Most Ghibli films have English titles are close in meaning to their original titles, some even are direct translations from Japanese. However some films have different meaning, or lost some meaning, in their English localizations.
- The Cat Returns's title is "Neko no Ongaeshi"
- "Neko": the Japanese word for cat
- "Ongaeshi": the Japanese word for repayment, as with owed favour.
- thus this means The Cat's Repayment, which better describe the plot of the film
- Kiki's Delivery Service's title is "Majo no Takkyuubin"
- "Majo": the Japanese word for witch
- "Takkyuubin": the Japanese word for delivery service
- the original title has no reference to Kiki, and was referring to the greater group of witches doing the deliveries
- Spirited Away's title is "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi"
- "Sen to Chihiro": meaning Sen and Chihiro
- "Kamikakushi": meaning mysterious disappearance or death of a person, explained to be done by gods.
- which have the additional motif of the transition of Chihiro while she was working as Sen
spoiler
Um actually ... Takkyuubin is not the Japanese word for express delivery, per se.
Takkyuubin, also written as Ta-Q-Bin, is actually a trademark for the express home delivery service provided by Yamato Transport.
Though nowadays, it can be synonymous with delivery services, such as how Band-Aid may be synonymous to adhesive bandages.
The generic Japanese word for delivery service is actually Takuhaibin.
The original title was inherited from the novel, but the novel mistakenly used the trademark in its title.