Friend: You know Hetalia is addictive, right?

Me: Yep. *consumes content anyway*

Doesn’t it bother you when people say that the fandom is dying?

You know what? It absolutely does. It takes a lot to irritate me, let me tell you, but this is something I will fight tooth and nail to counter.

Rant coming up tonight.

What other psych-talia posts do you have lined up?

Please note that Freud’s concepts are allegorical in nature and are not meant to be taken on a literal level…

Psychoanalyzing the German brothers’ personalities + childhoods

Psychoanalyzing America’s personality + childhood

The effects of being weaned off too early; in other words, gaining independence and autonomy at a young age.

Psychoanalyzing Belarus:

She clearly has a phallic fixation, and at least alludes to Freud’s notion of castration anxiety. The amount of times she talks about ripping off male genitalia/ anything to do with them is the biggest clue of this.

Psychoanalyzing Hungary:
Hungary also has a phallic fixation, except it’s more to do with Freud’s notion of penis envy (again, this is allegorical). The amount of times she talks about having male genitalia during childhood is the most obvious clue of this.

Note: This theory will make use of Freudian theory. While I
recognize that Freud’s ideas do not bear much contemporary relevance, that
shouldn’t take away from the fact that many of his concepts (i.e erogenous
zones, childhood memory repression, catharsis) are nonetheless employed by Hima
in the series. The purpose of this post is to give some insight into the
psychologies of the characters.

Comic Diary 3…an old strip
that’s very easily forgotten despite how crucial it is in allowing us to get a
good understanding of what Italy may or may not remember from his childhood.

In Italy’s dream, he conjures a lost child that looks exactly
like Chibitalia. When encountered by an unknown man, the child asks to be taken
to a person with a face exactly like them.

The pair go up to Italy. What the unknown man says
next is crucial.

“I have a lost child here.”

The scene then takes a disturbing turn for the worse as the
child eerily repeats “Please acknowledge me” over and over again. Even more important
is that Italy refuses to acknowledge the child.

Freud had a profound interest in dreams, as they act as a
pathway in gaining access into the unconscious mind of the patient. Your
unconscious mind is where your deepest desires, worries, and insecurities lurk;
you’re not aware of them. If a memory is traumatic enough, especially in
childhood, then they too can be pushed into your unconscious mind so that
you’re unaware of/ unable to remember them.

In the context of dreams,
this is where your unconscious has the free reign to express itself. What you
experience in your dreams has both a literal and a symbolic meaning. It’s the
symbolic meaning of dreams that psychologists look at. Basically, your
unconscious paints the dream in a way that something irrelevant – such as an
ordinary everyday object – could represent a repressed conflict, vulnerability,
or unpleasant trauma that is plaguing your mind.

Manifest Content is the
literal element of the dream. It’s what you see and experience. For example, in
this case, it would be Italy encountering a child that looks just like him and
reacting fearfully towards it.

The Latent Content is the
symbolic element; the underlying meaning. It’s the unconscious aspect of the dream that is masked by
the seemingly normal manifest content. Because these aspects are a representation
of unconscious conflicts, when brought to the conscious level they can cause us
to experience discomfort.

What I want to focus on is the latent content of Italy’s dream.
The lost child could be symbolic of ltaly’s lost childhood. Likewise, it can
also act as a lost childhood memory that Italy has repressed and refuses to
acknowledge.

The trauma of losing Holy
Rome could have motivated Italy to actively forget about that part of his
childhood. It would follow, then, that Italy’s childhood self appearing in the
dream is the presence of an unconscious conflict and repressed memory, thus
causing him to respond fearfully.

On the same note, it’s not
impossible for the nations to have limited memories, let alone forget bad
experiences. Russia can surely testify to that.

That said, while Italy may have repressed some of his childhood
memories, we know from Buon San Valentino that he hasn’t repressed all of them
as he at least admits that his first love was a boy.

Perhaps this vagueness of
statement means that Italy’s memory about Holy Rome is muddled… that he knows
just enough, and yet, not enough to cause
him to remember and relive the pain of losing his first love.

Prussia: Is your country running?

Holy Rome: We’re hardly unified, what do you think?

Prussia: Well, I better go put it together.

…

[on the phone]

Prussia: Is your country still… is your country running?

Germany: Listen, I don’t have time for this.

Prussia: Kids these days. So ungrateful.

Are there any strips where Italy masks losing his cool?

Remember when New Zealand messed up pizza so badly that Italy went through an identity crisis…with a smile on his face?

So…Is Russia good or bad?

I don’t think he’s either.

Used loosely here, a ‘good’ person has a righteous morality, meanwhile a ‘bad’ person has an unacceptable morality (immoral).

If you’re incapable of understanding the consequences (both good and bad) of your actions, then you can’t possess morals. Russia’s too complex to box his character into one category. Having any morality means knowing the difference between right and wrong, an ability that Russia doesn’t consistently possess.

In other words, Russia’s amoral. However, that doesn’t mean he can’t show moments of kindness or have good intentions..

Wait so your the person who wrote “When Red meets Violet” right? Because that is one of the best fics I’ve read from the Hetalia fandom and I love it!!!!!!!!!!

OMG! Yes, c’est moi! Thank you so much, I love you. That really means a lot to me ❤

The more I analyze the series, the more I realize just how
deep and profound it is. When I first got into the fandom, I would have never
dreamed of finding any significance in Kumajiro, a bear of all things. However,
a psychologist would have a field day with Canada and this childhood friend.

Yes, I admit: Kumajiro is a bear on top of all else. He’s
real. Taken symbolically, however, he’s also possibly a representation of
Canada’s repressed childhood, a childhood in which he actively strives to
forget.

Most psychologists agree on the fact that your childhood has
a major impact on your personality. Genetics play a role too, but the
environment (i.e how you were raised) severely impacts how you relate to
others. For example, if you were raised in a hostile and neglectful
environment, it’s harder for you to place trust in others, let alone form
healthy relationships.

Freud believed that right from birth, we’re ridden with
anxiety = you’re in a new environment with strange sounds and bright lights as
opposed to the warmth and security your mother’s womb previously provided you
with.

To cope with and minimize this anxiety, we employ defense
mechanisms. Thus, if your childhood was so scarring that it cripples your
ability to function normally, you employ the defense mechanism of repression.
That is, you push away these traumatic memories into the back of your mind
(your unconscious) so that you’re unable to remember them.

Another concept frequently used in psychology is that of your
shadow. Your shadow represents your inferiorities and insecurities. Basically,
it’s the unwanted truth you avoid acknowledging in light of preventing yourself
from being or feeling vulnerable.

What I’ll be arguing is that Kumajiro is Canada’s shadow.
Notice how the running gag between the two of them is that Kumajiro forgets who
Canada is. That itself, could be a representation of Canada’s own psyche and the
accompanying fears of being forgotten.

Likewise, Kumajiro has been with Canada ever since he was
born. Now, consider the fact that Canada also forgets Kumajiro’s name. This can
easily be interpreted as Canada wanting to forget (repress) the childhood in
which he was forgotten. (Pretty meta, huh?)

Freud also believed that the experience of childhood has a huge impact on your personality; it helps form who you are later in adulthood. Regardless if you repress these childhood memories, they’ll still unconsciously influence your behaviour, how you perceive yourself, as well as how you relate to others.

Let’s tie this back to the strips.

As a result of being neglected in childhood, in other words
living in America’s footsteps, Canada developed a low sense of self-worth.

Fun fact: The suffix Jiro in Japanese is typically used for
the second-born son, which, if put into the context of Hetalia, could equate to
Canada being second-best to America.

A coinciding cause for Canada’s feelings of worthlessness stems
from how he was initially objectified by England and France. They took interest
in him because of his resources, and as such, first viewed him as a colony…

Here, England assumes full control over Canada. Canada expresses
joy when he perceives that England is looking at him as a person, as opposed to
the land he personifies. What’s heartbreaking is that England is actually just
analyzing the hair Canada had inherited from France. Point is, Canada doesn’t
value himself because he wasn’t valued during his childhood.

This inability to value himself hasn’t left Canada in
adulthood either.

For, example, he doesn’t think he’s good looking.

So, how does Kumajiro fit into this? Why do I think that he
emblemizes Canada’s childhood insecurities?

Because your shadow is the core of your psyche, holding your
deepest desires and insecurities, it’s also the most truthful part of yourself.

Can you think of any moments where Kumajiro speaks the unconscious
truth of what Canada is feeling but never expresses?

Because I sure can.

1) In the same strip where Canada claims that he’s
not good looking, Kumajiro notes that Canada’s “too self-deprecating.”

2) Here, Canada is left in the background as
England and America work through the difficulties in their relationship.

Things may get a bit disturbing now. Basically, Kumajiro uses
dolls to illustrate how “well-behaved baby bear” Canada is not given enough
attention, as “big bear” England is paying too much attention to “rowdy baby
bear” America.

The scene then ends with Kumajiro concluding
that “well-behaved baby bear” should be loved more.

Obviously, this role-play is metaphorical of England,
Canada, and America’s relationship to one another.

Kumajiro also openly
encourages Canada to be more assertive, something that he wants to do but is
nonetheless unable to. Again, this all falls back on repressed conflicts
guiding our behaviours without a deliberate conscious realization.

3) Kumajiro tells Canada that it’s all right to
speak up for himself in asking England to have lunch with him.

In sum…

Kumajiro is a representation of Canada’s childhood
inferiorities. He forgets Canada because Canada still perceives himself as not
important enough to be remembered. On the same note, Canada forgets Kumajiro in
an attempt to repress memories related to the childhood neglect he experienced.

Perhaps Canada doesn’t know who he is himself.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Canada…[?]”

But…what exactly does that mean if you lack a solid self-concept?

@ my brain anytime I’m doing a test.