This is what I get for not watching anime enough

[jennaria]

So I'm trying to write up a post about How The Fuck Do You Choose Anime To Recommend To Anime Newbies Anyway (because seriously, so many lists out there are all 'uhhh here's a list of the most popular shonen series kthxbai'), and I bring up the Most Popular Anime list on Crunchyroll.

Just looking at the first two rows (all that's visible on my screen until I scroll): first three are indeed the usual shonen suspects - Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, and One Piece. I recognize a few others from Tumblr (I follow someone who regularly posts Vinland Saga gifs) or ads (the splash page for Crunchyroll is currently Hell's Paradise).

Also there's three series that appear to have been titled by Chuck Tingle. The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist In Another World? Chillin In My 30s After Getting Fired From The Demon King's Army? Campfire Cooking In Another World With My Absurd Skill? (Wait, actually... :adds that last one to my queue:)

Is this 'the title is the summary' thing recent? I don't remember seeing this before, but before committing to Fannish Fifty, I also hadn't watched much anime since YURI!!! ON ICE back in 2016, so I absolutely admit that this might just be a knee-jerk reaction of how dare things change. Ah well.

(I know, I know, those series aren't actually titled by Chuck Tingle. Not a single thing is getting pounded in the butt, and there's a marked lack of sexy dinosaurs. But it's a good theory!)

Comments

[hitokage]

They read like the titles of Chinese webnovels (which have a mixed bag of conventions, but this sort of title (which reads much more concisely in Chinese) is pretty common, especially in the types of novels we might call LitRPG here in the West), which makes me wonder if they aren't adaptions of webnovels? I don't know how recent it might be as I, ah, also haven't watched much anime since YoI. Too many things to watch and never enough time!

[jennaria]

All three of them are apparently based on Japanese light novels, which all started as webnovels on Shōsetsuka ni Narō (says Wikipedia), so close enough! And at least one other commenter (below) says it started around 2016, so at least both of us have an excuse for why we missed it.

[inkstone]

They're most likely adaptations of light novels. And since most light novels start out as web serials before they get picked up by a publisher, their titles do read like mini-summaries because that's the most efficient way to catch a reader's attention on those sites.

[inkstone]

Oops! As for how recent it is? Mmm, probably 2016 or thereabouts is when you saw it become common actually.

[jennaria]

A bit of research, now that I know what to look for, proves you right - and also explains why I had the vague idea that I started seeing it around the time I wandered away from anime. (But trying to scroll through All The Anime between 2016 to now was less providing data and more providing frustration, so I stopped.)

[enchanted_jae]

Ha ha! I love the titles of Chuck Tingle's books. Have yet to read one, but the titles do amuse me.

[jennaria]

Someday, I will buy at least one, both because the titles amuse me too and because he's started on Tumblr and promptly became one of those celebrities where what do you mean he wasn't always there.

[kiya]

All I know is the "titles longer than a Fallout Boy song's name" thing is sufficiently common that the ridiculous phone game I play pokes fun of them.

[jennaria]

Originally the joke was 'these anime were titled by Fall Out Boy', and then I realized the Chuck Tingle thing was just as accurate and probably worked better.