You know, these names really lack impact... It's like the author's just going for the only English-language names they can think of at the time, so you have a "Minister Mac Donald" (Ran ran ruuu!) and, apparently, the main 'love interest' character is "Mickey Wilson". I guess that's the advantage of using foreign language names, though, in that they sound exotic even when they're dirt-common in their native tongue.

At least they're not just named Michael Jones and Christopher Smith...

@NWSiaCB said:
I guess that's the advantage of using foreign language names, though, in that they sound exotic even when they're dirt-common in their native tongue.

I did think about adding some "impact" you mentioned by taking some liberty in translating the names (e.g. Mickey Wilson -> Michi Wyerson), but ultimately decided against it. It's the artist's story, after all. The characters are his.

That said, if you think any of my quite literal translations could be made to flow better in English, feel free to make those changes.

Normal names are just fine. I find it much better than some stuff like kiss-shot_acerola-orion_heart-under-blade, quattro_vageena, lelouch_lamperouge or ulquiorra_cifer that are deliberately made to sound cool, exotic or foreign-like.

Darkagma said:

Normal names are just fine. I find it much better than some stuff like kiss-shot_acerola-orion_heart-under-blade, quattro_vageena, lelouch_lamperouge or ulquiorra_cifer that are deliberately made to sound cool, exotic or foreign-like.

While the "kiss shot" one is definitely ridiculous, I never though Lelouch was so severely out-of-place.

Anyway, you certainly don't read too many books in English with characters named "Jones" unless they're explicitly meant to be spies with fake names or the like. (Although I did have a time making fun of Michael Chrichton for always including a character with the last name "Greene" in nearly every book...)

Besides, these names ARE meant to sound exotic and foreign-like... to their Chinese audience. Just like a name like a guy named "Jiro" who had a black dog named "Kuro" would sound foreign in English, but be a joke for how uninspired it is in Japanese. You're judging them from how they sound to you, as an English-speaker, alone.

I'm definitely not asking to change the translation to make it more interesting, either.