There are a lot of anime franchises out there with characters sporting bizarre, nonsensical, or pun-heavy names.
Gundam, to me, is near the top as a franchise that has consistently churned out names that seem to be based on no real cultural orientation, only a generalized concept of "sounding western" at times. It particularly stands out because Gundam often makes some semblance of trying to be taken seriously or grounded. While we get a Bernie, Alfred, or Christina, the majority of the shows seem more like they were created by an AI algorithm that is struggling to understand human language while cross-referencing the type of names that Hideo Kojima uses.
That's given us such names as:
Dozle Zabi
Apolly Bay
Glemy Toto
Banagher Links
Anew Returner
Seabook Arno
Bright Noa
Sayla Mass
Lockon Stratos
Char Aznable
Jamitov Hymem
Full Frontal
Lancerow Dawell
Fixx Bloodman
Cancer Kafka
That's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the names I've come across.
And as random as they are, I DO tend to remember them. Years and years later and I remember Kamille Bidan, or Marvet Fingerhat, or Zechs Merquise, among most of the casts in each show.
I still have to go with "Seabook Arno" for my favorite, though. It's just such a weird name.
Anyone else have any favorites, or is there an anime out there that makes even the Gundam cast look sensibly named by comparison?
Gundam, to me, is near the top as a franchise that has consistently churned out names that seem to be based on no real cultural orientation, only a generalized concept of "sounding western" at times. It particularly stands out because Gundam often makes some semblance of trying to be taken seriously or grounded. While we get a Bernie, Alfred, or Christina, the majority of the shows seem more like they were created by an AI algorithm that is struggling to understand human language while cross-referencing the type of names that Hideo Kojima uses.
That's given us such names as:
Dozle Zabi
Apolly Bay
Glemy Toto
Banagher Links
Anew Returner
Seabook Arno
Bright Noa
Sayla Mass
Lockon Stratos
Char Aznable
Jamitov Hymem
Full Frontal
Lancerow Dawell
Fixx Bloodman
Cancer Kafka
That's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the names I've come across.
And as random as they are, I DO tend to remember them. Years and years later and I remember Kamille Bidan, or Marvet Fingerhat, or Zechs Merquise, among most of the casts in each show.
I still have to go with "Seabook Arno" for my favorite, though. It's just such a weird name.
Anyone else have any favorites, or is there an anime out there that makes even the Gundam cast look sensibly named by comparison?
