2006-01-20, 02:44 | Link #1 |
Hiyori Fanboy
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Ah! My Goddess / Oh! My Goddess?
Why do people insist on translating the series' name to A!MG? The name of the anime(or so I thought) was named after the English phrase "Oh my god!"(but "goddess" instead of "god"). I'm also guessing that the Japanese can't easily translate that saying, so it became "Ah! My Goddess". Why do we have to keep the Engrish when referring to OMG? It don't make any sense to me.
And please tell me if I'm way off This was only a guess.
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Last edited by Thewanderer; 2009-04-10 at 19:58. |
2006-01-20, 02:58 | Link #2 |
ロリ is life~
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The series' title wasn't originally phrased to resemble the common saying "oh my god!", rather, it was on part of the manga adaptation to English which slightly changed the original naming to something more catchier to the reader.
Original title - ああっ女神さまっ Romanized - Aa! Megami-sama! True name - Ah! My Goddess |
2006-01-20, 03:28 | Link #3 |
Weapon of Mass Discussion
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All that is true, but I'm going to add a few more intersting facts. When AnimEigo licensed the show, they thought it would sound better to change the Ah to an Oh so they made the Title Oh My Goddess!
Much more recently, Geneon licensed the movie. Unfortunately for them AnimEigo still owned the copyright on the title, so they changed it back. The movie was released under the title Ah! My Goddess: The Movie Aa! = Japanese Oh! = English: AnimEigo Ah! = English: Geneon As you see, it is quite a mess. Since it is Ah in both English and Japanese, but Oh in English only, I'd have to say the more official title is Ah! My Goddess Incidently Geneon is releasing the TV series under the title of Ah! My Goddess. Not a surprise since that is the title they used for the movie.
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2006-01-20, 03:29 | Link #4 | |
Hiyori Fanboy
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Quote:
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2006-01-20, 03:32 | Link #5 |
Weapon of Mass Discussion
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Thewanderer: I edited my post after you posted. (You were too fast for me.) Please read it again for more details.
And it was dubbed that way because AnimEigo thought it was funnier that way.
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2006-01-20, 03:44 | Link #6 | |
Hiyori Fanboy
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Quote:
*goes to read it*
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2006-01-20, 22:22 | Link #7 |
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Funny note, in the TV series, the title of each episode starts with "Aa!"
Episode 2 - Ah! Can the One Who Believes be Saved? Episode 3 - Ah! The Queen and the Goddess! Episode 4 - Ah! Living under one roof! Now try replacing it with "Oh!" and you can see that the meaning is somewhat lost in the translation ^^; |
2006-01-21, 01:49 | Link #8 |
Weapon of Mass Discussion
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Heh. Yeah, that sounds funny with an "Oh!" in those titles. I guess that Ah and Oh really do have different meanings and it is pretty clear which one is intended in those episode titles.
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2006-01-22, 07:22 | Link #10 | |
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Quote:
By no means, the series name was taken from the phrase " oh my God'. The moment it was serialized in shounen magazine, it was Aa! Megamisama~ naturally Ah! my goddess. The "oh" was added due to commercial interest. The mangaka has always stick to Aa! Megamisama
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2006-04-13, 00:30 | Link #15 | |
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Quote:
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2006-04-13, 04:05 | Link #16 |
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I may be wrong with this one, but, didn't Kosuke himself said it was OK for the fans to use the one they liked the most? (Ah/Oh)
I think I read this in the letter section in one of the Dark Horse releases of the manga. (but like I said, I am not 100% sure) EDIT: Ok found the following in Wiki: The original Japanese title is "Aa! Megami-sama!". The question of how best to translate this phrase has led to a great deal of debate and flamewars amongst English-speaking anime fans during the early 1990s. The US-anime import company AnimEigo obtained the OVA rights and entitled them: "Oh! My Goddess". Many felt the title should be "Ah! My Goddess". Several references to "Oh my god" and "Oh my goddess" in a number of songs (such as Hottokenai No Sa, Megami-sama tto Oyoubi) only fueled the debate further. Ultimately Fujishima himself was consulted. His initial reaction was to agree with the "Ah" camp, but once the English phrase "Oh my God" was explained to him, he decided the "Oh" would be closer to what he was trying to convey. However, when a Japanese fan later pointed out to Fujishima that the Japanese merchandise uses "Ah", Fujishima said that it would be better to keep things consistent.
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Last edited by Daniel E.; 2006-04-13 at 23:50. |
2006-04-14, 03:50 | Link #17 | |
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The back of the first volume of the Japanese manga, published in 1989.
Personally, I find that Ah! My Goddess sounds more elegant than Oh My Goddess. As for Fujishima's opinion, I've heard people claiming all sides, Ah, Oh, and either or, so I can see the Wiki article being true about Fujishima changing his mind. Quote:
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2006-04-25, 17:56 | Link #18 |
Ha ha ha ha ha...
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I saw in the AnimeEigo version (apparently I've seen the one that is really, REALLY short) the titles for the first 5 episodes:
1) Moonlight and Cherry Blossoms (I saw no cherry blossoms...) 2) A Midsummer Nights Dream (w/ apologies to Mr. Shakespeare) 3) Burning Hearts on the Road (Ah! Swerve! *crashes motorcycle*) 4) Uh.... something..... (hmmmm...) 5) For the Love of Goddess (ROFL) C'mon! #5 has to be a pun! For the love of God it has to be!
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