This week's poll was suggested by LazyReviewer. Generally it's the isekai series that have long titles, but when does it get too long? I don't know what the actual longest title is, but here's an example of a long one: Isekai Shoukansareta Kita Seijo-sama ga "Kareshi ga Shinda" to Naku Bakari de Hataraite kuremasen. Tokorode Sono Shinda Kareshi, Zense no Ore desu ne.

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: You are transmigrated into a book which you read in your previous life and...
Choices:
You remember every important detail - votes: 565 (26.4%)
You only remember a few events/names - votes: 1136 (53.1%)
You only remember the names of the original leads - votes: 77 (3.6%)
You don't remember anything! - votes: 361 (16.9%)
There were 2139 total votes.
The poll ended: February 10th, 2024 10:58am PST

I feel like many of us have inflated opinions of our memory

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

There is no title that is too long but I rather it be less than 5. After 5 words, you know the fanbase is just going to abbreviate anyway, your not going to remember the exact title, and your never going to tell someone the exact title anyway.

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Internet Lurker At Heart

The Lord of the Rings is 5 words. The absolute maximum before the title becomes a sentence. Don´t try to be more epic than the epic. I can maybe see 6 words working in edge cases but even that seems too much and individual novel names are their own thing where the 5 word limit equally applies.

I can´t think of a single one of these word salad LNs or manga titles that are worth looking at so the gimmick continues to remain the sign of a hack attention grabber.

Edit: October 2019. When Light Novel Titles Started to get so Long
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi79l5k8gBM
I hate the LN market so much. The absolute ass crack of young adult literature and still comically niche outside of Japan.

Last edited by residentgrigo at 12:24 pm, Feb 10 2024

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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

IMO most of the best titles are under 6, but 'A Year and a Day in Old Theradane' comes to mind as a long title that I like (albeit not manga).

I dislike long titles when they're a sentence (or, horror of horrors, multiple sentences) and are describing the content of the work rather than making any attempt to be clever.

I don't particularly care about the length of the title, but this trend of writing the synopsis with the title not cool.

I do understand why it exists: It's the clickbait principle
The synopsis is a short, well written description to appeal to the interests of the readers, draw them in, and get them hooked on the main concept. However, it is not seen until you flip the book over or click the link.
The title, however is visible on the cover, website homepage, and every list/catalog - requiring no additional effort to be seen - but it doesn't have the captivating power of the synopsis.
So why not then write a very descriptive title to bait the readers even if it is long? It may be cumbersome, but it's surely effective.

Now, here's a suggestion: let's make this a thread for sharing the worst offenders...

Agreeing to this hypothesis, I think Japanese long titles have been catching up with the level YouTube clickbait video titles. It's got to the point of fake comments on thumbnail and outrageous brackets; those SSSS, 999999 and 0.000001% is apparently old news.

Example: https://www.mangaupdates.com/series/auc93s2/jako-ni-wa-kaji-ga-oniaida-www-to-iwareta-kaji-level-9999-no-ore-tsuihousareta-no-de-boukensha-ni-tenshoku-suru-saikyou-de-musou-shinagara-guild-de-tanoshiku-kurashimasu

I mean the real reason is that the big webnovel site (Syosetu) just didn't have a synopsis option at all for years and enough series go picked up for actual publication in that era that it became an accepted practice.

I chose 9. The people who selected "There is no title that is too long" probably only do it to be contrary or something.🙄 Yeah, you people go and work through a 100-word-long title and then try and say again that there's no such thing as a title that's too long.🙄 Ultra long titles are ridiculous and can be contraproductive, unless done in an artful manner to get the attention of a specific target group of readers. For example, those super long novel titles that you repeatedly see here sound stupid, and aren't funny at all (not the translators' fault- they're just correctly translating it). Maybe it's different in the native languages, but I doubt that.

Last edited by amy_levi at 1:45 pm, Feb 14 2024

I picked 8, but realistically, it depends on the length of the words and how catchy the title. Immediately "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" came to mind and I really like that title (clocking in at 6 words and I threw in two more in case there are some titles with more prepositions).

I can't stand those super long isekai & light novel titles that are basically summaries of the manga. 😔

Last edited by flowinmyboat at 5:35 pm, Feb 14 2024

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http://i.imgur.com/LxhWm.jpg (will reformat this some day…)