What if the Turtles had Japanese names instead of Italian names? Would it be popular?
 

Let's say that Peter Laird/Kevin Eastman decided to give the Turtles Japanese names instead of giving them Italian names. Given Yoshi/Splinter are from Japan it would make sense to see them given Japanese names. Would this have caught on with kids?

Remember this is back in the mid-80's when anime was practically unknown in the U.S. Sure we had Speed Racer and Voltron but barely anyone knew it was anime.

Would Leonardo being named, "Satoshi" and Raphael named, "Akira" actually caught on with kids back in the 80's and 90's?

If Kevin and Peter actually knew any legitimate Japanese names, instead of just bursting Japanese sounding names like Hamato or Oroku (I can't find any people actually named that), then I'm sure they would picked Japanese names.

As for wheter or not it would have been popular? I think Peter once said in an interview that the names Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello are not common names in the first place. Granted the names are often shortened to the more common names Leo, Raph, Mike and Donnie but the FW cartoon (arguably the most well known and popular version) slavishly refered to the characters by their full names.

I would have loved to see a more Japanese take on the Turtles given their ancestry, but I feel like Renaissance artists would be a lot more universally well-known than Japanese artists. So maybe that makes them a little more relatable? I dunno.

Although who has EVER heard of the guy Donnie is named for? :tlol:

A quick Wikipedia check is bound to fix that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donatello

"Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (c. 1386 – December 13, 1466), better known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance sculptor from Florence. He is, in part, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello's case, incorporated significant 15th-century developments in perspectival illusionism."

Well, yes, that's what Wikipedia is for. But I never learned about Donato during my art history course. Raphael, yeah. Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci? Obviously. Donato, though... not only is he typically people's least favorite Turtle, he's the least well-known artist. At least in my experience. Poor purple-bandanna-wearing Turtle can't catch a break. Oh, and he gets the least appealing weapon.

No love for my man Donatello. :tcry:

To me the Italian names are what put it over the Wha? wall, and make it memorable. I don't know that Wolf would have picked up the cartoon with an all Japanese sounding cast.

I don't think with Japanese, or in Eastman and Laird's case; Japanese/Oriental sounding names would have made TMNT as out stading as it is.

I had about him in school, but then again I went to art school. So we had several artists that wouldn't be usual.

And the Bo is a formidable weapon, people that make fun of it is just ignornt and lack all form of understading about martial arts. it is after all a weapon that can pulverize knee caps, split skulls and break swords, there's a reason why in a Bo vs. Katana kata, the Katana user is on the defense and primarily keeps their distance.

Absolutely agree; but for little kids playing with the action figures, Donny is usually last to be picked. :tsad: The wielder is what is most dangerous, not the weapon.

I suppose it wouldn't matter since we wouldn't know any different. Not like we'd have sat back and randomly thought that it would have been better had they been named after Renaissance artists. lol

Although I would hope they'd have still had names that still seemed to fit them, phonetically speaking.

But they got the best nicknames out of the names they were given. ;)


Edit: Besides, in cases of formerly human Splinter, if the boys were ever accepted by society, got them signed up with documents and junk like everyone else, if nothing else they'd surely officially have the Hamato name on there, so there's that.

Donatello was an sculptor of the early Renaissance. If you want to know about him just look at Wikipedia. I hope that helps. :tcool:

i remember Kevin Eastmen said that Donnie was almost named after another artist but they decided they needed another "O" ending name. can't remember the artist now but i think it started with a "G". been a while since that panel

Think Bernini was the one.

We'd totally be calling him Bernie right now. :tlol:

:teek:

The mind boggles.

People would take Donatello even LESS seriously. :tlol::tcry:

I still find it funny all the Turtles names end in, "o" except Raphael. Like its something I never thought about, even when saying their names all out loud, "DonatellO" or "LeonardO" or "MichelangelO."

Funny how you think it would feel weird or something.

Well, the artists actual name is Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, and some places do call Raph Raffaello instead of Raphael.

The absurdity of their names is somewhat of a selling point, as it fits with their all around oddness in general. But I think the turtles had enough appeal in concept & design to make a boom back in the day regardless of their names. Had one been Musashi, Paul, or Scales, the kids would still eat it up.

Well, you know what Mikey said... all the good Turtles end in "o." :twink:

"Guy Jin"
"Sayo Nara"
"Ari Gato"
"Konni Chiwa"

:tlol:

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were teenagers well before the anime craze hit the U.S. They had no idea about Japanese names or anime stuff.

Eastman was heavily influenced by Bruce Lee, and his martial arts movies were their inspiration. I'm pretty happy TMNT pre-dated the "anime craze."

Raphael it's his English/American name. It's real name is Raffaello. As an Italian, I've always found quite funny how he is the only one that is called with a different name outside Italy.

I certainly did, but then I've always had an interest in art, especially from the Renaissance.



He is also best known for his bronze David, which was supposedly the inspiration for Michelangelo's marble version- and was one of the earliest nudes of the Italian Renaissance Greek Revival style. Prior to that, most sculptors kept the appearance of clothes on their figures for propriety reasons. (Thanks largely to the Church.)

As a side-note, my mom's birthday is the same as the day he died. Weird.



I learned about him in world history, art, and also from personal studies into Renaissance art and history.



If it was a "G" name, it was probably Giovanni Bellini- or most likely just Giovanni.



Nah, he'd be Gio. Which Mikey would probably play with several ways....



Raph's actual name does, too!



^ This.

To this day there still hasn't been a use of the Renaissance names like in TMNT so, it's all part of their unique package. You don't hear those names outside art classes and I can't really count how many people I have met who go buy any of those names.
I have friends named Mike and that's really it.

The Japanese names... They would need to be catchy like in Dragonball otherwise I couldn't remember the other names of character when I was younger. The Turtles just clicked like that, with everyone.

It is surprising Eastman and Laird didn't try with Japanese, Chinese, or Hong Kong names since they were so influenced by martial arts and kung fu movies, especially Bruce Lee.

Weird. I ended up learning about all 4 Turtles in my art history class. Donnie is the one I do keep forgetting about though. Just his David sculpture.
Mikey and Leo are the most popular ones and Raph is also kinda the odd one that no one really knows without looking it up themselves or taking an art class.

Calling Donnie the "least favorite" is a tough call though, I would say all the Turtles seem fairly evenly split between favoritoes. I know lots of people who love Mikey and Raph the most but I know a lot of others who are fans of Leo and Donnie instead. I sometimes feel Leo is the least fav 'cus he's the leader and usually kinda "shallow" in comparison but I know that is far from the truth.

HAHAHA Holy ****!! Bernini?! That would be a horrible name! lol
Bern. Bernie. Oi lol

Ah, that works, too. Had seen Bernini mentioned online last year, but Giovanni shortened to Gio would have been a decent fit, has a bit of a modern tech ring to it if pronounced like Geo.

"Geo" wouldn't be bad... It's just hard trying to imagine the brothers with different names.
Bellini would be too weird, I think, for kids.
Leonardo, Bellini, Michaelangelo, Raphael...
Eeeehhh... Or
Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Giovanni, Raphael
Works a little better but....

Have you ever seen an Italian dub of Secret of the Ooze? I've always wondered how the "all the good ones end in O" joke worked out if y'all call him Raffaello.

I think someone on the forums actually mentions it, the joke is still there, so it's one of those jokes that is lost in translation :lol:

I honestly think they wouldn't be as popular or memorable.

Or heck, maybe the joke is lost, but it ends up saying they're all equally good? Not a bad thing. :)

Maybe it's just something like "All the best names end in O!", like you say, making them equally cool. Funny enough, that'd make Keno real rad too. :trazz:

When did they say that line in Secret of the ooze? I've seen it with the italian dub but honestly I can't remember how they actually render that joke.

Haha, and Splinter made him do ten flips because his feelings were hurt lol.

When Keno is being introduced to everyone after he delivered pizza to April and passed out after seeing Splinter.

I've just checked that scene with the italian dub and the dialog it's just the same as the original one except.. that joke totally got lost in translation. One sees Raph getting hangry with Mike but really doesn't understand why.

And I noticed that Michelangelo full name is mispronounce by English speakers. The exact pronunciation is Mikelangelo, not the way they do it. Also, it was misspelled (michaelangelo) until 2001 when Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman corrected it. But I noticed something the original series episode "Back to the Egg" , Mikey spells his full name correctly.

Well, the only name that is pronunced correctly by english speakers is Donatello. The first two letters of "Leonardo" are pronunced like "Lee" in UK/USA but here in Italy we pronunce them like the first two letters in "Legend".
This is how we say it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB16eWIWySE

Interesting. :) My own ear doesn't hear too much of a difference, though maybe we just pronounce the "e" stronger than the original pronunciation?

Granted the guys are in the U.S., and have U.S. accents, so it would make sense that their names are the local pronunciation. I'm sure my own Greek origin name has probably changed over time from it's roots, maybe more-so.

All the TMNT copy cats had a long quirky names including big players like "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" and many named their characters because of some random fact. I remember the Snaliens being named after presidents.

I need to dig out my TMNT trivia book now. It mentioned all of the rip-offs and their characters' names. Including the PTDGKFK. (That's Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos.) Yes, that is a "real" thing. A parody of TMNT that was done back in the late 80's after the cartoon became popular, apparently.

I agree. After all they're ninja turtles living in the sewer, not foreign languages professors :)