Mistranslated Anime Titles
There are a number of anime with English titles that differ in mysterious ways from a literal translation of the original Japanese. To take liberties with the translation of dialogue is one thing, but the title? I suppose it's precisely because the title is so important that those bringing anime to our shores feel the need to ensure their titles sound "cool," but I think it's debatable at best whether many of these new titles sound better than their literal counterparts. In any case, I think faithfulness to the original is more important than is sounding cool.
Below I've listed a few cases of what I consider mistranslated titles, roughly in descending order of annoyance. The Japanese title comes first, followed by the mistranslated English title, followed by my suggestion for a more literal translation. I'm only including anime that I've seen, but feel free to spray-paint your own favorites upon the brick edifice of your choice.
銃夢 (Battle Angel Alita / Gun-Dream)
The title "Battle Angel Alita" is especially grating, since the main character's name is not "Alita" in the original, but "Gally"; Alita was the name of Ido's cat. Yes, they changed the main character's name to the name of a cat. As for the "Battle Angel" part, I think they do refer to Gally as such at some point in the manga, so I can understand where they got it, but it still seems a bit gratuitous.
攻殻機動隊 (Ghost in the Shell / Mobile Armored Riot Police)
Another annoyingly large change. I'll admit in this case that "Ghost in the Shell" sounds cooler than "Mobile Armored Riot Police," but so what? Should they rename the Tachikomas to "Panzers" because the word "Panzer" sounds cool?
機動戦艦ナデシコ (Martian Successor Nadesico / Mobile Battleship Nadesico)
At least they kept the word "Nadesico," but "Martian Successor" makes even less sense in context than does "Ghost in the Shell," since they never mention the phrase at all in the anime. It does come up in the movie, but that hardly justifies the title of the anime itself since it predates the movie by a year or so. The mistranslation confused me for a while, since its superficial similarity to the Japanese version made me think it was supposed to be a literal translation.
るろうに剣心 (Samurai X / Wandering Swordsman Kenshin)
The name "Samurai X" was apparently used for the English versions of the movie and OVA, as well as for the TV series in Europe and other places. But Kenshin is not a samurai! I suppose the 'X' comes from his scar and is intended to sound "badass" and/or "xtreme." As for the Japanese title, "るろうに" is supposedly a neologism coined from a verb meaning "to wander" and "浪人" (a ronin or masterless samurai). I can't find any verb meaning "to wander" that is pronounced "る," though, so I'm still unsatisfied with my understanding of this one.
今、そこにいる僕 (Now and Then, Here and There / I, who am Now There)
I can understand this change to an extent, since the phrase just doesn't translate well into English. But there's nothing wrong with "I, who am Now There" gramatically, and though it's a bit awkward, it doesn't sound any dumber to me than does "Now and Then, Here and There" as a title for an anime. Anyway, "Now and Then, Here and There" has no real connection to the anime other than sharing the words "now" and "there" with the real title.
ロードス島戦記 (Record of Lodoss War / War-Chronicle of Lodoss Island)
"戦記" means a war chronicle (like the Bayeux Tapestry, I suppose); normally "戦争" would be used for war itself. There's also no reason that I can see to take the word "island" out of the title. Finally, I am aware of the claim that "ロードス" is a bad transliteration of "Rhodes" (in which case one could make the case for using "Rhodes" over "Lodoss"); however, I have seen no evidence to support this, so I'll stick with the literal rendering for now.
鋼の錬金術師 (Fullmetal Alchemist / Alchemist of Steel)
This is not a huge change, but it seems unnecessary nonetheless. I don't even think "Fullmetal Alchemist" sounds any cooler than "Alchemist of Steel," not to mention that "Fullmetal Alchemist" is nonsensical.
天空のエスカフローネ (Vision of Escaflowne / Escaflowne of the Heavens)
Another small but arbitrary change. These ones might annoy me even more than the big ones, since in the latter case there's usually some coolness argument to be made. "Vision of Escaflowne" doesn't sound particularly cool, and is not especially relevant to the anime.
千と千尋の神隠し (Spirited Away / The Mysterious Disappearance of Sen and Chihiro)
At least they only shortened the title instead of changing parts at random ("神隠し" could be translated either as "spiriting away" or "mysterious disappearance" according to WWWJDIC, but I think the latter sounds better as a noun phrase). Perhaps they felt that obviously foreign names in the title would scare away children.
灰羽連盟 (Charcoal Feather Federation / Ashen Feathers Union)
I can't really fault the translators for this one, since the mangaka himself apparently specified the translation "Charcoal Feather Federation." However, "灰" means ash, not charcoal, and the feathers in the anime are clearly not charcoal-colored. "Federation" might be a valid translation of "連盟," but it doesn't make sense in the context of the anime: the 灰羽連盟 does not function as a federation, but rather as something like a union. See this blog post for a fuller explanation.