Movie titles: the bad, the bad, and the also pretty bad

[Herms]

Apropos of absolutely nothing, I’ve decided to review the Japanese and Funi dub titles for all the movies. As in, look over what each movie is titled, and discuss whether it’s good, stupid, or what. Because the thing is, I realized I’m not really amazingly fond of any of the movie titles. The Japanese titles are typically cumbersome and impossible to keep straight, while the Funi titles are usually just the villain’s name or something boring like that. It’s one of the reasons I just stick to calling the films by number.

I guess this is really just a “what do you think of the movie titles?” thread.

DB Movie 1
“Dragon Ball” or “The Legend of Shenlong”
VS
“Curse of the Blood Rubies”

The first DB movie originally wasn’t given any special title at all. It was just “Dragon Ball”, and they only slapped “The Legend of Shenlong” on it for the home release. This pattern seems somewhat typical of Toei anime movies, and the same thing happens with the first DBZ movie. Compared to the really vague and/or nonsensical titles the Z movies ended up getting, I guess “The Legend of Shenlong” is pretty nice. But really, how appropriate a title is it? I don’t think Shenlong and his legendariness are that central to the movie. Still, it’s been ages and ages since I watched this one, so I could be way off here.

On the other hand, “Curse of the Blood Rubies” is easily the best title in the entirety of DB-dom. Which is a bit of a shame, because that means it’s all down hill from here, title review-wise. Also, the movie probably can’t live up to such a cool title, but whatever. I suppose I ought not to like it when Funi completely ignores what something is called in the original version and just makes up their own name for it, but in the case of “Rich Stone” vs “Blood Ruby” I’ll make an exception. Seriously, who coined the term “Bloody Ruby”, and where was this genius when the rest of the Funi gang were tossing out crap like “Destructo-Disc” or “Special Beam Cannon”?

DB Movie 2
“Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle”
VS
…”Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle”…

So yeah, the Funi title is a direct, accurate translation of the Japanese title. And the Japanese title is cool and actually relevant to the content of the movie. How wild is that? This isn’t the only movie where the Funi title is actually a straight-up translation of the Japanese, but it does seem to be the only one where the Funi title and the Kanzenshuu translation of the Japanese title are word-for-word identical. For the record. In this case, 魔神/majin (“demon-god”; not quite the same as 魔人/majin, “demon-person”, as in Boo’s title) is translated as “devil”. It really is a pleasant surprise to see Funi use the word “devil” in the title of their release of something DB-related. And they kept Lucifer’s name as-is in the movie itself too.

DB Movie 3
“A Great Mystical Adventure”
VS
“Mystical Adventure”

Once again, the Funi title is pretty much a straight translation of the Japanese title. OK, so they left out “great”, but whatever. It’s a cool title, but somewhat generic, since there’s nothing especially ‘mystical’ about the events of this movie compared to the others. In fact, you could probably call this movie “The Legend of Shenlong” and DB movie 1 “A Great Mystical Adventure”, and nobody would be able to tell the difference.

10th Anniversary Movie
“The Path to Ultimate Power”
VS
“The Path to Power”

Yet again, they’re pretty much the same. Really, Funi was rather faithful with all the DB movie titles. The only title they changed was DB movie 1’s, and they made that one ten times better. Anyway, “ultimate power” here is a translation of saikyo, literally “strongest/mightiest”, but “Path to the Mightiest” sounds kinda weird. I really have no clue why they settled on that title for this movie. Maybe if the movie focused heavily on Goku training or something it would fit, but as-is it seems out of left field. This is another one they could just as well have called “The Legend of Shenlong”. Or “Mystical Adventure”.

DBZ Movie 1
“DragonBall Z” or “Return My Gohan!!”
VS
“Dead Zone”

Like the first DB movie, DBZ’s first film originally had no specific title, and was only branded “Return My Gohan!!” for the home release. “Return My Gohan” is probably one of the stranger titles all-around. It is specific, I’ll give it that. They couldn’t have titled any other DB/Z movie “Return My Gohan!!” Still, somewhat of an odd choice. Notably, this is the only movie that’s titled after a line from the film itself.

The Funi title is odd too. The Dead Zone is just an attack Garlic Junior uses at the end of the movie. It’s what proves his undoing, but still, the technique isn’t really central to the movie. It’s not even mentioned before Garlic Junior uses it! I mean, they might as well call DBZ movie 7 “S.S. Deadly Bomber”. Or DBZ movie 13 “Dragon Fist Explosion”.

Still, despite all that, “Dead Zone” sounds pretty cool, which I assume is why they went with at as the title. Lord knows it’s better than them just calling the movie “Garlic Junior”. It reminds me of how with Yu Yu Hakusho, Funi refers to the Sensui storyline as the “Chapter Black Saga”. The Chapter Black tape is a relatively minor item that’s not at all central to the plot, but it has a cool name, so they titled the entire storyline after it.

(Of course, even with the tape in question, it’s simply called “the Black Chapters” in the original version and Funi just came up with “Chapter Black” as a way of jazzing the name up. But I’m getting far afield here.)

DBZ Movie 2
“The World’s Strongest Guy”
VS
“The World’s Strongest”

The only DBZ movie whose Funi dub title is the same as the Japanese title. OK, so they left out “guy”, but it’s implied. In a martial arts series, when you hear “world’s strongest”, you know they’re not talking about the world’s strongest suspension bridge. It sounds a bit generic, but since the movie is all about Dr. Wheelo’s quest to find the strongest guy in the world to transplant his brain into, I guess it’s actually quite specific. It has a nice ring to it, too.

DBZ Movie 3
“A Super Decisive Battle for Earth”
VS
“The Tree of Might” or “Tree of Might”

On the Japanese side of things, this is probably where we first really get into the trend of having titles that are long and convoluted yet still generic enough that they could be applied to any other DBZ movie. This one can get really convoluted, depending on how you feel like translating it. Literally it’s like “Entire Earth Super Showdown”. But back in the olden days, I swear I saw some site call it “Super Decisive Battle to Decide the Fate of the Entire Planet Earth”. On the flipside, the smallest you could whittle it down to is probably “Earth Super Showdown”.

Typically, English translations of the title have assumed that the showdown in question is for Earth (Kanzenshuu’s movie guide follows this), ie to determine whether or not Earth gets destroyed by Tullece’s terrorist gardening. Combine this with the word kessen, a “decisive battle” or more simply “showdown”, and that’s where you get all that stuff about “deciding Earth’s fate” in some of the wilder translations. But grammatically, there’s really nothing in Japanese to specify if the showdown in question is for Earth or simply on Earth. Kei17 noted a ways back that, as a native Japanese speaker, he always interpreted the title as meaning that the movie’s battle took place all over the Earth. Of course, strictly speaking the movie doesn’t show people fighting all around the world, but it wouldn’t be the first time movie titles exaggerate. Plus, “Super Showdown on Earth” sounds way better than “Super Showdown at a Really Big Tree and the Surrounding Environs”.

Meanwhile, the Funi dub title…is pretty cool. Probably my favorite of their DBZ movie titles. It’s catchy, like “Dead Zone”, but also actually relevant to the movie. Overall, Funi’s titles for the first three DBZ movies are all pretty good. It’s only after this that they get lazy and just label the movies whatever the main bad guy happens to be called. Incidentally, there seems to be some discrepancy between various home releases as to whether this movie should be called “The Tree of Might” or simply “Tree of Might”, or at least that’s what I gather from Kanzenshuu’s home release guide.

Still halfway disappointed that Funi didn’t title this “Tullece: The Man with Goku’s Face”.

DBZ Movie 4
“Super Saiyan Son Goku”
VS
“Lord Slug”

As the old joke goes, “this title is a lie”. It’s a bit hard to imagine nowadays what Toei must have been thinking at the time, by deciding to center this movie on a Super Saiyan sneak peak that was bound to end up contradicting whatever Toriyama came up with for the actual story. Well, I say “center on”, but the degree to which Goku’s “Super Saiyan” transformation feels shoehorned in is hard to overstate. It’s not even how he beats Slug! According to GT Perfect File Vol.2, when making these movies the anime staff would first decide on a title, and then work out a plot. This movie feels like it must be an exception, like they had “Piccolo Knockoff Movie” 90% complete before it was decided to throw Super Saiyan in and retitle it “Super Saiyan Son Goku”. Or maybe this is the movie that clearly demonstrates this writing practice: they start out with the title “Super Saiyan Son Goku”, have no idea how to build a movie around that, throw in Piccolo and Ginyu Force knock-offs, and then awkwardly squeeze Super Saiyan in there. I’m not sure.

For the Funi title, well…at least this movie does genuinely feature Lord Slug. It’s got a leg-up on the Japanese title in that way, at least. I keep saying that Funi just names the movies after the villains. Well, this is the first time they do that, but it’s also one of only a few times where the title is literally just the bad guy’s name and nothing else. Usually they toss in a “Revenge” or an ”Unbound” or some such thing, but not here. Well, there is the “Lord” bit, if that counts…

On that note, the “Lord” part of “Lord Slug” is something of a Funi invention. Sort of. See, in Japanese Slug’s henchmen all call him “Slug-sama”, in standard henchmen style. It’s typical to translate sama as “lord”, at least in cheesy shonen anime when henchmen are addressing their evil overlord (but it’s probably not too good a translation for when, say, store employees are addressing customers). It’s the same as when Freeza’s henchmen call him Freeza-sama, or Coola’s henchmen call him Coola-sama, or Bojack’s henchmen…well, you get the idea. But while you might see/hear “Lord Freeza” often enough, it’s not cemented as part of the character’s name the way “Lord Slug” is among the English-speaking fandom. The reason of course being that Funi titled the movie “Lord Slug”. And the reason they did that, presumably, is because the movie probably wouldn’t have sold too well if they had just titled it “DBZ: Slug”.

DBZ Movie 5
“The Incredible Strongest vs Strongest”
VS
“Cooler’s Revenge”

They should have called this movie “Super Saiyan Son Goku”.

“Strongest vs Strongest” sounds like another thing they could slap on any DBZ movie, but I guess strictly speaking this is the first one with the setup of Goku on his own against an opponent too powerful for anyone else to even bother helping him with. DBZ movie 1 is Goku and the equally powerful Piccolo against an opponent tougher than either of them. DBZ movie 2 of course focuses on Goku as the “world’s strongest”, but even then Wheelo’s robot body seems stronger, and ultimately the climax is the whole gang taking on Wheelo together. DBZ movie 3 starts out as a team battle with the Z Warriors against Tullece and his Crusher Corps, even if in the end Goku’s the only one to get anything done (and he still needs the Genki-Dama, which technically counts as relying on other people). In movie 4 it’s a team effort that takes down Slug. But here, it’s clear from the start that the movie is going to be Goku vs. Cooler, with everything else just a sideshow. So I guess it’s a decent title in that regard.

“Cooler’s Revenge” used to confuse me. I didn’t get around to seeing the movies until long, loo~~oong after reading/seeing the main series. So despite my DVD collection consisting almost entirely of Funi releases, for ages and ages whenever I saw someone refer to “Cooler’s Revenge” I assumed they were talking about the second Cooler movie. I know the idea is that Cooler is out to avenge his brother, but still, calling the movie where a character first appears his “revenge” is just inviting confusion. Or maybe that’s just me.

DBZ Movie 6
“Clash!! 10,000,000,000 Powerful Warriors”
VS
“The Return of Cooler”

They should have called this movie “Cooler’s Revenge”.

The Japanese title is definitely specific to this movie. The “10,000,000,000 powerful warriors” of course refers to the legion of Metal Coolers. Granted, we probably see only about 1,000 Metal Coolers tops, but the other 9,999,999,000 must just be hanging out inside the Big Gete Star. Apparently some translations bungle the title and make it sound like it’s talking about warriors with a power level of 10 billion, but that’s just wrong. I mean, for all I know Metal Cooler does have a BP of 10 billion, but that’s definitely not what the title’s talking about. It’s just talking about their being a fuckton of powerful guys around.

The Funi dub title is OK, if a bit bland. Really the only problem is my tendency to get this movie’s dub title mixed up with last movie’s dub title, and I could very well be the only person on Earth to be quick that thick.

This is off-topic, but while we’re on the subject of the Funi dub of this movie, there’s something I can’t let slide.

The Funi dub calls him “Meta Cooler”.

The metallic metal Cooler made of metal, they call “Meta Cooler”.

For years I thought fans were just being poor typists when they called him that, but apparently Funi honest to God uses that name. Because, because…his original name made too much sense? I mean, sure “Metal Cooler” isn’t the most original thing in the world, but it gets the job done. He is, in fact, metal. But how the heck is he “meta”? Because he’s got that whole multiple clones/hive mind thing going on? That’s really not what “meta” means.

Oh well. I’m just glad Funi didn’t handle Digimon, is all.

DBZ Movie 7
“Extreme Battle!! The Three Great Super Saiyans”
VS
“Super Android 13!”

Another Japanese title that’s actually fairly specific to the movie. I mean, “Extreme Battle!!” could go with anything, but “The Three Great Super Saiyans” fits this to a tee. “Super Saiyan Goku”, “The World’s Strongest Guy”, “The Rebirth of Fusion! Goku and Vegeta”…the Japanese titles actually seem to focus on the heroes a good deal of the time.

On the Funi side, it’s another title that’s flat-out the bad guy’s name and nothing else. Nothing but an exclamation point, that is. According to the Kanzenshuu home release guide anyway; I don’t remember if that’s on the Funi DVD package or not. If it is, then that’s the only Funi movie title to feature an exclamation point, in stark contrast to the Japanese titles, which are positively silly with them. I mean, an “Extreme Battle!”, who’d want to see that? But an “Extreme Battle!!”, now that sounds exciting!!

DBZ Movie 8
“Burn Up!! A Red-Hot, Raging, Super-Fierce Fight”
VS
“Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan”

Of all the Japanese titles, this one probably gives me the most trouble. I can never keep it straight at all. It was actually named with Formula 1 racing in mind, according to Daizenshuu 10. I assume the idea is that this movie has the fiercest, ragingest, most red-hottest fight in all of DB-dom, but personally I file this title straight in the “could apply to any movie” category.

The Funi title’s another classic “named after the bad guy” one. At least it’s got “The Legendary Super Saiyan” as a subtitle, though debatably you could count that as part of Broli’s name. Actually, of all Funi’s “villain’s name” movie titles, this one probably works the best. Love him or loathe him, Broly is such a large figure in DB-dom that you can get away with just naming the movie after him. Android 13, not so much.

DBZ Movie 9
“The Galaxy at the Brink!! The Super Incredible Guy”
VS
“Bojack Unbound”

We really have reached the stretch where the Japanese and Funi titles are both at their most stereotypical. Another semi-coherent bit of overblown hype that you could slap on any DBZ movie, and another villain name with a word or two more stuck on. At least “The Galaxy at the Brink!!” sort of ties into the “Galaxy Warrior” part of the movie. But I never quite understood if the “Super Incredible Guy” is supposed to be Bojack, or Gohan.

“Bojack Unbound” does sound catchy, I’ll give it that. It’s presumably a reference to the play Prometheus Unbound, so it’s got some literary cred too (this is also why Viz titled a volume “Boo Unbound”).

DBZ Movie 10
“The Dangerous Duo! Super Warriors Can’t Rest”
VS
“Broly: Second Coming”

Yep, the pattern really seems set in stone at this point.

“The Dangerous Duo!” obviously refers to Trunks and Goten, though the idea that they’re especially dangerous seems odd. And Lord knows what “Super Warriors Can’t Rest” is supposed to mean. I guess with Broly coming back for revenge every other week, they can’t afford a day off?

So after years of trying to remove any and all religious references from the series, Funi decides to liken Broly to Christ in one of their movie titles. Makes sense. If anything, the fact that this didn’t immediately result in widespread outrage probably shows that they were being perhaps a little too cautious with how they handled religion in the main series.

DBZ Movie 11
“Super Warrior Defeat!! I’m the One Who’ll Win”
VS
“Bio-Broly”

I don’t understand the Japanese title at all. This might actually be the DBZ movie where a title like that is least applicable. “Super Warriors” presumably refers to the Z Warriors, right? And they’re not really defeated. And why “I’m the One Who’ll Win”? There’s not much competitive spirit in the movie, not with a mindless villain like Bio-Broly.

Come to think of it, this would be a fitting title for Battle of Gods.

The Funi title is…yeah…

DBZ Movie 12
“The Rebirth of Fusion!! Goku and Vegeta”
VS
“Fusion Reborn”

Finally, something that breaks the trend, on both sides. The Japanese title is actually relevant, and the Funi title is an adaptation of the Japanese title. So yeah, it’s good, and…not much more to say, I guess.

DBZ Movie 13
“Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Won’t Do It, Who Will?”
VS
“Wrath of the Dragon”

As I mentioned earlier, according to Perfect File Vol.2, the anime staff would first decide on a movie’s title, and then move on to working out a plot. This is the movie they specifically give as an example. I don’t have the exact quote, but they say first they decided on the title “Dragon Fist Explosion”, and with that done it allowed them to focus on such secondary concerns as what the heck the Dragon Fist was anyway. I swear I’m not making this up. If not for that tidbit, you might assume that they just threw in the Dragon Fist at the last minute, once they were out of ideas on how to wrap up the “Great Saiyaman/Kid Trunks/Flute Guy Movie”. But like with DBZ movie 4, apparently starting with the title and then working out a plot tends to result in whatever’s mentioned in the title getting shoehorned into the storyline very awkwardly. Or at least it does with Toei.

Because of this movie’s title, the Dragon Fist technique is called “Dragon Fist Explosion” by many fans, and even video games and whatnot on occasion. It’s a bit like calling Vegeta’s technique the “Take This! Big Bang Attack”.

The Funi title makes no damn sense. The only dragons in the movie are Shenlong, who’s in a pretty good mood by his standards, and the Dragon Fist technique, which is of course a technique and therefore doesn’t have “wrath” any more than the Kamehameha. They might as well have titled DBZ movies 2 (or 3, or 4) “Wrath of the Spirit Bomb”. Really, I expect this sort of nonsense from the Japanese titles, but here it’s a bridge too far. Unless the wrathful dragon is supposed to be Hildegarn? I don’t get it.

And finally!

DBZ Movie…14, I guess?
“Kami to Kami" or “Battle of Gods”
VS
…”Battle of Gods”…? Probably. We’ll see.

The main thing that jumps out about DBZ movie 14’s title, aside from the fact that it doesn’t have a slew of exclamation points or any sub-clauses, is that it’s actually got two separate titles. Even in the original Japanese version, it’s first got the Japanese title Kami to Kami, literally “God and God”, and then it has the English title “Battle of Gods” as a sort of liberal English translation. This is similar to other more recent anime movies that have both a title in Japanese and also one in English that’s kind of a liberal translation of the Japanese one but different enough to almost feel like a second title. Of course, “Battle of Gods” has been picked up as what most English-speaking fans call the movie, and it’s been used as the basis for translating the movie’s title into other languages. And it seems like Funi will be releasing it as “Battle of Gods” too, which should make things convenient.

Some people think “Battle of Gods” sounds Engrish-y or something and call the movie “Battle of the Gods” or “The Battle of the Gods” or whatnot. Personally I don’t see how “Battle of Gods” is problematic at all, but it’s possible that my brain has been permanently warped by watching too many old school Dr. Who serials with titles like “Planet of Evil” or “Colony in Space”.

Well, I guess that’s—

Oh, DB: Evolution. That’s called DB: Evolution everywhere, right? Wonder why they went with “Evolution” for the title. Because of the monkey-man theme? Oh well.

And that’s it.

[Bullza]

There's no denying that the all the Funi titles for the DBZ movies are far better than those god awful Japanese titles. I mean what's with the Japanese title for Movie 8? Do they not think before they name these things.

I know the episode names were pretty dreadful aswell, over long and told you what was going to happen half the time.

[Rocketman]

"If Goku Can't Do it, Who Can?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

j/k goku can do it



E: Wait, does it really say "won't"? That's more interesting, like Goku's being a dick about not instantly killing the bad guy.

[Super Sonic]

Sometimes title changes are done with marketing in mind, which is different in the States than it is in Japan. For example, I have one of DB's sister shows called in Japanese Asobi Ni Ikyuo! which translates to "Lets Come Over and Play" or something like that. Since that sounds kinda lame in English, or like a preschool show, Funimation released it under the title Cat Planet Cuties.

[ABED]

A little off topic, but the episode titles bother me because they give away the plot. This goes for both the US and Japan.

[AgitoZ]

The use of "Meta Cooler" is so prevalent that it snuck into the podcast when EX thought that was the actual name.

[InfernalVegito]

I usually never pay much attention to titles but this is hilarous. Thanks for dissecting it like that.

[Herms]

A little off topic, but the episode titles bother me because they give away the plot. This goes for both the US and Japan.

It's true, but we've got to remember that in Japan, the show was being made with the assumption that most of the audience was already following the manga in Jump and so knew what was going to happen anyway. The kids had all read the chapter where Goku turns Super Saiyan (for instance), so the point of the anime episode title is to let them know in advance which episode would contain the animated version of Goku becoming a Super Saiyan. It's a bit like older fans watching Kai to see how it adapts Z.

Compare this to the movie titles, which never tell you a damn thing about what's going to happen in the movie (usually). Because the movies were new stories that audiences wouldn't know in advance.

[Hellspawn28]

Wonder why they went with “Evolution” for the title. Because of the monkey-man theme? Oh well.

I think the producers said that the movie is a totally new story then the original Dragon Ball and they wanted the movie to be the next big thing. Evolution is a lame and cheesy title. They originally went with Dragon Ball as the title then change it. Cheesy sub titles hurt movies themselves since it turns people off.

[Insertclevername]

I actually like the Japanese titles. They are so hilariously campy. I'd rather have high levels of camp than the bland, concise crap Funi thought of.

[theoriginalbilis]

As wonderfully cheesy as the Japanese movie titles are... I still use the English titles to this day, if only because they're more indicative of the movies' content, and are so most English-speaking fans will know what movie I'm actually talking about.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Major kudos for thinking of a very fun and original thread topic--even reading the first post has been very fun and enlightening!

I do find it funny to compare some of the Japanese and FUNimation titles side by side, because when compared side by side, some (probably uninentional) comedic results follow. For example...

DB Movie 3
“A Great Mystical Adventure”
VS
“Mystical Adventure”

Apparently FUNimation didn't think it was that great. Were the dub script writers in a room, looking at the original title, and then thinking to themselves, "Well, it was pretty average, we don't want to lie to anybody...let's just go with a regular mystical adventure, not really a great one."

[Vijay]

Funny thing is, Title of my DBZ movie 13 (Speedy Dub) is Explosion of Dragon Fist that Herms just made fun off. The Attack in itself wasn't central to the film, but Oh GAWD!!

I've always wondered why Funi's titles have always been spoilers. Say, Broly, Cooler or even Bojack films. Naming films after villains might sound cool (about 10 years ago), but Villains in DBZ are the driving force of each film. Letting-out their names destroys any possibility of suspense of thrill factor while watching the film.

I consider Japanese titles to be much more careful in disclosing the names of their Villains. I've watched Ads in Youtube of M8 Broly's film. It was shown without much reveal on the Villain (they only showed Broly's LSSJ form against SSJGoku) which at that point, only adds to the viewers's curiousity. A tough-buff guy is fighting Goku. Thats all. No one would know if the guy Goku is fighting against is a Legendary Super Saiyan which the whole film revolves. Smart move actually. Not to mention TOEI's zero transparency when it comes to Titles without letting out either Villain's Name or His Attack...

[MagicBox]

“The Dangerous Duo!” obviously refers to Trunks and Goten, though the idea that they’re especially dangerous seems odd.

I've also seen this part translated (both by fans and on Mr. Simmons' translation on FUNi's DVDs) as "A Pair In Peril!" Is that an equally valid translation, or is the "Dangerous Duo" version more correct? I always thought "A Pair In Peril" made more sense because Goten and Trunks spend a considerable amount of time either running from Broli or getting whooped by him.

And Lord knows what “Super Warriors Can’t Rest” is supposed to mean.

Perhaps the idea is that Broli keeps getting woken up by these crybaby Son children? The CD soundtrack refers to Broli as the "Super Warrior" a few times. Maybe it's referring to him.

I don’t understand the Japanese title at all. “Super Warriors” presumably refers to the Z Warriors, right? And they’re not really defeated. And why “I’m the One Who’ll Win”? There’s not much competitive spirit in the movie, not with a mindless villain like Bio-Broly.

I always thought the title was referring to the big Battle Royal #18 wanted to have with the Bio-Warriors (possibly the Super Warriors?) so that she could go home quickly and get the money from Mr. Satan. Up until the big "twist" when Broli is revealed to be the antagonist, the Bio-Warriors are the closest thing we've got to a villain in this movie.

I guess if I wanted to say one nice thing about the Japanese titles, it's that they spark more interesting discussions (since everyone is trying to figure out what the hell they mean).

Also, I prefer "The God And The God" to "Battle Of Gods." It just sounds so much cooler.

[jda95]

I think Movie 8's Japanese title has to be named the worst because of that damn second sentence. It's both a tongue twister to say (Nessen Ressen Chougekisen) and an intimidating wall of kanji to read (熱戦 烈戦 超激戦). Not to mention that, well, it has zero to do with the movie. I wouldn't say the English version is better because I don't like the way it (and M10) felt the need to have a colon/hyphen in the middle of the title which just makes it seem longer and more unwieldy than it is.

[dbboxkaifan]

There's no denying that the all the Funi titles for the DBZ movies are far better than those god awful Japanese titles.

Better? The Japanese titles are far more descriptive about the films themselves and thus far allow for the viewer to know what it'll be about. I'll give ya that the eighth film title in English is better than its Japanese title.

The English title cards of the films are still better than the crappy title cards of the episodes that FUNimation did for DB/Z.

[Gdugz]

If I remember corectly the AB group dub kept its movie titles really close to the japanese titles. The return of cooler was called "Fight! 10 Billion Power Warriors" which sounds really weird in my opinion.

[DonZ]

“Burn Up!! A Red-Hot, Raging, Super-Fierce Fight”

i'm dying here.. sorry but this is a damn awful title.

[Vijay]

“Burn Up!! A Red-Hot, Raging, Super-Fierce Fight”

i'm dying here.. sorry but this is a damn awful title.

Considering how Broly literally whopped Z-fighters asses over 20+ minutes, I think the title actually Fits & lived-up to its hype.

[The Time Traveller]

There's no denying that the all the Funi titles for the DBZ movies are far better than those god awful Japanese titles.

Better? The Japanese titles are far more descriptive about the films themselves and thus far allow for the viewer to know what it'll be about.

Oooooh they're descriptive all right. But they're too vague half the time! If you caught me unprepared and asked me what happens in

“Super Warrior Defeat!! I’m the One Who’ll Win”
“The Incredible Strongest vs Strongest”
“The Dangerous Duo! Super Warriors Can’t Rest”
“A Super Decisive Battle for Earth”
“Burn Up!! A Red-Hot, Raging, Super-Fierce Fight”

I'd have no idea! They all sound like alternate titles for the same movie...

I sort of love how with Battle of Gods they were like "They always rename the movies something cool in English, let's do it for them." Imagine if in Japan they re-released the movies on Bluray to hype the new movie up, but redesigned the logos to fit with "Battle 神と神 of Gods", so they looked like "Bojack 銀河ギリギリ！！ぶっちぎりの凄い奴 Unbound" or "Tree 地球まるごと超決戦 of Might"