Ask John: Why Are English Letters Used in Anime Titles?

Question:
Why is it that when a movie for Sailor Moon or The Slayers is released it, has a capital R, G, X, S, or GO at the end of the movie title?

Answer:
To be honest, I’m not entirely certain why anime shows get single Western letters after their titles to denote new series. As far as I know, in many cases, the letters stand for something, but in other cases, I think it’s simply a case of tradition. I suspect that the single letters originally came from a simple desire to be stylish while differentiating one series from the next. Just off the top of my head, I can come up with a bunch of examples: Saber Marionette R, J and J to X, Gundam Z and ZZ, Gundam X, G Gundam, Gundam W, V Gundam, Dragonball Z & GT, Sailormoon R, S & SS, Cutey Honey F, Street Fighter 2 V, Burn-Up W and Burn Up X. Most of these letters actually stand for something, such as Victory Gundam, Cutey Honey Flash and Burn-Up Excess. As a side note, none of the Slayers animation actually has single letters attached to its titles. The Slayers soundtracks all used single letter abbreviations of the full movie titles.