It's a matter of either direct translation (okay), meaningful translation (best) or shoddy translation (Engrish). I prefer meaningful translations. I'll even give a SKU example!

Saionji is almost never referred to in the series by his first name, Kyouichi. This is a Kendo tradition that surnames are more honourable...or something like that. Anyways, a direct or idiot basic translation of "Kyouichi" is "Pod One," which isn't all that appealing.

But if you ask someone who's skilled at translating Japanese properly (and ask them nicely, too), they'll say that "Kyouichi" translates more accurately to "the outer shell protecting the seed from harm." So basically it's a matter of semantics, in my book.

Both "Bringer of Light/Son of the Morning" and "Bright Boy" are valid translations for Akio's name. It just depends on which one YOU want to use when explaining it to somebody.

(If I got any of this wrong, somebody hit me with a face hugger.)

Dross wrote:

Ooooh love the symbolic name knowledge! Thank you!

So... Akio's name mean's bringer of light/son of morning, because the name is based off light connotations and not planetary connotations? And has nothing to do with Venus the planet?

Or am I missing the point?

What about Minako?

Minako is definitely about Venus. I'm not sure how exactly the whole name works out, but the first syllable of her first name means beauty, which corresponds with the first syllable of her surname, Ai, Love. Love and Beauty. I think that's what Takeuchi-sensei wanted to convey.

Ikuni-sensei definitely wants to convey the idea of "Lucifer" or "Bringer of Light" for Akio, on the surface anyways. But, he can be about love, too. Of course, in a very... "impure" direction.
Might wanna ask someone who has taken proper Japanese lessons.

Oooooh, ok, I get it now!

Thanks so much for the ing X3

Imaginary Bad Bug wrote:

OK, I am veering slightly off-topic by referring to Sailor Moon, but one thing I have noticed with my extremely limited grasp of the Japanese language is that most of the girls' names seem to make phrases that correspond to their characters.

Tsukino Usagi = Tsuki no Usagi = Rabbit of the Moon
Mizuno Ami = Mizu no Ami = [Ami - don't know this one] of Water
Kino Makoto = Ki no Makoto = Wisdom of Trees

...and so on.  I always thought that was kind of cool.

Not quite right. The "no" kanji in their last names is actually the kanji for field.  For it to be "of" it would need to be hiragana "no."

Yeah.  Takeuchi, or Ikuhara, or both, had a lot of fun with the names of the senshi.  Sometimes it's Japanese puns, like Minako = Binasu = Venus.  Sometimes it's more literal readings; most of the senshi have surnames denoting ideas related to their element.  (Mizuno is "of the water," Kino is "of wood," and Tsukino Usagi is "rabbit in the moon" -- more or less.)

My favorite, though -- just because I figured it out myself, but still -- is Princess Serenity's name.  There's no distinction in Japanese between R and L sounds, so Serenity = Selenity.  Selene was the Greek goddess of the moon.

EDIT: Bad Bug beat me to "Mizuno," "Kino," and so on   The "no" kanji isn't right, hence "more or less," but say "tsukino usagi" to a Japanese person and they'll hear "rabbit in the moon."

Last edited by satyreyes (10-27-2007 08:57:36 PM)

Cerise wrote:

As an audible play on words, yes, it's right, but the actual reading it is still literally translated as Moon Field Rabbit, Love Field Beautiful Child, etc.  I thought you were thinking that the "no" was actually the possessive "no," my apologies.

No worries.   Since I was thinking in terms of speaking but forgot to mention that when I first wrote that post, it's easy to see how you may have thought that I thought that the "no" was written as the possessive character.  I knew they were written differently, but the audible pun is what I was going after.