Pata at Irresponsible Picture begs for guidance, and we heartily concur:
And so I ask: Where is my JP Stylebook?
Writing on Japanese entertainment in English is, to be nice about it, a linguistic minefield. We’re talking about a culture that uses the English language for ornamental purposes, and then trying to communicate its niceties to a culture that uses Japanese and Chinese characters for ornamental purposes. (Not to mention the überfans who will castigate you for the tiniest slip-up of the Japanese language, never mind that they can barely speak English or even Internetese.) This situation, I think, is in much more serious need of stylistic rigor than whether to use Osama or Usama bin-Laden, which I think has been pretty much figured out anyway.
Go to link for many pertinent examples, including how to pronounce xxxHOLiC.
Ahem – xxxHolic is just pronounced “holic.” Not too hard. :-)
When I worked at Del rey, I had to explain this to people about a zillion times a day. I also found myself reminding people all the time that “manga” was NOT the Italian word for “eat.”
My, how times have changed!
Cheers!
Colleen