Thursday 18 June 2020

Mysterious Actor in Spy Movies

I'm reading the volume 7 of Case Closed right now, in which I just found another contradiction caused by English localization of character names

In File 3: The Curse of the Piano, when Richard Moore introduces himself to villagers of Moon Shadow Island, they mix him up with a famous astronaut and a character in spy movies. The dialogue goes like this: 

Richard Moore: Oh, me? I'm a great detective from Tokyo. Richard Moore, at your service!!! 
Villager A: Moore? Oh, the Japanese Astronaut...? 
Villager B: No, that's Mori! This is the guy in those spy movies! 
Villager C: This isn't that guy! 

First of all, there has never been a Japanese astronaut named Richard Moore. 

Second, Moore doesn't sound like Mori (or Mohri) at all. 

Third, who the hell is the guy in spy films! 

In the original version, the detective is named Kogoro Mohri (毛利 小五郎), and the astronaut the villagers mention is most likely Mamoru Mohri (毛利 衛), who flew into space on a space shuttle called Endeavour in 1992, and that's only 3 years before the publication of the 7th volume. He was very well-known back then. 

But then, who is the actor in the spy films? I have never heard a Japanese actor named Kogoro Mohri. 

Actually, to solve the mystery, yes, just to find out the secret behind the fucking contradiction, I bought the Japanese version! 

Well, in the original, the dialogue above goes like this: 
Kogoro Mohri (毛利 小五郎): Me? I'm a great detective from Tokyo... Kogoro Mohri!!! (オレか?オレは東京から来た名探偵・・・毛利小五郎だ!!!) 
Villager A: Mohri...? Oh, the Japanese astronaut... (毛利・・・?ああ、あの宇宙飛行士の・・・) 
Villager B: No, you know the guy in those mystery novels... (ちがうよ、ホラよく推理小説に出て来る・・・) 
Villager C: Fool, that's Akechi! (バカ、あれは明智だよ!) 

Now I see how the original plot works. Kogoro Akechi is the main protagonist in mystery novels by Rampo Edogawa, who is also the origin of Jimmy Kudo's pseudonym Conan Edgawa. So the truth is the translator made up the second villager's line during the translation process. 

But then again, who is the actor with the first name Richard or the surname Moore? Well, according to what I learned from my internet search, he is most likely Roger Moore, who played James Bond in some of 007 films. 

Case closed! 

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