Utawarerumono (translated as The One Being Sung) has been licensed by ADV and will be released under the name…brace yourself…Shadow Warrior Chronicles.

From ANN:
ADV to Release Utawarerumono (2006-08-05 12:41:20)
ADV announced that they have licensed Utawarerumono, which will be released in North America under the name Shadow Warrior Chronicles. It is expected to be released early 2007.

Now…I thought Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (The Eternity you Desire) turning into “Rumbling Hearts” was pretty bad, but this is far far worse.

I understand the logic of it, they need to appeal to the masses who only know anime in it’s english form. So you end up in a situation where licensors have to turn nice and subtle names into ones which suit the tastes of fans who are familiarized with “animes” like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto. However, I find that a poor excuse to completely butcher the naming of the series (and most likely the names of its characters and landmarks).

It sounds like ADV took a list of cliche anime terms, wrote them on slips of paper and did a lottery to choose the name. *sigh* Hope of the English anime community growing past “ZOMG SWORDS AND…AND NINJAS! KAWAII!” is growing ever so slim.

~ Shirukii ~