Do you prefer the English movie titles or the Japanese ones?

[Vijay]

Japanese titles are blatant spoilers. Eng titles can be cool. Fusion Reborn, Wrath of Dragon etc

No love for Malaysian Speedy Dub movie titles?

If you think Jap titles are spoilers, Speedy Dub titles are da "Bawws"

Wrath of Dragon becomes Explosion of Dragon Punch

They flat-out reveal the name of "Finisher" in their Title LOL

[DoomieDoomie911]

I would say that, from a purist perspective, FUNimation should have used the Japanese titles directly translated, but I honestly do prefer the English ones. They actually sound like movie titles to me.

I generally don't agree with changing anything, but this is one change that I welcome. The Japanese titles just wouldn't have worked with an American audience.

Why wouldn't they, exactly? Why would they work any less than they did with Japanese audiences?

Just as KameRule said, it wouldn't have appealed to American fans. Casual fans over here just aren't used to the "two sentence" title structure, and they would have probably just laughed at the title rather than watched the movie.

[Thouser]

Japanese titles are blatant spoilers. Eng titles can be cool. Fusion Reborn, Wrath of Dragon etc

"Fusion Reborn" is basically a direct translation of part of the Japanese title (復活のフュージョン！！悟空とベジータ "The Reborn Fusion!! Goku and Vegeta").

Also, "Fusion Reborn" is just as much of a spoiler as "Super Saiyan Son Goku" or "Dragon Fist Explosion," since all those things happen at the very end of the movie. A lot of the Japanese titles (movie 3, 5, 8, 9, 11) are actually vague, although I think the idea that "they're basically all interchangeable" is a little bit of an exaggeration.

No love for Malaysian Speedy Dub movie titles?

If you think Jap titles are spoilers, Speedy Dub titles are da "Bawws"

Wrath of Dragon becomes Explosion of Dragon Punch

They flat-out reveal the name of "Finisher" in their Title LOL

"Explosion of Dragon Punch" is again straight from the Japanese title (龍拳爆発！！悟空がやらねば誰がやる "Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Can't Do It, Who Will?"), so it's not really unique. I don't see how they're any more spoilery than the Japanese titles. If anything, a lot of them are even more vague ("Super Battle in the World," "The Strongest Rivals," "The Burning Battles," "Super Guy in the Galaxy," "Dangerous Rivals"), since they're basically distilled versions of the Japanese titles.

[Vijay]

@Thouser

As an ordinary viewer, I felt short & simple titles are apt.

You said it yourself. Fusion Reborn (at that point of time, I dont even know dafuq is Fusion) was unique compared to sticking Goku AND Veggie's name in Jap title, which removes every ounce of suspense or suprise element in da film

As for Malaysian Speedy Dub, you know what. Considering the utter lack of effort they put into the show (Gohan becomes Goku in M9, KHH becomez DragonBall Power in Fusion Reborn, Broly becomes Buraku in M10, Piccolo becomes Uncle Motong/StrangeHead, Janemba is BIG HEAD WTF?!?!), the slightly distilled movie title comes as no suprise.

They merely used short, understandable titles (by their standards) & use some Chinese translator to rephrase the sentences.

Though I'd say they're vague. Even more so than Jap titles

[Pokewhiz7]

Just as KameRule said, it wouldn't have appealed to American fans. Casual fans over here just aren't used to the "two sentence" title structure, and they would have probably just laughed at the title rather than watched the movie.

So had they kept the two-line title format in the series as well, would casual fans have accepted it then? Is it just a matter of not being used to it?

[Thouser]

Just as KameRule said, it wouldn't have appealed to American fans. Casual fans over here just aren't used to the "two sentence" title structure, and they would have probably just laughed at the title rather than watched the movie.

So had they kept the two-line title format in the series as well, would casual fans have accepted it then? Is it just a matter of not being used to it?

Probably. After being exposed to the Japanese episode titles on DVD, the movie titles didn't seem as odd to me as they might have otherwise.

Honestly though, even though kids might have made fun of the titles if they used literal translations, I don't think that would have stopped them from watching. Dragon Ball Z was pretty big back in the early 2000s. It might have just become part of the show's identity in the US. "Yeah man, remember Deebeezee? They would scream a lot, fight in the desert, and all the movies had really long titles."

Dragon Ball Z was already pretty unusual by itself. Before I watched the series, what most stuck out to me as a kid was how unusual it looked. The big spiky hair, "the green guy," "the dude with the eye on his forehead", and, hell, even the title of the show. I don't think a tiny bit more unusual would have killed the series or anything.

[DoomieDoomie911]

Just as KameRule said, it wouldn't have appealed to American fans. Casual fans over here just aren't used to the "two sentence" title structure, and they would have probably just laughed at the title rather than watched the movie.

So had they kept the two-line title format in the series as well, would casual fans have accepted it then? Is it just a matter of not being used to it?

It could be, but I still think that American fans would giggle at it and not take it seriously. But I could be wrong.

I should add that I actually do think that FUNimation should have just used the original translated Japanese titles for the series, but the movie titles are just plain silly.

[Gyt Kaliba]

At the end of the day, I guess I'm just happy that even Toei seems to have moved away from that style of naming, at least for the movies, if Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F' are any indication. Kai and Super both used/are using the longer episode titles though, but I guess for a show proper, it's just way too iconic to the franchise's branding or whatever you want to call it.

[Thouser]

At the end of the day, I guess I'm just happy that even Toei seems to have moved away from that style of naming, at least for the movies, if Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F' are any indication. Kai and Super both used/are using the longer episode titles though, but I guess for a show proper, it's just way too iconic to the franchise's branding or whatever you want to call it.

To this day there are shounen anime that still use episode titles like that. Yesterday an episode of One Piece aired in Japan with the title "A Blade of Tenacity! The Gamma Knife Counterattack!" The week before that it was "Law Dies! Luffy's Raging Onslaught!"

Back in the '90s, even Sailor Moon movies used the "episode title style" movie titles. One of the Sailor Moon movies was called "The Nine Sailor Soldiers Unite! Miracle of the Black Dream Hole."

Back in the '70s, Mazinger Z had episode titles like "Kouji's Pinch! Sayaka Destroys Mazinger!"

There are live action superhero shows for kids that use these kinds of over the top episode titles as well. It's not just a '90s Dragon Ball thing.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Oh trust me, I'm aware it's far from only a Dragon Ball thing - I just meant that I'm assuming they've kept that style of naming for Kai and Super's episode titles mostly because that's the way it's always been for the series.

For One Piece, I've always assumed they started doing it that way as an homage to Dragon Ball of sorts, and have thus kept doing it even now. I'm still glad that the movies for both have opted not to go that route any more, though for One Piece they've almost gone too far in the opposite direction. 'Strong World' was fine and all, but not really sure what the heck 'Film Z' and 'Film Gold' are really supposed to tell us, bah.

[Super Sonic]

English titles as they're easier to remember for the most part. And a lot of the Japanese titles are kinda weird in a way that Japan likes. Kinda like DB's sister show, "Asobi Ni Ikuyo" which translates into "Let's Come and Play" or something, hence being released stateside as "Cat Planet Cuties". As for the Speedy Malaysian dub, never heard of them, and I don't know anyone who speaks Malaysian.

[Thouser]

English titles as they're easier to remember for the most part. And a lot of the Japanese titles are kinda weird in a way that Japan likes. Kinda like DB's sister show, "Asobi Ni Ikuyo" which translates into "Let's Come and Play" or something, hence being released stateside as "Cat Planet Cuties". As for the Speedy Malaysian dub, never heard of them, and I don't know anyone who speaks Malaysian.

The Speedy dub is in English, not Malay (Malaysian isn't a language):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p53odOyFv8I