Harlock or Herlock?

NERV · February 26, 2004

I've always been under the impression that his name was harlock but i saw a recent pioneer realese "captian herlock, the legend returns" and im like wtf, so i went to her ask, wtf?

kanata67 · February 26, 2004

harlock.

"herlocke/herloche/herlock" are all wrong but that might be due to import translation :unsure:

Radd · February 26, 2004

Actually, if you go by the recent wave of Leiji Matsumoto work in Japan, it's Herlock. All of the recent anime, over the past year or three, that has come out in Japan has shown that as the spelling, within the anime themselves. Harlock has been the popularly accepted spelling until these shows started popping up.

Because of that, I've started going by 'Herlock', for the exact same reasons I go by 'Hikaru' instead of 'Rick'.

bandit29 · February 26, 2004

I'm no expert on this so someone corect if I'm wrong

For years it was Harlock. Toei's finally releasing the original series on DVD in Japan and its called Captain Harlock. I always thought that the manga spelled the name Herlock. In The Cosmo Warrior mini series it was spelled Harlock.

The new DVD series is great so far.

Radd · February 27, 2004

For years the 'official' dub/sub spelling has been Harlock. I'm fairly certain somewhere in Cosmos Warrior Zero you see his name spelled 'Herlock' in the animation or the box art, while the subtitles go by the long accepted 'Harlock'. Don't quote me on that, though. I'd have to rewatch it and see. I know in Gun Frontier it has 'Herlock' written in the artwork used on at least one of the boxes, though I recall the American writing and subtitles go with 'Harlock'.

Where do you see Toei's set saying 'Harlock'? Is it on the DVDs themselves? Or is that just what the website you saw it on calls it? Lots of websites will still go with 'Harlock' because that's the popular spelling, even if it turns out to be incorrect.

I'm mighty curious to find out what's really up with the Herlock/Harlock thing. If it's not a case of incorrect americanizing of the name....then what is the reason? I suppose it could be chalked up to the same reason Max Genus/Jenus/Genius's name get's spelled different ways, on official merchandise.