Anime Does anyone else miss the old ''Engrish'' in Anime oppenings?

[LXXXROMonteVIdEOII]

Its seems fairly evident now that for whatever reason, be it globalization, more international staffs working on studios, or whatever the main reason behind this may be, by the turn of the century the bombastic J-Rock oppening songs of the 80s and 90s Animes began to decrease in numbers, and with them, the amount of catchy, nice sounding, but still gramatically missinterpreted good ole ''Engrish'' words and phrases eventually became non existent anymore.

Now this might be just me, but I think this practice of keeping these phrases intact, was a well established part of the adaptation process that Anime underwent when they arrived to the West. But today the intros are either fully done in Japanese, or when there's a rare instance that they're done in English, they are overwhelmingly gramatically correct.

It might be dumb of me to say this, but I think that it was kind of wholesome how the sound was more important than the gramatical sense of the phrase itself, and how despite this fact, the meaning of the phrase was still conveyed to anyone through the sheere emotion of the performer.

I miss that.

Does anyone else here feels that way about J-Rock engrish? Does anyone else miss it as well? Would anyone like a comeback?

 

[vulonkaaz's iconvulonkaaz]

they stopped using broken english in anime openings ?

 

[garbodorman]

no. it's cringe.

 

[Metroid_Hybrid]

It's not anime, but it  is mandatory for any discussion involving the subject of "Engrish."

 

[bare101]

Just put your Grasses on...GOAT
Tell me Why - Penpals - Berserk

 

[IamtheWalrus]

I was never under the impression they stopped using "Engrish" in openings in anime. They still use it in current anime as well.
As for J-Rock, I've always been a fan of L'arc~en~Ciel ever since I first saw 2003's Fullmetal Alchemist, and afterwards I listened to them and even HYDE during some of his solo career. Among my favorites with "Engrish" lyrics from anime is Ready Steady Go, Blurry Eyes, and Driver's High. When it comes to HYDE, it'd be Season's Call, and also Psychic Lover's XTC.
As for non-Anime J-Rock, Dir en Grey's Child's Prey, Kodou, The Final, BORN's Demons, and Moi Dix Mois' Nocturnal Romance.

 

[otogirisou]

engrish is still widely used in japanese music in general

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

I miss the days where they would translate the Japanese anime OP/ED into English. I don't think they do that anymore?

 

[Deleted member 660650]

It was all about back then in Japan using English words mixed up within Japanese sentences seemed cool. That's why city pop genre music and whatnot had such lyrics. Still to this day Japanese people using English words in their daily life more than you think but English doesn't sound "so cool" to newer generation anymore which may explain decreased English usage in Japanese songs. These years English is just what they know and use when it comes to standard words so it's not rare that video games using English words in latin alphabet in some parts instead of writing them in the Japanese alphabet. In that regard Japanese using English words directly either in Latin or Japanese alpabeth instead of coming up with a Japanese word for them.

Why to them English word usage within Japanese sentence was cool is very similar to how elites and rich people used French words when French culture was so dominant French was international language. Naturally my generation was born when French usage was still common yet it was decreased which is why I know some French words despite we are nowhere close to France in anyway possible lol. So imagine such a culture in Japanese context that they never gave up using English still to this day just because English became fundamental and significant part of their language and therefore everyday life. So their "Engrish" usage will never fade away lol.

Have a glimps in city pop culture yo!!!:

I can also say using English words as part of a Japanese song became genre-defining element and also artistic choice anymore by being beyond of "it just sound cool" as how it was decades ago. That's why can't imagine city-pop without English words here and there lol.

 

[Heinzu]

Not really because it sounded kind of strange but I would like better translations because most of them in other languages are always very faulty.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I kinda miss engrish in general.

 

[Deleted member 7788]

Did you know I am a pioneer out on a secret mission to travel the galaxy and far beyond? I'm gonna' live the life that I created inside my head.

 

[Dingalow]

Its seems fairly evident now that for whatever reason, be it globalization, more international staffs working on studios, or whatever the main reason behind this may be, by the turn of the century the bombastic J-Rock oppening songs of the 80s and 90s Animes began to decrease in numbers, and with them, the amount of catchy, nice sounding, but still gramatically missinterpreted good ole ''Engrish'' words and phrases eventually became non existent anymore.

Now this might be just me, but I think this practice of keeping these phrases intact, was a well established part of the adaptation process that Anime underwent when they arrived to the West. But today the intros are either fully done in Japanese, or when there's a rare instance that they're done in English, they are overwhelmingly gramatically correct.

It might be dumb of me to say this, but I think that it was kind of wholesome how the sound was more important than the gramatical sense of the phrase itself, and how despite this fact, the meaning of the phrase was still conveyed to anyone through the sheere emotion of the performer.

I miss that.

Does anyone else here feels that way about J-Rock engrish? Does anyone else miss it as well? Would anyone like a comeback?

Not really. Don't get me wrong, it's charming but the games are better off without it

 

[LXXXROMonteVIdEOII]

It's not anime, but it  is mandatory for any discussion involving the subject of "Engrish."

Oh absolutely. And believe it or not back in the day there were even some road signs which instead of traditional vandalism with twisted signs or scratched paint, were painted over with the ''All your base are belong to us'' phrase. It was tragic and hilarious at the same time.

Post automatically merged: Nov 1, 2025

Did you know I am a pioneer out on a secret mission to travel the galaxy and far beyond? I'm gonna' live the life that I created inside my head.

HAHA! Absolute classic! If they ever pull out a remake of the Super Famicom game on a newer hardware the English lyrics are an absolute must of the intro.

Post automatically merged: Nov 1, 2025

I was never under the impression they stopped using "Engrish" in openings in anime. They still use it in current anime as well.
As for J-Rock, I've always been a fan of L'arc~en~Ciel ever since I first saw 2003's Fullmetal Alchemist, and afterwards I listened to them and even HYDE during some of his solo career. Among my favorites with "Engrish" lyrics from anime is Ready Steady Go, Blurry Eyes, and Driver's High. When it comes to HYDE, it'd be Season's Call, and also Psychic Lover's XTC.
As for non-Anime J-Rock, Dir en Grey's Child's Prey, Kodou, The Final, BORN's Demons, and Moi Dix Mois' Nocturnal Romance.

Thank you! I didn't know about a bunch of those. I'll be checking them out :)

Post automatically merged: Nov 1, 2025

It was all about back then in Japan using English words mixed up within Japanese sentences seemed cool. That's why city pop genre music and whatnot had such lyrics. Still to this day Japanese people using English words in their daily life more than you think but English doesn't sound "so cool" to newer generation anymore which may explain decreased English usage in Japanese songs. These years English is just what they know and use when it comes to standard words so it's not rare that video games using English words in latin alphabet in some parts instead of writing them in the Japanese alphabet. In that regard Japanese using English words directly either in Latin or Japanese alpabeth instead of coming up with a Japanese word for them.

Why to them English word usage within Japanese sentence was cool is very similar to how elites and rich people used French words when French culture was so dominant French was international language. Naturally my generation was born when French usage was still common yet it was decreased which is why I know some French words despite we are nowhere close to France in anyway possible lol. So imagine such a culture in Japanese context that they never gave up using English still to this day just because English became fundamental and significant part of their language and therefore everyday life. So their "Engrish" usage will never fade away lol.

Have a glimps in city pop culture yo!!!:

I can also say using English words as part of a Japanese song became genre-defining element and also artistic choice anymore by being beyond of "it just sound cool" as how it was decades ago. That's why can't imagine city-pop without English words here and there lol.

Thank You kind sir! What a precious jewel you've shared with us. I love this song, and I didn't even know there was a director's cut. As for female singers I'm a huge fan of Saint Seiya as you can probably tell by the pic so one of my favorite songs from the show was Final Soldier by Mitsuko Horie. Not the intro or the ending of course but still pretty cool IMHO.