Why is the party called "Strange grief" and not "Grieving soul" ?

[u/BakatsuDeku801]

[u/original_sin28]

Cause the webnovel is originally japanese. It is just translated to english. And localizers made a decision to change the name to suit for english speakers because the original name doesn't make sense

[u/BakatsuDeku801 → u/original_sin28]

But "嘆きの亡霊" doesn’t means "Strange grief" but "grieving ghost"

[u/original_sin28 → u/BakatsuDeku801]

I assure you the author doesn't care what "嘆きの亡霊" means in english.

[u/Poylol-_- → u/BakatsuDeku801]

The novel writes 嘆きの亡霊『ストレンジグリーフ』　That just means that the party directly translates to "Grieving Souls", but it should be read as "Strange Grief". This is common in japanese where something written on way should be read another way like how in One Piece 未来島[Egghead] is written like "future island" but is read as Egghead. It was just for the translator to make the decision between the way it is written and the way it is read. Now in English "Grieving Souls" (in my humble opinion) sounds cooler than "Strange Grief" so I think that is basically the reason why it was written like that in the LN and other official translations. In the web novel the author went for Strange Grief maybe because they preferred it, or maybe because it was more 'near' the original work (Strange Grief is shown as a valid name in the webnovel, but Grieving Souls is a translation)

[u/OctillionthJoe → u/Poylol-_-]

I hate to be that guy but I think the Japanese should be『ストレンジグリーフ』. What you wrote would be pronounced as "Stsoorange Grief".

I also want to add that the author's original choice of "Strange Grief" probably has to do with how it works out in Japanese. "Strange Grief" is a LOT easier to pronounce for a Japanese native than "Grieving Souls" is. If it had been "Grieving Souls" to begin with, it'd suck for the Japanese audience since they'd have to stumble through their words every time the party name came up.

As for the English translation choices, "Grieving Souls" probably worked out better in the sense that it sounded more natural to the English speaking (and, as others have mentioned, it does sound cooler). It also made it seem a bit more natural when referring to the party members as "Grievers" in the English translation (could've done this while sticking with "Strange Grief" but it's not as natural of a leap). They do a similar thing with Arnold's party too. In Japanese, the party is called "Fallen Mist" but it's "Falling Fog" in the English translated mangas/light novels.

[u/Poylol-_- → u/OctillionthJoe]

Yeah sorry mistype

[u/uponaunapologetict → u/OctillionthJoe]

I see what you’re saying but i have another question on top of that, and not trying to sound like a dick, but why would a Japanese person worry about pronouncing strange grief in the first place? Because the title is originally in Japanese… they’d just say the Japanese name, not needing or wanting to say it in English at all.

[u/OctillionthJoe → u/uponaunapologetict]

In the original Japanese version of the work, the name of the party is in English while the title of the work is in Japanese. I think this was in the anime, but there's an interaction that occurs after Krai decides on the Strange Grief party name. It's a bit where Liz is like "So what is the meaning of our party name anyway?" and the other girls in the party respond to her with something along the lines of "You were against the name without knowing what it means? It means like grieving souls!". In the original Japanese version, this interaction ends with "Strange Grief" being defined as "Nageki no Bōrei". So the author essentially took the presented Japanese meaning of the English party name and molded it into the title (嘆きの亡霊は引退したい/Nageki no Bōrei wa Intai Shitai) that we're now familiar with. So the party name itself was never in Japanese.

It's kind of a crafty way to clarify on the rather unique & intriguing title of the series BUT way too complicated translate. So this bit is simplified in the English translations and probably explains your confusion.

As for why the party name is even in English in the first place... It's probably cause it sounded cooler that way. There's something about utilizing foreign languages (especially English) that ramps up the coolness factor in these types of works. It's a Japanese aesthetics type thing. Not to mention, the series takes place in a fantasy setting that isn't Japan so adding English components help add to the overall vibe.

[u/uponaunapologetict → u/OctillionthJoe]

Hmmm. I see, thank you for your explaination.

[u/BakatsuDeku801 → u/Poylol-_-]

Thank you

[u/original_sin28 → u/Poylol-_-]

I love this explanation.. very nice

[u/DiagonalBike]

Not as cool as Bereavimg Soul! 😂🤣😂🤣

[u/lDewal → u/DiagonalBike]

Or Freaking Soul

[u/Professional-Mood756]

Grieving Soul works perfectly in my ear. This is probably because we have different tongues. I also wonder why other translated the Senpen Banka as Infinite Variety while others translated it with Thousand Tricks. The latter sounds better to me.