Just realized Viz had an entirely differently name for Xerxes.
Apparently, they spell it out as "Cselkcess". Anybody have any idea why Viz chose to spell it this way?

I don't know why, but I think they have been doing it for a long time now. I didn't even know they are still doing it. XD That spelling sure looks weired, doesn't it?

Weird and unfitting... because, after all, it's one of the many cultural references of FMA. Xerxes was a Persian king, an important one, which is not strange considering that FMA's Xerxes seems to be like Persia.

Maybe that spelling can be explained out of imitation of the Japanese original spelling.

I guess they just thought the Japanese pronunciation sounded like "Cselkcess". It is a very strange way of spelling it though.

I own the Chuang Yi editions, and they translated it as "Xerxes", so I guess Viz are just weird.

Are you supposed to pronounce it SEKLESS? I pronounce it ZERZEES or ZERZESS.

Cselkcess? I don't even know how to pronounce that!

Yeah, Viz is still using the "Cselkcess" title from what I've read in Volume 20.

Yeah, I wasn't sure, either. I'm thinking either "SELK-seez", or "SELK-sis".

Speaking of cultural references, Amestris was the wife of the Xerxes. Meaning that Arakawa did her homework before starting on the manga (which we all already know)

I wonder if the people who translated it even did their research?

It could be that it's a fancy spelling of the Japanese pronunciation - their "X" sounds similar to a soft "S" sound. Then again, just a guess.

You know, for the longest time, when fans talked about Xerxes/Cselkcess, I got confused because I thought fans were talking about two separate places...

Viz's FMA translations just suck like that.

Lol @ Commodore Hughes.