Do you think you could explain why independence sometimes causes a nation to age?

I sure can! Post coming up tonight.

In an earlier post, I talked about the lesser known sides of
Spain. This post will focus on the more obvious, yet ironically ignored,
positive aspects of his character. Spain has never been a plain character. The
problem is that his personality is often watered down, either as a result of
the anime or people choosing to selectively represent certain aspects of his
personality.

That said, let’s go over some examples.

He’s not a cheerful
ditz all the time:

Ex: He didn’t
take chibi Romano’s constant complaining without any resistance. On several occasions,
Spain’s shown to be calling him an idiot.

Ex: He’s an
emotional or “violent” drunk. It depends on which translation you have, but it
pretty much conveys the same thing.

My translation is a bit different from the one above:

“As long as you keep him away from booze, and don’t get on
his bad side, you should be fine.”

Ex: Prior to the
strip, teenage Romano had a huge obsession with fantasizing about/ role-playing
the medieval chivalric romance novels that he read. In comes Prussia, recklessly
spouting out keywords that seem to trigger Romano’s obsession again, much to
the latter’s dismay. Mother hen Spain quickly swoops in to give a deadly warning.

Ex: He melancholically
looks back on his and France’s rough childhoods.

Ex: When the
topic of discussions falls to what each nation is known for, Spain laments over
being known for cows and tomatoes.

He’s more than capable of reading the atmosphere:

Ex: His reaction
to America after the Stock Market crashes in 1939.

Ex: He’s
heartbroken when Veneziano chooses Austria over him during the Austrian War of
Succession. The scene alludes to the fact that Spain was deeply saddened in the
years following his divorce from Austria. Likewise, the way Spain revs up his
cheery attitude in light of being rejected seems to be more of a defense
mechanism, a guarded mask of emotions, than it is of his true personality.

I say this because Romano finds Spain weeping in the next
panel.

Ex: He solemnly hints to Chibitalia of what’s to become of him right before he and his brother are
both conquered.

His optimism is not out of sheer stupidity:

It’s more like it’s a desperate sort of optimism. The way
that Spain convinces himself to push forward with a smile is eventually
internalized until he himself doesn’t even realize that what he’s doing is
unrealistic and naive. As mentioned above, it’s also a coping mechanism.

Nonetheless, there are moments where he shows a deep awareness
of his economic/ political situation.

Ex:There’s a clear recognition that he’s lost his international
standing due to poverty.

Ex: Once again, his [desperate] optimism shines through in
how he copes with his weakened economy. He sings songs, and acts happy…

…but he’s more than aware of how deep and serious his money
problems are. He’s literally clinging to Germany, albeit for exaggerated humorous effect.

He may have a laid-back personality…

…but once he gets worked up about something, his passion
replaces his typical lazing around.

Ex: He fought to have olive oil continually be marketed as a staple product
of the EU.

Again, with Spain, it seems that the happiness he forces
onto himself allows him to get too carried away in what he does (e.g., over-manufacturing and then causing a property bubble).

That’s why he comes off as naïve and a bit air-headed. You could even argue
that it’s a slight dissociation from reality to help minimize any anxiety that
he feels.

His constant smiling is also a play on the fact that the sun
never set in the Spanish Empire.

He’s selfless:

Ex: Despite all the complaining and constant belittling that
he had to endure with Romano, Spain still saves him from Turkey.

Ex: Spain spent all his money on improving Romano’s
wardrobe. [Please note that Romano was too young to realize this]. Meanwhile,
his own clothes were in tatters.

Ex: When Romano immigrates to America, Spain is the first
person he calls. Their relationship is noted to be much deeper than the one
Romano shares with Veneziano.

Immediately, Spain’s mother hen mode gets switched on as he
asks Romano how he’s been and if he’s been eating well.

He also lets Romano know how proud he is of him working and
taking responsibility for himself for once.

That said, it wouldn’t make sense for a character predicated
on a stereotype of passion to be flat and static. He’s anything but.

Allow Romano to teach you how to give yourself a pep talk.

I wouldn’t say this annoys me greatly, but it’s definitely a
bit of a pet peeve of mine. Hardly any Hetalia characters are plain or
undeveloped. Even the less developed characters such as Seychelles or Belgium
are given enough depth and personality [don’t worry, I’ll eventually cover
them, as requested]. Unfortunately, the anime doesn’t showcase this due to time
constraints.

Spain isn’t plain. He never was, and some people’s
description of him simply doesn’t give his character justice. Claims that Spain
doesn’t stand out from other characters are unfounded. It doesn’t even take a
lot of digging to find many highpoints in his character. They’re all there; let’s
not sell him short in light of falling back on the lazy and cheap argument that
Hima’s portrayal of him is basic.

While I’ve done a post highlighting the lesser known sides
of him [x], I think now would be a good time to highlight how wonderful and
selfless his personality is.

Post on Spain coming up tonight!

They owe their
existence to them.

Ex: France lays out the rule that as long as the nation
possesses a stable government and a large enough citizenry to identify with
said national identity, the respective personification will remain and continue
to be immortal.

This rule is further confirmed in World Stars, where France
explicitly admits that he exists because of his citizens.

They openly interact with one another + humans know of their existence.

A common misconception that people often make is that the
nations’ identities are a secret kept from the public and that only their bosses
know about them. That simply isn’t true.

In fact, while some humans are shown to be perplexed by the
nations’ immortality, their overall existence is known to the public.

Ex: France introduces himself to Lisa, Jeanne d’Arc’s
reincarnate.

Ex: Italy flirts with his own citizens.

Interestingly, Italy’s also admitted to getting tired of
seeing the same faces of his citizens every day – a consequence of his
immortality. However, he does add to this and claims that seeing
these same faces can also be refreshing.

Point is, on top of their being no knowledge barrier of
their existence, the personifications openly interact with their citizens.

The Nations are Citizens Themselves.

Ex: Romano has his own passport.

Ex: Russia isn’t exempt from civilian duties, such as manual labor.

He’s forced to build a waterway alongside his people under
impoverished conditions.

He fought alongside his people in both world wars (as well
as any other personification), and endured the same notoriously terrible living
conditions that his soldiers were exposed to.

Ex: Coinciding with the last example, the nations serve in
their military. Here, America is tasked with tightening security among his
troops after Germany and Prussia successfully infiltrated them.

Population Demographics Affect the Nation’s Personality Traits, Behaviours, Habits, and Physiology:

Given that this is a series predicated on stereotypes, this
isn’t all that surprising.

Ex: China has a video game addiction resulting from this
becoming a rising problem among Chinese youth.

Ex: Germany strictly adheres to the directions of his GPS.
Hima drew this from a news story of a Bavarian who caused an accident by
following GPS directions.

Ex: Post WW1, several Lithuanians immigrated to America to
outsource their labor so that they could send money back home. As such,
Lithuania lived with America during this time.

The same thing happened with Romano. He went to live with America
during the first Industrial Revolution –a direct effect of his own people
migrating there for work.

Ex: As a result of his shifting cuisine (i.e. Indian and
Chinese influences), England is beginning to learn how to cook.

Ex: A nation’s obesity rate likewise impacts the weight of
the personification.

In previous posts, I’ve discussed how more often than not,
the nations are forced to comply with their bosses’ orders, often at the
expense of going against what they think is right. It would follow then, that
there’s a discrepant irony between what the nations represent (their people),
and who they serve (their bosses).

Despite this direct involvement of the gov’t facilitating nation
action, there are many instances where the nations lack very minimal political
power and influence. In other words, you don’t commonly see the nations facilitating
much gov’t action.

One of the prime examples of this would be how powerless
they are to stop corruption. Nonetheless, they still possess a deep awareness and
recognition of these political issues.

Without further ado, let’s go over some examples, shall we?

The Italy Brothers:

The Italy brothers experience a lot of troubles back home.
For one thing, they have the mafia and pick-pocketers who routinely steal from
him.

Italy has his car and phone stolen.

The mafia attempts to steal imports that Romano intends to
send to Spain.

As such, the prevalence of being constantly stolen from and
victimized ultimately motivated Romano to learn how to defend himself against
pick-pocketers.

Lastly, we get an explicit recognition from Italy that the
Italian Parliament suffers from transparency and corruption issues.

America:

America’s involvement in his politics is a tricky puzzle,
all right.

He’s incredibly optimistic about the outcome of his
elections…well, at the very least he leads on the façade of believing that
everyone will get along in the end.

England notes that because of how partisan America’s
citizens are, it divides the country.

America responds by saying that the “powerful enthusiasm” of
his citizens is a good thing…

…to which England counters by deeming America to be blithe
about the political division in his country. Basically, England is saying that
America is cheerfully indifferent about how polarized the Republicans and
Democrats are.

What makes me think that America is putting on a façade is
the fact that when he claims that everyone will get along in the end, the image
he pictures is in stark contrast to his statement. It reveals two beaten-up and
worn-down citizens agreeing on the fact that the President isn’t doing his job
well.

Go back to the first panel where America refers to their political
activism as “lively.” When comparing that statement to the fact that America is
implicitly acknowledging how potentially violent his politics can become, it shows a
reluctance on his part to confront the volatile–both verbal and sometimes
physical i.e. rallies or protests–aspects of his elections.

The “United after all” phrase seems like America is trying
to convince himself that the situation in his country isn’t that bad. It’s also
important to consider that this strip is recent, having come out in 2016.

It doesn’t end here, either. As a result of America’s
dividing politics, England expresses concern for the former’s health– a small
reminder that a nation’s health can be affected by the stability or instability
of their political situation.

Of course, America waves off England’s comment, likely not
wanting to admit that even with his super strength, he can grow weaker just
like any other nation can during dire economic recessions or turbulent socio-political
disputes.

What he says next, however, gives a better hint as to how
involved he is in his politics. It’s quite worrisome.

To surmise, means to accept something as true without possessing
the evidence to confirm it. If that’s the case and America’s merely guessing
what his citizens want, it would mean that he’s not directly involved in the campaigning and gathering of public opinion.

Without a decent grasp of what the polls are like before
voting, perhaps America is relying on media reports and/or word of mouth from
other gov’t officials on who the people are leaning toward. Point is, he doesn’t
seem to be directly involved in the process of actively talking to people
during elections.

This doesn’t mean to say that America is completely removed
from his politics. He hails and takes the privilege of voting very seriously.
What I’m trying to get at is that he might have more of a sideline role with
regards to how active and engaged he is during elections.

Russia:

This one is pretty disturbing and unsuprising, but it still
goes to show how little control a nation has over their gov’t.

Bluntly and with a
troubled look on his face, Russia admits that votes [and people] in his country disappear, and
that he doesn’t even know if all of the votes are counted.

France’s Speculation about Germany:

While this is just a speculation on France’s part, it
nevertheless demonstrates the recognition that nations are capable of taking
part in corrupted schemes. As stated above, however, they don’t always have the
discretion to oppose these gov’t orders.

France suspects
that Germany took part in a conspiracy where he knew that letting Greece into the
EU would cause the European economy to crash.

Germany obviously denies this.

It’s the realized possibility that matters here, not the
actuality of it playing out in real life.

That said, while the nations are often used as puppets by
their leaders, that doesn’t mean that they share a similar mindset. Instead,
when presented with issues like corruption, it causes them to experience reciprocal
internal conflict.

Are the nations ever concerned about America and his elections?

Well, I mean, it’s enough for even Romano to give America advice on what he should do.

Misconception: He was an ungrateful child.

In reality, Romano
didn’t realize how much Spain had sacrificed for him until well into his
adulthood. In that sense, he can be even more oblivious than Spain at times.

Ex: Spain spent money
on improving Romano’s wardrobe, despite wearing rags himself.

Misconception: He
hates Spain.

Spain and Romano share
a very close relationship. What happens is that Romano often gets irritated with
Spain because they tend to switch from completely understanding one other to
not understanding each other at all.

Remember that when he
moved to America for work, Spain was the first person Romano called. He was in
a scary and unfamiliar environment and was all on his own. The fact that he
calls Spain is most telling of the less expressive but nonetheless strong bond they
share together.

Misconception: Romano’s
lazy

Yes, but not all the time. Romano’s a very competent worker when he puts his mind to it.

The truth is that there’s an evident tension between Romano and Veneziano
as a result of their rushed and sudden unification. They were separated for
centuries with minimal contact, and as such, have had a difficult time
reconciling.

Romano grudgingly moves
to America to sustain himself, as he didn’t want to rely on
Veneziano.

While he does complain
frequently, he’s still an exceptionally hard worker. Here, he’s even shown to
be above paying for shoes. Arguably, he’s the harder worker out of the two brothers. I’ll
get back to this in a moment.

There’s also an
interesting conflict regarding how the two Italy brothers share their workload. Romano wants Veneziano to work in order for him to work too while Veneziano wants Romano to “work properly.”

Likewise, there’s the
problem of North Italy infantilizing Romano and his capacity to work and be productive. He has a tendency to alleviate Romano’s workload, much to the latter’s annoyance.

Misconception: He
hates North Italy.

Not quite – he detests
him “a bit.”

The two don’t share
the greatest relationship. This likely stems from the fact that Romano suffers
from an inferiority complex in comparison to his brother, who was spoiled and
tended to more by their grandfather. Combine that with a rushed unification,
and there’s inevitably going to be some tension between them.

What you’ll see is
that Romano will insult Veneziano face-to-face– admittedly, quite spitefully and
rudely– only to discreetly look after his well-being behind his back.

Misconception: He’s
got an emotionally-strong backbone

Romano’s an even
bigger crybaby than Veneziano. He’s extremely sensitive.

Ex: He’s insecure
about his height.

Hopefully this sheds more light on Romano’s character. He’s not the stiff, rude, and unmotivated jerk that I often see him portrayed as in fanon.

While he can act like this, this isn’t how he always is. There’s a deeply emotional, anxious, caring, motivated, and passionate side of him that also needs to be recognized.

Friend: You should get rid of the fandom merchandise you have lying around. It’s taking up too much space.

Me:

Could you do a character analysis of Hungary or Romano?

Sure! I’ll save Hungary, my idol, for another time.

Let’s go over some misconceptions about Romano, shall we? Post coming up tonight!