<p>For the meaning of the word "Re:" in the title, depends on the Anime</p>

<p>(there seems to be a lot of explanation in the comment section of your answer).</p>

<p>But the reason on why there's an influx of it being used is the fact that it currently sells when used in a light novel, manga, or anime title.</p>

<p>It's like how in gaming after <em>DayZ</em> was out, there was an influx of zombie survival games.
or if you want an Anime comparison, it's like how after <em>Sword Art Online</em>, "Trapped in another world" anime popped up each season (starting the 'isekai' genre craze).</p>

<p>I'm not saying that everything with the word "Re:" in it is a cash grab, it's not; but it's more of a marketing strategy.</p>

<p>The earliest usage (that I can find) of this is in <em>Re: Cutie Honey</em> (2004) and later <em>Re: Hamatora</em> (2014) which is an OVA, and a second season respectively. The most impactful usage of "Re:" though is in <em>Re:Zero</em>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-13T11:27:46.040Z
SAO didn't spark the iSekai genre. It had been around for 3~4 decades before that.
Mindwin Remember Monica
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-25T09:44:28.880Z
@Mindwin but Isekai does increase in popularity after SAO, although I don't think it is because of SAO nor do I have any evidence of SAO directly influencing the popularity of Isekai genre.
絢瀬絵里
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-26T01:51:00.993Z
@Mindwin yeah, I just edited my answer; what I meant is that SAO started the isekai genre craze; not sparking it in the anime industry. Thanks for the suggestion.
Kevin fu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-13T05:08:42.123Z
2018-04-26T01:49:52.290Z
2018-04-26T01:49:52.290Z
Kevin fu
<p>There have been quite a number of series whose English titles use peculiar forms of <strong>Re</strong>. I don't mean normal usages like <em>Rebirth</em> or <em>Requiem</em>. Here's some I chose from an <a href="https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?letter=R&amp;show=50" rel="nofollow noreferrer">alphabetical listing at MAL</a>:</p>

<ol>
<li>Re Boot</li>
<li>Re-Kan</li>
<li>Re: Cutie Honey</li>
<li>Re:_Hamatora</li>
<li>Re:Creators</li>
<li>RE:Map</li>
<li>Re:Zero (and several spin-off series)</li>
<li>ReLIFE</li>
<li>Rewrite (although normal, seems to conceptually fit here)</li>
<li>Re:Monster</li>
<li>Tokyo Ghoul:re</li>
</ol>

<p>It is likely that some of these are just using the prefix "re" as often done in English, to mean either "again" or "concerning". What makes these seem odd to me is the variety of ways they use off-kilter orthography. Is it done as a marketing ploy to attract attention?  Or is there some underlying Japanese concept that maps particularly well to English "Re"?</p>

<p>A Japanese student grows up learning three alphabets (two Japanese and the Latin one) plus Kanji. I wonder sometimes if this variety can lead them to think flexibly in how they choose to build titles in English.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-28T05:56:37.373Z
"Re-Kan" is just a playful romanization of 霊感 _reikan_, meaning something like "supernatural sense". It's not related to the "Re:" in _Re:Zero_, etc.
senshin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-28T06:00:47.343Z
In _Hamatora_'s case, it's explicitly "Re:" as in the thing you prefix to an email subject when replying. You can tell because the recap movie is called... "Fw:Hamatora". I'm pretty sure the same is true for _Re: Cutie Honey_ (it's also a sequel), though I have no direct evidence and am not familiar with this franchise.
senshin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-28T06:10:13.687Z
_ReLIFE_ is transparently in the sense of "life again", given that's what the premise of the narrative is. _Rewrite_ is also just the English word "rewrite" (a key element of the plot is a certain variety of "rewriting").
senshin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-28T15:43:37.083Z
@senshin What I find most odd is the number of times a title has used "re" recently. Also the variety of ways it is done. Note the underscore character in *Re:_Hamatora*, the capitalization of "life" in *ReLIFE*, and sometimes following "Re:" they include a space and sometimes not. Maybe they are all just random choices, but maybe there was a reason for each of the choices.
RichF
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T10:58:43.233Z
'Re' is a prefix for "redoing" something. Reliving, rewriting, recreating, etc.
Exerion
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-31T14:48:25.057Z
"The Re: in Re:Monster is a uniquely used abbreviation of Reincarnated or just the English prefix re-,[1] meaning again, or one more time, as to refer to the protagonist’s reincarnation to a magic world as a “monster”. In the same fashion, Re:Zero and Re:Life also use the one-more time element, when Re:Zero involves a protagonist who is revived more than once, and Re:Life involves a protagonist who has his life reset. Perhaps Japanese authors just love this re- trend so that at least three of them use it in the titles of their works."
Marcio.Rezende
<japanese-language><culture>
Why all the "Re" in titles?
# Why all the "Re" in titles?
Posted by: username_0 on 2017-05-28
There have been quite a number of series whose English titles use peculiar forms of **Re**. I don't mean normal usages like *Rebirth* or *Requiem*. Here's some I chose from an [alphabetical listing at MAL](https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?letter=R&show=50):

1. Re Boot
2. Re-Kan
3. Re: Cutie Honey
4. Re:\_Hamatora
5. Re:Creators
6. RE:Map
7. Re:Zero (and several spin-off series)
8. ReLIFE
9. Rewrite (although normal, seems to conceptually fit here)
10. Re:Monster
11. Tokyo Ghoul:re

It is likely that some of these are just using the prefix "re" as often done in English, to mean either "again" or "concerning". What makes these seem odd to me is the variety of ways they use off-kilter orthography. Is it done as a marketing ploy to attract attention? Or is there some underlying Japanese concept that maps particularly well to English "Re"?

A Japanese student grows up learning three alphabets (two Japanese and the Latin one) plus Kanji. I wonder sometimes if this variety can lead them to think flexibly in how they choose to build titles in English.
**Tags:** japanese-language culture
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: "Re-Kan" is just a playful romanization of 霊感 _reikan_, meaning something like "supernatural sense". It's not related to the "Re:" in _Re:Zero_, etc.  
> **username_1**: In _Hamatora_'s case, it's explicitly "Re:" as in the thing you prefix to an email subject when replying. You can tell because the recap movie is called... "Fw:Hamatora". I'm pretty sure the same is true for _Re: Cutie Honey_ (it's also a sequel), though I have no direct evidence and am not familiar with this franchise.  
> **username_1**: _ReLIFE_ is transparently in the sense of "life again", given that's what the premise of the narrative is. _Rewrite_ is also just the English word "rewrite" (a key element of the plot is a certain variety of "rewriting").  
> **username_0**: @senshin What I find most odd is the number of times a title has used "re" recently. Also the variety of ways it is done. Note the underscore character in *Re:_Hamatora*, the capitalization of "life" in *ReLIFE*, and sometimes following "Re:" they include a space and sometimes not. Maybe they are all just random choices, but maybe there was a reason for each of the choices.  
> **username_2**: 'Re' is a prefix for "redoing" something. Reliving, rewriting, recreating, etc.  
> **username_3**: "The Re: in Re:Monster is a uniquely used abbreviation of Reincarnated or just the English prefix re-,[1] meaning again, or one more time, as to refer to the protagonist’s reincarnation to a magic world as a “monster”. In the same fashion, Re:Zero and Re:Life also use the one-more time element, when Re:Zero involves a protagonist who is revived more than once, and Re:Life involves a protagonist who has his life reset. Perhaps Japanese authors just love this re- trend so that at least three of them use it in the titles of their works."  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_4 on 2017-10-13. Score: 7 | Accepted answer
For the meaning of the word "Re:" in the title, depends on the Anime

(there seems to be a lot of explanation in the comment section of your answer).

But the reason on why there's an influx of it being used is the fact that it currently sells when used in a light novel, manga, or anime title.

It's like how in gaming after *DayZ* was out, there was an influx of zombie survival games.
or if you want an Anime comparison, it's like how after *Sword Art Online*, "Trapped in another world" anime popped up each season (starting the 'isekai' genre craze).

I'm not saying that everything with the word "Re:" in it is a cash grab, it's not; but it's more of a marketing strategy.

The earliest usage (that I can find) of this is in *Re: Cutie Honey* (2004) and later *Re: Hamatora* (2014) which is an OVA, and a second season respectively. The most impactful usage of "Re:" though is in *Re:Zero*.
> **Comments:**
> **username_5** (2017-10-13): SAO didn't spark the iSekai genre. It had been around for 3~4 decades before that.  
> **username_6** (2018-04-25): @Mindwin but Isekai does increase in popularity after SAO, although I don't think it is because of SAO nor do I have any evidence of SAO directly influencing the popularity of Isekai genre.  
> **username_4** (2018-04-26): @Mindwin yeah, I just edited my answer; what I meant is that SAO started the isekai genre craze; not sparking it in the anime industry. Thanks for the suggestion.  
---
