Usenet Message Rebuttals

     This section features rebuttals to the “K is the surname” arguments that appear in three specific Usenet messages.  The three messages have been linked to this section.

     Of course she could be wrong.  The quality of an argument is not determined by the credentials of its author.  People who are experts have been wrong before and they will be wrong again.  A person could be an expert in the Japanese language, but he or she could still make mistakes.

     Sure, some anime and manga characters sometimes have weird names, but how does she know that, in this case, the names are not supposed to be read in the usual way in the Japanese script?  When Ms. Takeuchi wrote other Japanese names in the Japanese script (names of characters she invented), she made them follow the usual rules.  Why should the names of the Three Lights be treated differently?

     That argument is not convincing. There are plenty of famous Japanese people who do not switch the orders of their names in the Japanese script: Naoko Takeuchi, Nanase Aikawa, Yoshihiro Togashi (Ms. Takeuchi's husband) Kunihiko Ikuhara. A Japanese person may be famous, but he or she does not have to switch the order of his or her name in the Japanese script.

Usenet Message from Bruce Clark:

     The arguer is assuming that K is a title, but nothing in the anime and manga suggests that.  When the names of the Three Lights appear with other Japanese names (such as Ami’s full name) in the Japanese script, the K still appears.  Moreover, K, when it is written with the kanji, can be a personal name.

     Furthermore, John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr would have not have introduced themselves as “Beatle John,” “Beatle George,” “Beatle Paul,” and “Beatle Ringo” if they were still in high school.  The Three Lights, however, include the K parts of their names in their introduction speeches even when they are in school.  Besides, Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki are the Three Lights (two English words), not the Three Ks (one English word and one Japanese word).

     Even if we wanted to assume that K is a title, we still would not know whether Seiya, Taiki, and Yaten were meant to be the characters’ surnames or their personal names.  If Seiya is supposed to be a personal name, then that would prompt the question “What is the character’s surname if it is not K?”  Conversely, if Seiya is supposed to be a surname, then that would prompt the question “What is the character’s personal name if it is not K?”  Not only would the assumption not be justified, we would not be making any progress in determining what the characters’ personal names or surnames are.