The Straw Hat Gang from One Piece now consists of a considerable number of members. But one name is giving fans a headache – especially since it was spelled differently twice in the anime within a few seconds.
Who is the person you are talking about? A viewer noticed that Fishman Jinbe – or is he Jimbei? – was written in two different ways within a few seconds within episode 1086 (via reddit.com). Above his bounty he is referred to as Jinbe and is pronounced that way in the Japanese version, but in the subtitles he is referred to as Jimbei.
The fan is wondering which is the correct spelling. He even jokes that he’s been watching One Piece for 20 years but still doesn’t know the name of this fish man. He even accuses the animators of not knowing the name themselves.
The fish man is the newest member of the Straw Hat gang. Their adventures now take them to Egghead Island:
One Piece: New trailer shows first images from the Egghead Island arc
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Jinbe or Jimbei? Fans answer the question
What’s his real name now? A user explains that the fish man is spelled differently depending on the country. In the original Japanese he is called Jinbe, in English Jimbei. The English team responsible for localization didn’t have the time to correct the name on the Wanted poster. By the way, in Germany he is also called Jimbei.
The same phenomenon also occurs with other characters in the crew:
What is the reason for that? The corresponding katakana character is pronounced differently in Japanese depending on the situation. Sometimes it sounds more like an N, sometimes more like an M. The same is the case with the letters L and R.
The -ei at the end of Jimbei is not pronounced completely, but rather like a long E. That’s why Jimbei is actually not spelled Jinbe in the Japanese Katakana script, but rather Jinbei. The Wanted poster does say Jinbe.
According to user Below_Left, the English translators chose the name variant that sounded smoothest to them. So if you want to use the German name, call it Jimbei. If you prefer to stick with the original, it’s called Jinbe (with a long E).
Where does the name actually come from? Jimbei comes from the Japanese Jinbeizame. This translates to “whale shark”, whose appearance creator Eiichiro Oda was inspired by.
Now, to completely confuse you, the whale was named in Japanese after the traditional Jimbei clothing, which was originally worn at home as cozy clothing. The spelling of the whale shark and the clothes are the same, but the pronunciation of both is different thanks to the N/M debacle.
You can read how Jimbei would fare in a fight against the other Straw Hats in the following MeinMMO ranking:
One Piece: The members of the Straw Hat Gang in the ranking – This is how Luffy, Franky and the others do