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The English title of the series _Sweetness and Lightning_ is a pun on the
idiom "[sweetness and
light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetness_and_light)".

The original Japanese title is _Amaama to Inazuma_ (甘々と稲妻). I wanted to find
out if there was a similar pun behind the Japanese title, so I started by
looking up the words and was surprised to find that it's basically a literal
translation of the English title: _amaama_ [means "sweet" or
"sugary"](http://www.japandict.com/%E7%94%98%E3%80%85) and is the character 甘
(sweet) repeated, and _inazuma_ [means
"lightning"](http://www.japandict.com/%E7%A8%B2%E5%A6%BB).

Without some kind of pun or joke behind it similar to the one in English, the
Japanese title seems like sort of a strange combination of words to hit upon.
It's such a direct equivalent to the English title that it almost looks like
the English title was conceived of first and then translated back into
Japanese, but that doesn't make sense because if the original author Gido
Amagakure had come up with the English title, that would probably just be the
title, since so many anime are named in English already.

I'm curious if there are any linguistic reasons to pick the Japanese title.
I'm not asking for thematic reasons; the title is thematically appropriate in
both languages, even without the pun. I'm asking why there was such a suitable
pun in the English version that apparently didn't exist in the Japanese title,
and whether the Japanese version also contains some pun or reference that I've
missed. Was the fact that it translates so well into English just a massive
coincidence? Is there something more to the Japanese title that I'm not
seeing?


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2016-08-20T22:49:46.937
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question
japanese-language sweetness-and-lightning
Why is the series called "Amaama to Inazuma"?


I wrote a bit about Amaama to Inazuma names, including my take on why this is
a marvelous title, here: <http://kyradesuyo.wordpress.com/2016/07/24/kouhei-
tsumugi-and-kotori-onamae-wa>

The part about the title itself is by the end.

TLDR: 甘い(ama.i) is also often used to describe Naivety and Inazuma uses kanjis
related to Rice and Wife, both tying very well into the whole premise of the
story.


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answer


One interpretation of the title can be:

甘々ちゃんといなくなった妻

[稲妻]{いなつま} is basically a play on words for いなくなった妻, more or less "the wife
that's no longer there". Implying that someone is widowed.

甘々ちゃん however is a bit more complex.

It can be interpreted as 甘な甘ちゃん. The expression here is a bit multifaceted, so
I will try to break it down.

While 甘い does mean sweet, but it has other meaning out side of food. When used
to describe a person, it can also mean naive.

Someone who is referred to as an 甘ちゃん can be described as a "soft" or "naive"
person. Adding 甘い to describe someone who is an 甘ちゃん reinforces the naive
stereotype. The nuiance here is a bit negative,implying that this person is a
clueless (naive) idiot.

One can imply that the title refers to Inuzuma-sensei, being a very soft
spoken, yet clueless single parent raising a daughter, who not only doesn't
know how to cook, but doesn't know to to take care of Tsumugi (in place of his
late wife).

You could imply that the alternate meaning to "sweetness and lighting" to be
"the naive widow".

* * *

However, if you refer to the author's afterword in vol.1 of the manga,

[![vol 1
afterword](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8mApal.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8mApa.jpg)

Despite many alternate interpretations of the title, the title is intended to
be something warm and fuzzy that appeals to the 5 senses, nothing more than
that.


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