The Funniest Movie Title Translations In Japanese

Have you ever looked up some of the titles movies in English are renamed when they’re screened overseas For example, Thor: Ragnarok was advertised in Japan as Mighty Thor: Battle Royale, presumably both because of unfamiliarity with the word ragnarok and also to cash in on the popularity of Battle Royale, the highest-grossing Japanese-language film at the time of its release.

In the video above, Abroad in Japan summarizes some of the strangest and funniest Japanese translations of movie titles, and we have more selections below, courtesy of Bomb Arrow.

It seems to become especially complicated when a movie has sequels, such as Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2, and Despicable Me 3, which audiences in Japan know as Phantom Thief Gru and the Moon Theft, Phantom Thief Gru and the Minion Crisis, and Phantom Thief Gru and the Minion Great Escape, respectively. But perhaps the best series of sequel titles goes to the Fast & Furious franchise, with titles like these:

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 4, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #84: "2 Fast 2 Furious" is "Wild Speed X2" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/XIRXXKKaeF

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 5, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #85: "The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift" is "Wild Speed X3: Tokyo Drift" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/C0UWh8ZtKz

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 6, 2017

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 7, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #87: "Fast Five" is "Wild Speed Mega Max" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/3L44UgEv56

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 8, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #88: "Fast & Furious 6" is "Wild Speed Euro Mission" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/gUa6ebuFaf

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 9, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #89: "Furious 7" is "Wild Speed Sky Mission" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/LiQGGyOQDT

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 10, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #90: "The Fate of the Furious" is "Wild Speed Ice Break" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/QslKCKr89U

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 11, 2017

Not all of the translated titles are as creative, though. Many of them took a very literal approach, telling you straight up who the protagonists are, from a first-person perspective:

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) September 20, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #56: "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" is "We Are Super Magicians" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/e7J8LE8RDW

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) July 8, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #113: "Goon" is "We Are Brawling Skaters" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/5Maih8RrSk

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) September 6, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #13: "Blades of Glory" is "We Are Figure Skaters" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/jcRX0Zoo78

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) May 24, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #106: "Anchorman 2" is "We Are Newscasters: History's Lowest! Viewership Battle in New York" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/usPCrPcdbt

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 27, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #57: "Who's Your Caddy" is "We Are Hip Hop Golfers" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/EsQgcPbQyH

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) July 9, 2017

Some of the titles may be an improvement on the original:

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) July 7, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #38: "Thor: Ragnarok" is "Thor: Battle Royale" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/G1VPvLOJUh

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) June 18, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #10: "A Knight's Tale" is "Rock You" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/3hvApOW7IS

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) May 21, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #111: "Up" is "Old Man Carl's Flying House" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/CNBiksLAsD

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) September 4, 2017

Some only left us with questions:

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) September 19, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #29: "Click" is "If You Could Choose Yesterday" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/MhSM1pA8k8

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) June 9, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #144: "Thanks For Sharing" is "My Lover Is A Sex Addict" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/vjnmSE0IyX

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) January 15, 2018

Some of the titles took a circuitous route to get where they’re going:

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 17, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #139: "Trainwreck" is "Amy Amy Amy" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/zmyqK3KHYP

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) October 15, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #82: "Anger Management" is "New York Style Happy Therapy" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/nupD1vDrbH

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 3, 2017

Some titles may have simplified things a bit in translation:

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 13, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #28: "Hot Tub Time Machine" is "GO!!!! With Bath" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/brgrqPS77P

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) June 8, 2017

Some of them possess disturbing implications:

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 2, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #118: "Nine Lives" is "Men In Cat" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/p7KkY9LI7q

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) September 11, 2017

And some of them get right to the point:

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) June 27, 2017

Bad Japanese Movie Title #74: "Cyrus" is "My Important Person and Her Shitty Son" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/BjsmvMxfr1

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) July 26, 2017