There is no real way to
read Hetalia. It’s all over the place 😛 What I did was divide it into
sections. I read the volumes, then the non-linear strips, then world stars,
then Bamboo Thicket, and so on and so forth.

It’s a lot of material,
so good luck!

Welcome! Sorry, friend. I
don’t play cards and don’t understand how they work, so I’ve never been into
that AU. There are some trope websites that explain the AU better than I can.

As for advice…uh…

– Don’t expect historical accuracy, otherwise you’re
setting yourself up for disappointment.

– Hetalia walks a fine line of offensive humour,
so it’s not meant for everyone. It’s a satire based on stereotypes that aren’t always
accurate, so you need a certain type of humour for it.

– Instead of being harassed and engaging with
someone you don’t agree with, just block them. It’s better for both parties.
Tumblr has an extension where you blacklist certain tags.

– Fiction does not give anyone in the fandom an
excuse to be culturally insensitive. Unlike other fandoms, Hetalia has real-world
implications with real people and real nations.

– Find your niche! Join Rp groups, discords, or other similar
communities. The fandom is a lot more welcoming and tamer than it used to be. On
the other hand, our feedback culture is generally poor and it can be discouraging
at times.

 Well, think of it this way. The series is based
on stereotypes, right?

Let’s use
African nations whose populations have an overwhelming majority of Blacks (obviously, this doesn’t include every
African nation). 

Since there’s a much higher percentage of them than there
is any other ethnic/ racial group, it would make sense to have these nations be
depicted as darker in skin tone. Skin tones vary and so do ethnic groups, yes,
but Hetalia is very much oriented around stereotypes, which includes the majority
and/or perceived majority.

I can tell that
wasn’t your intention 🙂

I really appreciate
that you recognize the difference between the dub and canon. I’ve done a few posts
with sources on the subject if you’d like to check them out [x] [x].

I’m blushing. 

Sort of? 

I’m in the top percentile for my grades (third and fourth year are mainly essays in social sciences undergraduate studies), but I’m also the type of student who never looks up from their laptop and doesn’t raise their hand. The only time the profs hear from me is if I have a rebuttal for the grade I received. 

There’s one prof who I’m close with. He was the one where I incorporated Hetalia memes into the final paper and still managed to pull off an A+ in the class. That reminds me. I’m going to have to start making better relationships if I’m to hope for the possibility of reference letters…

It’s a complicated trajectory. My first introduction was in middle school where two cliques of girls were fighting over USUK and FrUk.