Nowadays in the anime world, there are more and more anime with incredibly long names. This trend is most popular in the isekai genre, but it has spread to other genres as well. For example, names like That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too, or Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? are becoming normal is gradually becoming a normal thing.
But why do so many anime have such long names these days? There are several reasons for this growing trend. Most of them grew out of the manga industry and are now making their way into the anime industry, as more and more manga and light novels become anime.
While there is no hard and fast answer, the reasons below are consistent with any answer to the question above.
Long names stand out in a crowd
There are thousands of manga and light novels out there, and more are being published all the time. Of course, bookstores in Japan don’t have enough space to display them all in such a way that all the covers are easily visible from the shelves. As customers browse hundreds of titles, the only thing a book has to stand out for is its outward title among all the others.
Thus, the trend of long names was born. For a manga or light novel to have a chance of being noticed and accepted, its title must have something special. Comically long and sometimes slapstick or outrageous titles (think I Want to Eat Your Pancreas or Reincarnated as a Vending Machine, Now I Roam the Dungeon ) catch head appears. That’s the best way for manga and light novels to sell and stand out, especially as isekai stories become more popular and are published more and more.
And of course, when these manga and light novels sell well in stores, the natural next step is for them to become anime. Of course, the manufacturer will also keep those ridiculously long names. After all, that name is at least partly responsible for the book selling well in the first place. Additionally, long names serve the same purpose of helping that anime stand out from all the other anime airing in the same season.
These long names act as a short summary of the content
Another thing where long names in anime come in handy is to attract fans without having to show a summary trailer. When you see the title “The Greatest Demon Lord Reincarnated as an Atypical”, you already know at least a little about what the anime will be about just because of the title. Animes like Jujutsu Kaisen and Neon Genesis Evangelion certainly can’t do that.
This appeals to two types of people. First, it’s great for busy people who don’t have much time. When they are looking for an anime series to watch, they may not have time to read every summary and watch tons of trailers in search of the right anime series to watch. But when they read the long title, they immediately know what topic this will be an anime about, who it’s related to, and just need to learn more if that sounds interesting.
The second group of people this method attracts are veteran fans who have watched a lot of anime. They are looking for something specific and they know what they like. When they watch anime with titles like “I Killed Slimes For 300 Years & Reached Maximum Level”, they can easily guess whether it’s the genre they want to watch or not (fantasy, combat, which may involve gaming in some way). Or if they like something like “It doesn’t matter how you look at it, it’s your fault I’m not famous!” (comedy, romance).
These long names are adorable and memorable
Ultimately, although it may seem like the opposite, these long anime names are very memorable to those who watch them. Sure, they might not remember the full name word for word, but they might remember that there’s an anime coming out called something like reincarnating into a vending machine, or picking up girls in a dungeon .
The anime industry wants to make money, just like any other form of media. They make money by having fans, people who watch them when they air, buy their merchandise and like them, and then buy the manga as well. Long-form titles do half the advertising for the anime before it has to do anything else, getting into people’s minds and piquing their curiosity. They think again about the title later and then they can start watching the anime.
Plus, long names are quite adorable! Many anime with long titles are also given nicknames to help people refer to them, such as Danmachi with Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?.
