There
are some gamers who are confused as to the name of
the heroine from Clock Tower Ghost Head. You might've
noticed in Rob
McGregor's Guide for Clock Tower II: The Struggle
Within states, "... such as Yutaka in Japan,
is Alyssa for the US ... Or is that Yuu ... Mhh, I've
seen both." Also the Clock Tower Ghost Head
preview in one issue of PSM Magazine states, "The player controls
the heroine of the story, Yutaka Midoshima".
So what is her name, Yuu or Yutaka?
In
order to figure out how the heroine's name should be
read, we have to look at the Kanji of her name. The
problem with Kanji is that one character can be read
in a variety of ways! Kanji are Chinese characters
used to write the core of the Japanese vocabulary and
because it can be read in a variety of ways, we have
to find the Furigana to understand how her name
should be pronounced. Furigana are the small
characters which are placed along the top or the side
of the Kanji indicating their pronunciation.
In the
Clock Tower Ghost Head instruction manual on page 19, there we see the picture of the
heroine and the Kanji next to her is her name. The
large Japanese characters on the vertical bar to the
top is the Kanji of her name and the smaller Hiragana
below is the Furigana which spells out her name:
The
above states that her name should be read as: 御堂島 優 （みどうしま ゆう） or "Mid
shima Y
".
Not to
mention that in the beginning of Clock Tower Ghost
Head, when the heroine enters the Takano House, she
introduces herself as, 「こんにちはぁ…。東京の優です…。」 ("Kon'nichi waa... Tky no Y desu...") This quote translates to,
"Good afternoon, it's Y from Tky."
She
pronounces her own name as "you" for
"Y", we do not hear her say
"you' tah' kah" for the name of
"Yutaka". The instruction manual and the
video game are both reliable sources which proves
that her name is indeed Y. Why I have her name written out as Y, instead of Yu or Yuu, is due to the
fact that most fans would not render the long
"u" sound in her name because they may not
have the knowledge of doubling the vowels. Spelling
her name as Yuu may lead fans to mispronunciations
such as "you' ooh" or "you' uh".
The spelling of Yu may also lead fans to mispronounce
it as "yuh". Going by the Hepburn system, the spelling renders the long
"u" vowel and it is the proper romanization
of her name.
Rob
McGregor and the PSM magazine probably didn't have
their hands on the Furigana of her name, therefore
they went with the name Yutaka. But I will let you
know that the problem with the name Yutaka is that
the Kanji doesn't even match that of the heroine's
name. Here are all of the Kanji which approximates
"Yutaka": 胖 浩 泰
温 裕 寛 豊 穣 饒 穰 （ゆたか）. Remember that Y's name is spelt 優 （ゆう）, and notice how none of the
Kanji in "Yutaka" approximates it?
We can
dismiss her name ever being Yutaka. Remember earlier
I mentioned that Kanji can be read in a variety of
ways? The Kanji of 優 can be read as ユウ (Y), ウ (U), やさ.しい (Yasa.ishi), すぐ.れる (Sugu.reru),
まさ.る (Masa.ru), ゆ (Yu),
and よし (Yoshi). Notice how none can
ever be read as "Yutaka"? It would seem
necessary if they said that her name was Yasa Midshima instead.
