the same reason white americans tend to speak horrible spanish, and I sound hilarious when I try to speak chinese.

People like Rie Fu and Hikaru Utada actually grew up with english in the house so they can speak it genuinely. Most other japanese pop artists just mix and match because words fit better into a melody, and then learned some grudgingly in school. I don't see a lot of american pop artists who speak great japanese either.... they consistently say "To-kii-yo" instead of "To-kyo" and "Kei-ri-oo-ki" instead of "Ka-ra-o-ke". I'm sure there are plenty of words that people in this thread mispronounce when trying to imitate anime.... and even when you're close, you have an accent whether you realize it or not. The japanese poke fun at gaijins plenty in anime... also, it is just me or is there a trend of having homosexual english teachers in anime?

I am a banana.
Sep 30, 2011 4:57 PM

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I see a lot which add a dash of english to it xp
Sep 30, 2011 5:02 PM

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Indulg3 said:
Cuz I find it quite cheezy and weird-sounding.

You just can't mix Japanese and English. It doesn't work that way. Come to think of it, neither does any language combination...

I just wish they'd stop doing that, because here I am enjoying my opening, when all of a sudden an "I believe..." comes in, and I'm like -.-* "Did they really have to do that?"

Anyway... is it just me or do other people find it weird when there is English in the opening/closing themes?


Yeah I find it weird, as well. And it can ruin the song too since when the Japanese do speak English, it doesn't sound that good, at all (Engrish as many call it). I remember one Japanese song I was listening to that had an entire paragraph of Engrish. And Higurashi ni's ending theme is all Engrish, which is one reason as to why I always skipped the ending.
Sep 30, 2011 7:08 PM

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I really enjoy the song "Im Alive" in the Kuroshitsuji ED D;
Sep 30, 2011 9:26 PM

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Jroflcopter said:
I see a lot which add a dash of english to it xp


Whoa, gravedig much?

I forgot about this thread :3

But yeah, most of the time the Engrish doesn't fit into the song AT ALL, and it really ruins the mood, especially if it's a sad OP or ED.
Oct 13, 2011 2:19 AM
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Aug 2011
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I watched anime in german language ... but it was the only way then i could watch it. Now that i hear opening of the Sailor moon in english and dubbed ... no go, no way.Original is original, with english subs. I can't watch in english only. It's not the same, anykind of anime.
Oct 13, 2011 2:32 AM

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Sep 2011
197
I like it when they use minimal english. But one these three examples, if you actually heard them, you wouldn't immediately receive the 'english words' instantly and you shall immediately notice that they are of the wrong grammar:

The World God Only Knows (Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai)
A Whole New World God Only Knows (Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai II)

And this isn't particularly from an anime, but I shall stress much on it.
Soul Phrase (Persona 3)

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