Mako eh?

So I was looking at a hand-out in world history today of Nazi death camp locations. One was marked Mako. This either means there is a town called Mako in SE europe or there was a concentration camp called Mako, or both. Any relation to mako energy or is it just a coincidence?

I have been finding things like this alot recently. A group of college kids invent "blitzball" in a book called "A Seperate Peace" too. We all know square has a habbit of borrowing names and I find it quite interesting to discover where they got them.

So, back to Mako. Anyone know anything about this? Is Mako a foreign word for something that could have a relation to life or nature? Or did Square actualy name the planets lifeforce after a place where jews were put to death?

I would hate to discover that Square was anti-semetic

"Makou" is just Japanese for "magic light." I guess Sony had enough insight to see that it'd be more poetic to leave it untranslated.

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Originally Posted by Kawaii Ryûkishi

"Makou" is just Japanese for "magic light." I guess Sony had enough insight to see that it'd be more poetic to leave it untranslated.

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European and Japenese culture and language are so different. How could a town/concentration camp be named mako? Its quite an interesting coincidence. Its very possible there is no relation between mako and Mako and the relation is between mako and makou. But I am not completely convinced there is no relation between mako and Mako and would like to see it proven.

'Mako' is also a type of shark.

Well unfortunetly, that time period is a big part of japanese history, it's possible. But think about it, why would sqaure name planet energy after a death camp? Makes no sense to me, I kinda wish they called it Makou in the english also as so this kinda confusion doesn't happen, Mako and Makou and are correct translations anyway.

I always thought Mako was synonymous with "Oil"

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Originally Posted by nik0tine

I always thought Mako was synonymous with "Oil"

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How so? Mako is Spirit Energy pulled out of the Planet and compressed into a form from which it can be converted into other forms of energy.

But is that what it is in reality, or just in the game? Because I believe this thread is trying to find out whether the name Mako was used in connection to the Jews concentration camps thing *shrugs*

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Originally Posted by TasteyPies

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Originally Posted by Kawaii Ryûkishi

"Makou" is just Japanese for "magic light." I guess Sony had enough insight to see that it'd be more poetic to leave it untranslated.

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European and Japenese culture and language are so different. How could a town/concentration camp be named mako? Its quite an interesting coincidence. Its very possible there is no relation between mako and Mako and the relation is between mako and makou. But I am not completely convinced there is no relation between mako and Mako and would like to see it proven.

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It's the logical and likely conclusion, really, if anything, you'd need to prove the Death Camp connection. Japanese game, thus Japanese words, especially given the name is almost just a description of the thing.

The word "makou" is preserved in the English version of the game in several places. If you watch the automobile commercial - the secret FMV in the Shinra Building - you'll see reference to a "makou engine".

It's like Shinra's name, which was changed from Shin-Ra so that it'd look better and be more easily pronounceable to a Western tongue, I'd imagine.

Since Makou is a Japanese word, and that word relates to the energy in the game, I'd suggest that the concentration camp was unrelated.

Besides, Japanese culture is often very reluctant to acknowledge the horrors of the Second World War - except for the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - so a reference to a Nazi death camp would likely be unfamiliar to a Japanese reader...

Incidentally, I checked a map of all the camp locations, and couldn't find one called "Mako" or anything similar.

The closest thing I know of to what you might be referencing is the town of Makó in the southeastern European country of Hungary. There wasn't a Concentration Camp there, though. In fact, its history is pretty uneventful. The most notable thing about it is that Joseph Pulitzer was born there.

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Originally Posted by Squall of SeeD

The closest thing I know of to what you might be referencing is the town of Makó in the southeastern European country of Hungary. There wasn't a Concentration Camp there, though. In fact, its history is pretty uneventful. The most notable thing about it is that Joseph Pulitzer was born there.

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Ahah, I looked into it a bit and it appears that there was a railroad leading to auchwitz from Mako, there was no deathcamp in Mako though.

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Originally Posted by TasteyPies

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Originally Posted by Squall of SeeD

The closest thing I know of to what you might be referencing is the town of Makó in the southeastern European country of Hungary. There wasn't a Concentration Camp there, though. In fact, its history is pretty uneventful. The most notable thing about it is that Joseph Pulitzer was born there.

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Ahah, I looked into it a bit and it appears that there was a railroad leading to auchwitz from Mako, there was no deathcamp in Mako though.

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Ya, Mako is a town in Hungary, so they probably imported some jews there or something.

It was only called Mako when Shinra put it in use I think and if you've ever been in a Mako reactor (or heard the background music to one) you can get the feel Mako is being depicted as this dangerous poisonous substance much like Nucleur power and radiation if you ask me. Oil I dont know about... The Bmg music would definitely make me think of a concentration camp.