I've got a few questions based on the books. Firstly, do we have definite ages for the cast? I know Souske starts 16 in the anime and it is mentioned later in TSR that he is 17; Kaname, Shinji and Kyouko are presumably the same age. The manga says Tessa is the same age as Kaname's class, but I think one of the translations on Boku-tachi said that she designed the TDD when she was 15. Is she 16 now [TSR timeline] and therefore a little younger than Souske? My main age issues are with Kalinin, Mao and Kurz. I'd like to do a bit of fanfic with Mao and Kurz, but I've had conflicting accounts as to his age. Oh, and does anybody know how old Mardukas is?
Names. I've seen a few sheets of character roughs for the anime that gives the names of the characters in kana script. Now I'm none too great at reading Japanese, but it would seem to me that 'Theresa' was definitely a more logical translation than the standard 'Teletha'. Opinions? Anything definite one way or the other? And why is Kurz's name so often given as 'Kurtz'? In the dub the characters are clearly pronouncing it with a 't', but the same DVD subs it as 'Kurz'. Again, is one more accurate than the other? Are there any other name issues? I know there's been a few ways to spell 'Gates', and Garoun's name seems to be all over the shop.
Nationalities? I read in the other sticky thread that Kurz lived in Japan until he was 14. He must be a gaijin though- is it ever mentioned what nationality his parents were? (I always assumed German, but I'm not sure why). Does he speak any other languages? Exactly what nationality is Souske? Afghani? If so, where did he learn such good Japanese?
On board the TDD, what language are they speaking? Official documents in the anime are written in English. I think somebody once mentioned that Kalinin signs his name to Souske's school documents in Russian? Can anybody confirm this? I wondered if they're meant to be speaking English, since they write in English.
Sorry about all that.
*~Pips~*