Name Changes

[dfjkiller 5]

Hey guys, quick question. Why is it that the English version names are different for most of the main characters than what it is in the Japanese version, the only name that stays the same of the main cast is Conan's and then his true name is still different. I do not see why the names were changed.

[Scar Akai 65]

I am not really sure about this but maybe it is because it is not common for you to find weird english names such as Ran and also maybe because of the laws, trademarks and all those stuffs ? If I am wrong, please correct me

[Southpaw 61]

it has nothing to do with Anglicizing the names, and everything to do with licensing and copyright... to the best of my knowledge

[Scar Akai 65]

it has nothing to do with Anglicizing the names, and everything to do with licensing and copyright... to the best of my knowledge

Thanks for correcting me

[dfjkiller 5]

I still think it would have been better to have just kept it more to its Japanese origins than to change so much of it. But that's just my opinion. Take Naruto for instance all the Japanese names are still the same in that anime. That was just an example I'm not really that fond of that anime, too fictitious.

[Scar Akai 65]

Yeah. But laws are laws. They are forced to change the names. Who actually wants to do something that makes fans happy but then get sued and need to pay... Let's say a lot

[PuzzleSpell 3]

Yeah. But laws are laws. They are forced to change the names. Who actually wants to do something that makes fans happy but then get sued and need to pay... Let's say a lot

Sometimes rules spoil the fan's fun & entertainment hehe. What a world we have. Rules.

[Scar Akai 65]

Sometimes rules spoil the fan's fun & entertainment hehe. What a world we have. Rules.

I wish the saying "Rules are made to be broken" is literally real...

[PuzzleSpell 3]

I wish the saying "Rules are made to be broken" is literally real...

They are literally real but only to certain situations. But hey, did you mean "literally real in all situations"? If true, don't wish something like that. If not, then what I say is redundant.

[Scar Akai 65]

except for those like kidnapping, murder, rape, ...etc...

[Eisuke 3]

The name of the Franchise had to be changed for legal reasons ('Conan' is probably copyrighted by 'Conan the Barbarian' or something like that)but I don't see why the names had to be changed.

I don't think anyone has copyrighted names like 'Mouri Kogoro' or 'Kudou Shinichi'.

[Stopwatch 36]

If it's copyright reasons, I get that for the title (due to the other Conan things about), but as only the Japanese names were changed at the beginning, I'm excluding Conan because it is an English name, even if a kind of weird one, it makes more sense for if it's localisation. Also, I heard that CC is now giving the original names to all new characters, if the names were changed for legal reasons, wouldn't they still apply now so they would have to make up new names for newer characters?

So, I think the title is for legal reasons, but the names were to attempt to localise it so more Americans/Canadians would read, which, once they realised wasn't working they stopped doing with the newer characters who arrived (they'd have to republish everything if they wanted to change the names they'd changed at the start).

[Eisuke 3]

I think that they should publish it in vizbig editions (3 volumes in 1) and in those editions the original characters names remain.

[AnimeOtakuDrew 18]

But they could use Detective Conan in the title of the Lupin crossovers US release. Plus, you can't copyright a reality name. The full titles Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Cimmerian are surely copyrighted, but if just the name Conan was able to be, nobody else with that name could ever use it (Conan O'Brien, etc.), especially not in a title. It is for that very reason that a copyright won't be issued on a reality name, because real names fall under fair use. Now, an invented and unusual name could probably be copyrighted  (like Kingdom Hearts' Xehanort, for example), but Conan doesn't qualify.

 

And as for the reason the names were changed for Case Closed, I struggle with the idea that it was because of legal/copyright issues. You expect me to believe that the American companies releasing it were granted the right to completely reproduce Detective Conan image for image, but NOT use the names? I don't buy it. Especially since the Funimation DVDs included Japanese audio as well as English, and the accompanying subtitles accurately carried over the Japanese names (a friend of mine had every DVD of the series that Funimation released, so I know from watching them as I always watch my anime subbed if the option exists).

[AnimeOtakuDrew 18]

I just noticed that, in my previous post, my autocorrect for some reason, changed the word "real" to "reality" in a few places, and I apologize for that. But that is not the main reason I am making another post. I  remembered something more about copyrights from my time in the printing industry. While a regular name (like Conan) cannot be copyrighted as I previously stated, a full name can. For example, Luke Skywalker is a copyrighted name that can only be used with permission from Lucasfilm. This, however would not apply in the situation with Detective Conan versus Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Cimmerian. If Conan the Barbarian/Conan the Cimmerian even has a full name, I am fairly certain that it is not Detective Conan, therefore, even though the copyright holder of CtB/CtC may not LIKE it if there was an American release of DC actually called Detective Conan, they really couldn't do anything about it as it wouldn't truly infringe on their copyright. Likewise for Conan O'Brien, or any other Conan's that happen to be running around out there. The most they could do is copyright their full names and any specific titles they have used.

[EdogawaTenshi 0]

Conan the Beautician in the Phillipines 

[Ayuna Yume 6]

6 hours ago, EdogawaTenshi said:

Conan the Beautician in the Phillipines 

How many titles can a boy have XD