How do you pronounce Tezuka?

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I've heard his name pronounced two different ways (and neither may be correct!).

The first is with the 'z' given an 's' sound as in Tess-a-kuh

The other way is with the 'z' given a 'z' sound and it rhymes with 'bazooka' as in tu-zoo-ka.

[SuwaHana]

TEH-zoo-kah

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

That's the way I heard it pronounced by the commentary on the 2003 DVD. I heard Helen McCarthy pronounce it the first way in an interview she gave that I heard on youtube. (And I thought she was an expert on Tezuka.)
Thanks.

[AprilSeven]

I've also heard people (Japanese and Frederik Schodt on a podcast) pronounce it as TEZkah - in fact one of the vids mentioned how the Japanese tend to drop parts of some names/words.

It's definitely NOT tezZOOkah although to my American eyes, it sure looks like it SHOULD be pronounced that way!

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Is "Tezuka" HIS official spelling in English, an accepted "Romanization", or a close approx of the English phonetic spelling? The only correct way to write his name would probably be in one of the Japanese scripts.

Thank god his first name isn't pronounced the same way as a certain dead Saudi! (It's too close for comfort!)

[AprilSeven]

Thank god his first name isn't pronounced the same way as a certain dead Saudi! (It's too close for comfort!)

I KNOW, right? I wonder if his Western friends called him "Sam?"

I do believe that's the correct spelling, and I think it was on the RightStuf pod cast here

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I downloaded the mp3 (and mp4) Linux won't play the quicktime (I've never found the right firefox plugin for that.)

[F-Man]

Tess-a-kuh or Tezkah is more like it. The U is whispered in this instance. And to my French eyes, that seems totally normal.

[Prettywitchiusaka]

That's the way I heard it pronounced by the commentary on the 2003 DVD. I heard Helen McCarthy pronounce it the first way in an interview she gave that I heard on youtube. (And I thought she was an expert on Tezuka.)
Thanks.

Wait...There's DVD commentary for the 2003 series?

[Shiyonasan]

Tez-kuh for me since last year.

I used to pronounce it Teh-zoo-kuh before last year since the romanization makes it look like that.