"放映地区" & "未放映地区"

I came across a anime series which featured two soundtracks, one was listed as "放映地区オリジナルサウンドトラック" and the other, "未放映地区オリジナルサウンドトラック." I know that "オリジナルサウンドトラック" would just be "original soundtrack," but I'm not entirely certain about the rest. I think "放映地区" & "未放映地区" would be something like "broadcast district/area" & "non-broadcast/unaired district/area," but I'm not sure what that's meant to entail. With the exception of brief commercial break jingle or two I think the latter albulm primarily consisted of vocal/karaoke tracks which weren't actually featured in the show, so perhaps that's what it's referring too? There was also a third soundtrack release which compiled the aforementioned albums together titled "放映地区合体オリジナルサウンドトラック," but I think the addiction of "合体" would just be "Combined?" Though it does seem to omit the "未" part despite including tracks from the albulm as well, so perhaps I'm mistaken.

In regard's to "未放映地区" I did come across a short review of it which stated: "昨今のTVアニメは放映地域限定の作品も多く、作品によっては放映されていない地域がけっこうある。そんな現状を逆手にとってのこのタイトル。ここからして作り手の並々ならぬこだわりが感じられる。もちろん、誰でも楽しめるものに仕上がっている。"

I think it's saying something along the lines of how some series are limited to certain airing areas, but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with with why the 未放映地区 soundtrack is almost entirely made up of songs not featured in the series, unless it was meant to be like an image albulm or something which could be the case as a couple of the songs are sung by characters from the show.

Here's a liner note of the soundtrack written by 桜井弘明 Sakurai Hiroaki; the director of the animation.


Judging from what he wrote there, 放映地区/未放映地区 is just a kind of joke, and it actually has nothing to do with "broadcast area" or "non-broadcast area" (at least directly). 未放映地区 version was originally made in order to release a new song sung by 転校生ラブリーズ, and later it's decided that another new song by バンカラトリオ was added to it.

As for 放映地区合体オリジナルサウンドトラック, 合体 indeed means "combined", but 放映地区 actually refers to the two areas 放映地区 and 未放映地区 here, thus, it's the combined version of the two versions.

So that means that "未放映地区" does indeed refer to how the albulm is basically just a handful of songs that they wanted to release despite not actually using them for the show? In context would there be any equivalent English terms for 放映地区" and "未放映地区" if not broadcast/non-broadcast area? I believe I understand the rest of the compiled soundtrack title ("Jubei-chan: Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch "放映地区合" Combined Original Soundtrack",) but the intended meaning for those two eludes me.

I believe there is no problem to use the direct translation "broadcast area" and "non-broadcast area" in English. They used "non-broadcast area version" almost the same meaning as "non-broadcast version", and only the people who know the behind story can get the implied meaning even in the Japanese titles.

I would use Original Soundtrack Combined Version for 放映地区合体オリジナルサウンドトラック.

Actually now that I think about it, if 放映地区 (Houei Chiku) is broadcast area and 未放映地区 (Mihouei Chiku) is non-broadcast area, then wouldn't that mean that 放映地区合体 (Houei Chiku Gattai) would simply be "Broadcast Areas Combined?" Maybe I should go with "Jubei-chan: Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch Broadcast Areas Combined Original Soundtrack" Though that admittedly does sound a little bit odd in English, but it's seemly the closest equivalent.

Though looking at the actual cover, I noticed that there's actually some additional text at the very top, the characters look familiar though, doesn't that just mean something along the lines of "TV Animation?" If so, I can probably exclude that part since it's not uncommon for soundtracks to specify if they're from a movie or series at the top of the albulm title.

Regardless, maybe it might just be best to omit the whole broadcast area part all together seeing as it doesn't translate all that well into English and I don't believe I've ever encountered a single other soundtrack that made such a bizarre distinction. The title for the sequel series' soundtrack did include ("～気付けば音楽聴いていた～" "Kizukeba Ongaku Kiiteita"/"When I realized, I was listening to the music,") at the very end after the OST bit, but that could just count as flavor text and not necessarily part of the actual albulm title, so perhaps the same logic could apply with the whole broadcast area stuff.

RosenkreutzXIII said:

Actually now that I think about it, if 放映地区 (Houei Chiku) is broadcast area and 未放映地区 (Mihouei Chiku) is non-broadcast area, then wouldn't that mean that 放映地区合体 (Houei Chiku Gattai) would simply be "Broadcast Areas Combined?"

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Yes, as I already pointed out "放映地区 actually refers to the two areas 放映地区 and 未放映地区 here" in my previous post.

RosenkreutzXIII said:

Though looking at the actual cover, I noticed that there's actually some additional text at the very top, the characters look familiar though, doesn't that just mean something along the lines of "TV Animation?"

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No. It's not テレビアニメーション "TV animation" but テレビ東京アニメーション, i.e., "an animation aired on TV Tokyo." テレビ東京 is the name of a TV station.

RosenkreutzXIII said:

I don't believe I've ever encountered a single other soundtrack that made such a bizarre distinction.

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That "bizarreness" is exactly what the original Japanese titles have.