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I didn't see a thread that addressed this anywhere and I've wondered about it for the longest time.

As we know, her dub name in 1980s Astro Boy is Niki, and in Omega Factor she is called Nuka. I want to know, how is Nuka pronounced?

I've been pronouncing it something like as if it were a Japanese word(and sometimes like "nohkah"), but her name in Japan is spelled ニョーカ(Nyoka), so I find it curiously interesting when people say "her Japanese name is Nuka". So I guess my question is if Nuka is pronounced differently or if it really is similarly pronounced to ニョーカ or perhaps simply a similar equivalent?

I forgot to mention that on the official Japanese page, for Nuka it does indeed name her image files as "nuka". But it still leaves me confused on the intended pronounciation.

I think the "Nyoka" pronunciation may be due to the fact that it's not a Japanese "Nuka," but rather an English "Nuka" derived from the word "nuke" (nyuke). You'd have to see how Japanese people spell that English word.

The Japanese spelling of the English word nuke is like ニューク(nyuku). But I did consider the possibility of it being related to that word, since Uran's name is a loan word from "uranium" with the pronunciation altered a bit. Maybe it is a similar case. Although that does make it confusing how her name is intended to be pronounced in English, as I've never heard it spoken except in the 1980s cartoon's Japanese dub.

I think it's ryoka

"racoonangel" wrote:I think it's ryoka

That's how the name actually sounded in the original episode.