Is there a triple vowel extension in this character name?

Question

From the manga Hunter x Hunter, one of the character's Japanese names is ウボォーギン. It looks like the ボ is getting its お sound elongated twice, with the small ォ and the ー. In English it gets translated as Uvogin, but I would have thought the name would be ウヴォーギン then.

Is ボォー the same as ぼ、お、う? Is that possible?

Or maybe is this a slight pronunciation difference, like か and きゃ？

Answer 1

This type of combination (adding ァィゥェォ after a katakana of the same vowel) is fairly rare, but I occasionally see it in fictional names. (Sometimes creators want odd-looking names...) Basically ァィゥェォ works like a long vowel marker, but from my experience, the length does not exceed two morae even if another long vowel marker follows.

• ブゥ, リィ, レェ, ロォ: Pronounced in two morae, like ブー, リー, レー, ロー
• ブゥケ, リィン, レェラ, ロォト: Usually pronounced in three morae (like ブーケ, リーン, レーラ, ロート), but some people may pronounce them shortly (like ブケ, リン, レラ, ロト).
• ブゥーケ, リィーン, レェーラ, ロォート: Pronounced in three morae, just like ブーケ, リーン, レーラ, ロート. "Double-elongation" does not happen.

To take another example, ブードゥー (Voodoo) is occasionally spelled as ブゥードゥー, but this ブゥー is pronounced the same way as ブー.

So I think ウボォーギン is pronounced just like ウボーギン. But if it were ウボオーギン (non-small オ), most people would read it with a "double-elongated vowel", as discussed in this question.