Goalt, it's to seem 'cutesy', girls do it often in Anime, not so much in real life.<br/><br/>For the MOST part the letter 'U', no matter where the letter is in the word, it's silent, there are very few cases in which the letter is pronounced, name the -yu sound, as in Ryu and names that end with the a 'U'.  In the name Asuka it's As'ka, but for Takeru it's Tah-Keh-roo, which is pronounced as fast as Asuka is.<br/><br/>And that is about as much as I know about the Japanese language.  Maybe a bit more, and I can't promise accuracy, although I try.  >.>