"The Wedding Picture", Name Pronunciations, and Your Input!

[Freakyfrankie]

1. The "Wedding Picture" has Kato, or anyone on Cross's team actually confirmed that the people in the picture are Serge and Kid? Or that it's even a Wedding Picture? I've always thought it was just a 'family portrait' of Schala and Janus (I imagine it's either a continuity error that he's taller than her, or that he wasn't as small as he seemed in CT, plus she's sitting down...). I'm curious about this and would love to get caught up on this information. Plus, that girl could also very well be Leena, meaning Leena married Serge in the end. (Although that does go against her fortune saying she would go a long time without a boyfriend...)

2. Harle. How is her name pronounced? "Harley"? Or like "Harl" kind of like how Marle's name is pronounced?

3. What does Kato think of the US changed names? I'd love to see how accurate of a translation "Harle" is to Tsukiyomi. I believe I read somewhere once that Tsukiyomi means moon spirit or some kind of moon fairy. But that's just my bad memory... >.> I'd like others input on how her name is pronounced and their thoughts on the Tsukiyomi -> Harle translation.

I want to see your thoughts on this! I'm new to sharing my thoughts with other Chrono fans, and I'd love to see what others think!

[ZeaLitY]

Kato worked with Richard Honeywood on Cross very closely, so he probably approves of them. As for the wedding picture, sketches of each character (Serge and Kid) appear in Missing Piece pages with the captions [Name] in Formal Attire.

[V_Translanka]

I've always thought it was just a 'family portrait' of Schala and Janus

Yeay! Someone agrees with my idea of it being JZ! Hooray! I say bleh to the 'evidence' in Missing Piece. It's not only not really canon, but it's just designs. Ideas can change and become completely new things (for completely different characters). I also still say that it looks like long hair and isn't just part of a window.

I remember that some of the Chrono Trigger name changes were once brought up to Kato and he was completely surprised because he of course had no idea what the names were in the English version...

[Chrono'99]

1. Confirmed by Missing Piece. When a design appears in the book and doesn't correspond to what was actually used in the game, it's properly noted in the caption: for instance, the drawings of Magus-as-Magil and the drawings of Janus are explicitely stated to not having been used in the game, and there is also a page which is explicitely named "Unused Characters". For the Serge and Schala Kid drawings, nothing is said about these designs having been removed from canon.

It's also implied by the whole ending sequence. There's not a single word or hint about Janus, it's all about Serge (and) the player, so why show a random pic of Janus even though he was nearly totally ignored in the entire game and production of the game?

It's also implied by Kato in interviews:

I guess maybe you could say that with this, Kid and Serge can finally begin their true "journey". Heh heh.. (the meaning behind this statement, including my suspicious little chuckle, lies within the ending of Cross... so please look forward to it.)

I thought that was the perfect material to use to give meaning to a parallel world. In each independent parallel world there would be respective developing stories. If we did it that way, people at home could use the experience of Serge in the game’s worlds to think about the reality of their own world. Maybe somewhere in our world there’s a Kid, and surely someday we will find and meet. For a long time I’ve wanted realizations developed from games to not just stop with the game, and now I feel I’ve done it right. There’s a message that comes after the ending movie finished, and I hope that all players will understand these words that have come from my heart. That’s what I’d love to have happen.

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2. Short answer: her name is simply not pronounced. There's no voiceovers in this game.
Long answer: we'd have to ask Richard Honeywood.

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3. For Chrono Trigger, Ted Woolsey had to translate the game all alone by himself without consultations (which resulted in Kato and the Japanese team knowing nothing about the English script). For Chrono Cross, Richard Honeywood had the permission to work with Kato directly, and Kato even took this opportunity to improve some parts of the explanation of the plot. So he's probably aware of the English names. As for Harle, her name seems to come from Harlequin, a character in Italian theatre. Here's what dictionary.com says:

a comic character in commedia dell'arte and the harlequinade, usually masked, dressed in multicolored, diamond-patterned tights, and carrying a wooden sword or magic wand.

I think it's a perfectly fitting name, and definitely better than that cliché Japanese mythology name, or whatever could have been used instead for "moon spirit" (I mean, Luna? Selene? these don't fit at all). Localizations are always better than literal translations.

[Zaperking]

1)  Even though it's what Kato wanted, Kato wasn't the only scenario planner so just because he wants it that, doesn't mean it is.
Surely, they must have thought about the outrage or odd continuity by having the whole story just finish with Kid and Serge looking between worlds for each other.
Magus was mentioned in the game that he would find Kid one day. Kid is looking for Serge, so she doesn't care about finding her brother? Somewhere there, we must have missed something.
That ending soliloquy doesn't state anywhere "Serge", or in fact who will be looked for.
Furthermore, Kato said that Kid would look for Serge. This brings about two more possibilities.
a) Kid and Serge do not end up together in the ending of Another World because Serge and Leena get married instead so Kid looks in another dimension for him.
b) Kato is fluctuating between ideas and canon because Kid and Schala become one, and Schala=/=Kid so whose looking for who?
c) Theres the same chance that this time Schala is looking for Janus in another world just as much as she is looking for Serge.

2) I always thought her name was sounded more like "Har-lae" or "Harley". Pay attention to the Dragon God song, and you can hear something that sounds like "Har-lae" in those strange, hypnotic lyrics.
It might mean something in Japanese, or in some other language regarding the moon.
On the topic of Tsukiyomi, it literally means "Moon reading". Tsuki, especially in Kanji means "Moon". Yomi stems from Yomimasu - to read.
The English version's name fails to live up to what Harle really is, a fragment of the Black Moon in some connection.

3) As Chrono'99 stated, Kato and Honeywood worked together on the English names. However, I think that leaves also detremented the English versions character development, or story. Like with Harle, you know she has something to do with the Black Moon in the Japanese Version. In the English Version, you only find out that she's the Dragon of the Black Moon near the end of the game, and the only other hint would be with her Lunateric tech.

[Silver]

1) This has already been answered, and I see no point in beating a vaugely horse-shaped puddle.

2) Pronounciation usually varies from person to person; usually I hear it pronounced 'Harlee', since it's short for 'Harlequin'.

3) One can only assume he approves.

[V_Translanka]

There's not a single word or hint about Janus, it's all about Serge (and) the player, so why show a random pic of Janus even though he was nearly totally ignored in the entire game and production of the game?

But that's just it, isn't it? It doesn't show the other person, really. It cuts off their head. I think the real counterpoint is to the belief that it's Serge; if it IS Serge, why just show his body (unrecognizable outfit or no)?

It's also implied by Kato in interviews:

I guess maybe you could say that with this, Kid and Serge can finally begin their true "journey". Heh heh.. (the meaning behind this statement, including my suspicious little chuckle, lies within the ending of Cross... so please look forward to it.)

Kato doesn't say that their journey is together. In the ending, I see them both drifting apart from one another. Serge doesn't even seem remember the events of the game.

[Dark Serge]

He does remember it, even though Schala may have tried to erase his memory. In the end you can see he asks Leena about stuff from past events.

[V_Translanka]

Oh? And what specifically does Serge the silent protagonist say?

[Dark Serge]

You dont actually see him talk, but Leena says something like: "What? Schala? Lavos?" or in that direction. This indicates Serge is asking her for it and thus he has not lost his memories.

[Zaperking]

No, silly. After the unification of the dimension, we go back to the moment where Serge was about to cross dimension for the first time, but this time, he just collapsed. In his dream or w/e, he was saying stuff like "Terra tower, Frozen Flame etc"
and Leena asks him what the heck he is talking about.

Anyway, I think Serge and Leena end up having a life together. If Schala/Kid merged, they'll look for him in another place/time as she wrote in her diary. If Kid didn't merge, then she'll be on Zenan with Lucca still, unaware that Serge even exists. Kid would be a totally different person now that Lucca lived.

[V_Translanka]

Maybe Schala's looking for CRONO! I mean, he totally saved her butt just as much as Serge...and what with the destruction stuff of Guardia, he's probably missing...eh? EH? Yeah, that's what I'm gonna go with...in case my idea of it actually being her brother she's looking for doesn't pan out...

I mean, c'mon! She saw Lavos fling him through time! She's gotta be worried about the lil guy!

[alpha]

...... I uh... Erm.... well what about kid ruling from viper manor.. as kid... that would lead credence that shcala did not merge with kid

[V_Translanka]

Yeah, but isn't that just an alternate ending (and thus one you don't get to use the Chrono Cross)? Personally, I'm not so sure about the "merging" anyhow...I distinctly remember seeing Kid AS KID riding out in the ocean (or sea or w/e) on that little boat (one like Orcha's) in the ending.

[alpha]

HAvnt played in long enough . are all of the alt endings sans using the cross?