History Main / AlternateCharacterReading

** Cases 2-1 and 3-5 in the ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' games used this as a plot device, the former because the criminal used the wrong kanji combination for the defendant's surname (defendant has a non-standard combo, criminal incorrectly assumed the standard one) and the latter because an eight-year-old misinterpreted Kanji written instructions. These were changed to spelling problems in the English version.

* ''Manga/Naruto'': several techniques used by ninjas from the Land of Lightning are named in GratuitousEnglish, but written using kanji that could be read in a way that ''somewhat'' match the English name. For example: Lariat, written with the kanji for "Lightning Plough Hot Sword" (雷犂熱刀), usually read as "Rairi Nettō", and Laser Circus, written with the kanji for "Encouraging Crushing Chain Tormenting Principle" (励挫鎖苛素), usually read as "Reiza Sakaso".

* Kamikishiro from ''[[LightNovel/BoogiepopSeries Boogiepop Doesn't Laugh]]'' likes to do this with people's names and calls Touka "Fuji."
* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':

* [[Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} Kinoko Nasu]] loves this. Almost every single term in his stories is written with kanji and furigana to give a double meaning to every single thing. This even applies to the ending songs for the anime adaptation of ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'', where non-standard kanji are given for lyrics in the liner notes. Special mention to 'VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and its spinoffs:

* ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'' has the little BirdPeople siblings. The younger sister's name is Dōjo, which is the ''on'yomi'' of its ''kanji'' writing 童女. Her older brother, on the other hand, has his ''kanji'' name 童男 read "Oguna" rather than its ''on'yomi'' "Dōdan" like one would expect.

* In ''LightNovel/IsThisAZombie'', Orito reads Yuki Yoshida's name as Tomonori. No matter how many times she corrects him, [[AccidentalMisnaming he continues to call her that]].

* In ''LightNovel/{{Haganai}}'', Sena's father was landed with the name "Pegasus" by his own parents, written using the characters for Heaven and Horse (天馬, usually pronounced Tenma).

* In ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', the narrator is known as Kyon, which is a nickname his aunt gave him. Apparently it's based on an obscure reading of his real name, [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname but we never get any detail on that]].

* The Japanese title of Creator/DataEast's ''Psycho-Nics Oscar'' is written with kanji characters that might ordinarily be read ''seishimpeiki'', but for furigana that gloss them as ''saikonikku''.

* The title of the ''VideoGame/HarukanaruTokiNoNakaDe'' franchise[[note]]roughly meaning "Within the expanse of distant time"[[/note]] has the word "time" (''toki'', normally written as 時) rendered with two kanji that mean "time-''space''" (時空, normally read ''jikuu''). This is because the plot ''Haruka'' is based around isn't strictly a TimeTravel, but rather a TrappedInAnotherWorld scenario, where "another world" happens to resemble [[JidaiGeki Heian-kyou]],[[note]]It isn't clear whether there's actually any time shift or not, since the world [[YearInsideHourOutside appears to have an independent timeline]].[[/note]] and explicit mention is made about "crossing time and space." The same trick with ''toki'' is occasionally used in the songs, though naturally you'll only realise it when you ''read'' the lyrics.

* In ''Manga/IrisZero'': the MagicalEyes are pronounced “Iris”, somebody without them “Iris Zero”, but the kanji used mean “pupil”[[note]]the hole in the iris[[/note]] and, roughly, “incomplete person” or “somebody that is missing something”.[[note]]瞳 (hitomi) and 欠落者 (ketsurakusha)[[/note]]

* ''Franchise/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':

* In the Japanese version of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D]]'', when Sheik is explaining the Boss Challenge mode to the player, she refers to the bosses as 強敵 ("powerful enemies") but pronounces it as "bosu" ("boss") rather than the usual "kyouteki".

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'' has the little BirdPeople siblings. The younger sister's name is Dōjo, which is the ''on'yomi'' of its ''kanji'' writing 童女. Her older brother, on the other hand, has his ''kanji'' name 童男 read "Oguna" rather than its ''on'yomi'' "Dōdan" like one would expect.

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in VideoGame/SyukushoGakuen. [[spoiler: The BigBad is named Miku, which is an alternate reading for ''mirai'' (future). She's a [[TimeTravel time traveller.]]]]

* ''{{VideoGame/Yakuza}}'': Series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, a man with [[AnimalMotifs Dragon motifs]] out the wazoo, makes a point of not spelling the "ryu" part of his name with the kanji meaning "dragon" (which is the most common way of doing it.)

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', the narrator is known as Kyon, which is a nickname his aunt gave him. Apparently it's based on an obscure reading of his real name, [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname but we never get any detail on that]].

** Minako is a common name, but the kanji can be read as bi-na-su, similar to Venus.

* In ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', the reason why the electric sheep pokemon, ''Ampharos'', is able to become a dragon type when it mega evolves in Gen VI, [[DubNameChange is because of an alternate reading of its name in Japan]]. Its Japanese name is, ''Denryu'' (デンリュウ), which can also be alternatively read as either ''Denryu'' (電流) meaning electric current or ''Denryu'' (電竜) meaning electric dragon.

* Wiki/ThatOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji#On.27yomi_.28Sino-Japanese_reading.29 a great explanation here.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'', the reason why the electric sheep pokemon, ''Ampharos'', is able to become a dragon type when it mega evolves in Gen VI, [[DubNameChange is because of an alternate reading of its name in Japan]]. Its Japanese name is, ''Denryu'' (デンリュウ), which can also be alternatively read as either ''Denryu'' (電流) meaning electric current or ''Denryu'' (電竜) meaning electric dragon.

* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': Kimura's first name is written with the kanji for "Masayoshi" (正義), but it actually reads as "Jasutisu" (Justice), [[EmbarrassingFirstName much to his embarrassment]]. Becomes a BilingualBonus when you know the kanji sequence can also be read as ''seigi'', which is, wouldn't you know it, Japanese for "justice" (his father is a police officer who takes "to serve and protect" pretty damn seriously).

* 訓読み ('Kun-yomi') or 訓読 ('Kundoku') is based on the native Japanese word for whatever the character represents (e.g. "inu" for 犬 (dog)). These readings date back to before the Chinese writing system came to Japan (Japan had no writing system of its own until they started importing Chinese writing around the mid 4th-century). Kun-yomi is most often used when a character appears singly, often with "okurigana" (the hiragana that comes after a kanji to provide completion and/or inflection, verbs being a notable example). There can be many kun-yomi for a single character. Examples: 読む (yo-mu = to read), 書く (ka-ku = to write), 食べる (ta-be-ru = to eat), 星 (hoshi = star). Even though kun-yomi is often reserved for single character appearanaces, you can also sometimes find it in combinations, like 名前 (na-mae = Name), which uses kun-yomi for both.

* Ancient Babylonian (along with its sister languages) had the same issue, since the Babylonians adopted Sumerian characters that could be given either a Sumerian pronunciation or a native Babylonian one.

** Izuku Midoriya's hero name, "Deku"(デク), comes from an alternate reading of "Izuku"(出久). It was initially given to him by Bakugo because "Deku"(木偶), means wooden figure or puppet, and is an insult for someone who can't do or achieve anything. Later on, Uraraka started using it as an AffectionateNickname thanks to a different meaning. In this case, Deku sounds like "Dekiru"(できる), meaning "to be able to do", which she says has a similar feeling to "Ganbaru"(頑張る), meaning "I can do it". This causes Midoriya to like the nickname enough to make it his Hero name.

** Izuku Midoriya's hero name Deku comes from an alternate reading of "Izuku". It was initially given to him as an insulting nickname, since it can be read as "weakling", but Ochaco Uraraka started using it as an AffectionateNickname thanks a misunderstanding brought about by its ''other'' meaning, "never giving up". This causes Midoriya to like the nickname enough to make it his hero name.

* There are a few characters that have multiple readings in Chinese itself. One example is 行, which has at least three different Mandarin pronunciations (xing2, hang2, xing4) depending on its meaning, at least four in Cantonese (hang4, haang4, hong4, hang6). It is rare for these alternate pronunciations to be used for wordplays, however, and Chinese wordplays are more on the side of FunWithHomophones.

** The term "omokage", used for ayakashi doppelgangers of humans, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS varies]] between being written in just katana or as an alternate pronunciation the word "bunshin (分身)" (lit. "alter ego", but often used in fiction to describe SelfDuplication powers).

* [[Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} Kinoko Nasu]] loves this. Almost every single term in his stories is written with kanji and furigana to give a double meaning to every single thing. This even applies to the ending songs for the anime adaptation of ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'', where non-standard kanji are given for lyrics in the liner notes.
** Special mention to the ''[[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Fate]]'' series, where all Assassins have a Noble Phantasm named Zabaniya. However, they all have different effects and different kanji spellings.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', this is used in Archer's chant for Unlimited Blade Works, resulting in two reasonably different speeches depending on whether one translates the kanji literally or using the furigana. For instance, translating the first line using the former results in 'My body is made out of swords', while using the latter gives us the famous 'I am the bone of my sword'.

* In ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'', Chosokabe Motochika's shpiel when it comes to his attacks' names: each of them is composed of at least one numerical kanji and another one, so to spell out a concept while keeping a different Kanji set; for example, "Sabaki" (literally "Judgement") written with the kanji meaning Three (Sa), Conquering (Ha/Ba) and Ogre (Ki). The first and second games also do it in regards of Masamune, Nohime and Yukimura's top weapons, [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Alastor, Ebony&Ivory, Ifrit and Sparda]], whose names aren't spelled in katakana but in kanji phonetically arranged to spell out their names.

* ''Franchise/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' uses this fairly often; for example, Killer Queen has an attack written as 負けて死ね, which means "Lose and Die", but the furigana for it is バイツァ・ダスト, pronounced "[[Music/{{Queen}} Bites the Dust]]". Then there's the [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable two]] [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion Josukes]], whose first names can alternatively be read as [[FamilyThemeNaming "JoJo"]]. Many chapter names also have kanji spellings with furigana indicating English names.

** The kanji for "kuso (crap)" has "fakkin ([[ForeignSwearSword fucking]])" as its furigana.