<p>The punctuation symbol  <strong>。</strong> is called a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation#Full_stop" rel="noreferrer">句点</a> (<em>kuten</em>). Although it often functions like the English period (a.k.a. full stop), it is <strong>not identical</strong>, and is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation#Question_mark" rel="noreferrer">used as the punctuation mark for a question sentence far more often than the ? symbol</a> is (the question mark is called 疑問符 [<em>gimonfu</em>] or はてな [<em>hatena</em>]. <a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%96%91%E5%95%8F%E7%AC%A6#.E6.97.A5.E6.9C.AC.E8.AA.9E" rel="noreferrer">Historically, Japanese did not have the question mark</a>, so although it exists in Japan now, it is not used in Japanese academic writing). In horizontal writing, the <em>kuten</em> is placed in the same position as a period would be in English: at the bottom right of the preceding character. In vertical writing, it is placed immediately below and to the right of the preceding character.</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation#Full_stop" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia</a> explains that</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Starting in the 1980s, advertising copy writers began incorporating full stops in titles and other advertising. In the 1990s, the group Morning Musume (モーニング娘。) began using a full stop in its name, starting a fad for this usage. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>Other cases include </p>

<ul>
<li>バクマン。 (<em>Bakuman</em>) manga by  Ooba Tsugumi and Obata Takeshi</li>
<li>いいひと。 (<em>Ii Hito</em>) manga by Takahashi Shin</li>
<li>野ブタ。をプロデュース (<em>Nobuta wo Produce</em>) live-action TV drama</li>
</ul>

<p>As you can see, "Bakuman" is not a full sentence by itself, and "Nobuta. Wo Produce" intentionally slices a single phrase into two fragments by the placement of the <em>kuten</em> (Nobuta is the nickname of a main character that the protagonist decides to "produce," meaning to make-over <em>Pygmalion</em>-style.  Grammatically, you cannot make "Wo Produce" into its own sentence), so these are both examples of a <em>kuten</em> that should not be interpreted as a period for ending a sentence. The <em>kuten</em> can be utilized as a sentence ender, but it is often <strong>used for style without any grammatical meaning</strong>. Similarly, some series titles make use of other <strong>Japanese typographic symbols</strong> for style such as　<img src="https://i.sstatic.net/oGjTw.png" alt="enter image description here">, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_typographic_symbols#Other_special_marks" rel="noreferrer">＊</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_(glyph)#Five_points" rel="noreferrer">☆</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_note" rel="noreferrer">♪</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_(music)" rel="noreferrer">♯</a> (for example, うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪ [<em>Uta no Prince-sama</em>] and おジャ魔女どれみ♯ [<em>Oja Majo DoReMi Sharp</em>] and the choice of a star to be read as the letter A in <a href="http://utanoprincesama.wikia.com/wiki/ST%E2%98%86RISH" rel="noreferrer">ST☆RISH</a>, an idol group in the former).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-14T02:36:12.537Z
2015-06-14T02:44:13.123Z
2015-06-14T02:44:13.123Z
seijitsu
<p>Pure curiosity.</p>

<p>Why do some series carry a dot [.] at the end of their titles?
Is there a meaning to it or is it convention?</p>

<p>Ex: <a href="http://myanimelist.net/anime/24705/Ore_Twintails_ni_Narimasu.">Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu.</a>, <a href="http://myanimelist.net/anime/5678/Kobato.">Kobato.</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-02T23:23:37.387Z
Pretty sure it's just a period / full-stop. "Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu" is a full sentence in Japanese, so hey, why not toss a period on the end of that.
senshin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-02T23:29:21.043Z
So its more like making sense of the title than just a simple styling or convention?
avluis
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-02T23:49:26.323Z
The second season of Oreimo ([Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai.](http://myanimelist.net/anime/13659/Ore_no_Imouto_ga_Konnani_Kawaii_Wake_ga_Nai.)) has it, and the first one doesn't. It's actually how they are differentiated in the title. There's no 2 or Season 2 or anything of the sort.
JNat
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-03T00:18:39.557Z
Correct, I remember that about the series. There never was a season season of the novel (no need for that, just make another volume) - but when it came to the anime something was needed to tell them apart. Any idea why studios are choosing to go this route instead of just adding a '2' like series before.

It could simply be a newer thing though, I have noticed this practice more with novels, but it looks like it is spreading.
Sort of like the really long title syndrome. (LOL)
avluis
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-03T23:50:49.323Z
I think it's likely a combination of both senshin and JNat's answers - given how many light novel titles are now full sentences, it makes a certain perverse sense to make them grammatically correct by putting a period at the end; at the same time, there's also a trend to identify sequels with punctuation marks (e.g. Working'!!) which is in itself an extension of the naming convention of adding a short word rather than numbering seasons (going back to, at the very least, Slayers Next and Try).
ConMan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-13T19:55:07.003Z
I think it's because the title is a sentence.
AllyOfCats
<anime-history>
Why do some works [anime, manga, novels] have a trailing dot?
# Why do some works [anime, manga, novels] have a trailing dot?
Posted by: username_0 on 2015-02-02
Pure curiosity.

Why do some series carry a dot [.] at the end of their titles?
Is there a meaning to it or is it convention?

Ex: [Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu.](http://myanimelist.net/anime/24705/Ore_Twintails_ni_Narimasu.), [Kobato.](http://myanimelist.net/anime/5678/Kobato.)
**Tags:** anime-history
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Pretty sure it's just a period / full-stop. "Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu" is a full sentence in Japanese, so hey, why not toss a period on the end of that.  
> **username_0**: So its more like making sense of the title than just a simple styling or convention?  
> **username_2**: The second season of Oreimo ([Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai.](http://myanimelist.net/anime/13659/Ore_no_Imouto_ga_Konnani_Kawaii_Wake_ga_Nai.)) has it, and the first one doesn't. It's actually how they are differentiated in the title. There's no 2 or Season 2 or anything of the sort.  
> **username_0**: Correct, I remember that about the series. There never was a season season of the novel (no need for that, just make another volume) - but when it came to the anime something was needed to tell them apart. Any idea why studios are choosing to go this route instead of just adding a '2' like series before.

It could simply be a newer thing though, I have noticed this practice more with novels, but it looks like it is spreading.
Sort of like the really long title syndrome. (LOL)  
> **username_3**: I think it's likely a combination of both senshin and JNat's answers - given how many light novel titles are now full sentences, it makes a certain perverse sense to make them grammatically correct by putting a period at the end; at the same time, there's also a trend to identify sequels with punctuation marks (e.g. Working'!!) which is in itself an extension of the naming convention of adding a short word rather than numbering seasons (going back to, at the very least, Slayers Next and Try).  
> **username_4**: I think it's because the title is a sentence.  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_5 on 2015-06-14. Score: 7 | Accepted answer
The punctuation symbol **。** is called a [句点](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation#Full_stop) (*kuten*). Although it often functions like the English period (a.k.a. full stop), it is **not identical**, and is [used as the punctuation mark for a question sentence far more often than the ? symbol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation#Question_mark) is (the question mark is called 疑問符 [*gimonfu*] or はてな [*hatena*]. [Historically, Japanese did not have the question mark](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%96%91%E5%95%8F%E7%AC%A6#.E6.97.A5.E6.9C.AC.E8.AA.9E), so although it exists in Japan now, it is not used in Japanese academic writing). In horizontal writing, the *kuten* is placed in the same position as a period would be in English: at the bottom right of the preceding character. In vertical writing, it is placed immediately below and to the right of the preceding character.

[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation#Full_stop) explains that

> Starting in the 1980s, advertising copy writers began incorporating full stops in titles and other advertising. In the 1990s, the group Morning Musume (モーニング娘。) began using a full stop in its name, starting a fad for this usage.

Other cases include

* バクマン。 (*Bakuman*) manga by Ooba Tsugumi and Obata Takeshi
* いいひと。 (*Ii Hito*) manga by Takahashi Shin
* 野ブタ。をプロデュース (*Nobuta wo Produce*) live-action TV drama

As you can see, "Bakuman" is not a full sentence by itself, and "Nobuta. Wo Produce" intentionally slices a single phrase into two fragments by the placement of the *kuten* (Nobuta is the nickname of a main character that the protagonist decides to "produce," meaning to make-over *Pygmalion*-style. Grammatically, you cannot make "Wo Produce" into its own sentence), so these are both examples of a *kuten* that should not be interpreted as a period for ending a sentence. The *kuten* can be utilized as a sentence ender, but it is often **used for style without any grammatical meaning**. Similarly, some series titles make use of other **Japanese typographic symbols** for style such as　![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/oGjTw.png), [＊](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_typographic_symbols#Other_special_marks), [☆](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_(glyph)#Five_points), [♪](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_note), and [♯](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_(music)) (for example, うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪ [*Uta no Prince-sama*] and おジャ魔女どれみ♯ [*Oja Majo DoReMi Sharp*] and the choice of a star to be read as the letter A in [ST☆RISH](http://utanoprincesama.wikia.com/wiki/ST%E2%98%86RISH), an idol group in the former).
---
