I have a general anime question.
Why is it that the names of various characters are changed or not completely translated? PokÈmon comes to mind. The literal English translation is Satoshi or something like that, but they made in Ash in the English series. Wouldn't it be simpler to make the translations more acurate and true?
Ah, what you witness in name changes is the classic result of what happens when subpar dubbing companies like 4Kids gets hold of the rights to dub an anime.
In many results, it is a simple mistranslation because of the accent most Japanese people have. For example, in Japan, Kirby is actually Kabbii, but because of the way it is pronounced, it is VERY easy to mistranslate it. It is the same result of Marik from Yugioh! His real name is Malik, but the accent just makes it sound different.
In the case of Satoshi being Ash Ketchum, the name change was to promote the catchphrase, "Gotta catch 'em all!" that has made Pokemon the world wide phenomion it is today. However, I have NO idea where the "Ash" part came from. THAT is ANYONE's guess.
