<p><strong>The name Osiris was changed to Slifer by 4Kids employee Sam Murakami, possibly due to religious symbol/reference.</strong></p>

<p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Slifer#Tributes" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a>,</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>A god card in the <em>Yu-Gi-Oh!</em> Trading Card Game, originally named Sky Dragon of Osiris (オシリスの天空竜 Oshirisu no Tenkūryū), was renamed "Slifer the Sky Dragon" after Slifer by 4Kids Entertainment employee Sam Murakami.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>which sourced <a href="http://alonefancryinginthewilderness.blogspot.com/2012/02/meet-roger-slifer.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the interview with Roger Slifer himself</a> where he answered with</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>As for Slifer the Sky Dragon, despite the rumors on the web, I did not name that character after myself, even though I was a producer on <em>Yu-Gi-Oh</em> at the time. What happened was this: Another 4KIDS employee, Sam Murakami, was our liaison with the producer of the cards. Some names of the cards had to be changed because there was concern their names would be considered demonic or sacrilegious or something here in the states. It never made much sense to me, but when you're broadcasting here in America, it's something that has to be accommodated. Anyway, Sam renamed a bunch of those characters after people on staff at 4KIDS. It just so happened that the one he named after me happened to be a "god" card and much more prominent than the others in the series. I attribute it to the cosmic forces in the universe trying to balance things for me being made a demon in <em>Ghost Rider</em>. And again, just to set the record straight, I wasn't even aware of it until after the names on the cards had been changed and it was too late to go back.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is just another case of censorship that affects some cards (also refer to an unanwered question: <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/29806/was-kazuki-takahashi-involved-in-the-modifications-made-in-yu-gi-oh-for-reasons">Was Kazuki Takahashi involved in the modifications made in Yu-Gi-Oh! for reasons of censorship?</a>)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-31T08:05:51.553Z
2018-05-31T08:05:51.553Z
Aki Tanaka
<p>In the Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged parody, the names of the three Egyptian God Cards are:</p>

<ul>
<li>Obelisk the Tormentor </li>
<li>Slifer the Executive Producer</li>
<li>and Mega Ultra Chicken</li>
</ul>

<p>The second name is a reference to a producer of the Yu-Gi-Oh English dub, who is also called Slifer (Roger Slifer, to be exact). I thought that this was just a funny little coincidence that Little Kuriboh picked up on and made a pun out of. </p>

<p>But then, I looked up the actual names of the Egyptian God Cards on the Yu-Gi-Oh wikia:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Obelisk_the_Tormentor" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Obelisk the Tormentor</a> |     オベリスクの巨神兵 (lit. Giant Divine Soldier of Obelisk)</li>
<li><a href="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Slifer_the_Sky_Dragon" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Slifer the Sky Dragon</a> | オシリスの天空竜 (lit. Sky Dragon of Osiris)</li>
<li><a href="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/The_Winged_Dragon_of_Ra" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Winged Dragon of Ra</a> | ラーの翼神竜 (lit. Winged Divine Dragon of Ra)</li>
</ul>

<p>Huh? "Slifer the Sky Dragon" is called "Osiris the Sky Dragon" in the original Japanese. That... actually makes way more sense, because Osiris is an Egyptian God in real life. So, was Slifer an intentional reference to Roger Slifer made by the official translators?</p>

<p>I notice that most of the other languages use "Slifer" as well (including French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.), and only the Chinese and Korean translations use "Osiris". What happened here? Why did the translators make this decision?</p>

<yu-gi-oh>
Why was the Osiris Egyptian God Card translated as Slifer the Sky Dragon?
# Why was the Osiris Egyptian God Card translated as Slifer the Sky Dragon?
Posted by: username_0 on 2018-05-31
In the Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged parody, the names of the three Egyptian God Cards are:

* Obelisk the Tormentor
* Slifer the Executive Producer
* and Mega Ultra Chicken

The second name is a reference to a producer of the Yu-Gi-Oh English dub, who is also called Slifer (Roger Slifer, to be exact). I thought that this was just a funny little coincidence that Little Kuriboh picked up on and made a pun out of.

But then, I looked up the actual names of the Egyptian God Cards on the Yu-Gi-Oh wikia:

* [Obelisk the Tormentor](http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Obelisk_the_Tormentor) | オベリスクの巨神兵 (lit. Giant Divine Soldier of Obelisk)
* [Slifer the Sky Dragon](http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Slifer_the_Sky_Dragon) | オシリスの天空竜 (lit. Sky Dragon of Osiris)
* [The Winged Dragon of Ra](http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/The_Winged_Dragon_of_Ra) | ラーの翼神竜 (lit. Winged Divine Dragon of Ra)

Huh? "Slifer the Sky Dragon" is called "Osiris the Sky Dragon" in the original Japanese. That... actually makes way more sense, because Osiris is an Egyptian God in real life. So, was Slifer an intentional reference to Roger Slifer made by the official translators?

I notice that most of the other languages use "Slifer" as well (including French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.), and only the Chinese and Korean translations use "Osiris". What happened here? Why did the translators make this decision?
**Tags:** yu-gi-oh
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2018-05-31. Score: 4 | Accepted answer
**The name Osiris was changed to Slifer by 4Kids employee Sam Murakami, possibly due to religious symbol/reference.**

According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Slifer#Tributes),

> A god card in the *Yu-Gi-Oh!* Trading Card Game, originally named Sky Dragon of Osiris (オシリスの天空竜 Oshirisu no Tenkūryū), was renamed "Slifer the Sky Dragon" after Slifer by 4Kids Entertainment employee Sam Murakami.

which sourced [the interview with Roger Slifer himself](http://alonefancryinginthewilderness.blogspot.com/2012/02/meet-roger-slifer.html) where he answered with

> As for Slifer the Sky Dragon, despite the rumors on the web, I did not name that character after myself, even though I was a producer on *Yu-Gi-Oh* at the time. What happened was this: Another 4KIDS employee, Sam Murakami, was our liaison with the producer of the cards. Some names of the cards had to be changed because there was concern their names would be considered demonic or sacrilegious or something here in the states. It never made much sense to me, but when you're broadcasting here in America, it's something that has to be accommodated. Anyway, Sam renamed a bunch of those characters after people on staff at 4KIDS. It just so happened that the one he named after me happened to be a "god" card and much more prominent than the others in the series. I attribute it to the cosmic forces in the universe trying to balance things for me being made a demon in *Ghost Rider*. And again, just to set the record straight, I wasn't even aware of it until after the names on the cards had been changed and it was too late to go back.

This is just another case of censorship that affects some cards (also refer to an unanwered question: [Was Kazuki Takahashi involved in the modifications made in Yu-Gi-Oh! for reasons of censorship?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/29806/was-kazuki-takahashi-involved-in-the-modifications-made-in-yu-gi-oh-for-reasons))
---
