Goosed wrote:

Rant mode on:  "Mezon" is NOT the correct romanized version of the word.

It's not?  That's how it's spelled in hiragana.

I know.  My point was that as a general rule, when most people
romanize, they change the word to fit the original spelling if it's
a foreign loanword.  (c.f. arbeit, mansion, first kiss, etc.)

Since these words are generally written in katakana, some sort of
bizarre rule seems to have evolved among anime purists (and I've
never seen this anywhere else) that katakana words can change their
spelling, but hiragana words can't. 

Until you mentioned it, I never really looked at whether it was katakana
or hiragana, but yes, I've heard of hiragana being used where katakana
normally would be.

It happens routinely, and for a number of reasons.  I don't want to get
into this here, since I think that it's not of general interest.  E-mail
me if you want more details.  

Gavin Steyn
malkakor@shani.net