User blog comment:Manuel de la Fuente/Why Levi is not in the live-action movies? Screenwriter finally answers/@comment-25933906-20150723191709

A wise person once told me that japaneses only make movies for japaneses. This may be right or wrong, everyone has it's opinion. However it is true that something like Attack on Titan, which had an incredible world-wide impact, crashes with that philosophy.

I also think that the pronunciation is just an excuse, like both of you think. However that lazy explanation  fits better with the philosophy of movies-for-japaneses. But like Manuel said, Shikisima = Levi.