Reader Polls Run Down the Most Ill-Advised Names in Anime

As anime fans, we’re all used to characters with strange names. But what about the ones that are just plain unfortunate?

A new reader poll at goo Ranking asked readers to vote for anime and manga characters whose names weren’t just weird, but straight-up awkward. An inordinate number of entries had the word unko („poop“) hidden somewhere in the name, like Zatch Bell’s Unko Tin Tin. Others have names with unfortunate meanings, such as xxxHOLIC’s Maru and Moro, whose full names (Marudashi and Morodashi) are both Japanese terms for exposing yourself in public.

So who are the „winners“ of this poll? Here are the top three:

3. Warera Nantes, Loli Dosel, and Conda Bromco (The Super Dimension Fortress Macross)

These three Zentradi spies were micronized and sent aboard the Macross to observe Micron life. But instead of reporting back to their officers with what they found, they discovered they loved life among humans and decided to stay permanently. One even married Vanessa Laird, one of the Macross bridge operators.

The unfortunate bit comes when you string together their given names—resulting in the phrase warera lolikon da, or „We are lolicons.“

2. Uyokka, Sayokka, and Mannakka (Gold Lightan)

In 1981 mecha anime Gold Lightan, the title robot and his young friends fight against the evil robot King Ibaruda. Serving under Ibaruda are three generals: Uyokka (right), Sayokka (left), and Mannakka (center).

The parentheticals aren’t just where they are in the image above, however. The positions also refer to which flank of Ibaruda’s army they command… and are a literal translation of their respective names (with uyo meaning „right,“ sayo meaning „left,“ and manna meaning „center“ with respect to positions in baseball or politics). It might not be a rude naming convention, but it is kind of on the nose.

1. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

A shoe-in for the winner of this poll, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (from the show of the same name) doesn’t have a lot of explanation for himself. This afro’d warrior roams the post-apocalyptic world, rescuing innocents from having all their hair shaved off. If his name wasn’t enough of a mess already, it gets better: in kanji, it’s written „母母母ー母・母ー母母“ (or the character for „mother“ seven times).

Other runners-up include Bulma from Dragon Ball, Pantyhose Taro from Ranma 1/2, and Corin Nander from ∀ Gundam.

Source: goo Ranking

—–

Kara Dennison is the co-founder of Altrix Books and co-creator of OEL light novel series Owl’s Flower, with writing credits across the Internet. She blogs at karadennison.com and tweets @RubyCosmos. Her latest book, Vanishing Tales of the City, is now available from Altrix Books.