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I just started watching Wagnaria!! and noticed that it says "Working!!" in the opening. I do understand that the title Wagnaria!!, as printed on the Box, DVD Cover and listed on NISA's Website, comes from the name of the restaurant in the anime which the story mostly centers around.

So I am wondering, does Wagnaria!! mean Working!! in Japan? Why is the anime titled Working!! but in the West it's labeled Wagnaria!! (with the second season being Wagnaria!!2), since normally in the West either the Japanese name is kept or it's translated to English?

nhahtdh
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Memor-X
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  • Just a bit of editorial comment: `it has been listed on the Box, DVD Cover and NISA's Website.` Do you mean "it has been listed on NISA's website"? `it would make more sense for the anime to be named after.` I'm not sure which one are you referring to - Wagnaria or Working?. – nhahtdh Sep 08 '14 at 13:07
  • @nhahtdh the first sentence is correct as i am pointing out that it's not just NISA using a different term, it's on the Cover/Box. RightStuf is blocked at work so i can't confirm what they list it as (RightStuf normally sells NISA Licensed Anime which is great considering NISA's new "No Shipping to PAL" Policy) – Memor-X Sep 08 '14 at 22:20
  • I tried to rewrite the flow a bit. Hope that it doesn't change the meaning too much :) – nhahtdh Sep 09 '14 at 16:30

1 Answers1

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The original Japanese title was "Working!!". It was changed to "Wagnaria!!" by NIS America for the US release. Source. "Wagnaria" is the name of the restaurant where the main cast works, so it makes sense as a title, even if kind of sounds like the name of a world of magic and wonder where knights and princesses adventure.

THEM Anime claims in its review of Season 2 that the title "Working" already belonged to a 1997 sitcom starring Fred Savage in the United States, which precluded NIS America from using it. I'm skeptical; as far as I know, US law does not prevent two works from having the same title as long as neither infringes the copyright of the other by copying major plot elements or other protected aspects of a work. Otherwise, I don't see how every US TV series ever written could have an episode titled "The Gift" (warning, TV tropes). I think NIS America just felt the title was too plain to catch attention in the US; in Japan it stood out because it was in English, but in the US, it's just a gerund.

nhahtdh
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Torisuda
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