When looking at the characters’ relationships, do you factor in the real life relationships between the countries? I’m kinda curious about that.

This blog analyzes the manga, so it focuses on the content included in it. Whatever politics is included in canon is what I cover. Hetalia isn’t historically accurate so it personally doesn’t make sense to me to analyze their relationships in relation to the outside world without any canon material relevant to it. 

I know it’s a bit weird to grasp, but Hetalia is fiction that brings in real-life elements. The Hetalia universe is a separate reality essentially, drawing on whatever Himaruya decides to include from the real world. 

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When
asked for the reason why England wouldn’t let America drink alcohol, Himaruya
gives fans six options to choose from.

1. To conform to the drinking age at America’s house


2. He doesn’t want America to start saying things like “The wine at your house
is disgusting!” so early in the year.


3. America came by car.


4. If America can hold his drink better than an adult like him, he’d be pissed. 


5. He’s just being a meanie.


6. It’s unhealthy. 

Choose whichever you like! 

Source: Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans., January 7th, 2015). 


He has a close relationship with Portugal. 

Sources: Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans., Nov 25th, 2014 + March 20th, 2015). 

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Himaruya’s description of England’s modern fashion style goes as followed: 

“He’d probably wear a nice dress shirt on casual days, then a punk
T-shirt when he’s out for fun, and then he’d change into a light mod’s coat.


In the manga I tend to dress him in various dress shirts, don’t I?” 


Source
: Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans., April 13th, 2011) + Vol 5. 

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A fan asked if England likes France or Germany better. 

This was Himaruya’s response: 

“They are old friends so if he should be paired up with someone,
I would say it’s France.


But he wants to hit them both sometimes.”

Source: Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans., Aug 8th, 2011). 

Also how is what I said about the glasses threat cherry picking??The overall mood of the strip isn’t a kind one and France isn’t buying that nice guy,best buddies act from them in the end.The smiles and words are clearly lies further pointing out the tension between them.I really think you’re just failing to see the bigger picture in a lot of these strips and panels.

It is cherry
picking. Here’s why.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 53. 

The mood of
the strip isn’t that France isn’t buying their pleasantries. He’s both shocked
and surprised but nonetheless expresses happiness at their reconciliatory
efforts.

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The context
of the strip + the context of other strips is important here, not just the
former. You can’t understand the progression in their relationship otherwise.

The strip
shows how America and Russia have progressed from physical threats and a more
volatile relationship from the Cold War to exchanging pleasantries with jabs
here and there. In no way are they best buddies–Russia is incapable of
having a relationship like that because of how unstable and unpredictable he is– but they don’t despise each other either.

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Instead,
just like any other friend-rival dynamics, they get on each other’s nerves.

Which is a
far cry from what their relationship used to be like.

Ex: Russia once threatened to make America’s gums bleed.

Source: Together with Russia, Volume 5. 

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The mood of the strip, or rather, the message of the
strip is that the two get along now. Relics from their Cold War past emerge in
their competitive and passive jabs at each other, which prompts France’s uneasy
reaction at the end. It’s still a new thing for them to interact like this.

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You see this in the
2013-2014 Halloween Event too, where Russia agrees to help America with the costume
contest, but only if he’s compensated. Again, not buddy-buddy, but definitely
on good working terms.

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Previously, he also helped America scare England, without any compensation either. 

Source: Hetarchive, Merry Halloween.

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 If the message of the
strip was what you’re saying–that is, that they don’t get along–then the strip wouldn’t have ended the way
that it did. They’re facing unbuilt ground, i.e., a new phase in their
relationship.


If you have more to say,
please comment below rather than leaving an anonymous question. It’s easier to
keep track of.  

I think you’re failing to see that England looks genuinely horrified and disgusted by the idea of France loving him.This isn’t like his usual tsundere behavior where it’s more genuine in how his body language works alongside his dialogue.If anything that tsundere wording was just a joke from Himaruya and he does occasionally joke about such a thing.England is so not up for such a thing to happen.

If he was really so disgusted, then why did he feel compelled to clarify his feelings, let alone stutter and pause while doing so? 

True disgust is certain, void of hesitation. 

It’s immediate and he wouldn’t have had to justify himself. He would have acted completely aloof and dismissive if he was truly disgusted.

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Q & A

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Another relationship I’m pretty confused on is
FrUK. Not nearly as much as RusAme tho.When Himaruya writes these two its more
like the ho yay between them is a joke and twice Himaruya has shot down the
idea of either of them liking each other like that.France got freaked out over
a fan pretending to be England in love with him. England got freaked out over
the idea of France being in love with him. Of course you can ship as you please
but I’m just so bewildered as to why you think they could happen.

The idea of it + my
understanding didn’t just emerge in a vacuum. There is evidence suggesting a
possibility of romance for them, even if the series does give off mixed
messages.

For example: the second
instance you mention (I think it’s the World Stars Chapter you’re referring to)
shows England getting defensive about reciprocating his perception that France may have feelings for him.

“It’s not…it’s not
like I like you all or anything!” (he’s referring both to the French people and France). 

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 317. 

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There’s also the running
gag where France laments about how England would be cute if he didn’t talk so
much.

Sources: Hetarchive, England Caught a Cold! + Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, Feb 2nd, 2015). 

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Another example would be
the Dream United Kingdom strip, which I covered already. Please look at my post directory before sending in asks.

Even though England
vehemently opposes the idea of being married to France, he cites that he doesn’t
want to marry him because of the economic desperation generated by the Suez
Canal Crisis.

“I don’t want to get
married for this lame reason,” is a rejection, sure, but it’s odd how it’s not
an outright rejection. It leaves open the possibility that he would be open to
marrying France for a better reason…whatever that is.

Source: Hetarchive, Dream United Kingdom. 

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My posts on the matter:
[x] [x].


Do you really think so positively of a
relationship like…RusAme?Its been stared time and time again that they don’t
like one another,have an extremely tense relationship and the real life
relationship between these two countries is very volatile and just as full of
hate.Russia has even fantasized about destroying something as simple as
America’s glasses.Sure Hetalia has messages of getting along and stuff but
these two just barely tolerate each other at best.

I’m pretty sure this is
the same anon from above.

If anything, I’m a bit bewildered
as to why you claim that I view RusAme so positively? I haven’t said anything
of the such nor have I only illustrated this side of their relationship. It
would be unfair and inaccurate to claim that I have.

On the other hand, what
I have done is prove that their relationship isn’t only hate—that they can
and do get along. In the Shipping Series post I made of them, I claim upfront
that there are no romantic hints of them and instead explain that the parallels
I draw between them can be used as tools for those who ship them to use in
their characterizations.

Both posts can be found
in my post directory [x] [x].

Here’s a quote from
the opening paragraph if you want to verify.

“Below will be a list of parallels between America and Russia that I think would benefit any RusAme writer should they wish to incorporate them into their works. While in canon there is minimal romantic substantiation, this post merely aims to provide writers with tools that highlight the similar chemistries and complexes that America and Russia both experience. In no way is this forcing the ship onto anyone either.“

Lastly, as mentioned
above, while Russia and America get on each other’s nerves—as I have already acknowledged
in a post documenting their rivalry—

there are also many instances where they
get along.

Ex:  They’re spotted happily drinking together.

Source: Hetarchive, April Fools’ 2011.

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Ex: Russia has visited America
at his home.

Source: Hetascanlatons, World Stars Chapter 157. 

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Ex: There’s that café scene
in World Stars, which while highlighting how they still grind each other’s
gears, the underlying message is that they nonetheless get along in the end.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 53.

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I’ll be transparent in
admitting that it’s a pet peeve of mine when people only focus on the glasses
remark Russia makes in that scene while ultimately ignoring how said scene is
wrapped up. It’s cherry-picking.


Not sure if you’ve been asked this before, but
in your opinion what would you say the sexualities of the Hetalia characters
are?

If you’re unsure if I’ve
covered something, you can always check my post directory. I have done a post
on ‘sexualities’, but I use that term for a lack of a better word. I also don’t
believe in assigning labels when they haven’t been given, as I believe that the
characters are open for interpretation, and instead show how some nations are canonically
LGBTQ +. 

Post [x]. 


What’s the context
for France getting shot???

He tries to strip Switzerland.

Source: Hetarchive, Christmas 2007 Event.


How do different nations
deal with loss? (A friend dying, e.t.c..)

This post should help a
bit [x].

You also have Greece,
who copes with his mother’s loss by visiting her ruins and holding onto her relics, and Romano, who can’t
be visited by Rome without bursting out into tears of happiness.

Sources: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 99 & 100 Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans. April 5th 2011).

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Q & A

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hi! I am brand new
to the fandom (weird for 2018, I know haha) but I would like to start off by
saying thank you for what you do! Anyways, my question was, so I see a lot of
fan art for different ships and whatnot. I have only watched the anime not read
the comic yet (but I plan to!) and I was wondering if there are actually any
ships that are/were canon and if there’s not any, what are the most popular
fanon ones? I am trying to be wary of ship wars haha.

Not weird at all. People still join all the time! No need to thank
me, but you’re welcome 😀

No ships are canon, other than Chibitalia x Holy Rome. Even Aushun,
who were married, are not outright confirmed to have romantic feelings for each
other. There are a lot of hints, though. If you’d like to explore ships on this
blog, plug in the tag “Shipping Series.”

Some pairings where there are canon hints of romance are
FrUk, AusHun, SpaAus, SpaIta and Spamano. I use comic material and provide sources for
you to look at, so I’m not just pulling it out of nowhere lol.


kind of new to the fandom haha but I have heard
it has quite a few ‘gay undertones’, but I was wondering there is actually any
characters confirmed to be LGBTQ+?

Oh! Another new member! Welcome!

Hetalia is very gay.

Here are some posts to
corroborate that: [x] [x] [x] [x]. 


I know you’ve already lengthy talked about it,
but could you please make some clarifications about ‘nyotalia’? I still see
many people in the fandom being confused about the concept(i.e.
misunderstanding them as genderbents, considering heta/nyo verses of the
original ‘couples’, for example spanyo!mano being spamano het verse). Sorry to
bother

You’re not bothering me.
It’s just, there’s nothing more to really talk about. Like you’ve said, I’ve
already covered those misconceptions. It would be redundant to make another
post.

However, I would be more
than happy to link the post again for you [x].


So what is your opinion on the *whispers* movie
??

*googles synonym for
clusterfuck*

I mean the re-used
material thing is nothing new to Hetalia. Himaruya is notorious for re-using,
re-drawing, and re-printing old material.


Do think that Estonia wants to join the Nordics
because they give a sense of community that he just doesn’t get with the
Baltics. I mean the Nordics are this really close bunch and the Baltics are
just there.

No. It’s just a reference to
how Estonia is being increasingly grouped with the Nordics in the present
political sphere. There’s an increasing sentiment that looks at the similarities
between Finnish and Estonian language and culture.

Sources: Hetarchive, Volume 6, the Meeting of the Nordics & Volume 6, The Nordic Five.

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