Japanese puns in the manga/anime?

[Sadistic pillow]

I was wondering if there were like Japanese puns or jokes that couldn't be translated in other languages in any of the manga or anime?

 

[Yawackhary]

There's probably loads out there especially when you get to Part 2. Recall a character quite late on the series where her name was a pun for ugly but... the pun did work in Italian. Just not in English.

The only one that I know off the head is Lupin Shanshei where one of the titles (Burakkuhōrupan) is a portmanteau of Black Hole and Lupin but because the character "Ru", it would be lost for any language that doesn't share the same character and that would be most of them. Even French, hole is trou and Lupin is well... Lupin so it's not a match either.

I know there's a manga chapter where the title is untranslatable outside of Japanese and Chinese due to one of the characters sounds like the character for death. There's probably a few moments like that especially when the number 4 comes to play...

 

[Tsushi]

I was wondering if there were like Japanese puns or jokes that couldn't be translated in other languages in any of the manga or anime?

There are thousands, VegetableSaute used to make very fun threads about the references, things like Lupin singing commercial jingles, rewording lines from popular Japanese medias etc. and linking videos of those things. She would compare the English and Japanese on Lupin movies often! Sadly a lot of these things are hard to find now, twitter is really hard to search and navigate. I don't know if I have time for trying to screencap and reshare those things but if you feel like digging, I would go there!

 

[Sadistic pillow]

I'm so late, but thank you both for the answers!

There's probably loads out there especially when you get to Part 2. Recall a character quite late on the series where her name was a pun for ugly but... the pun did work in Italian. Just not in English.

That's interesting, if I'm remembering who you're talkin about, it's Bujiko Mine right? I always thought Bu- was an onomatopoeia for a pig sound, actually it makes sense now haah.

There are thousands, VegetableSaute used to make very fun threads about the references, things like Lupin singing commercial jingles, rewording lines from popular Japanese medias etc. and linking videos of those things. She would compare the English and Japanese on Lupin movies often! Sadly a lot of these things are hard to find now, twitter is really hard to search and navigate. I don't know if I have time for trying to screencap and reshare those things but if you feel like digging, I would go there!

Oh I remember those videos, very interesting and informative. It's sucks that they're difficult to find now (like a lot of old fan made Lupin stuff). I will still try to find them, though.


Thinking about there was that whole riddle in the episode with the Fuma Clan in Part 2. It wasn't punny, but I forgot how they handled that in English dub, because I know one part of the riddle used the Katakana letter for tree which had some wordings that wouldn't make sense in english

 

[Tsushi]

Yeah seems that Lupin makes puns a LOT. As for Saute, I totally recommend you follow her on Bluesky, she still will go over puns and phrases sometimes, asking questions about English jokes that might work for translating a pun in the comics.

 

[bestbushcraft]

There's probably loads out there especially when you get to Part 2. Recall a character quite late on the series where her name was a pun for ugly but... the swiftypuns did work in Italian. Just not in English.

The only one that I know off the head is Lupin Shanshei where one of the titles (Burakkuhōrupan) is a portmanteau of Black Hole and Lupin but because the character "Ru", dark fantasy names it would be lost for any language that doesn't Finite names share the same character and that would be most of them. Even French, hole is trou and Lupin is well... Lupin so it's not a match either. My Fantasy Names Fanzy Names

I know there's a sweatynames chapter where the title is untranslatable outside of Japanese names and Chinese due to one of the characters sounds like the character for death. There's probably a few moments like that especially when the number 4 comes to know Today Blessings

There are thousands, VegetableSaute used to make very fun threads about the references, things like Lupin singing commercial jingles, rewording lines from popular Japanese medias etc. and linking videos of those things. She would compare the English and Japanese on Lupin movies often! Sadly a lot of these things are hard to find now, twitter is really hard to search and navigate. I don't know if I have time for trying to screencap and reshare those things but if you feel like digging, I would go there!

 

[Tsushi]

There are thousands, VegetableSaute used to make very fun threads about the references, things like Lupin singing commercial jingles, rewording lines from popular Japanese medias etc. and linking videos of those things. She would compare the English and Japanese on Lupin movies often! Sadly a lot of these things are hard to find now, twitter is really hard to search and navigate. I don't know if I have time for trying to screencap and reshare those things but if you feel like digging, I would go there!

I wish it was easier to archive and share those! Twitter is so hard to dig and navigate, and who knows if it will stick around! It was really cool to see the commercials and references Lupin would make with some context. If anyone does feel like taking that time, I would be thrilled to have screenshots and links from those saved on here.