Series will premiere Fall 2024 and has been given the title “Goddess of the Harvest Arc.” I have seen elsewhere that this could be translated as Goddess of Fertility, but I decided to stick to the ANN translation until I see another official source. In case you aren’t familiar with the series, here is the synopsis from AniList for the source novels:
In Orario, fearless adventurers band together in search of fame and fortune within the monstrous underground labyrinth known as Dungeon.
But while riches and renown are incentive enough for most, Bell Cranel, would-be hero extraordinaire, has bigger plans.
He wants to pick up girls.
Is it wrong to face the perils of Dungeon alone, in a single-member guild blessed by a failed goddess? Maybe. Is it wrong to dream of playing hero to hapless maidens in Dungeon? Maybe not. After one misguided adventure, Bell quickly discovers that anything can happen in the labyrinth–even chance encounters with beautiful women. The only problem? He’s the one who winds up the damsel in distress!
Fall 2024: so soon? I’m not complaining, but pleasantly surprised. I like this series.
That “harvest” in the adapted name is weird though; the original uses 豊饒 hōjō, translatable as “fertile, fruitful, productive”. For reference the same word appears in 豊饒の女主人 Hōjō no Onna Shujin, and it gets translated correctly (The Hostess of Fertility).EDIT: see 1Fuji2Taka3Nasubi’s comment. I confused two homophones, the one used in the title is 豊穣.LN spoilers, not just following the above but on other matters
And it doesn’t have much to do with Freya either that, as far as I know, is not a harvest goddess.
Anime only folks will get all excited over the discovery that Syr is Freya. It’ll be fun.
It’s the same studio who did season IV, isn’t it? I’m overall satisfied with their work on it.
It has most of the same staff as the previous season, yes. So, it should keep its feel.
As for Harvest/Fertility, I wonder if the ambiguity (both translations are listed on AniList for instance) might arise because ancient goddesses of fertility were often the same goddess as for the harvest. Demeter from the Greek pantheon is the most well-known example.
I’ll use the spoilers tag just to be safe; the name of the god that I’m talking about is a spoiler, I think.
on Harvest/Fertility
It’s possible that the translators were a bit more familiar with Greek polytheism than the Norse one, and assumed that Freyja’s fertility aspect implied harvest. It would work well for her brother Freyr (who’s a fertility and harvest god), but not for Freyja herself.
And, since both rule complementary aspects (war vs. peace, gold vs. prosperity, feminine witchcraft vs. masculine kingship), that even creates a negative association between her and harvest.
Note that, while the opposition isn’t in DanMachi (as there’s no Freyr), DanMachi Freya is represented rather close to her mythological counterpart: ruling a Fólkvangr full of warriors, looking for her Óðr; sex on legs, not above using her charms to get what she wants, but definitively not commanding prostitutes (as Inanna/Ishtar in The Epic of Gilgamesh, or DanMachi Ishtar on the Pleasure District).
But perhaps the fact that it’s a big arse spoiler prompted them to change it? If you talk about “harvest goddess” in DanMachi people will kind of wonder who she is; fertility though is another matter - people would beeline for Freya on one side and the Hostess of Fertility on another.
The word on the poster is 豊穣 not 豊饒, although they are pronounced the same and somewhat similar in meaning.
Looking up 豊穣 in a dictionary gives:
［名・形動］穀物がみのりゆたかなこと。また、そのさま。「五穀豊穣を祈る」「豊穣な（の）秋」
Crops growing fat and rich, i.e. a good harvest. So translating 豊穣の女神 to Goddess of Harvest is appropriate.
豊饒 on the other hand, refers to the soil being fertile. The end result is similar, but I get why you think fertility is a better translation, if that word is used.
(If you are talking about fertility in the “at giving birth” sense, that is not the direct meaning, although it is possible to argue you can derive from that)
My bad - and thank you for pointing the mistake out!
I didn’t see the poster when I wrote that; I simply took that it was spelled as in 豊饒の女主人.
That hints that the conflation between fertility in the “giving birth” sense and harvest is already in the original. Perhaps as a mistake, perhaps because Ōmori took some creative freedom over that goddess’ aspect [see note], or perhaps they were playing with the words a bit to not make it too obvious.
note [contains LN spoilers]
I mentioned it in another comment, but the mythological Freyja is certainly not a harvest goddess. The fertility she’s associated with is strictly sexual in nature (sex, pregnancy, giving birth). That’s one of the reasons why she got the epithet Sýr “sow” - it isn’t just the sacrifices, but also because the picture of a sow with a bazillion piglets immediately evokes fertility.
I’m not familiar with the pantheon, just going by the meaning of the kanjis. So thanks for the explanation about Freyja.