Forum:New Name Spellings Revealed

Hello everyone, as most of you may know by now, Fairy Tail Volume 50 was recently released in Japan. What some of you may not know is that the Limited Edition version came with 50 postcards, each drawn personally by Hiro Mashima! But the most interesting thing is, each post card contains a individual character as well as their names WRITTEN IN ENGLISH! The post cards have since been uploaded by multiple fans on the Internet. Here are high resolution scans of each post card. As you can see, all names are written in english. Now you could say that someone just edited out the original kanji and replaced it with english, but after a little digging around I found this (as well as other sources), which proves the names were indeed originally written in english. If you are still not convinced you can ask people who have the actual volume & postcards.

Here is a list of all 50 characters that appeared on these postcards. The names are spelled exactly how they were written on the post cards (I double checked to make sure each spelling was correct, but feel free to check for yourselves if you want):
 * 1) Natsu Dragneel
 * 2) Lucy Heartfilia
 * 3) Happy
 * 4) Gray Fullbuster
 * 5) Erza Scarlet
 * 6) Wendy Marvell
 * 7) Charles
 * 8) Gajeel Redfox
 * 9) Panther Lily
 * 10) Juvia Lockser
 * 11) Mirajane Strauss
 * 12) Lisanna Strauss
 * 13) Elfman Strauss
 * 14) Kana Alberona
 * 15) Makarov Dreyar
 * 16) Gildarts Clive
 * 17) Levy McGarden
 * 18) Laxus Dreyar
 * 19) Fried Justine
 * 20) Evergreen
 * 21) Bickslow
 * 22) Hisui E. Fiore
 * 23) Loke
 * 24) Virgo
 * 25) Sting Ewcliff
 * 26) Lorg Cheney
 * 27) Lecter
 * 28) Frosh
 * 29) Yukino Agria
 * 30) Minerva Orland
 * 31) Lyon Vastia
 * 32) Sherria Blendi
 * 33) Ichiya Vanderlay Kotobuki
 * 34) Flare Corona
 * 35) Mavis Vermillion
 * 36) Jenny Realite
 * 37) Jellal Fernandes
 * 38) Merudy
 * 39) Zeref
 * 40) Igneel
 * 41) Acnologia
 * 42) Kagura Mikazuchi
 * 43) Millianna
 * 44) Ultear Milkovich
 * 45) Cobra
 * 46) Angel
 * 47) Mest Gryder
 * 48) Mard Geer Tartaros
 * 49) Jura Nekis
 * 50) Plue

Now, as you may have noticed by now, not all names match the ones we have on the wiki (including a few names that were confirmed in the first 17 volumes of the english release)

Here is the list of differences I noticed:
 * Carla > Charles
 * Pantherlily > Panther Lily
 * Cana Alberona > Kana Alberona
 * Freed Justine > Fried Justine
 * Sting Eucliffe > Sting Ewcliff
 * Rogue Cheney > Lorg Cheni
 * Lector > Lecter
 * Frosch > Frosh
 * Sherria Blendy > Sherria Blendi (we probably have to do Sherry as well, who did not feature)
 * Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki > Ichiya Vanderlay Kotobuki
 * Mavis Vermilion > Mavis Vermillion
 * Jenny Realight > Jenny Realite
 * Meredy > Merudy
 * Jura Neekis > Jura Nekis

Now since these are all drawn personally by Hiro Mashima himself, in my personal opinion we should change all names to match the postcards, regardless of whether or not it was spelt differently in the first 17 volumes of the english release. Although those volumes do state those were the spellings Hiro Mashima wanted, I strongly believe anything done by Hiro Mashima personally has precedence over everything else. Also, the reasons I think they are different include:
 * Mashima changed his mind or forgot.
 * Did not have a definite spelling of each character at the time. He may had not of had an english name for a certain character, and just quickly came up with a random name at the top of his head.
 * The names may have gone through several people such as assistants, people who work for Kodansha, and people who speak different languages before reaching the english translator (or whoever the typesetter is). We do not know if it was hand written, typed or through verbal communication (maybe between a japanese and english speaking people). Basically, miscommunication.
 * To elaborate on the above point, English volumes have made mistakes before. Just because Hiro Mashima provided the spellings, doesn't mean they don't make mistakes or that miscommunication can be avoided.

I personally believe all the names on these post cards are 100% correct, cause i'm certain each spelling was provided by Hiro Mashima himself. Even if the names were typed up by someone other than Hiro Mashima (which I don't think is the case), I just don't see Mashima not checking the finished product or at least checking the names are correct. Given that Volume 50 limited edition was heavily promoted and how Kodansha made a big deal of it being a special milestone volume, I just don't see anyone allowing any mistakes with such a special release. Also with Japanese volume releases they typically try to correct every mistake possible. I also think Mashima would've put a lot more care, consideration and effort into deciding the names for this release, then he would've for the english release.

Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to put all my thoughts onto the table and provide as much info as possible. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.--DuelMaster93 (talk) 07:15, July 22, 2015 (UTC)