Why Did They Change Zoro's Name To Zolo? - ResetEra

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Why did they change Zoro's name to Zolo?

• Thread starter Deleted member 6730
• Start date Nov 18, 2018

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• EtcetEra Forum

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Deleted member 6730

User requested account closure

Banned Oct 25, 2017 11,526 So I've been re-reading the One Piece manga and the one thing that's bugged me is that they changed Zoro's name to Zolo and every time I see it I die a little inside. It's such a small thing but still baffling. Both the Funimation translation and the Crunchyroll subs get it right but it was the 4Kids dub and the official manga translation that got it wrong. I get why 4Kids would mess that up since 4kids messed everything up regarding One Piece but Viz aren't chumps. There was no reason to change it right? And even in later volumes, after the timeskip, after everybody knows it's Zoro, it's sill Zolo. Was it initially a translation error? Someone help me out here.

Mario_Bones

Member Oct 31, 2017 3,814 Australia Pretty sure the first localised volume had it as Zoro and then they changed it, which makes it even weirder

Man God

Member Oct 25, 2017 42,015 Easy one to answer. They were afraid of the Mask of Zorro movies. Same thing happened with Detective Conan trying to avoid the wrath of potential Conan the Barbarian litigation.

Dennis8K

Banned Oct 25, 2017 20,161 I...I can't accept that... OP OP

Deleted member 6730

User requested account closure

Banned Oct 25, 2017 11,526

Man God said: Easy one to answer. They were afraid of the Mask of Zorro movies. Same thing happened with Detective Conan trying to avoid the wrath of potential Conan the Barbarian litigation. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

I refuse to believe that. Maybe in the early 2000s but today? Even after other English translations use Zoro.

SpecX

The Fallen Oct 30, 2017 2,308

Man God said: Easy one to answer. They were afraid of the Mask of Zorro movies. Same thing happened with Detective Conan trying to avoid the wrath of potential Conan the Barbarian litigation. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

this was always the excuse I heard. They didn't want to mix the 2 up, but Zorro isn't a pirate, so never made sense to me.

Ginta

Banned Oct 29, 2017 1,141

Spyder_Monkey said: I refuse to believe that. Maybe in the early 2000s but today? Even after other English translations use Zoro. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Editors choice not to change it. Other english translations than the VIZ one by Stephen Paul are obviously illegal. He calls him Zoro too tho in the OP podcast.

SpecX said: this was always the excuse I heard. They didn't want to mix the 2 up, but Zorro isn't a pirate, so never made sense to me. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Both are mainly swordman that are famous for their sword techniques, not sure what's hard to get here.

Wubby

Member Oct 27, 2017 4,511 Japan! Zoro only lives once. #Zolo OP OP

Deleted member 6730

User requested account closure

Banned Oct 25, 2017 11,526

Ginta said: Editors choice not to change it. Other english translations than the VIZ one by Stephen Paul are obviously illegal. He calls him Zoro too tho in the OP podcast. Both are mainly swordman that are famous for their sword techniques, not sure what's hard to get here. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Just to clarify, I meant the Funimation and Cruncyroll translations for the anime and not fan made scanalations.

Notaskwid

Banned Oct 25, 2017 5,652 Osaka R and L are interchangeable in Japanese, though the most used romanization system, Hepburn's, uses R, so it's weird, yeah.

Deleted member 176

User requested account closure

Banned Oct 25, 2017 37,160

Mario_Bones said: Pretty sure the first localised volume had it as Zoro and then they changed it, which makes it even weirder Click to expand... Click to shrink...

nope, it's zolo. unless you meant it was changed in reprints

boontobias

Avenger Apr 14, 2018 10,192 Zolo is a better name

Dragoon

Banned Oct 31, 2017 11,231 That is one of the shittiest dubs of all time. Didn't they also make Sanji suck a lollipop instead of cigarettes? The dude is already lame as hell, why do you need to torture Mr Pervert even more?...

lint2015

Member Oct 27, 2017 3,011 Because the Japanese could be translated as Zoro or Zolo and they probably didn't want it to be too similar to Zorro. It's not really that big a deal?

hermit

Member Oct 25, 2017 5,283 his name is zolo he's like a samurai

Trufflesguy Law

Member Oct 27, 2017 138 I understand why they went with Zolo. When the 4Kids dub first started airing, I think they were set on trying to launch toys and other related merchandise for One Piece, which made the fear of Mask of Zorro litigations that much more real. And as far as why Viz uses it today, I can respect them keeping Zolo for consistency sake. Like it's a wrong translation. Just straight up, his name is 'Zoro'. But I can cut them some slack on it. It's kind of like translating Kuririn and Krillin. It's objectively incorrect, but it's not like it's in there because the dub doesn't care about preserving the original intent. Cause the Viz translation for One Piece (especially once Stephen took over) is a very good translation.

lint2015

Member Oct 27, 2017 3,011

Trufflesguy Law said: Like it's a wrong translation. Just straight up, his name is 'Zoro'. But I can cut them some slack on it. It's kind of like translating Kuririn and Krillin. It's objectively incorrect, but it's not like it's in there because the dub doesn't care about preserving the original intent. Cause the Viz translation for One Piece (especially once Stephen took over) is a very good translation. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

It's only wrong if the author says it's wrong. Krillin can absolutely be a correction translation for Kuririn. It's not objectively wrong. But if you want to be pedantic and say it's always wrong unless they strictly use the standard rules for Japanese romanisation, according to Wikipedia, for Japanese merchandising they've translated Kuririn as Klilyn. Are you saying they're objectively wrong too?

Reversed

Member Oct 25, 2017 3,996 Zolo shot first

Imperial Bishop

Member Oct 26, 2017 37,196

Reversed said: Zolo shot first Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Sander VF

The Fallen Oct 28, 2017 26,986 Tbilisi, Georgia

Reversed said: Zolo slashed first Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Fixed.

Deleted member 16241

Oct 27, 2017 4,089

lint2015 said: It's only wrong if the author says it's wrong. Krillin can absolutely be a correction translation for Kuririn. It's not objectively wrong. But if you want to be pedantic and say it's always wrong unless they strictly use the standard rules for Japanese romanisation, according to Wikipedia, for Japanese merchandising they've translated Kuririn as Klilyn. Are you saying they're objectively wrong too? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

The wanted posters in the Japanese version are already written in English and say Zoro tho: I'm not saying changing names is necessarily wrong (see how Harry Potter character names were translated in different languages to keep puns) though. Although in this particular case, Zolo looks dumb and has no advantage apart from avoiding a potential lawsuit.

Cheerilee

Banned Oct 25, 2017 3,969

SpecX said: this was always the excuse I heard. They didn't want to mix the 2 up, but Zorro isn't a pirate, so never made sense to me. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Zorro was an outlaw. Outlaw and pirate are fairly close.

Thatonedice1

Banned Oct 27, 2017 4,112 Working on that also. Oda spells it Zoro so I say Zoro. That's all I care about.

Imperial Bishop

Member Oct 26, 2017 37,196 The whole lawsuit thing was bullshit anyway. iirc, the former Viz translation editor, Alexis Kirsch, hinted that it might be changed in a new reprint edition when the manga ends. Check back in ten years.

808s & Villainy

Member Oct 27, 2017 49,095

Has magic powers said: Zolo is a better name Click to expand... Click to shrink...

dafuq

hibikase

User requested ban

Banned Oct 26, 2017 6,820 They were afraid that Disney would sue them. Of course Zorro is public domain but Disney loves to pretend that they own it, so it was still a potential headache for them. I mean just look at all the stupid name changes in the official western localizations of Jojo to see how chickenshit the localization companies are at even the faintest possibility of litigation.

SolVanderlyn

I love pineapple on pizza!

Member Oct 28, 2017 14,132 Earth, 21st Century Listen to the dude's theme song and tell me it isn't inspired by Zorro

Typographenia

Member Oct 27, 2017 608 Los Angeles Any time I start reading OP again, I have to retrain my brain to read "Zolo" and "Zoro."

NESpowerhouse

Member Oct 25, 2017 10,190 Virginia

hermit said: his name is zolo he's like a samurai Click to expand... Click to shrink...

And an L A D Y Nami's not shy OP OP

Deleted member 6730

User requested account closure

Banned Oct 25, 2017 11,526

Trufflesguy Law said: Like it's a wrong translation. Just straight up, his name is 'Zoro'. But I can cut them some slack on it. It's kind of like translating Kuririn and Krillin. It's objectively incorrect, but it's not like it's in there because the dub doesn't care about preserving the original intent. Cause the Viz translation for One Piece (especially once Stephen took over) is a very good translation. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

My whole life is a lie.

HadesHotgun

Member Oct 25, 2017 871 It works for me. Zolo is a fantastical chinese swordsman in a world of magic pirates. Zorro is a masked champion of Justice in 19th century California. Nakama means friend. God is in heaven. All is right with the world.

Erigu

Member Nov 4, 2017 3,597

Trufflesguy Law said: It's kind of like translating Kuririn and Krillin. It's objectively incorrect Click to expand... Click to shrink...

What would you say is the "objectively correct" spelling of that name? Tōei uses "Klilyn" pretty consistently, but then Toriyama has used "Kulilin" (and possibly other variants, I can't remember off the top of my head), so...?

lint2015 said: It's only wrong if the author says it's wrong. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

As far as I know, when the name is written in Latin alphabet in Japan, it's spelled "Zoro". I believe they're quite consistent about it, too. Last edited: Nov 19, 2018 You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit Pinterest Tumblr WhatsApp Email Share Link

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