We Want Serena: Iscariot sporks in the name of the moon! - Part II
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(Saying No to "The Other Name" Her Real Name)
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There is another name that people want to be used in the place of Serena. The other name is not "Usagi."
Iscariot: Um. Yes it is.
This is merely what it has been transliterated as using.
However, since the true name is incapable of being translated to a Latin alphabet, we have decided to refer to it with the nickname "The Other Name."
Liam Hua: What?
Iscariot: I... what.
Lian Hua: That's where transliteration comes in to translate from one script to another.
Iscariot: As you have professional translator experience, Lian, I think youre gonna love this page.
Lian Hua: Transliteration is the conversion of a text from one script to another. For instance, a Latin transliteration of the Greek phrase "Ελληνική Δημοκρατία", usually translated as 'Hellenic Republic', is "Ellēnikḗ Dēmokratía".
Iscariot: From Wikipedia: "Transliteration is not concerned with representing the sounds of the original, only the characters, ideally accurately and unambiguously. Thus, in the above example, λλ is transliterated as 'll', but pronounced /l/; Δ is transliterated as 'D', but pronounced 'ð'; and η is transliterated as 'ē', though it is pronounced /i/ (exactly like ι) and is not long.
Conversely, transcription notes the sounds but not necessarily the spelling. So "Ελληνική Δημοκρατία" could be transcribed as "elinikí ðimokratía", which does not specify which of the /i/ sounds are written as η and which as ι."
In other words, transliteration primarily deals with representing the characters of a script with no concern for sounds. Transcription may be an even more accurate term here. Not only that, looking at this purely from the standpoint of written language since that is the angle here, Usagi is actually a romanization of the name うさぎ and why this would matter in a dubbed format is beyond me since they're SAYING the name, not fucking writing it, so who cares if Usagi is only a romanization of うさぎ?
Lian Hua: Localization is a great tool for carrying messages across linguistic barriers. Back when I was a child, I had no internet so I had no idea what Usagi meant. I couldn't translate anything so I never realized that her name was a pun. But nowadays, many people do have resources available online so localization isn't always necessary.
Argument #1: "The Other Name" is what Naoko named her!
The problem is that while the Sailor Moon animated series uses Naoko Takeuchi's characters, it is almost entirely different from the Sailor Moon manga in both terms of characterization and plot development
Iscariot: This is the only thing I've read on this entire site so far that makes any sort of sense.
The author was not in creative control of the development of the series, and the main characters differed in personality from the manga counterparts in both subtle and obvious ways. While Takeuchi is more than entitled to money from the series as her work serve as a base, the animated series is not her sole creation.
Isacriot: Just because the writers decided to take a different spin on her INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY does not somehow negate her input. Or the fact that in the 90s anime, her name is fucking Usagi.
Tying it eternally to Takeuchi's approval is stifling from a creative standpoint, as well as disingenuous since the animated series is clearly an independent creation.
Iscariot: Yes, it's such an independent creation that it had a ton of problems with plot holes and filler because it kept trying to stall until Naoko's manga could catch up to the anime plot.
So Naoko wasn't in creative control of the anime, fine. BUT she was in creative control of the manga, PGSM, and even Sera Myu.
So then WHY is this shit in the "About" section:
"However, the re-released manga from Kodansha USA reflected the demands of the vocal Internet fans and for those of us who disagreed, this was the last straw"
Well, according to YOUR argument, Naoko had creative control of the manga, because it's her creation, and Kodansha was the company that published it. Toei had nothing to do with the manga. Despite this, you act as if the manga should've been brought out here with her name being "Serena". So which is it? First you say Naoko's original vision and input is invalid regarding the 90's anime because she didn't have creative control over the anime, which logically means that her original vision would be valid for the series that she did have creative control over, such as the manga.
But here you're acting like Naoko's original vision doesn't matter at all in regards to the manga, all you seem to care about is that any localized version of Sailor Moon is consistent with the version YOU'RE familiar with, not taking into account the millions of fans who aren't even familiar with the DiC/Cloverway dub and refusing to acknowledge they even exist.
TOEI, the animation studio responsible for creating the Sailor Moon anime, did not insist on keeping "The Other Name" when exporting the series to North America. They were more than willing to allow the character known as Sailor Moon to have a different civilian name in the North American language version of Sailor Moon. TOEI's previous decision -- not Naoko Takeuchi's wishes -- should be respected concerning the old anime.
Lian Hua: So we should respect the big corporation and not the creator and artist? Why, just because it happens to cater to what you want?
Iscariot: Toei sold Sailor Moon to the highest bidder - which happened to be DiC, otherwise the atrocity known as Saban Moon would've been our introduction to the Sailor Moon franchise in North America. So just because Toei was willing to sell their adaptation of someone else's work and characters to whoever payed the most, somehow the creator's original vision is no longer valid?
Since their endorsed vision of Sailor Moon was reflected in supplemental material and there was deliberate process to reach the name after prototypical names such as "Victoria" failed, it is clear that "Serena" was intended to be Sailor Moon.
Iscariot: Um, what? That was DiC's doing, that had nothing to do with Toei. Also, if Toei is licensing Sailor Moon to ViZ and allowing them to keep the transliterated names, the original music, editing, etc. then how is what Toei let DiC do an argument for keeping the name Serena?
Lian Hua: -eats popcorn-
Iscariot: IT MAKES NO SENSE. This page is the dumbest on this site. What is the argument here? She's acting like Toei selling the license to dub Sailor Moon to DiC is some sort of "Official Stamp of Approval" from Toei that validates the name Serena, even though that's the name DiC decided on. So now ViZ comes along and dubs the anime with the original names, but somehow the fact that Toei also chose to sell the license to ViZ doesn't hold the same weight.
This is all just some twisted logic created to try and make it seem as if "Serena" is some sort of super special official canon name. "Because Toei licensed the series to DiC, and DiC used the name Serena, then by proxy that means Toei endorses the name Serena!" But Naoko Takeuchi is the creator of Sailor Moon, not Toei, so that argument doesn't hold water unless she invalidates the input of the creator of Sailor Moon. "Well, since obviously Naoko had so little input in the production of the anime, her opinion on the matter of the name of the character she created obviously doesn't matter!" Now all the logic is conveniently twisted to support her own personal bias, even though the argument makes no sense.
The irony here is that for whatever reason, Nangbaby chooses to ignore, or is entirely ignorant of, the fact that the company Cloverway that continued to redestribute Sailor Moon past the original DiC episodes was actually Toei's North American distribution branch. While Cloverway chose to keep consistent with the DiC dub on some things, it also made efforts to keep the script and story more accurate. Ironically, however, Cloverway was responsible for some of the most grevious offenses in the North American distribution, including continuing to erase references to homosexuality by changing the genders or relationships of the characters.
Regardless of Cloverway's existence as subsidiary of Toei, however, it was still a different company and the original staff at Toei of Japan had little to no say in the decisions that Cloverway made, so her argument is still invalid.
Argument #2: "The Other Name" is meaningful.
In the Japanese version, "The Other Name" does not mean "rabbit," "bunny," "hare" or any other member of the order Lagomorpha.
Iscariot: Wow, for someone who obviously has no interest in keeping the cultural relevance of the show you do sure know a lot about Japanese language. lol j/k you have no idea what you're fucking talking about. Let me break it down for your uneducated ass:
兎 (hiragana: うさぎ katakana: ウサギ, Common word, Noun, Usually written using kana alone ) rabbit; hare; coney; cony; lagomorph (esp. leporids).
While the kanji for "rabbit" is 兎, it is usually written in katakana like ウサギ, but using hiragana to write it like うさぎ is also completely legitimate and means the exact same thing. Japanese is a complex language in which the same name or word may be spelled with a combination of different characters in order to convey a different meaning. Before learning the more complex Kanji characters, children will write in hiragana or katakana, and may use the hiragana うさぎ when writing about a rabbit in place of the kanji for rabbit. Regardless, IT MEANS THE SAME FUCKING THING. And did I mention that none of this actually matters because we're talking about a medium in which her name will be conveyed to the audience through voice and audio, not writing? When you say her name out loud, her name sounds exactly like the phrase "rabbit on the moon" and her name sounds exactly like the word for rabbit. Something which, if you'd ever watched the Japanese version instead of blowing smoke out of your ass, is actually touched upon as her name meaning "rabbit" is used for jokes or gags (or in the case of Chibiusa, people point out how weird it is that her name is "usagi".)
If "The Other Name" were said aloud in a production aimed at a North American audience, unlike "Serena," it would be a meaningless name to the target audience
Lian Hua: Or they could look it up like we did.
Iscariot: Or even better: ViZ could give the series the care it deserved and make simple footnote that her name is a pun. BAM now people know it means "bunny on the moon." Problem solved. Actually, "Serena" was just about as meaningless. There are some connections to the goddess "Selene" but there may be plenty of people who are just as ignorant of the origins of the name Serena as people who are ignorant of the cultural meaning behind Usagi. Using other people's ignorance of the meaning of a name as evidence as to why one name should be used over another is ridiculous because it works both ways!
While they may grow to like the name, it is not as immediately culturally accessible as Serena, so it does not serve a similar role.
Lian Hua: We all want things to be immediatelly culturally accessible, don't we? GIVE ME THINGS ON A CULTURAL PLATTER! WAAAH.
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Using "The Other Name" would impart a cursory knowledge of Japanese culture, without the examination necessary to allow for understanding. In short, it would be cultural appropriation.
Lian Hua: She claims that using the original Japanese name coming from a Japanese anime translated into English is cultural appropriation! Wearing a feather headdress for aesthetic purposes or dressing up as a gheisha for Halloween are examples of cultural appropriation.
Iscariot: I get the concept - essentially trivializing and stereotyping facets of other people's culture and adopting them as your own.
Lian Hua: If using the name amounts to cultural appropriation, then we should stop using all Japanese names.
Iscariot: No more tsunamis, only tidal waves from now on. And sushi? How about ... uh... raw fish on rice!
Lian Hua: Sake will be rice wine... What about The Pillow Book? We can't use the original names anymore.
Iscariot: The Tale of Genji - now known as The Tale of Bob.
Lian Hua: Sooo instead of Sei Shonagon... Sassy Sally! There we go.
Iscariot: Also, what does that say for every single anime and manga that have decided to transliterate all the names?
Lian Hua: That we are respectful towards the source material and interested in it?
Iscariot: Pfft, of course not. Do they not realize that this is what the NA anime industry is like right now, with very little exceptions aside from whatever series 4kids decides to butcher? Obviously, it's full of "cultural appropriation." Akira and Ghost in the Shell were localized using the original Japanese names. The HORROR!
Lian Hua: Well someone who clings that much to their nostalgia is bound to be a little out of touch with reality.
Iscariot: I guess Batou should be called Bart.
Lian Hua: Motoko Kusanagi is now MARY MARTY.
Iscariot: The sad thing is we already touched on the controversy surrounding people from foreign cultures being forced to use names that sound more local in order to fit in because of systemic bias - and now Nangbaby here is claiming that using an animated character's original, Japanese name is somehow cultural appropriation.
However, the hilarious irony is that long before Sailor Moon was even created, the name "Usagi" (as a transliteration of the Japanese word for rabbit) was already part of the English language thanks to Usagi Yojimbo, a comic created in 1984 by Japanese-American Stan Sakai. This comic is so succesful that it is still being written today, after 30+ years, and anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of comics or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (particularly in North America) will know this character and name.
The argument against using this name on the basis that we shouldn't use "Japanese names" because it is somehow wrong to put names from other languages into North American English is totally bunk when taking into account that the name "Usagi" as a transliterated version of the Japanese word meaning "rabbit" was introduced to North America by a Japanese-American and has been around for over 30 years through this character alone, 7 full years before Sailor Moon was even created and first published in Japan.
Ignorance is not a counter-argument - whether or not Nangbaby reads comics or knows of this character does not change the fact that the name Usagi has been around in North America long before Sailor Moon was even created, and that hundreds of thousands of people were familiar with "Usagi" as a name before Sailor Moon.
Argument #3: Sailor Moon retains a distinct Japanese identity through "The Other Name."
However, other fans insist names should never be translated or represented in any other manner than they are in the original source. In their minds, the act of deviating from the source material to impose the target audience's linguistic tendencies is tarnishing or censoring the original work.
Isacriot: In DiC and Cloverway's case, though, this is exactly what happened.... it wasn't just a simple matter of changing the names, they ruined and censored the original story.
In every single translated piece of literature, name changes and corruptions are almost always an inherent result of the translation. With a language as different as Japanese is from English, and with a culture that it is as different in terms of values as Eastern culture and Western culture, it would be impossible to keep every detail that is present in the original language.
Lian Hua: Yes, but we can keep a really important detail like the name of the main character.
For instance, the title Sailor Moon is made up of the actual English words "Sailor" and "Moon" pronounced in Japanese, in Japan those words are not pronounced exactly the way they are pronounced by most Native English speakers, so a "faithful" pronunciation of that name would be closer to "Sera Munuh" than the actual words. This brings us to the next point...
Lian Hua: No, the title is pronounced in English with a thick Japanese accent. HUGE DIFFERENCE. It's even written in katakana, which is an alphabet especially created for words that are not originally Japanese.
Iscariot: In Japanese, thesee terms are known as gairaigo and wasaeigo, which uses the Japanese system of pronunciation to create an approximate equivalent to the original word.
Her mastery of the Japanese language is astounding. I mean really, "sera munuh"? The fuck are you talking about?
"Sailor" becomes セーラー, which is Sērā (pronounced seyrah ) and "Moon" becomes ムーン, which is Mūn (which is pronounced almost identical to moon, but a softer "oo" sound). However, it's worth noting that some people have decired this system as not the best way to learn English, because it leaves people with a very thick accent when speaking English.
Stepping away from Nangbaby's ignorant, racist blathering, her whole argument is basically that Usagi's name shouldn't be kept Usagi because something may get a little lost in translation. The fact of the matter is that while Usagi's name is a cute pun, it has nothing to do with the fact that you are changing the name of a character when localizing it. While many companies did this for years when bringing anime to English-speaking audiences, and several companies whose target audience is small children may still do this, the fact of the matter is that many, many people have wanted to see Sailor Moon dubbed with the professionalism and accuracy that is the modern industry standard. The only licensing company that wouldn't do this nowadays is pretty much 4kids, whose editing and censorship is on par with DiC and Cloverway. The point of re-releasing Sailor Moon in the West was not to simply butcher it and chop it up once again.
Argument #4 "The Other Name" is easy to pronounce.
To be fair, "The Other Name" is not difficult to pronounce from a neutral point of view. Like "Serena," it is a three syllable name. The problem is that it's difficult to pronounce "correctly."
Lian Hua: The inverted commas are worrisome.
Iscariot: Well, people get my name wrong all the time even though it's a mere two syllables. People are incapable of even repeating it correctly after I tell them my name several times. Guess I should change my name!
Lian Hua: People constantly add a letter to my name, guess I should do the same!
Both formats lead to a disconnect between the representation of a word in letters and and how it sounds.
Lian Hua: ....what.
Isacriot: Usagi is easy to pronounce if you bother to learn. Given that the actors in the new dub have learned to pronounce the name correctly, then that means other people will learn from watching the new dub.
Though fans pronounce the name in a manner they feel is correct, other fans pronounce it differently, and picking one pronunciation risks charges of butchering, even if there is an earnest attempt to mimic the original version. Given that Sailor Moon is the main character of this program, it should be clear how her name should be pronounced by an English speaking actor or actress.
Lian Hua: The name is pretty clear if you bother to listen to the Japanese characters pronounce it...
Iscariot: Not only that, that's why the voice director takes a couple extra steps to just make sure the name is pronounced correctly by the actors, and then the audience has a frame of reference on the pronunciation of the name. Oh look that is what ViZ did problemed solved.
Japanese pronunciation is actually some of the simplest I've ever heard in a language, with only 5 major vowel sounds and then all other syllables are combinations of consonant sounds with the vowel syllable. In fact once you take the 3 whopping minutes you need to memorize the basic rules you can pretty much have a very close idea of how these names are pronounced, and no longer will you say "socky" when you talk about Japanese rice wine! Amazing. Hell, the common loan word "tsunami" has the exact sequence of syllables as usagi, "u" "a" "i" and thus is pronounced with the same vowel sounds as Usagi.
And Usagi Yojimbo? He was on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tv shows, at least twice - first in an episode originally aired in 1987, and again in another episode aired in 2003. Guess what? In both his apperances his name is pronounced correctly, which completely debunks the idea that "Usagi" is somehow a difficult name to pronounce right. This also means that - surpise, surprise! - the name Usagi was introduced to North America with the correct pronunciation years before Sailor Moon was even created or brought to North America.
Lian Hua: So far, the Moonazis hate having Japanese names in their anime (which btw is a JAPANESE PRODUCT), and now they want them out because not everyone can pronounce them correctly.
Iscariot: More like they don't want to bother learning how to pronounce them correctly so they assume that everyone else just can't. I dont even know why they're being so wordy about it. It feels like one of Slave's strawman arguments that is full of big words and no logic. We could sum these up in just a few sentences to show how completely ludicrous they are.
On the other hand, the pronunciation of "Serena" offers no confusion. After all, the audience heard "Serena" before reading it, and that sound is in the collective, pop-culture memory of former youth.
Lian Hua: Who keep acting like spoiled little children because they hate change and feel like they aren't being catered to.
Iscariot: Actually I keep getting confused whenever I hear Serena or Darien or whatever. Sailor Moon has been Usagi to me for over 15 years.
Lian Hua: Same!
Iscariot: Even when I was introduced to the anime first, where she was Serena, and even when I loved the manga more and had the Tokyopop version where she was called Bunny, I knew her name was Usagi, so I called her Usagi.
And she's saying that because the name "Serena" was heard by fans before they ever read it, that there could be no mistake as to the pronunciation! As opposed to... the voice director making the effort of teaching the actor's how to consistently pronounce the name Usagi, which fans will now hear before they read it?
And the name Serena isn't exactly exempt from mistakes either. Taking into account Nangbaby's logic here that a) spelling matters in a medium where the names will only ever be communicated by audio and voice and b) if names could have potential issues with people getting them wrong in some way it is an argument against them, I will point out that there are maybe 4 different ways to spell the name "Serena" and it's a fact that people will get the spelling wrong, so obviously Serena is a name that should not be used!!
Argument #5: "The Other Name" what the fans universally want.
Iscariot: I highly doubt someone proposed this as a legit argument and even if they did it shouldn't be taken as such because it is dumb. Of course there is no universal consensus in any fandom anywhere for anything, and trying to make a counterargument against this to support your own cause is just kind of petty.
Since the Internet allows these fans to reach the world with their opinions, according to this mindset, those in charge should listen to the voice and alter the material that has already been released, or do the next best thing, which is retroactively nullify the existing material. That would set a dangerous artistic precedent.
Lian Hua: WAIT WHAT?
Iscariot: Woooow.
Lian Hua: Nothing can "retroactively nullify" the existing material!!
Iscariot: Welp, I was right. The moment that the ViZ dub comes out the DiC dub suddenly ceases to exist.
Lian Hua: Ahahahahaha! A dangerous precedent indeed!
Iscariot: Everyone's old VHS tapes just suddenly implode.
"But gaaaaaaiz ViZ giving the series a translation that is on par with current standards in the anime licensing industry will completely negate the DiC dub because of reasons!" Seriously, the ViZ dub is already out, the first two box sets in fact - nothing has happened even though they use the name Usagi. So what are the consequences I should be looking for? Anarachy? Destruction? The unravelling of all existence as we know it?
Lian Hua: They're probably talking about the long term consequences. You know, their butthurt getting more and more severe, requiring further tantrums and entitlement.
This point is summarized best by David J. Bishop, creator of the webcomic Life on the Fourth Floor. Bishop acknowledges in his blog entry "Cake and Werewolves" that the Internet now not only allows for the disapproving audience to voice their opinions. It now allows for the creators to change their work as a result of the criticism.
Lian Hua: Who? Had to do a quick googling of the fellow.
Iscariot: I don't know why it matters that the internet can be used as a tool for fans to communicate their preferences to a creator because, as she said, Naoko is the creator of Sailor Moon but her opinions obviously don't matter becuse Toei produced the animated series.
Lian Hua: I married the right person.
Iscariot: CREATORS allow for creators to change their work based on their own decisions which may or may not be influenced by feedback from the fans on the internet or elsewhere.
Lian Hua: Not to mention, the size of the fandom for a webcomic artist and for a... well... multi million dollar corporation... is different. Very few webcomics have a fanbase as large as Penny Arcade or Order of the Stick or Questionable Content. And this gentleman does not appear to have a fanbase at that level, seeing how he got 200 comics out since 2005, and his last comic was in 2012. The more fans you have, the bigger the number of those requesting for change needs to become in order to be heard. And judging by your forum and Facebook page, you are beyond a minority.
Iscariot: Also, this guy draws webcomics. Which means that the internet is the medium in which he is directly releasing his work, and becase he has allowed comments and a forum for discussions about his webcomics on his site, he has a front row seat to people's comments and reactions. But Naoko Takeuchi doesn't use computers much or get online, she tends to respond to snail mail the most, her website that was originally managed by her editor, Osabu, has been out of sorts for ages, and it never held a message board. The most we have right now is Osabu, who sometimes responds in broken English on Twitter.
No idea why WWS thought that it would be a good idea to try and appeal to Osabu regarding their personal preferences -
after all, he works with Naoko Takeuchi (whose opinion apparently doesn't matter), not Toei. Can you feel his confusion and general indifference to their selfish pleas?
Toei PR probably has a better grasp on the Japanese audience through the internet and message boards like 2chan, but it's doubtful that they pay attention to or consider the opinions of fans in the West in regards to how they run their show. No, the only company that could possibly be swayed by the internet is ViZ, who are not the creators of Sailor Moon - they are the LICENSING COMPANY and production studio that is re-releasing the Sailor Moon anime with a new voice cast, script, translation, undedited and uncensored just like like dozens of other anime they have lincensed and released last year.
ViZ announced the license over 2 years ago, and this site was created around then, so even if the "majority" of the fandom wanted Serena back they obviously didn't care enough about it to be vocal and communicate on the all-powerful interwebs with ViZ that this is what they wanted!
Which is why they kept her real name.
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We will stress that the opinions of Mr. Bishop are not our own, but in this point we are in agreement. If a company were to incorporate the wishes of a fanbase because of perceived flaws, that does go against what has been released, it does compromise the vision of the creator. The 1990's Sailor Moon anime was released in a fixed format and shown on television in that format, so why should the material be changed to match a version that was not meant for the North American audience to see?
Lian Hua: Sorry guys, we need to use this gif again:
DiC's vision is not sacred. It is outdated and way behind the current industry standards. And don't pretend to care about any creator's vision - all you (obsessively) want is this name to be used to feed your nostalgia, anything else be damned.
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Argument #6: "The Other Name" was used for the re-released manga so it should be used for the anime to be consistent.
Many franchises often have multiple iterations of its characters, each with different designs and different personalities that make differentiation difficult.
Isacriot: But weren't you just saying how it would be heresy for Superman to be anyone other than Clark Kent or for Batman to be anoyne other than Bruce Wayne so nothing should ever be changed ever???
Consequently, many of the fan communities surrounding these franchise will use identifiers in conjunction with the characters' names in order to clear up which version a person is referencing.
Lian Hua: Like DiC Usagi and Viz Usagi?
Sailor Moon offers a unique opportunity to sidestep this trap.
Lian Hua: Why is it a trap??
Iscariot: Shhh don't question it, just blindly accept the rhetoric.
For instance, "Serena" would refer to the clumsy, meatball-headed crybaby who puts herself on the line to forgive her enemies, while "The Other Name" would refer to her similar manga counterpart, a slightly less idealistic warrior.
Iscariot: Or you know we could just say 90's anime Usagi and manga Usagi and PGSM Usagi and SeraMyu Usagi and DiC Usagi aka Serena. But we don't talk about Serena. Also haha go fuck yourself for calling Sailor Moon a "less idealistic warrior" in the manga. There are plenty of arguments against Usagi's immature, bratty nature and severe lack of character developement compared to the developement found in the manga and PGSM. The DiC/Cloverway dub made her constant, immature whining and crying even in the later seasons totally unbearable. So the 90's anime Sailor Moon forgave some enemies, that'd be a great message if any of them actually deserved it - but hey guess what they were all evil assholes who really didn't do anything to earn their redemption especially considering the severity of their crimes but whatever!
Poor writing aside, if you consider "Serena" to be the name for the DiC/Cloverway dub, and "Usagi" the name to use for the infinitely more awesome manga character, then what name do you propose people use for the original anime show where she was also called Usagi? What about people who want to talk about the Mixx manga, where her name was Serena and her nickname was Bunny? You have offered no actual evidence that this "problem" you have pulled out of your ass can actually be "sidestepped" because you offer no solutions, just petty insults against the real character of Usagi.
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Argument #7: It is necessary for "The Other Name" to be used to avoid censorship and be true to the original product.
Lian Hua: Using Serena as a name is not censorhip. Turning Haruka and Michiko into cousins is.
Iscariot: Changing the name is just a localization choice. But this is truly a dub worth preserving
However, use of "Serena" in a possible redub does not necessarily mean the new dub will follow in the footsteps of the previous dub. It is very possible to have a redub that closely follows the plot of the original version while using "Serena."
Lian Hua:... So they should translate everything else BUT Serena. Odd.
Iscariot: That is precisely what puzzles me. Why is the name Serena so important that all they want is the new dub to just have the DiC/Cloverway names, which doesn't make any damn sense.
Lian Hua: Downright bizarre.
Iscariot: Sooooo... why can't we have two versions of Sailor Moon coexisting side by side? Can you explain that? No? Okay then!
Lian Hua: Maybe Viz and DiC are Sith. And one must slaughter the other!
Iscariot: Apprently if you put a VHS of the DiC/Cloverway dub next to the DVD release from ViZ they cancel each other out and form a tiny black hole where the the fandom's tears collect.
"The Other Name" is no guarantee of quality, and in of itself, neither is "Serena." We just happen to prefer the latter.
Iscariot: So what you're saying is that calling her Usagi versus Serena is not a matter of quality, but a matter of personal preference, thus negating the 20 something paragraphs of arguments about how the quality and enjoyability of the show would be jeopardized if ViZ released a dub where she is called Usagi instead of Serena.
Lian Hua: The level of devotion towards this one single name is baffling.
In short, the arguments used to favor "The Other Name" over Serena are not ironclad, and in some cases are weak. Even if "Serena" is not to be used again, "The Other Name" is a poor alternative that should not be seriously considered.
Iscariot: Seriously? So it doesn't even matter if she isn't called Serena again as long as she ISN'T called Usagi? Sorry, but all I can get from this is that the person doesn't like dubs that keep the original Japanese names because Japanese is haaaaaaaard. Also, racism.
Lian Hua: The fuck did we spork? Seriously, I haven't been that puzzled in ages.
Iscariot: Look how empty the forum is. Truly, the vocal majority are impassioned about this.
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(Saying No to "The Other Name" Her Real Name)
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There is another name that people want to be used in the place of Serena. The other name is not "Usagi."
Iscariot: Um. Yes it is.
This is merely what it has been transliterated as using.
However, since the true name is incapable of being translated to a Latin alphabet, we have decided to refer to it with the nickname "The Other Name."
Liam Hua: What?
Iscariot: I... what.
Lian Hua: That's where transliteration comes in to translate from one script to another.
Iscariot: As you have professional translator experience, Lian, I think youre gonna love this page.
Lian Hua: Transliteration is the conversion of a text from one script to another. For instance, a Latin transliteration of the Greek phrase "Ελληνική Δημοκρατία", usually translated as 'Hellenic Republic', is "Ellēnikḗ Dēmokratía".
Iscariot: From Wikipedia: "Transliteration is not concerned with representing the sounds of the original, only the characters, ideally accurately and unambiguously. Thus, in the above example, λλ is transliterated as 'll', but pronounced /l/; Δ is transliterated as 'D', but pronounced 'ð'; and η is transliterated as 'ē', though it is pronounced /i/ (exactly like ι) and is not long.
Conversely, transcription notes the sounds but not necessarily the spelling. So "Ελληνική Δημοκρατία" could be transcribed as "elinikí ðimokratía", which does not specify which of the /i/ sounds are written as η and which as ι."
In other words, transliteration primarily deals with representing the characters of a script with no concern for sounds. Transcription may be an even more accurate term here. Not only that, looking at this purely from the standpoint of written language since that is the angle here, Usagi is actually a romanization of the name うさぎ and why this would matter in a dubbed format is beyond me since they're SAYING the name, not fucking writing it, so who cares if Usagi is only a romanization of うさぎ?
Lian Hua: Localization is a great tool for carrying messages across linguistic barriers. Back when I was a child, I had no internet so I had no idea what Usagi meant. I couldn't translate anything so I never realized that her name was a pun. But nowadays, many people do have resources available online so localization isn't always necessary.
Argument #1: "The Other Name" is what Naoko named her!
The problem is that while the Sailor Moon animated series uses Naoko Takeuchi's characters, it is almost entirely different from the Sailor Moon manga in both terms of characterization and plot development
Iscariot: This is the only thing I've read on this entire site so far that makes any sort of sense.
The author was not in creative control of the development of the series, and the main characters differed in personality from the manga counterparts in both subtle and obvious ways. While Takeuchi is more than entitled to money from the series as her work serve as a base, the animated series is not her sole creation.
Isacriot: Just because the writers decided to take a different spin on her INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY does not somehow negate her input. Or the fact that in the 90s anime, her name is fucking Usagi.
Tying it eternally to Takeuchi's approval is stifling from a creative standpoint, as well as disingenuous since the animated series is clearly an independent creation.
Iscariot: Yes, it's such an independent creation that it had a ton of problems with plot holes and filler because it kept trying to stall until Naoko's manga could catch up to the anime plot.
So Naoko wasn't in creative control of the anime, fine. BUT she was in creative control of the manga, PGSM, and even Sera Myu.
So then WHY is this shit in the "About" section:
"However, the re-released manga from Kodansha USA reflected the demands of the vocal Internet fans and for those of us who disagreed, this was the last straw"
Well, according to YOUR argument, Naoko had creative control of the manga, because it's her creation, and Kodansha was the company that published it. Toei had nothing to do with the manga. Despite this, you act as if the manga should've been brought out here with her name being "Serena". So which is it? First you say Naoko's original vision and input is invalid regarding the 90's anime because she didn't have creative control over the anime, which logically means that her original vision would be valid for the series that she did have creative control over, such as the manga.
But here you're acting like Naoko's original vision doesn't matter at all in regards to the manga, all you seem to care about is that any localized version of Sailor Moon is consistent with the version YOU'RE familiar with, not taking into account the millions of fans who aren't even familiar with the DiC/Cloverway dub and refusing to acknowledge they even exist.
TOEI, the animation studio responsible for creating the Sailor Moon anime, did not insist on keeping "The Other Name" when exporting the series to North America. They were more than willing to allow the character known as Sailor Moon to have a different civilian name in the North American language version of Sailor Moon. TOEI's previous decision -- not Naoko Takeuchi's wishes -- should be respected concerning the old anime.
Lian Hua: So we should respect the big corporation and not the creator and artist? Why, just because it happens to cater to what you want?
Iscariot: Toei sold Sailor Moon to the highest bidder - which happened to be DiC, otherwise the atrocity known as Saban Moon would've been our introduction to the Sailor Moon franchise in North America. So just because Toei was willing to sell their adaptation of someone else's work and characters to whoever payed the most, somehow the creator's original vision is no longer valid?
Since their endorsed vision of Sailor Moon was reflected in supplemental material and there was deliberate process to reach the name after prototypical names such as "Victoria" failed, it is clear that "Serena" was intended to be Sailor Moon.
Iscariot: Um, what? That was DiC's doing, that had nothing to do with Toei. Also, if Toei is licensing Sailor Moon to ViZ and allowing them to keep the transliterated names, the original music, editing, etc. then how is what Toei let DiC do an argument for keeping the name Serena?
Lian Hua: -eats popcorn-
Iscariot: IT MAKES NO SENSE. This page is the dumbest on this site. What is the argument here? She's acting like Toei selling the license to dub Sailor Moon to DiC is some sort of "Official Stamp of Approval" from Toei that validates the name Serena, even though that's the name DiC decided on. So now ViZ comes along and dubs the anime with the original names, but somehow the fact that Toei also chose to sell the license to ViZ doesn't hold the same weight.
This is all just some twisted logic created to try and make it seem as if "Serena" is some sort of super special official canon name. "Because Toei licensed the series to DiC, and DiC used the name Serena, then by proxy that means Toei endorses the name Serena!" But Naoko Takeuchi is the creator of Sailor Moon, not Toei, so that argument doesn't hold water unless she invalidates the input of the creator of Sailor Moon. "Well, since obviously Naoko had so little input in the production of the anime, her opinion on the matter of the name of the character she created obviously doesn't matter!" Now all the logic is conveniently twisted to support her own personal bias, even though the argument makes no sense.
The irony here is that for whatever reason, Nangbaby chooses to ignore, or is entirely ignorant of, the fact that the company Cloverway that continued to redestribute Sailor Moon past the original DiC episodes was actually Toei's North American distribution branch. While Cloverway chose to keep consistent with the DiC dub on some things, it also made efforts to keep the script and story more accurate. Ironically, however, Cloverway was responsible for some of the most grevious offenses in the North American distribution, including continuing to erase references to homosexuality by changing the genders or relationships of the characters.
Regardless of Cloverway's existence as subsidiary of Toei, however, it was still a different company and the original staff at Toei of Japan had little to no say in the decisions that Cloverway made, so her argument is still invalid.
Argument #2: "The Other Name" is meaningful.
In the Japanese version, "The Other Name" does not mean "rabbit," "bunny," "hare" or any other member of the order Lagomorpha.
Iscariot: Wow, for someone who obviously has no interest in keeping the cultural relevance of the show you do sure know a lot about Japanese language. lol j/k you have no idea what you're fucking talking about. Let me break it down for your uneducated ass:
兎 (hiragana: うさぎ katakana: ウサギ, Common word, Noun, Usually written using kana alone ) rabbit; hare; coney; cony; lagomorph (esp. leporids).
While the kanji for "rabbit" is 兎, it is usually written in katakana like ウサギ, but using hiragana to write it like うさぎ is also completely legitimate and means the exact same thing. Japanese is a complex language in which the same name or word may be spelled with a combination of different characters in order to convey a different meaning. Before learning the more complex Kanji characters, children will write in hiragana or katakana, and may use the hiragana うさぎ when writing about a rabbit in place of the kanji for rabbit. Regardless, IT MEANS THE SAME FUCKING THING. And did I mention that none of this actually matters because we're talking about a medium in which her name will be conveyed to the audience through voice and audio, not writing? When you say her name out loud, her name sounds exactly like the phrase "rabbit on the moon" and her name sounds exactly like the word for rabbit. Something which, if you'd ever watched the Japanese version instead of blowing smoke out of your ass, is actually touched upon as her name meaning "rabbit" is used for jokes or gags (or in the case of Chibiusa, people point out how weird it is that her name is "usagi".)
If "The Other Name" were said aloud in a production aimed at a North American audience, unlike "Serena," it would be a meaningless name to the target audience
Lian Hua: Or they could look it up like we did.
Iscariot: Or even better: ViZ could give the series the care it deserved and make simple footnote that her name is a pun. BAM now people know it means "bunny on the moon." Problem solved. Actually, "Serena" was just about as meaningless. There are some connections to the goddess "Selene" but there may be plenty of people who are just as ignorant of the origins of the name Serena as people who are ignorant of the cultural meaning behind Usagi. Using other people's ignorance of the meaning of a name as evidence as to why one name should be used over another is ridiculous because it works both ways!
While they may grow to like the name, it is not as immediately culturally accessible as Serena, so it does not serve a similar role.
Lian Hua: We all want things to be immediatelly culturally accessible, don't we? GIVE ME THINGS ON A CULTURAL PLATTER! WAAAH.
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Using "The Other Name" would impart a cursory knowledge of Japanese culture, without the examination necessary to allow for understanding. In short, it would be cultural appropriation.
Lian Hua: She claims that using the original Japanese name coming from a Japanese anime translated into English is cultural appropriation! Wearing a feather headdress for aesthetic purposes or dressing up as a gheisha for Halloween are examples of cultural appropriation.
Iscariot: I get the concept - essentially trivializing and stereotyping facets of other people's culture and adopting them as your own.
Lian Hua: If using the name amounts to cultural appropriation, then we should stop using all Japanese names.
Iscariot: No more tsunamis, only tidal waves from now on. And sushi? How about ... uh... raw fish on rice!
Lian Hua: Sake will be rice wine... What about The Pillow Book? We can't use the original names anymore.
Iscariot: The Tale of Genji - now known as The Tale of Bob.
Lian Hua: Sooo instead of Sei Shonagon... Sassy Sally! There we go.
Iscariot: Also, what does that say for every single anime and manga that have decided to transliterate all the names?
Lian Hua: That we are respectful towards the source material and interested in it?
Iscariot: Pfft, of course not. Do they not realize that this is what the NA anime industry is like right now, with very little exceptions aside from whatever series 4kids decides to butcher? Obviously, it's full of "cultural appropriation." Akira and Ghost in the Shell were localized using the original Japanese names. The HORROR!
Lian Hua: Well someone who clings that much to their nostalgia is bound to be a little out of touch with reality.
Iscariot: I guess Batou should be called Bart.
Lian Hua: Motoko Kusanagi is now MARY MARTY.
Iscariot: The sad thing is we already touched on the controversy surrounding people from foreign cultures being forced to use names that sound more local in order to fit in because of systemic bias - and now Nangbaby here is claiming that using an animated character's original, Japanese name is somehow cultural appropriation.
However, the hilarious irony is that long before Sailor Moon was even created, the name "Usagi" (as a transliteration of the Japanese word for rabbit) was already part of the English language thanks to Usagi Yojimbo, a comic created in 1984 by Japanese-American Stan Sakai. This comic is so succesful that it is still being written today, after 30+ years, and anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of comics or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (particularly in North America) will know this character and name.
The argument against using this name on the basis that we shouldn't use "Japanese names" because it is somehow wrong to put names from other languages into North American English is totally bunk when taking into account that the name "Usagi" as a transliterated version of the Japanese word meaning "rabbit" was introduced to North America by a Japanese-American and has been around for over 30 years through this character alone, 7 full years before Sailor Moon was even created and first published in Japan.
Ignorance is not a counter-argument - whether or not Nangbaby reads comics or knows of this character does not change the fact that the name Usagi has been around in North America long before Sailor Moon was even created, and that hundreds of thousands of people were familiar with "Usagi" as a name before Sailor Moon.
Argument #3: Sailor Moon retains a distinct Japanese identity through "The Other Name."
However, other fans insist names should never be translated or represented in any other manner than they are in the original source. In their minds, the act of deviating from the source material to impose the target audience's linguistic tendencies is tarnishing or censoring the original work.
Isacriot: In DiC and Cloverway's case, though, this is exactly what happened.... it wasn't just a simple matter of changing the names, they ruined and censored the original story.
In every single translated piece of literature, name changes and corruptions are almost always an inherent result of the translation. With a language as different as Japanese is from English, and with a culture that it is as different in terms of values as Eastern culture and Western culture, it would be impossible to keep every detail that is present in the original language.
Lian Hua: Yes, but we can keep a really important detail like the name of the main character.
For instance, the title Sailor Moon is made up of the actual English words "Sailor" and "Moon" pronounced in Japanese, in Japan those words are not pronounced exactly the way they are pronounced by most Native English speakers, so a "faithful" pronunciation of that name would be closer to "Sera Munuh" than the actual words. This brings us to the next point...
Lian Hua: No, the title is pronounced in English with a thick Japanese accent. HUGE DIFFERENCE. It's even written in katakana, which is an alphabet especially created for words that are not originally Japanese.
Iscariot: In Japanese, thesee terms are known as gairaigo and wasaeigo, which uses the Japanese system of pronunciation to create an approximate equivalent to the original word.
Her mastery of the Japanese language is astounding. I mean really, "sera munuh"? The fuck are you talking about?
"Sailor" becomes セーラー, which is Sērā (pronounced seyrah ) and "Moon" becomes ムーン, which is Mūn (which is pronounced almost identical to moon, but a softer "oo" sound). However, it's worth noting that some people have decired this system as not the best way to learn English, because it leaves people with a very thick accent when speaking English.
Stepping away from Nangbaby's ignorant, racist blathering, her whole argument is basically that Usagi's name shouldn't be kept Usagi because something may get a little lost in translation. The fact of the matter is that while Usagi's name is a cute pun, it has nothing to do with the fact that you are changing the name of a character when localizing it. While many companies did this for years when bringing anime to English-speaking audiences, and several companies whose target audience is small children may still do this, the fact of the matter is that many, many people have wanted to see Sailor Moon dubbed with the professionalism and accuracy that is the modern industry standard. The only licensing company that wouldn't do this nowadays is pretty much 4kids, whose editing and censorship is on par with DiC and Cloverway. The point of re-releasing Sailor Moon in the West was not to simply butcher it and chop it up once again.
Argument #4 "The Other Name" is easy to pronounce.
To be fair, "The Other Name" is not difficult to pronounce from a neutral point of view. Like "Serena," it is a three syllable name. The problem is that it's difficult to pronounce "correctly."
Lian Hua: The inverted commas are worrisome.
Iscariot: Well, people get my name wrong all the time even though it's a mere two syllables. People are incapable of even repeating it correctly after I tell them my name several times. Guess I should change my name!
Lian Hua: People constantly add a letter to my name, guess I should do the same!
Both formats lead to a disconnect between the representation of a word in letters and and how it sounds.
Lian Hua: ....what.
Isacriot: Usagi is easy to pronounce if you bother to learn. Given that the actors in the new dub have learned to pronounce the name correctly, then that means other people will learn from watching the new dub.
Though fans pronounce the name in a manner they feel is correct, other fans pronounce it differently, and picking one pronunciation risks charges of butchering, even if there is an earnest attempt to mimic the original version. Given that Sailor Moon is the main character of this program, it should be clear how her name should be pronounced by an English speaking actor or actress.
Lian Hua: The name is pretty clear if you bother to listen to the Japanese characters pronounce it...
Iscariot: Not only that, that's why the voice director takes a couple extra steps to just make sure the name is pronounced correctly by the actors, and then the audience has a frame of reference on the pronunciation of the name. Oh look that is what ViZ did problemed solved.
Japanese pronunciation is actually some of the simplest I've ever heard in a language, with only 5 major vowel sounds and then all other syllables are combinations of consonant sounds with the vowel syllable. In fact once you take the 3 whopping minutes you need to memorize the basic rules you can pretty much have a very close idea of how these names are pronounced, and no longer will you say "socky" when you talk about Japanese rice wine! Amazing. Hell, the common loan word "tsunami" has the exact sequence of syllables as usagi, "u" "a" "i" and thus is pronounced with the same vowel sounds as Usagi.
And Usagi Yojimbo? He was on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tv shows, at least twice - first in an episode originally aired in 1987, and again in another episode aired in 2003. Guess what? In both his apperances his name is pronounced correctly, which completely debunks the idea that "Usagi" is somehow a difficult name to pronounce right. This also means that - surpise, surprise! - the name Usagi was introduced to North America with the correct pronunciation years before Sailor Moon was even created or brought to North America.
Lian Hua: So far, the Moonazis hate having Japanese names in their anime (which btw is a JAPANESE PRODUCT), and now they want them out because not everyone can pronounce them correctly.
Iscariot: More like they don't want to bother learning how to pronounce them correctly so they assume that everyone else just can't. I dont even know why they're being so wordy about it. It feels like one of Slave's strawman arguments that is full of big words and no logic. We could sum these up in just a few sentences to show how completely ludicrous they are.
On the other hand, the pronunciation of "Serena" offers no confusion. After all, the audience heard "Serena" before reading it, and that sound is in the collective, pop-culture memory of former youth.
Lian Hua: Who keep acting like spoiled little children because they hate change and feel like they aren't being catered to.
Iscariot: Actually I keep getting confused whenever I hear Serena or Darien or whatever. Sailor Moon has been Usagi to me for over 15 years.
Lian Hua: Same!
Iscariot: Even when I was introduced to the anime first, where she was Serena, and even when I loved the manga more and had the Tokyopop version where she was called Bunny, I knew her name was Usagi, so I called her Usagi.
And she's saying that because the name "Serena" was heard by fans before they ever read it, that there could be no mistake as to the pronunciation! As opposed to... the voice director making the effort of teaching the actor's how to consistently pronounce the name Usagi, which fans will now hear before they read it?
And the name Serena isn't exactly exempt from mistakes either. Taking into account Nangbaby's logic here that a) spelling matters in a medium where the names will only ever be communicated by audio and voice and b) if names could have potential issues with people getting them wrong in some way it is an argument against them, I will point out that there are maybe 4 different ways to spell the name "Serena" and it's a fact that people will get the spelling wrong, so obviously Serena is a name that should not be used!!
Argument #5: "The Other Name" what the fans universally want.
Iscariot: I highly doubt someone proposed this as a legit argument and even if they did it shouldn't be taken as such because it is dumb. Of course there is no universal consensus in any fandom anywhere for anything, and trying to make a counterargument against this to support your own cause is just kind of petty.
Since the Internet allows these fans to reach the world with their opinions, according to this mindset, those in charge should listen to the voice and alter the material that has already been released, or do the next best thing, which is retroactively nullify the existing material. That would set a dangerous artistic precedent.
Lian Hua: WAIT WHAT?
Iscariot: Woooow.
Lian Hua: Nothing can "retroactively nullify" the existing material!!
Iscariot: Welp, I was right. The moment that the ViZ dub comes out the DiC dub suddenly ceases to exist.
Lian Hua: Ahahahahaha! A dangerous precedent indeed!
Iscariot: Everyone's old VHS tapes just suddenly implode.
"But gaaaaaaiz ViZ giving the series a translation that is on par with current standards in the anime licensing industry will completely negate the DiC dub because of reasons!" Seriously, the ViZ dub is already out, the first two box sets in fact - nothing has happened even though they use the name Usagi. So what are the consequences I should be looking for? Anarachy? Destruction? The unravelling of all existence as we know it?
Lian Hua: They're probably talking about the long term consequences. You know, their butthurt getting more and more severe, requiring further tantrums and entitlement.
This point is summarized best by David J. Bishop, creator of the webcomic Life on the Fourth Floor. Bishop acknowledges in his blog entry "Cake and Werewolves" that the Internet now not only allows for the disapproving audience to voice their opinions. It now allows for the creators to change their work as a result of the criticism.
Lian Hua: Who? Had to do a quick googling of the fellow.
Iscariot: I don't know why it matters that the internet can be used as a tool for fans to communicate their preferences to a creator because, as she said, Naoko is the creator of Sailor Moon but her opinions obviously don't matter becuse Toei produced the animated series.
Lian Hua: I married the right person.
Iscariot: CREATORS allow for creators to change their work based on their own decisions which may or may not be influenced by feedback from the fans on the internet or elsewhere.
Lian Hua: Not to mention, the size of the fandom for a webcomic artist and for a... well... multi million dollar corporation... is different. Very few webcomics have a fanbase as large as Penny Arcade or Order of the Stick or Questionable Content. And this gentleman does not appear to have a fanbase at that level, seeing how he got 200 comics out since 2005, and his last comic was in 2012. The more fans you have, the bigger the number of those requesting for change needs to become in order to be heard. And judging by your forum and Facebook page, you are beyond a minority.
Iscariot: Also, this guy draws webcomics. Which means that the internet is the medium in which he is directly releasing his work, and becase he has allowed comments and a forum for discussions about his webcomics on his site, he has a front row seat to people's comments and reactions. But Naoko Takeuchi doesn't use computers much or get online, she tends to respond to snail mail the most, her website that was originally managed by her editor, Osabu, has been out of sorts for ages, and it never held a message board. The most we have right now is Osabu, who sometimes responds in broken English on Twitter.
No idea why WWS thought that it would be a good idea to try and appeal to Osabu regarding their personal preferences -
after all, he works with Naoko Takeuchi (whose opinion apparently doesn't matter), not Toei. Can you feel his confusion and general indifference to their selfish pleas?
Toei PR probably has a better grasp on the Japanese audience through the internet and message boards like 2chan, but it's doubtful that they pay attention to or consider the opinions of fans in the West in regards to how they run their show. No, the only company that could possibly be swayed by the internet is ViZ, who are not the creators of Sailor Moon - they are the LICENSING COMPANY and production studio that is re-releasing the Sailor Moon anime with a new voice cast, script, translation, undedited and uncensored just like like dozens of other anime they have lincensed and released last year.
ViZ announced the license over 2 years ago, and this site was created around then, so even if the "majority" of the fandom wanted Serena back they obviously didn't care enough about it to be vocal and communicate on the all-powerful interwebs with ViZ that this is what they wanted!
Which is why they kept her real name.
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We will stress that the opinions of Mr. Bishop are not our own, but in this point we are in agreement. If a company were to incorporate the wishes of a fanbase because of perceived flaws, that does go against what has been released, it does compromise the vision of the creator. The 1990's Sailor Moon anime was released in a fixed format and shown on television in that format, so why should the material be changed to match a version that was not meant for the North American audience to see?
Lian Hua: Sorry guys, we need to use this gif again:
DiC's vision is not sacred. It is outdated and way behind the current industry standards. And don't pretend to care about any creator's vision - all you (obsessively) want is this name to be used to feed your nostalgia, anything else be damned.
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Argument #6: "The Other Name" was used for the re-released manga so it should be used for the anime to be consistent.
Many franchises often have multiple iterations of its characters, each with different designs and different personalities that make differentiation difficult.
Isacriot: But weren't you just saying how it would be heresy for Superman to be anyone other than Clark Kent or for Batman to be anoyne other than Bruce Wayne so nothing should ever be changed ever???
Consequently, many of the fan communities surrounding these franchise will use identifiers in conjunction with the characters' names in order to clear up which version a person is referencing.
Lian Hua: Like DiC Usagi and Viz Usagi?
Sailor Moon offers a unique opportunity to sidestep this trap.
Lian Hua: Why is it a trap??
Iscariot: Shhh don't question it, just blindly accept the rhetoric.
For instance, "Serena" would refer to the clumsy, meatball-headed crybaby who puts herself on the line to forgive her enemies, while "The Other Name" would refer to her similar manga counterpart, a slightly less idealistic warrior.
Iscariot: Or you know we could just say 90's anime Usagi and manga Usagi and PGSM Usagi and SeraMyu Usagi and DiC Usagi aka Serena. But we don't talk about Serena. Also haha go fuck yourself for calling Sailor Moon a "less idealistic warrior" in the manga. There are plenty of arguments against Usagi's immature, bratty nature and severe lack of character developement compared to the developement found in the manga and PGSM. The DiC/Cloverway dub made her constant, immature whining and crying even in the later seasons totally unbearable. So the 90's anime Sailor Moon forgave some enemies, that'd be a great message if any of them actually deserved it - but hey guess what they were all evil assholes who really didn't do anything to earn their redemption especially considering the severity of their crimes but whatever!
Poor writing aside, if you consider "Serena" to be the name for the DiC/Cloverway dub, and "Usagi" the name to use for the infinitely more awesome manga character, then what name do you propose people use for the original anime show where she was also called Usagi? What about people who want to talk about the Mixx manga, where her name was Serena and her nickname was Bunny? You have offered no actual evidence that this "problem" you have pulled out of your ass can actually be "sidestepped" because you offer no solutions, just petty insults against the real character of Usagi.
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Argument #7: It is necessary for "The Other Name" to be used to avoid censorship and be true to the original product.
Lian Hua: Using Serena as a name is not censorhip. Turning Haruka and Michiko into cousins is.
Iscariot: Changing the name is just a localization choice. But this is truly a dub worth preserving
However, use of "Serena" in a possible redub does not necessarily mean the new dub will follow in the footsteps of the previous dub. It is very possible to have a redub that closely follows the plot of the original version while using "Serena."
Lian Hua:... So they should translate everything else BUT Serena. Odd.
Iscariot: That is precisely what puzzles me. Why is the name Serena so important that all they want is the new dub to just have the DiC/Cloverway names, which doesn't make any damn sense.
Lian Hua: Downright bizarre.
Iscariot: Sooooo... why can't we have two versions of Sailor Moon coexisting side by side? Can you explain that? No? Okay then!
Lian Hua: Maybe Viz and DiC are Sith. And one must slaughter the other!
Iscariot: Apprently if you put a VHS of the DiC/Cloverway dub next to the DVD release from ViZ they cancel each other out and form a tiny black hole where the the fandom's tears collect.
"The Other Name" is no guarantee of quality, and in of itself, neither is "Serena." We just happen to prefer the latter.
Iscariot: So what you're saying is that calling her Usagi versus Serena is not a matter of quality, but a matter of personal preference, thus negating the 20 something paragraphs of arguments about how the quality and enjoyability of the show would be jeopardized if ViZ released a dub where she is called Usagi instead of Serena.
Lian Hua: The level of devotion towards this one single name is baffling.
In short, the arguments used to favor "The Other Name" over Serena are not ironclad, and in some cases are weak. Even if "Serena" is not to be used again, "The Other Name" is a poor alternative that should not be seriously considered.
Iscariot: Seriously? So it doesn't even matter if she isn't called Serena again as long as she ISN'T called Usagi? Sorry, but all I can get from this is that the person doesn't like dubs that keep the original Japanese names because Japanese is haaaaaaaard. Also, racism.
Lian Hua: The fuck did we spork? Seriously, I haven't been that puzzled in ages.
Iscariot: Look how empty the forum is. Truly, the vocal majority are impassioned about this.