[Renall]

Originally Posted by GabrieliosP

"Magician" as in "Magician of Words" and "Sorcerer" as in "Endless Sorcerer" are the exact same word in japanese.

This small 'epiphany' is giving me so many ideas to use...

Spoiler for All-Ep Spoilers: Japanese Titles for Witch/Sorcerer/Etc.:

Beatrice's status as a "witch" is translated as 魔女 (majo). Battler is referred to as 魔術師 (majutsu-shi), which is just "magician" but WH translated it as "sorcerer." They're both 無限の[魔女/魔術師] (mugen no majo/majutsu-shi), which is translated as "Endless Witch" (lit. "Witch of the Infinite").

The reason they're the same is because it's just a generic title. I'm not sure what was translated to "Magician of Words" for Higurashi, but if it used 言葉 (kotoba) it'd be 言葉の魔術師 (kotoba no majutsu-shi). Ryukishi seems to use 魔女 for females and 魔術師 for males, but the script makes very clear they're the same thing. Battler is referred to as the "Golden Witch" a couple times using 黄金の魔女 (lit. "Witch of Gold" or "Golden Witch").

So yes, Keiichi and Battler are intended to have the same general typing, but they're sorcerers of different things. I should note however that 魔術師 is also used for, like, stage magicians. You can use 魔女 or 魔法使い to just mean "mage" though, but both words also mean "witch" as far as I know. I don't know Japanese very well but I assume 魔術師 is generally more masculine in its usage, which is why it was chosen over 魔女 which is technically unisex.