characterization in hetalia – Page 13 – Ellawritesficssometimes

Before, I’ve speculated that the reason Italy has his eyes
closed is that he doesn’t see the truth of the world. First, he was sheltered
by the protection his grandfather provided for him and didn’t realize how
brutal the world truly was.

Then, I argued that after the traumas of being conquered and
losing Holy Rome, Italy kept his eyes shut as a conscious decision. In other
words, he refused to see the truth around him.

Following said logic, this would explain why Italy rarely
opens his eyes in front of Germany. Perhaps this is him not wanting to
acknowledge his uncanny appearance to Holy Rome. He may even realize that
Germany is connected to Holy Rome in some way or another, but chooses to ignore
it, sparing himself from the painful reminder of his first true love.

However, that’s not what I want to talk about in this post.
What I do want to talk about is that the Italy we know and love is hinted at
hiding another side of himself…a scary one too.

In the Christmas 2011 event, Italy is requested to keep his
eyes open for a long period of time. Italy’s shocked response prompts Germany
to comment that it can’t be that difficult for him to do so.

What I find suspicious is that Italy conveniently falls
asleep in the following panel, almost as if he doesn’t want to open his eyes.
Given the context, it also wouldn’t make sense for him to fall asleep during Christmas,
as he’s known to love being around people and adores any kind of festivities.
This is completely out of character for him.

Even stranger is that when Italy does open his eyes, he
later remarks that it’s best if he keeps them closed. Okay…

So, what about this side of himself he’s hiding? Well,
there’s one strip that disturbs me every time I think about it, that being
“Mind-reading Binoculars.”

Here, Japan invents binoculars that reveal what
people are thinking. After pointing it at Italy, Japan doesn’t believe what he
sees and concludes that the binoculars are defective. On the contrary, I think
this was purposefully done and that they do in fact work properly.

Scary, right? And yet, it also makes sense for Italy to
possess such a dark side (rather than his excessively cheerful, albeit insecure
one) to him given how brutal his history has been. Once again, we return to
this motif of truth and hidden secrets. Hima’s definitely going somewhere with
this…but…

Would you believe it if I said he’s been planning this other
side of Italy right from the very start?

When Germany first meets Italy, Italy is hiding in an empty
tomato crate and pretends to be a fairy. Germany’s word choice is quite eerie
in this particular scene.

I’m sorry, but “show your true self” (?!). Why so
specific? That is, unless the word “true” has an alternate meaning in terms of
Italy hiding parts of himself.

If so, that’s quite possibly the most brilliant
foreshadowing I’ve ever seen.

I’ve also noticed that when Italy opens both
eyes, it functions as him reassuring someone and/or telling them the truth of
his intentions/ actions. Roughly speaking, it’s comparable to Pinnochio…
Pin-eye-chio… Nah, it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Back to the Christmas Event, this also might explain why
Germany immediately covers Italy’s face once he opens his eyes. How I see it is
that it symbolizes how Germany may indeed know about the truth of his past, but
decides to cover it up and ignore it as opposed to confronting it.

Anyways, every time Italy tells the truth, his eyes open.
So, is he living a lie then? I really do think Hima’s going somewhere with
this, and encourage all of you to look at any examples where Italy opens both eyes.

Note: This post will be looking at potential hints of female pairings or same-sex attraction, as requested. For the most part, the nations I will be mentioning have in fact shown attraction to males too. A more complete post on the nations’ sexuality will eventually be made, though. The examples shown are not all of them either. There are plenty of them, believe me.

Okay, let’s get it out of the way right now: Monaco and Taiwan
are hitting up the charts with their heavily hinted – but not confirmed – attraction
to girls. It makes me incredibly happy to see this possible representation in the
comics, and I’m even more excited to share it with you all.

First, there’s the 2011 Christmas event. There, Taiwan
states that she is unable to concentrate due to the amount of cleavage the Western
female nations are showing. Monaco then reassures her and sweetly waves it off.
Taken alone, this may not seem significant, but you certainly see progress with
Taiwan as you flip forward into later strips.

Now, let’s go over some panels included in the Halloween
2013/2014 event. After spotting Belarus from afar, Taiwan literally exclaims “Gorgeous
lady at 12:00 o’ clock!” and then proceeds to complement Belarus with notable
excitement.

And then comes Ukraine.

I mean, there’s really not that much to say. You can see it
for yourselves: there’s a clear blush on Taiwan’s face and she looks just a little
bit too happy to see Ukraine’s (breasts), don’t you think?

Don’t believe me still? Here’s Taiwan blushing, complementing Vietnam,
and just looking plain elated to be surrounded by them. She doesn’t seem to be
so shy about these feelings anymore.

There also appears to be this scheme where Taiwan purposefully
made Vietnam’s costume smaller and tighter than what it should be, as the costume
is her size as opposed to Vietnam’s – Taiwan is significantly smaller than Vietnam.

Lastly, there’s Monaco, who comments that Ukraine looks “modestly
sexy.” Again, when taken on its own, it doesn’t seem like much.

However, when asked if she would wear a revealing costume,
Monaco says that she’s better at being an onlooker and is then compared to an
old man by Taiwan. I don’t know, I read this as Monaco embodying something akin
to a male gaze…an appreciative male gaze. There’s also the stereotype that old
men are more perverted; obviously this isn’t the case, but it’s a pretty common
gag.

Take what you want from what I just presented, but I personally
believe there is enough evidence in the strips that at the very least hint at the
existence of same-sex attraction among the female nations.

Note: While I
disagree with a lot of South Korea’s characterization in the series, his shortcomings are not the intended focal point of this post, as designated by the
title. Just wanted to acknowledge that and make it clear.

South Korea’s curl is said to represent his soul…probably.
However, knowing Hima, I think this may just be a pun for South Korea’s capital
– Seoul. It’s often said that a capital city is the soul of a nation; they’re
cultural and political hubs that show off its best features.

It’s also been speculated that South Korea’s curl represents
the yin-yang symbol on their flag. I believe Hima incorporates this sort of
symbolism more so in how he characterizes South Korea’s polarized personality.

The red half (Yang) symbolizes positive cosmic forces, and
is often associated with the sun and warmth. The blue half (Yin) symbolizes
negative cosmic forces, and is often associated with the moon, darkness, and
coldness. Taken together, the yin-yang is supposed to represent the balance of
the Universe, as well as the mind, body, and yes – the spirit (i.e. soul).

What I’ll be arguing here is that South Korea is given two
distinct personalities in the series. He’s either very joyous and full of
energy, or there are other times where he seems insecure and unsure of himself.

The running gag with South Korea is that he falsely claims
to invent things. He’s very cheerful, and often bugs China and Japan.

On the other hand, there are plenty of times where he’s not
depicted this way. For example, Japan shows confusion at the fact that South
Korea willingly makes Japanese food for other countries and mimics his behaviour,
despite the fact that South Korea ‘hates’ him.

There’s another instance where he gets Japan to watch
one of his K-dramas. To me, it seems like he wants Japan’s praise to act as
some sort of validation. He’s mimicking Japan, and appears to be vying for his
approval. Given their economic relations after WW2, I wouldn’t say this is too
much of a stretch.

South Korea’s hidden insecurity is revealed further in the
strip where Japan creates mind-reading binoculars. After using them on China,
South Korea refuses to believe that China doesn’t want him around and denies
the truth of the binoculars. He thinks they don’t work properly.

In terms of his appearance, South Korea’s photogeneity and
obsession with photoshop is likely a reflection of the cosmetic and plastic surgery
culture in his country. South Korea has one of the highest plastic surgery
rates in the world, and as such, this is often linked to their extremely high
suicide rate, especially among young adults. Beauty is everything in the
country, and it would seem this is important to South Korea too as he
photoshops every-day photos of himself, perhaps unhealthily.

There’s also the fact that whenever a photo is taken of him,
it’s impossible for it to be unflattering. He’s naturally photogenic, and yet, he
still takes great lengths to perfect his appearance. Again, I think this is
just reflective of his nation’s notion of beauty and self-care.

Lastly, South Korea is shown to have an uncertain relationship
with America. In an uncompleted strip, he immediately agrees to whatever
America says.

Then, in another strip, South Korea mentions making a movie
and showing it to America. Once more, we see how he may possibly be trying to
gain respect and validation from the other nations.

Overall, it would seem that South Korea isn’t simply a happy
and flat character. Instead, his personality is notably polarized, and there
are indeed moments where his insecurities reveal themselves. It just so happens
that his curl might symbolize these opposite personalities.

There’s so many subtle hints and Easter Eggs that Hima
includes in his story-lines that I just have to talk about, since they appear to
be dismissed very easily. The amount of detail he puts into each strip, the
placement and sequence of the panels, the symbolism, and the foreshadowing he
uses to connect seemingly random strips together is sheer brilliance. With that
said, let’s start this new series!

In the “Lithuania’s Outsourcing” strips, Lithuania moves in
with America after WW1, as his economy had been experiencing a serious economic
recession.

Immediately,
England gets suspicious, and being the nosy person that he is, he decides to
investigate if Lithuania’s being treated right by America. To me, this just
seems like a subtle form of jealousy in the sense that America is spending time
with someone else.

Anyways, America greets England by serving him coffee, which
is noted to be out of spite due to his lingering grudge from the Revolutionary
War. It’s a petty way of getting the last laugh over the situation.

Later, in the “Cleaning Out the Storage” strip, America reminisces
about said war and experiences several flashbacks. What Hima does next wraps
everything up subtly, and that’s what makes me admire his craft so much. You
can either enjoy Hetalia for its superficial face value, or you can look deeper
and find nuanced little details…well, everywhere.

Regardless, the scene ends with Lithuania serving America,
yes, coffee. This is the perfect conclusion in my opinion, as it reveals how
broken and fragmented America and England’s relationship is. It’s just the
right amount of conflict:

You can see how
fond America is of his early days with England, and yet, it’s clear that he’s
not ready to let go of his grudge just yet.