"Potdino Niwakasu" renamed/corrected on official site

[SuperAj3]

The ever perceptive Hoso-Boso noticed something interesting about the character "Potdino Niwakasu":
https://twitter.com/hoso_boso/status/736137683861262336

Spoiler:

They renamed Potdino Niwakasu to Potdino "Nikawasu" on the official website. I wonder what the reasoning was?

[L~A]

I guess the "original" name was a typo.

"Kawasu" means:

かわす ‎(transitive, godan conjugation, romaji kawasu)

交わす: exchange; intersect
躱す: dodge, evade

かわす ‎(romaji kawasu)

川洲: sandbank in a river

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%8 ... 9#Japanese

[Blizdi]

I guess the "original" name was a typo.

"Kawasu" means:

かわす ‎(transitive, godan conjugation, romaji kawasu)

交わす: exchange; intersect
躱す: dodge, evade

かわす ‎(romaji kawasu)

川洲: sandbank in a river

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%8 ... 9#Japanese

Nikawasu means "fend" and Kawasu means "fend off/divert"

So his name means "look after yourself, and divert from yourself" Refering to him possibly stealing the thing in the box for a personal motive and diverting the blame to Ahlbi?

[Ash]

Nikawasu means "fend" and Kawasu means "fend off/divert"

Wrong on both accounts. There is no verb niwakasu, and the dictionary entry L-A quoted is correct: one of the meanings of the verb kawasu is 'avoid/dodge/evade', which is similar, but not the same as 'fend off/divert' (because the latter is an active action, whereas kawasu really means avoiding).

Hoso_boso had some possible reasons listed for the change. Obviously just theories, and considering Capcom made no announcements about it, we might never know why it was changed, but some ideas Hoso_boso mentioned:
1) The name was always Nikawas -> the marketing department had made mistake.
2) The name was originally Niwakas, changed to Nikawas -> Typo might've slipped into the master and as cartridge production had obviously already started two weeks ago, they couldn't fix it in the game anymore.
3) The name was originally Niwakas, changed to Nikawas -> 'niwakasu' looks like a portmanteau for 'niwaka' (suddenly) + 'kasu' (trash/scum/garbage, used as a 'swear word'). So they might've changed the name to avoid that connotation.

Usually, it's a lot easier to see why a character is named the way they are once you play the game, so I guess we can make better guesses next week.

[Blizdi]

Nikawasu means "fend" and Kawasu means "fend off/divert"

Wrong on both accounts. There is no verb niwakasu, and the dictionary entry L-A quoted is correct: one of the meanings of the verb kawasu is 'avoid/dodge/evade', which is similar, but not the same as 'fend off/divert' (because the latter is an active action, whereas kawasu really means avoiding).

Hoso_boso had some possible reasons listed for the change. Obviously just theories, and considering Capcom made no announcements about it, we might never know why it was changed, but some ideas Hoso_boso mentioned:
1) The name was always Nikawas -> the marketing department had made mistake.
2) The name was originally Niwakas, changed to Nikawas -> Typo might've slipped into the master and as cartridge production had obviously already started two weeks ago, they couldn't fix it in the game anymore.
3) The name was originally Niwakas, changed to Nikawas -> 'niwakasu' looks like a portmanteau for 'niwaka' (suddenly) + 'kasu' (trash/scum/garbage, used as a 'swear word'). So they might've changed the name to avoid that connotation.

Usually, it's a lot easier to see why a character is named the way they are once you play the game, so I guess we can make better guesses next week.

I got that info from my actually Japanese living in Japan friends, multiple.

[SuperAj3]

Looked it up in my dictionary (I use Midori) and I got the same results as L~A. (About it meaning to exchange, or to dodge in its verb form, and then "sandbank in a river" for it as a kanji-compound noun.)

Also, 「にかわり」 can mean "instead of" or "on behalf of". So maybe his name means "Instead of (himself being convicted), he's trying to dodge/evade being caught".

[Blizdi]

meaning to exchange, or to dodge in its verb form)

Also, 「にかわり」 can mean "instead of" or "on behalf of". So maybe his name means "Instead of (himself being convicted), he's trying to dodge/evade being caught".

Yes... You DO know that "Fending off" means to reflect something back, it's called a synonym. He's fending off accusations by reflecting them at Ahlbi

[Ash]

From the Capcom talk show today at Shinjuku East Exit BicQlo Big Camera: the name Potdino Nikawas comes from "pottode no niwaka kyara" -> a character suddenly appearing from the country/sticks. But the name was intended to be Nikawas (probably to make the pun less obvious). Eshiro, and other staff members too actually thought his name was Niwakas, until pointed out.

[SuperAj3]

So what's in the game is the error, and it should've been "Niwakas"? I'll probably still pronounce is as that out of habit XD

[Ash]

So what's in the game is the error, and it should've been "Niwakas"? I'll probably still pronounce is as that out of habit XD

Whether it's true, we'll never know, but Eshiro's official statement is that Nikawas (the current name) is indeed the correct name. Only everybody thought it was Niwakas (which is quite understandable, as that would be closer to the pun behind the name).