I’ve realized recently that whether consciously or unconsciously I will think back to anime and manga titles to discern whether or not I’m using a specific particle correctly in Japanese. It’s a semi-handy reference that can put into context just how these mysterious 1-2 syllable creatures affect the meaning of a sentence, as well as a reminder that English and Japanese don’tquite match up.
As for some examples…
トップをねらえ！！
Top o Nerae!!
Aim for the Top!!
Initial instinct might be to go for “ni” but here’s something to make sure you don’t do that.
マリア様が見てる
Maria-sama ga Miteru
Maria Watches Over Us
The ever-tricky “ga” particle, this at the very least tells you that when the sentence is this short, ga is correct over wa (は）.
魔法使いに大切なこと
Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto
Things That Are Precious to a Mage
Two particles in this one. Ni meaning “to” doesn’t just apply to going places as you probably learned in beginner’s Japanese, but has a similar effect overall. Here is also a demonstration of how to use a “na” adjective such as Taisetsu, and the reason it’s called a “na” adjective by some teachers in the first place.
So there it is. Keep in mind that I’m advocating this method 100% or calling it truly useful for learning from scratch. However, I assume a lot of people reading this are already anime fans, and it can be useful to have that context without being corrupted by just hearing the stereotypical anime words like “baka” and “sugoi.”
Also keep in mind that English translations of titles often have to sound good as well, so they won’t be super exact.
OGIUE MANIAX 
From fansubs alone, I took “wa” to be sort of like “is” (although isn’t that the copula’s function?) – although sometimes “ga” acts like (or so I’ve heard) our “to be” and its conjugations: i.e. “ore wa…ore wa…ore ga…Zero da!” (that’s from like ep1 R2 or something)
On the other hand I took “ga” to be associated with actions whereas “wa” was more a state of being.
LikeLike
Maria Watches Over Us sounds too awkward and it’s not even fully translated. Though, I don’t know how Right Stuf could have gone with “The Virgin Mary” in the title without offending religious type.
“Overseer Virgin Mary” is what I would have chosen for maximum bizarreness.
LikeLike
Overseer Virgin Mary would be about a totally harsh assassin chick who kicks people in the face and then pulls out their eyeballs with her heels. Then she’d say “GOD BLESS” in English and when her foot hit the ground, something would explode.
LikeLike
“Overseer Virgin Mary”
Haha, nice.
LikeLike