Q & A

Ok I’ve been thinking about this for a few
days. What do you think about the height’s of the characters? First I started
with the mindset of “I’m just gonna add ten cm to all Caucasian characters
this seems very unrealistic.” But then I remembered that Europeans used to
be like 20cm shorter only a few hundred years ago so now I don’t know…

I’ve already done a few
posts on this [x] [x] [x]

Based on precedent, the
height is dependent on the political and economic development of the country
and if the latter two are strong only then is the national average taken
into consideration. Aside from Prussia’s height, which is smaller due to
malnutrition, I do agree with you. I think a lot of the heights of the adult
nations we see depicted are based on modern figures.

Ella, do you happen to know what’s with the
“be the piano” thing? Is it from cookies-hetaoni? I mean, i’m afraid
to play the game so I don’t what it means. Have you played it?

I haven’t had the privilege
of accessing a copy (I’ve only watched playthroughs), but the “be the piano” thing is from the original version.
Canada tries to pretend to be a piano when he encounters one of the “Steves.”

Was Sweden ever confirmed as gay or was it just gay
for Finland? I’ve seen some debates about it and I’m just confused.

It’s complicated. Sweden was confirmed to be gay only for Finland in a 2007 blog post that has since been deleted. Most consider it be canon, especially because of Sweden’s continued and favoured interest in Finland (not as prominent post 2010).

Do what you will with the information. Unfortunately, it’s not a black and white answer [x].

Could you make a post explaining why PruCan
(Prussia x Canada) is a crack ship? No bashing though, it just kinda is, isn’t
it? Or maybe you will need to make a post explaining to me that it isn’t truly
a crack ship after all lol

I already did a shipping
post on that here [x].

I’m not a fan of the
word “crack” ship. It assumes that there’s a hierarchy where people are
obligated to justify their ships according to plausibility. Prussia and Canada
do have a canon interaction. I’ve noticed that it’s often been used as the basis for
the ship.

Just wonderin’ why is America
so reluctant to not to be England’s little brother. Is it because he’s
resentful? Whats your opinion?

Again, not really a clear-cut answer, but this is my take on it. America refers to England as “onii-chan”, a title used to devote affection and adoration. England became America’s de-facto older brother figure.

America later rejected the label because he was tired of being infantilized and bossed around by England. He wanted freedom and considering England as a brother figure was associated with this lack of autonomy. I believe his rejection of the label ultimately boils down to the fact that he didn’t want to be seen as a child.

Source: Hetarchive, Cleaning out the Storage Closet.

America: You need to stick up for yourself more.

Canada: What are you talking about? I’m a lean, mean, assertive machine!

Also Canada:

Q & A

Are Seborga
and Genoa related to anc.Rome too? Since They have the curl.

(The Italy brothers use a curl as proof of a
blood relation to Rome [x].)

By the logic vested in the manga, I would say
so. It’s similar to how Himaruya approached the German states. They were all
considered to be brothers.

In your opinion,
are there any secret/low-key stoner characters?

No one is confirmed to be a stoner lol. However,
Canada has smoked pot once.

Source: Christmas 2010 Event, page 5.

Although he’s never been shown to smoke pot in
canon (therefore it’s not canon), Netherlands would be another contender. There’s
a panel even depicting how some “coffee shops” in his country sell it.

Source: Bamboo Thicket (Eng trans., Hetarchive, February 24, 2015).

Is there
enough evidence to say that Prussia is an albino? Or Iceland or someone else in
the series for that matter

This is actually a mistake I’ve made in the
past in my own fics. Pale eyes and hair doesn’t automatically make someone an
albino, even though Prussia is sometimes depicted with characteristic red eyes—point is, it doesn’t automatically make him an albino.

Source: Christmas 2007, Hetarchive, page 5.

Canon evidence has actually pointed otherwise since
Prussia’s color scheme varies. He’s had blond hair and blue eyes, and his eye
color can range from hues of red, blue, and purple.

Edit: I’m aware that albinos can have blue/ purple eyes, but the fact still remains that Prussia hasn’t been confirmed as one.

Source: Bamboo Thicket (Eng trans., Hetarchive, Nov 22nd, 2011).

slightly
personal question for mun: what do u think the most endearing trait of your
favorite character is?

I don’t have a favourite character!

…The first character that comes to mind is
Finland.

He’s just a genuinely wholesome person that can
cheer up anyone [x].

Where did the
Netherlands and Taiwan ship come from? Is there any interaction between them in
canon?

There is no interaction between them.

I’m not favourable of the “they must have an
interaction in order to be shipped” mentality, though. People are free to ship
what they want, and they shouldn’t have to justify it based on canon material,
ya know?

During his childhood, America experienced several periods of
loss and loneliness that ultimately impacted his personality. In turn, he developed
a chronic fear of being alone.

The most obvious event that comes to mind is the times where he was still under England’s care. England would leave for long periods of time
without visiting. America was terrified at the prospect of this and would beg
England not to leave.

Hints of the resulting loneliness he experienced during
these gaps in visits become obvious as young America picnics alone and achieves
some condolence by convincing himself that he’s not lonely [x].

While his
experiences in the Wild West may have caused him to harden and evolve from his
previous crybaby personality [x], his fear of being alone remained. I would even
argue against this piece of canon material and say that America’s still a
crybaby as an adult (other material contradicts it).

Another event that I would say had an impressionable impact
on America is the loss that he experienced with Davie. While he may have been
too young to comprehend immortality and mortal death, America still experienced
the loss of a close friend. He had gotten attached to someone only for them to
leave [x].

What’s interesting is that even after America gained his
independence and pushed England out of his political affairs, America was
unable to reconcile the idea of having a personal life without England. It’s
for this reason that I believe America goes to Canada’s house in desperation,
asking that he be able to see England who had fallen ill from the conflict [x].

On the other hand, America also detaches himself from the
pain of the loss that he experienced from the Revolution by storing away
objects that reminded him of his childhood with England (i.e., the toy soldier, suit, and gun) [x].

As mentioned, America’s fear of being alone has remained in adulthood:

He’s jealous of kids who get presents from their fathers on
Christmas [x].

He has a notable habit of asking other nations to sleep with
him after he’s watched/ read scary horror material [x] [x].

He clung to Japan during a time where all other nations
weren’t favourable of him [x].

The last is a speculative conclusion that hasn’t been
confirmed. England ties America’s tendency to mass produce to the fact that
he possessed very little belongings when building new settlements in his
country [x]. What I believe has merit is the argument that America turned to
stuff to help cope with his loneliness.

What this post intends to explore is how Canada’s invisibility
serves as a literary device in fleshing out his character development. While
the approach to this is cruder in older characterizations, it still remains
that Canada’s struggle to establish his independence and form a unique and
memorable identity is integral to his character.

As such, rather than other nations deliberately ignoring
him, his invisibility serves as a reminder of how he struggled to find a place
on the world stage. His entire character arc in World Stars is predicated on
him detaching himself from England’s and America’s shadows and becoming his own
person. Longer posts on that here [x] [x].

Invisibility on the
World Stage:

One misconception that I’ve seen perpetuated is that
England, France, and America intentionally ignore Canada, which makes them
terrible people. This simply isn’t true. The fact that they forget Canada is
completely unintentional. It’s supposed to represent how Canada as a nation
wasn’t very well-known around the world; there wasn’t something distinctly
unique to his identity that would make him stand out.

In older strips, the approach to this is much cruder. Some
examples would include Canada not being accounted for and being sat on during a
G8 meeting [x]. Interestingly, the one country who does recognize him, France, still admits that Canada doesn’t have anything remarkable about him. I did say cruder, didn’t I?

Likewise, after mistaking Canada for America, England
apologizes to Canada. He didn’t intentionally forget Canada. Again, the purpose
of this gag was to illustrate his lacking world identity and how he went from
lurking in England’s shadows to being overshadowed by America’s.

A common rebuttal to this latter point would be asking why
France and England were able to see Canada when he was younger.

The answer to this is simple. France and England had a
vested interest in the fur trade in North America, which is what made Canada a
financial mine for settlers. He was well-known to the world at the time. What’s
sad is that Canada was able to recognize the superficial reasons he was valued
for at a young age.

Ex: He mistakenly believes that England is looking at him
not as a source of resources but as an actual person of value. In reality,
England was analyzing Canada’s hair, which he believes was inherited from
France [x].

Nonetheless, the two do become family and treat each other
as such. However, the irony is that while England cares very deeply for both
America and Canada, he devoted most of his attention to America due to political
struggles (e.g., the American Revolution and the Civil War) [x].

Personal Relationships:

What I haven’t seen someone point out is that Canada’s
invisibility is limited to world meetings and his status as a personification
and not as a person. By this, I mean that when Canada represents his nation, he’s
forgotten, but in personal circumstances and interactions he’s remembered. It’s
for this reason I believe that the narrative goes from G8 countries forgetting
about Canada—which includes America—to America playing ball with Canada in the same strip.

On the other hand, others have argued that America throwing
the baseball at Canada is intentionally rude and abusive. It isn’t. America
throwing the ball too fast for Canada to keep up with served as a crude
political metaphor in signifying how Canada respectively struggled to keep up with America’s rapid rate of growth.

In world stars, this is most prominent as Canada gets
frustrated with America’s tendency to push and expect too much of him. The
problem is that Canada’s lack of identity and affluence is what allowed him to be
pushed around. Point is, later versions of the manga have used less crude methods
to portray this identity complex.

This doesn’t mean that Canada didn’t fight against this, though.

Ex: He reprimands America for overlooking him. The context
is that when America found out that England had fallen ill after the
Revolution, he goes to Canada’s house without thinking to ask Canada how
he was faring too [x].

On the other hand, this doesn’t mean that America didn’t
value Canada as a person either. The struggle between the two emphasized the
difficulty in balancing politics/self-interest and personal relations.

Ex: America’s jealous of Canada for possessing a personality
that makes it easy for him to get along with other nations [x].

Lastly, it’s important to call attention to the fact that
England valued Canada and was grateful when the latter both stepped up to his
defense and later tended to him at his bedside [x] [x].

All in all, it would be unfair and one-sided to claim that
Canada is deliberately ignored by those close to them. It’s far more
complicated than that and instead detracts from his character development.

Canada: You can’t just finger gun your problems away.

America: Watch me.

“America, sir! What have you done in preparation for the upcoming midterm elections?”

America:

What about the France, Canada, and America dynamic? Anything interesting about that?

They act like children teasing their parent [x].

Q & A

Since when was Canada and Romano best friends?
Apart from the brief encounter when Canada asks Romano about independence,
there has been no interaction that shows them as friends. In fact, isn’t Romano
one of the ones who forgets Canada unlike his brother, Veneziano? I know he’s
friends with America, but only acquaintances with Canada, or an I missing
something?

They’re not friends? I’m
as confused as you. Like you said, they had that interaction in WS where Canada
asked Romano how he had gained his independence [x].

Not exactly. I think you’re
referring to the Christmas 2011 event. Veneziano recognizes Canada but we don’t
get to see Romano’s reaction [x].

do you believe that
monaco and france are siblings the way that norway and iceland are? like…
biologically (even though biology and nations is an iffy thing lol)

It is an iffy thing lol. I’m still in the process
of putting together a model, but to avoid a slippery slope, Himaruya has made
it so that descendants aren’t necessarily biologically related (e.g., Bulgaria
and Romania aren’t considered to be Rome’s grandsons, even though Romania
strongly insists otherwise).

Anyways, as for your question, no. Monaco is referred to as his protégé in a
volume 4 character note [x], although I’ve seen printed English translations where she’s referred to as his sister in the same note…

In Volume 6, she’s referred to as his “kind-of sister.”

She and Italy refer to France as big brother;
however, we know that Italy uses it as a term of endearment and given that
Monaco is his protégé, I would apply the same logic [x].

Hey, so, before some wars in the 1700s, the French and
Spanish had A LOT more colonized land in North America than England, so in
Hetalia, wouldn’t that make France more of a parental figure? Before the wars
in 1700s at least. (I got this from my AP US History book)

Hetalia isn’t historically accurate, so it’s not the best
lens for analyzing relationships between the characters. Use the original
source material for interpretation (i.e., the manga).

I’ve done some posts that highlight the paternal
relationship that France has with America

[x] [x], but it still stands that England was
his primary father figure/ mentor. Even so, we know that because of England’s
long absences it was minimal.

Ex: America is jealous of kids who get presents from their fathers on Christmas [x].

Hello! Can you tell please in which period of
time strip “While you were gone” takes place?

I think it takes place
during the intermission period between WW1 and WW2. Both Lithuania and Poland
were independent, but Lithuania still warns of political tensions and the
likely possibility of Poland being targeted. Italy had also just gained his independence [x].

I’m very
sorry to hear that.

In the series, what
we’ve seen is that if ordered to, the nations will promote propaganda despite
not necessarily believing in it. This doesn’t mean that you can’t characterize them as you wish either.

Ex: Germany is
morally opposed to annexing Austria but is forced to [x]. In a later strip, he’s
seen promoting the annexation with other officers [x].

I hope this helps. All the
best, and thank you for sharing your voice and permitting me to comment.

I’ve already done posts on this subject. You can find them in my post directory [x] [x]

Q & A

Not 100% sure, but
Himaruya has cited Osprey’s publishing work as his main source for military
uniforms [x]. If you would like more insight into the resources he uses, you can
skim through Bamboo Thicket. He lists dozens of the books that he uses as
history sources.

Side note: If
anyone’s ever wondering why some of the facts on the Roman emperors are a bit
off from mainstream understandings, Himaruya is really into new theories about
them that contradict traditional historical narratives.

Speaking of ancients, am I the only who thinks
it’s weird that Korea’s portrayed to be so young? I think the theory is because
of the division of Korea, but it kinda irks me when fans make him out to be
this immature little perv (I know Hima wrote him as such but still) because
Korea has almost 2000 years of culture and history; the fact that he’s seen as
“younger” than Japan is kinda wild too considering the south half of the
peninsula was the one to filter tech from China to the island.

No, I get that. Those choices were made in poor taste.
However, there’s also the possibility that Korea is second generation,
just like Egypt and Greece are with their ancient counterparts. It really
depends, because you also have Japan, China, and Turkey who don’t have ancient
counterparts,

Just laying out the possibility, but it’s important to note
that this hasn’t been confirmed.

Is the BTT a canon trio?

Their dynamic is, not the name [x] [x] [x].

Ok so I’m not sure
if America’s glasses are fake or real because I remember I was reading the
manga and he was talking to Canada and said “I tried wearing glasses how do
they look” (chapter 207)so that had to be around 1845 or early 1846 so if his
glasses are real glasses I guess he would start to need them as Texas became
more powerful. The stronger Texas is the worse America’s vision is and the more
he relies on his glasses.

He got them in an
unspecified period after his independence. However, given that they represent
Texas, I’m fairly certain it’s 1845 [x].

In consistency with the
rules from chapter 1 of world stars, France and England note that America’s
personality changed after he gained them (*title changes) [x].

They’re not real glasses,
though. In addition to representing land, they serve the purpose of a superhero
trope (e.g., Clark Kent taking off his glasses and becoming Superman) [x] [x].

They can eat, but I don’t recall them every being shown to
have any teeth…or any internal organs for that matter…[x] [x]

They have limbs and can produce flags.

Q & A

It’s hard to believe Canada is older than
America lol

Again, given that England’s way of measuring age is who
learned the alphabet first—not to mention the uneasiness on
his face—I don’t think we can take that as a fact. It’s something
to keep in mind, an approximation, but not a tangible answer [x].

How do you think the nation’s interact with major
international/regional events (ie the World Cup). Off the example of the World
Cup, do you think they would have any part of it (ie, helping to greet their
NT, or shaking opposing nations hands before a match, etc) or would they be
just watching it/being as involved as normal people are? Watching tv, going to
games etc. thank you so much for all your content!

You’re welcome! I’m glad
you like it!

As far as I’m concerned,
it would be the latter. We’ve seen Romano and Italy abandon work to watch Fifa
2010 (due to other Italians being reported to do this), and there’s also the
scene where Romano and Spain watch professional soccer together [x].

Can you sum up the depiction of the American Revolution for
me?

That’s something you can
read for yourself! [x] [x] [x] [x].

But, you can have an
image of their mochis that’s coincidentally accurate of the event [x].

Hiya! So you’ve probably done a thing on this
already but could you make a thing about how rude Canada is?? He was pretty
mean in parts of the manga but those could’ve been faked idk

After you asked this, I did a post on the subject [x]. This is another misconception
concluding that Canada’s being mean without giving any context. He can be mean,
but it’s important to understand the reason for it. When he loses his temper,
it’s because he’s been pushed and taken advantage of too far. His anger doesn’t
just emerge in a vacuum.

It wasn’t fake either. Canada had and still has
a lot of pent-up frustration from being constantly compared to larger powers, especially America [x].

So Germany’s interested in Roman History?

Yes. There are numerous instances where he’s archiving and compiling
past historical records [x].

Invisibility on the World Stage:

Personal Relationships:

Invisibility on the
World Stage: