Japanese Titles: Cover or Obi?

i’ve looked around and can’t seem to find anything talking about this.
when adding a japanese release with the cover text in english and the obi in japanese, should you use the cover or the obi as the release name?

2 Likes

This has been discussed a few times in the past; IIRC the consensus was that the front cover should be given priority.

3 Likes

i see, thanks for the reply.

3 Likes

Yes, as the obi is made for convenient employee sort then for convenient customer browse / lookup / search in store shelves (as well as for advertisement once the release is found). :slight_smile:

4 Likes

I made a split topic about Japanese artist names that are often printed in Latin script on packagings nowadays but, IMO, only some should stay in Latin in MB, not the majority, depending on the usages around each artists:

2 Likes

I think that, at this point, the topic is still unclear in which name/script should be used for the releases (or I am not understanding the guidelines :sweat_smile:)

There are cases when the front/cover art states the album and artist name in Romaji/English, but the Obi is in Japanese. Example: Guilty Crown Soundtrack (obi / front)

My confusion comes in cases where obi and cover are the same, but we still change the release name to Japanese. Example: PROMARE Soundtrack. (obi / front)

Also there are cases where the obi has both Japanese and English name in it, and the front is in English. Example: Bubble Soundtrack. (obi / front)

I know that most of these releases on digital platforms will appear with the name written in Japanese, but regarding the physical releases: Should we stick to name as it appears in the cover and obi?

1 Like

The spines should also be considered.
And the OHP and main shops can help, as well.

I don’t do many soundtracks, I mostly edit artist releases, which is more easy, more consistent within a specific artist.

1 Like

The case of Hiroyuki Sawano is annoying. (All 3 examples are him.) I have no idea what he intends or what his label(s) intend.

That said, the originally written Japanese Style guideline says to refer to the “official discography or record label pages” for capitalization. A reasonable interpretation of the intent implies the same for script. Like you said, the official text from the label tends to be in Japanese for his case.

3 Likes

Thanks, both of you.

I’m not too sold in this case. As you said Yindesu, his case is very particular because you can check front, obi, spine, his official page and the label page and all of them are different, even if is one thing:

In physical releases: Front and obi usually differs in the script (something that is not happening in his last releases).
In digital data information: His website and the label (if applicable), they usually write Original Soundtrack instead of オリジナル・サウンドトラック (or viceversa). And different styles has been submitted in his MB page.

My personal opinion is that, at this point, if we are talking about physical releases we should apply the script or stylization that comes on the CD (if both front and obi are consistent).
If we talk about digital releases it gets more complicated due to names being changed due to the regions. (as an example: Attack on Titan Soundtrack here on Latin America shows as Attack on Titan Original Soundtrack, instead of TVアニメ「進撃の巨人」オリジナルサウンドトラック. At this point, we should apply the style that comes on the japanese digital stores.

Digital is far easier - just use mora.jp.

2 Likes

That’s not my experience (nor my opinion), and it’s not limited to Japanese releases either. It nearly always makes more more sense when the obi spine / back tray spine are followed, IMO and IME.

4 Likes