Reasoning behind title choice?

[myskaros]

Just curious why the title was shortened in translation. "Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai" roughly comes out to "We still don't know the name of the flower we saw that day." I think it's a pretty clever title, playing on words and referencing the story to evoke a particular feeling/image. However, as it was translated/localized, it's rather vague and carries much less significance for Western viewers who are unfamiliar with the original Japanese name.

Since the subtitle length is less important than the title length, I think adding a bit to get "The Name of the Flower We Saw Then/That Day," while still imperfect, at least attempts to capture the nuance of the Japanese title.

Is this title finalized?

[Sheleigha]

Honestly, I think the long titles only really work in Japan. Even episode titles are long and come in two parts! Well, for kid's shows at least. The shorter, the sweeter, and just works better in North America.

[friendimpaired]

I agree, there wasn't really much chance of the title being translated completely. In fact, I almost didn't expect for this series to ever get licensed because of the title. AnoHana is what the fans always called it, because absolutely nobody says the entire title out loud. Adding "The Flower We Saw That Day" even seems excessive to me, but at least NIS tried to keep that much. They could just market as "AnoHana" and then caption the marketing and trailers as "We still don't know the name of the flower we saw that day..." as a tagline for the poster/boxart/artbook/etc.

[Houk]

Yes, the title is finalized. There are a number of reasons we decided to go with this option, but as a general explanation, we feel that it doesn't belabor the full original title for the folks who are already familiar with it and don't need it explained again in English, but still allows for a certain amount of wistful beauty in the US title for people who might not be familiar with it and might be intrigued by it.

As always, changing any aspect of a beloved show requires a delicate touch, but we hope you guys will grow to love it as much as we do (and if it makes you feel any better, the original creators in Japan are as happy as we are with the final decision).

[myskaros]

Thanks for the explanation, Houk! Glad to hear the title was also approved by the original creators too.

[Unvivid]

Honestly, people just call this anime anohana either way, thanks to the insanely long and confusing name japan gave them XD

[Mc-Taz]

It sure beats just calling it "AnoHana: That Flower"

In all seriousness though, I'm not bothered by the shortening of the title, but I will agree with a few of the sentiments that it doesn't convey the entire feeling of the original title. I do understand the reasons behind the shortening though, and I think Houk has already given a fairly good explanation behind the decision. I have no problems with the change, as long as it's fully translated in the subtitles for the title screen. Then anyone who buys it will also be able to see the full original title, with its whole meaning. (And how ridiculously long it is.)

[Discoceris]

I think the title is beautiful ... sweet and succinct ... from a Western marketing perspective. And as others have already alluded to, long titles only work in Japan.

To the OP, while accuracy may seem important to you, you need to take into account marketing this product in the Western culture. I have yet to see a blockbuster Hollywood movie with a title as long as a grammatical correct sentence which may as well cover the complete plotline of that movie.

[PalmtopTaiga]

I completely agree that the title choice was great! I can't wait until this comes out

[Scruffy]

The only problem calling it AnoHana is that it potentially confuses it with Aoi Hana, which is a very different (but still awesome) show ))