Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s director has once again reignited the almost three-decade debate over how to pronounce Cait Sith’s name.
Two months ago, Square Enix’s social media accounts seemingly put the debate to rest and revealed that Cait Sith is pronounced exactly how it looks: “Kate Sith”. That calm period was short-lived, however, since director Naoki Hamaguchi reportedly has a different pronunciation for the party member.
According to The Game Informer Show, the remake/sequel’s director pronounced the character’s name as “Cat Shee” when asked about the long-running internet war. Hamaguchi’s answer is at odds with the official Square Enix accounts, so what’s going on?
Of course, the original Final Fantasy 7 did not have voice acting, and thus, there’s no general consensus on how to pronounce the character’s name. Later voice-acted games in the series didn’t provide any answers since no one said Cait Sith out loud (poor guy), but considering Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s significantly larger scope, someone is bound to verbalize it, right?
Even so, Cait Sith is actually named after a black cat trickster fairy in Gaelic folklore, meaning the debate has nothing to do with a discrepancy between English and Japanese. In the original Gaelic language, the fairy’s name sounds closer to Hamaguchi’s “Cat Shee” or rather “Ket Shee.” I’m only curious to see whether the pronunciation changes when switching between English and Japanese localization, considering that there’s already a rift between Hamaguchi and the social media accounts.
Which side are you on? Team Kate Sith or Ket Shee? Either way, we should be seeing much more from the loveable mascot when Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth debuts on February 29, 2024. The game’s apparently dedicating significantly more screen time to all party members, even going as far as introducing team-up attacks for every character pairing à la Chrono Trigger.
For now, see our best JRPGs list to tide you over through the holidays.
