This is a good enough time for me to make my return, I suppose, as
name threads are one of my personal interests.

The following is, of course, my opinion. Your opinion may vary;
however, if it does, expect to be visited by my personal assassin
squad within the next 36 hours.

Let's face it; ever since the advent of dubbed anime, fandom has been
divided on the alteration of names from the original to the dub. In
the realm of fanfiction, this is a particularly touchy subject. As
the majority of you know (or could surmise), I have always tended to
fall into the camp of 'original names or none at all'.

Except when it comes to Pokemon.

Frankly, Pokemon is a special case. For one, the source material for
the anime exists in both Japan and the US, produced and distributed
by the same company. That same company, Nintendo, itself is
responsible for the alteration of character, item, place, and Pokemon
names in the American version of the source material. With the
exception of minor anime characters who turn up from time to time,
4Kids has nothing to do with the names of Pokemon characters; they
use whatever Nintendo tells them to use. What does this mean, in
regards to the Japanese vs. American names debate? It means, quite
simply, that unlike most dubbed anime, two 'official' versions of the
source material exist. That means that the company in control of the
property from which all merchandising stems has stated, "In Japan,
the series is Pocket Monster, the main character is Satoshi, etc.
etc.; in the United States, the series is Pokemon, the main character
is Ash, etc. etc." 

Fine, you say, but that doesn't mean that fanfic writers have to use
the English version names if they don't want to. You are, of course,
correct, but you are failing to consider an important point.

Usually, the purpose of advocating the original names vice the dub is
opposition of the dub. Names have been changed for apparently no
reason whatsoever, usually losing some important meaning or horrible
pun in the process. Television dubs, in general, tend to screw with
things that most fans would simply prefer would not be screwed with. 

This is not the case with Pokemon. 

Most of the name changes in Pokemon are done in such a way as to
create entirely new puns, or simply to more easily reflect the
characters being described in English, for an audience which is
assumed to not speak a single word of Japanese. 

I myself speak extremely little Japanese (though, I can safely say,
more than most American Pokemon viewers), and I actually prefer the
English version names. It's how I was introduced to the characters.
The name changes were not done pointlessly or carelessly. And on top
of that, I know that the version of Pokemon we see is almost exactly
the same as that seen in Japan. So I have no reason to oppose the
name changes, or anything about the English version of the series,
games, etc. 

If you must have names such as Satoshi, Kasumi, Musashi, Fushigidane,
and whatever else have you in your Pokefic, that's your choice, and
your right. But if you're writing that Pokefic for an English-reading
audience, you might want to reconsider. There's nothing wrong with
using the names Ash, Misty, Jessie, and Bulbasaur instead.

-The Eternal Lost Lurker
-the 666th Pokemon