ellawritesficssometimes:

People often find it perplexing that America can’t see ghosts
or magical creatures, and assert that this is done for seemingly no reason. It’s
quite the contrary. There’s an underlying rule in the manga that’s been used
and consistently drawn on:

That is, whether it’s ghosts, aliens, or magical creatures,
the nation’s ability to see/ believe in them depends on if their citizens
strongly believe in them. In other words, superstitions of the supernatural and
unknown need to be part of the nation’s popular belief system if the respective
personification is also able to believe in them.

I say believe mostly
because as you’ll see soon, sometimes a nation will see an unknown being, and
yet not recognize or acknowledge its existence. For the most part,
however, the nation simply won’t be able to see the being.

The reason listed that explains why America can’t see and
believe in ghosts is because 23% of his people either believe in their
existence or have had an encounter with them. Again, this ability is predicated
around citizen belief.

I can’t attest for the exact figures of this statistic. Point is, this is what Hima cited, and it is thus included into the reasoning
behind America’s skepticism of the supernatural. Of course, this rule doesn’t
mean that these beings don’t exist. It just affects whether the nation will be
able to see them.

Notably, this approximate statistic has since changed. [I’ll
get back to this in a moment.]

Likewise, because Americans strongly believe in the existence
of UFOs, America can see and interact with Tony.

Meanwhile, although England can see Tony, since his people
don’t believe in extra-terrestrial life as strongly, he’s skeptical of the
alien and doesn’t truly believe in it. [x]

Quickly, it’s important to go over some supernatural ground
rules specifically pertaining to America.

On Halloween, the one day of the year where Americans
temporarily, albeit strongly, believe in the existence of the supernatural,
America’s able to see ghosts and other unknown creatures.

England is noted to be able to make anyone who visits his
country see ghosts/spirits; America is the only exception to
this rule. [x]

When accused of seeing illusions by America, England claims that
America can’t see the unicorn because he’s too impure.

Funny, considering that England gives America a
unicorn to celebrate his bicentennial despite knowing full well that the latter can’t see it….yet.

What I’m about to present indicates a considerable shift
in America’s “ghost and monster culture”, whereby it’s strongly hinted that he’ll
soon be able to see ghosts, spirits, and any other magical creatures rather than
just aliens.

Please note that ghost and monster culture are terms that
Hima’s coined in describing a nation’s folklore and superstitional culture.

It’s not like this shift is impossible either. We’ve already
seen with Japan how he’s able to forget and subsequently re-remember the existence of
youkai spirits as a result of his own people forgetting about and later
believing in them again.

For example, in the Meiji era, Japan lost his ability to see
them with respect to his people forgetting about their existence. On the other
hand, because England’s monster culture remained prevalent, he was able to see the spirits (i.e the Tengu and Kappa).

However, later in WW2, when Japan and Italy are taking a
bath in a hot spring, we learn that Japan’s regained his ability to see his
nation’s magical creatures.

The same thing happens with America.

While he initially can’t see and doesn’t believe in ghosts,
he’s still terrified of them.

The fact that he doesn’t believe in them becomes woefully
obvious when a ghost literally taps America on the shoulder and introduces
himself. America doesn’t notice the ghost and instead seems to attribute the poke
on the shoulder to the false feeling of being touched or watched given that he’s
watching a horror movie while this all happens.

It’s only until World Stars where we begin to see a possible
shift in America’s ghost culture.

America visits England in Chapter 290. What I want to place
particular emphasis on is that America admits to his increasing interest in
fantasy movies. If we follow the rule from above, this would mean that his citizens
have taken up an interest in the genre/ supernatural belief, and this interest
is thus reflected in America’s own interests. Movies genres are a reflection of popular culture, after all. 

This scene in particular substantiates this claim.

The two take a tour of a haunted citadel. America mistakes ghosts
for current staff members. [They had worked there when they were alive.]

He takes a picture of the ghosts, only to realize that they
don’t show up in the photo. More importantly is the fact that America was actually able
to see the ghosts.

Even if America wasn’t able to make the connection and
realize what they were, it would seem that his newfound interest in fantasy means
that his ghost and monster culture are shifting.

If that’s the case, then we could very well see an America
that’s able to see supernatural creatures in future strips.