The time’s come to begin delving into the older characterizations
in the series, those of which owe Hetalia much of its poor reputation today. What
doesn’t help is that those in the fandom either deny the mistakes that Hima
made in the past or ignore them completely. Both of these actions do more harm
than good.

To be as objective as possible, it’s important that we
acknowledge the series’ early, but nonetheless problematic past. In doing so,
this then opens up more avenues to discuss how the characters have evolved and
changed for the better. Put another way, it’s more effective to air out the
dirty laundry as opposed to letting it [rumours/ misconceptions] sit there in
an unresolved mess.

Another point to hit on is that it’s pivotal that we
recognize that Hima has learned from his past errors. The characterization of
the nations has moved way past the unfunny middle school sexual humour that
used to define them. While things went too far in the past, the fact that they
don’t today is enough to hold Hima into account.

Creators grow and learn from their mistakes. If they prove
to learn from said mistakes, there’s really no reason to continue to shame them
for something that was created years ago
– in this case, a decade.

That said, let’s get into it.

I’ll be blunt. The humour in the early strips is incredibly offensive.
I’m often reminded of how this type of humour was normalized back then. Not
only that, but I remember making some of these jokes myself without really understanding
the meaning of what I was saying. Of course, this doesn’t make any of this
right.

Some of these jokes would include France stripping and groping
other nations.

A good part of this content was owed to the fans as well, who
encouraged and requested nations to do these sort of things [x]. At the time, the
humour was supported because that was the joke culture. It wasn’t as connotatively
aware as it is today.

Briefly, as I’ve already touched on, France’s stripping
doesn’t stem from a French stereotype of sexuality. Instead, it stems from the
stereotype that the French tended to swoop in for fresh pickings of territories
after European conflicts. The best way I can describe it is that they were like
scavengers; they stripped the losing nations to the bone.

Ex: This is seen when France strips Austria clean after the
War of Austrian Succession.

The reason I’m going over this is simply to point out that
France’s stripping did occasionally have a logic to it, bizarre and problematic
as it was.

Likewise, since a nation’s body is a physical embodiment of
their geographic landmass, each body part respectively represents a certain
territory (e.g., Austria’s ahoge represents Mariazell).

This would explain why France ‘rubbed’ Italy’s chest when
his economy was doing poorly. He was seeking territories to profit from.

Like I said, bizarre and problematic.

Even so, there were still boundaries in place for France’s
early characterization. The running gag of the old humour was predicated on
recognizing that France’s behaviour was outlandish.

Ex: He was once arrested for his lewd behaviour.

Ex: In the first chapters of the original webcomic, he states plain
as day that love shouldn’t be forced on anyone.

Ex: For a supposedly territory-happy nation, he’s once shown to have grown uncomfortable at the prospect of imperialism.

Ex: Similarly, when Italy hadn’t covered himself properly,
France had no trouble pointing this out to him.

The humour may be perverse, but France wasn’t always
perverted. This is especially the case in
later strips, where this lewd behaviour has disappeared completely and for a
good reason.

There was a clear recognition that France’s characterization
was not up to par, and over the years, he’s blossomed into something truly beautiful.

The present France is the mouthpiece for exploring several
dark subjects in the series.

Let’s go over a few.

France gives us the best insight into the reason why nations
exist.

…

We implicitly learn from him [his citizens] the pain of constantly seeing loved ones die should a person possess immortality.

The angle then shifts to France, who gazes at a young family. How just a handful of panels can convey so much emotion, longing in particular, is beyond me.

There’s this one moment with Lisa, Jeanne d’Arc’s
reincarnate, that always sticks with me.

France felt betrayed by God in how
unforgiving history was for letting Jeanne die so tragically. When he first saw
Lisa, he believed God was playing a cruel trick on him.

When he realizes that Jeanne has been born into a much
happier life, the peace of mind on his face is undeniable.

It took remarkable strength for France to confront this resentment
and pain, let alone to have the heart to let go and accept that history has
paved a better course for Jeanne, albeit it being in a different life.

Given how rough his own history has been, the ability to
forgive and love reflects on how truly resilient and strong he is as a person.

France also acts as a great father figure to America, having
originally helped the latter gain their independence.

He comes to America’s centennial celebration. The genuity of
the gesture is what truly matters here. America wasn’t just a vessel for France
to spite England, contrary to how his government perceived this conflict as an
opportunity for. There’s a true supportive relationship here.

I’ll end on this. While France’s character may have been
poorly characterized in the past, that shouldn’t take away from how he’s
enjoyed now. He went from a character ‘stripped’ of meaning to a personality
teeming with complicated thoughts, emotions, and life nuances.

There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging the prior mishaps
of how he was depicted so long as it’s recognized that he’s since changed and
grossly at that.

France: I’m not THAT high maintenance

England: *looks at the camera like he’s in the office*

Okay but France and England clearly hate each other

No, they don’t. They’re long-time frenemies that bicker a lot but are nonetheless able to get along with each other. [x]

Sure thing. I think it’s about time that I started covering this. It’s important to acknowledge the series’ controversial past if we’re to get anywhere with recognizing how far it’s evolved.

Earlier depictions of some of the nations were far from okay. That said, I find it pointless to hold a creator accountable for mistakes that they’ve presently shown to have learned from. You can like a series and still recognize past mishaps that it’s overcome.

Post on the evolution of France’s character coming up tonight!

Note: This post
can be very triggering for some people. Please take care of yourself and don’t
read this if you are sensitive to the topic of eating disorders.

To start, let’s lay out one ground rule. We know that
population statistics respectively affect the nations’ behaviours, habits, and
personalities. When something is common in the population, the personification
adopts it too.

For example, America’s people strongly believe in aliens and
conspiracy theories.

As such, America also believes in aliens and conspiracy
theories.

It would follow, then, that given how big the fast food and
dieting industries are in America –what a
massive contradiction that is – he would also be affected by this.

Well, he is.

While I can’t attest to how accurate this statistic is, Hima
cites that 60% of Americans are overweight. What matters here is that this
statistic explains why America is also ‘overweight’. He’s not actually. I’ll get back to that in a minute.

Point is, America has been struggling with weight and
dieting issues from some of the earliest strips. Of course, this is because the
fast-food industry really took off after WW2. The dieting industry came a bit
afterward when people began realizing how much weight they were gaining by
eating so much processed food.

The same thing happens to America. Initially, he doesn’t
realize the effect that constantly eating burgers has on his
metabolism.

This then leads him to inquire about the eating habits of
other nations as well as how they maintain their thin figures.

The problem with America is that this obsession with dieting
becomes unhealthy, exactly as it is with the American population. Eating
disorders and crash diets are chronic in North America. It’s a major problem
that isn’t really talked about. Hima, on the other hand, characterizes America
to accurately reflect this.

In his introductory chapter of World Stars (chapter 23), the
topic of his dieting session is immediately brought up. I don’t think this
would be done unless it was something pivotal to his characterization.

The character note claims that America’s gotten over his
dieting craze and has accepted that he’s not actually fat but rather muscular
and big-boned.

That’s the mental illness aspect of eating disorders. You
claim that you’re better despite the fact that you keep relapsing into
unhealthy habits. This thought process can be very convincing, as some people
with eating disorders truly believe that they’re healthy and that there’s
nothing wrong with what they’re doing.

Expectedly, later chapters contradict this.

Not even that, literally the next chapter depicts him
struggling with his weight. When he measures himself on the scale and a large
number turns up, he convinces himself that it’s broken. If that wasn’t enough,
he also calls Germany to fix the scale.

How I interpret this is that America is in denial and is stubbornly
fighting with himself over the number on the scale.

In the same chapter, he falls back to his old dieting tactics
and asks Italy about his eating habits.

This isn’t the first time the insecurity over his weight is
shown either.

Ex: In the strips depicting what each country is known for,
America is shown to be painting over the American stereotype of being “fat.” As
someone who seems to be struggling with his body image, it makes sense that he
wouldn’t want to be known as an obese country.

The problem with America is that he overeats, sets unrealistic
body goals, and then doesn’t follow through with these goals. This, in turn,
leads to a rigorous cycle of dieting and feeling poor about himself.

Ex: One of his New Year’s Resolution to “take better care of his
health” is to have a body fat percentage of 3%. Obviously, this isn’t a
realistic goal. It’s far from healthy.

Notice how being slimmer has been his resolution for the past 30
years. It’s not something that’s gone away, as it’s a problem that’s
persistently affected Americans over the years.

The cycle continues when, in the same strip, he treats
himself to a hamburger and milkshake.

The last that we see of this problem is when he trains China
to help him lose weight. [Chinese obesity rates have been on the
rise lately.]

Regardless of the fact that America possesses super strength
and possesses more physical endurance than normal, a 10,000 corkscrew punch workout is
not normal. If anything, this is indicative of another unhealthy dieting
tactic.

In sum, America’s dieting/ workout habits and
overconsumption of junk food are owed to the prevalence of the fast food and
dieting industries of his country. Given the evidence I just presented, it’s
not a stretch to claim that he suffers from body issues and has an eating
disorder.

America: I’m totally open to hearing other opinions!

Also America:

Does England know that he’s a poor parent figure?

It’s more like it’s a recurring joke that others call him out for this and he denies it.

It’s not a stretch at all. In fact, this is something about
America’s characterization that has been consistent way back into the early
years of the series.

While it’s not controversial, this can trigger a lot of
people. Of course, I will give a trigger warning again, but for anyone who is
struggling/ has recovered from an eating disorder, please take care of yourself
first. I would rather you not read this and would happy to provide a summary if
you feel like this would cause you to lose progress and fall back on your old
habits.

Full disclosure, I struggled with an eating disorder for
four years. This isn’t something that I intend to take lightly, and the last thing
I want is to trivialize a subject as serious as this for the sake of angst. What
I do aim to do is explain why and how America is characterized like this.

Post coming up tonight.

Anon 1: Agreed, on that first point! I think with Hetalia it strikes a good balance of finding moments of triviality and silliness within a wider historical backdrop of loneliness, pain, and melancholy of the past. Is that so? Why not find enjoyment in the fact that reality isn’t a perfect cookie-cutter version of what we desire? The imperfect is realistic, and that’s what I personally love about Hetalia so much. Unfortunately…

…the anime is completely unrepresentative of the series in that it only depicts the stock qualities of the characters and aims primarily for a happy angle, rather than exploring some of the emotional nuances and traumas that have consistently popped up in the manga.

World Stars especially has fleshed out the mental healths of several nations. Don’t get me wrong either. I know how limited the anime medium is in exploring these angles. It’s just sad that this is what Hetalia is known for.

Ironically, my biggest pet peeve are the canon police of fandoms. I think everyone should have free reign to take artistic liberties, so long as they don’t declare their interpretations to be canon.

[You didn’t ask this off anon, so I couldn’t answer privately].

Anon 2: Yes, of course ^^. I’m working on France’s right now, actually!

Anon 3: Oh man. That’s something I’ve never really thought about to be honest.

I love all of the characters and don’t dislike any of them.

I don’t really have any favorites. They’re all flawed, and they all have their good qualities. There are very few series where I feel this way, but damn, Hima’s characterization man. It’s too good.

There’s a profound lack of clarity when it comes to Germany’s
knowledge of the past, including his own. That said, let’s go over a brief
run-down of what we know that he knows.

Knowledge of his
Past/ Ancestors + Fabrications:

Prussia is the one that tells Germany all about his past.
What makes lots of people, including me, believe that Prussia is hiding Germany’s
unconfirmed past as Holy Rome is that the stories he tells Germany are
inaccurate. He’s an unreliable story-teller.

In this case, the stories have to do with Prussia’s own past, as he lies about how “cool” or “rugged” he used to be. Germany’s understanding of what Prussia used to be is very different from reality.

Regardless, Japan is the one who gives us the best insight on this, as
he’s able to pick up on the fact that Germany believes everything that he’s
told about the past.

On the other hand, what’s strange is in another strip where
Prussia begins telling Germany about his past, Germany is completely
uninterested. He’s more focused on chores than he is on his own genealogy.

There is no explicit discussion of Germany’s relation to
Germania either. It mostly focuses on his older brothers – the German states.

However, despite the inconsistencies in Germania’s relation
to Germany, recent strips claim that Germany is his son. Again, what I find
strange is that Germany doesn’t inquire about his past far enough to at least
know about Germania.

He knows about Rome and even encounters the latter when he
visits down from Heaven and yet there’s no interaction/ discussion of Germania.

I’m of the mindset that Hima’s left things unclear and
undetailed on purpose. That way, he has more leeway to work with if he wants to
confirm in later chapters that Germany is, in fact, Holy Rome. Please remember
that this is all theory, none of this is confirmed.

Research:

Despite all this, Germany has been shown on several
occasions to possess knowledge about the past, full of holes and vague as it
may be when we do see this depicted.

He does a lot of research for someone that seems to be
uninterested in his past.

Ex: He has a deep interest in Roman culture and history.

Ex: He’s conducted research in fixing historical records of Ancient Rome to make the narratives more accurate.

Ex: He once referenced the Dancing Conference, which occurred
right after the Napoleonic Wars. The point to emphasize here is that Holy Rome
was dissolved because of Napoleon.

If he has knowledge
about this figure, it inevitably means that he’s aware of the Holy Roman
Empire (duh). Likewise, historically, he would have to given what the Third Reich was
predicated on reviving…

Lastly, what’s interesting is that despite his knowledge of
Roman History, Germany doesn’t know much about Italy’s past.

Ex: He does his initial research in finding out that Italy
is a descendant of Rome.

However, in modern strips, he’s surprised to find out that
Chibitalia was able to ward off the Ottoman Empire on his own. He’s so used to
seeing Italy as a ‘hetare’ that he can’t imagine him in any other way.

Has Germany Recovered Memories of His Past?

There are two theories that I have in making the assumption
that a) Germany is an amnesiac Holy Rome, and b) he’s gaining his memories.

One position I take is that Germany has already recovered
his memories of Holy Rome but refuses to acknowledge the past and doesn’t tell
anyone about this. This would explain his lack of interest when Prussia brings
up their past. He already knows but doesn’t want to confront it.

This is well substantiated given that Germany has a strong
belief in data, and doesn’t believe in the supernatural. Even though Holy Rome
didn’t die right after dissolution, the fact that he didn’t is unexplainable.

Germany is of a scientific mindset and would therefore
probably ride it off. It’s not something he would accept. The surprise at
Chibitalia’s strength in earlier panels is simply because Holy Rome never got
to see Italy be that strong.

The other position I take is that Germany is just beginning
to recover his memories of Holy Rome, having previously repressed them from
before to guard against being re-traumatized.

Ex: In Buon San Valentino, Germany’s stress causes him to
blackout. During this panic episode, fuzzy images of Chibitalia appear, almost
as if they were semi-inaccessible memories.

Ex: Germany is once depicted to be holding Chibitalia.
Take note of the question mark and the phrase “it’s me”.

To me, this seems like
Chibitalia is an unconscious aspect of Germany’s mind trying to pierce his conscious memory.

Ex: There’s also the strange occurrence where a child that
looks exactly like Holy Rome/ Germany is pressing to be ‘acknowledged.’ From a
psychological lens, this would be interpreted as repressed memories of Germany’s
childhood trying to reach his conscious mind.

Ex: Germany’s love for Italian culture and life can be seen
as him unconsciously remembering how much Holy Rome wanted to have Chibitalia
be part of his house.

However you want to see it, you have to admit that the
amount of questions left unanswered with regards to Germany’s past is done for
a reason. We just don’t know why exactly that is just yet.

Knowledge of his Past/ Ancestors + Fabrications:

Research:

Has Germany Recovered Memories of His Past?

Knowledge of his
Past/ Ancestors + Fabrications: