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I just started watching _Wagnaria!!_ and noticed that it says "Working!!" in
the opening. I do understand that the title _Wagnaria!!_ , as printed on the
Box, DVD Cover and listed on [NISA's
Website](http://store.nisamerica.com/Anime/Standard?search=Wagnaria), comes
from the name of the restaurant in the anime which the story mostly centers
around.

So I am wondering, does _Wagnaria!!_ mean _Working!!_ in Japan? Why is the
anime titled _Working!!_ but in the West it's labeled _Wagnaria!!_ (with the
second season being _Wagnaria!!2_ ), since normally in the West either the
Japanese name is kept or it's translated to English?


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2014-09-07T23:12:45.043
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2014-09-09T16:29:40.383
2014-09-09T16:29:40.383
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wagnaria
Is the anime called "Working!!" or "Wagnaria!!"?


The original Japanese title was "Working!!". It was changed to "Wagnaria!!" by
NIS America for the US release.
[Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working!!). "Wagnaria" is the name of
the restaurant where the main cast works, so it makes sense as a title, even
if kind of sounds like the name of a world of magic and wonder where knights
and princesses adventure.

THEM Anime claims [in its review of Season
2](http://www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1487) that the title "Working"
already belonged to a 1997 sitcom starring Fred Savage in the United States,
which precluded NIS America from using it. I'm skeptical; as far as I know, US
law does not prevent two works from having the same title as long as neither
infringes the copyright of the other by copying major plot elements or other
protected aspects of a work. Otherwise, I don't see how [every US TV series
ever written could have an episode titled "The
Gift"](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockEpisodeTitles)
(warning, TV tropes). I think NIS America just felt the title was too plain to
catch attention in the US; in Japan it stood out because it was in English,
but in the US, it's just a gerund.


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2014-09-07T23:31:11.943
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2014-09-08T13:08:49.457
2014-09-08T13:08:49.457
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answer