Premieres sometime in 2024. English article for more info and character visuals. Synopsis from AniList:
Why does no one remembers the true world…!"
The era when the great race of the five tribes competing for hegemony on the ground ended with the victory of mankind led by hero Sid. However, that world was suddenly “overwritten” in front of a boy Kai. In the rewritten world, Kai saw the scene where humans lost to the five tribal wars because of the absence of hero Sid—here dragons and demons dominate the ground, and Kai is a forgotten existence from all human beings. However, after encountering the mysterious girl Rinne, Kai decides to break this rewritten destiny. In a world without heroes, he inherits the hero’s sword and martial art and challenges the mighty enemy races who reign.
Shouldn’t the title be:
なぜ僕の世界を誰も覚えていないのか？
Why Does Nobody Remember My World?
or
Why Doesn’t Everybody Remember My World?
This makes it seem like the main character is forgotten, but the original seems to imply the world was forgotten. Right?
I concede that there is a difference there and that the native Japanese does say that my world (boku no sekai) is what is forgotten. However, I went with the Crunchyroll localization of the title because:
- They are likely the ones to license it (because they license the most properties), so their English title is likely to be the one used.
- The synopsis talks about Kai, the character, being a forgotten existence. So, I thought that the title still fit the story being told.
Translation and localization isn’t a science though. I do know that the English title they put on their poster could have used a proofreader because “Why nobody remembers my world?” is just not how English speakers would ask that question. Your two localizations are much better.
I suspect that this may be a localizer that’s mad about being called out intentionally sabotaging current works by purposely doing their job wrong.
Like saying “Fine, I’ll give you all an exact 1:1 translation with no proofreading to prove to everyone why you still need me.”
Nobody with a brain is saying localizers should go away. The problem is that some localizers are editing the original intention of the work because their personal politics do not agree with what they’re working on. But those kinds of edits are not the job of a localizer. It makes sense that in certain instances changes would be necessary, such as a joke that references the geography of a specific location that you would only get if you live there, or a pop culture reference or something. That would necessarily need to be changed to a different joke that still carries the intended meaning.
But changing entire scripts to reference “American Social Justice Politics” is entirely disrespectful to the original work. Its like, the opposite of what these dingalings would call “cultural appropriation.” Its like “cultural erasure” or “cultural censorship.” Most people watch anime because its different from their own culture’s media. Trying to delete that difference is not the job of a localizer.
I have seen this title translated a couple different ways in different articles. Even on the teaser visual I linked to here, it is translated as “Why nobody remembers my world?”. However, out of the couple variations I saw, I decided to go with the one Crunchyroll used as it sounds the most natural to my native English ears.
I am far from fluent in Japanese, but the native title is 「なぜ僕の世界を誰も覚えていないのか？」 (Naze Boku no Sekai wo Daremo Oboeteinai no ka?, literally: why my world everybody doesn’t remember?). My reading of this is that the title on the poster is a pretty literal translation of the native title even if it sounds awkward.
Anyway, that is just some quick translators’ notes for why the visual might not match up with the title I used in the post.
