Q & A

Isn’t it super sad that almost the whole fandom forgets about
the fact that Italy is really good with clothing and fashion but wears big,
silly t-shirts instead?

I mean, France of all people pretty much states that Italy
isn’t very good at fashion [x].

Then again, I don’t think Himaruya can make up his mind on
what Italy’s sense of fashion is given how contradictory pieces of canon
information are.

Ex: Italy can’t pay his electric bill because he’s spending
too much on clothes + his dressed-up cosplay ventures [x] [x]

If there is a significant demographic shift in
a country (ex. if a minority group shifts to become the majority), will the
personification’s appearance and/or behavior also change? P.S.: Your content is
always awesome! I love your stuff, keep up the good work and thank you!

Thank you!

The nation’s appearances
first and foremost are based on stereotypes. Even if a minority becomes a
majority, more emphasis is placed on how the country is known to the world.
However, internal demographic traits and political, social, and economic
developments can affect the nation’s health, behaviours, and personalities [x].

Try to bear with me while I ask this, I’m not the
greatest with words so the phrasing might not come out right. Um, this has
confused me, unification is like a marriage, right? Okay, so wouldn’t they be cheating
on their spouse if their dates other nations. And what would of happened to two
married nations of other suddenly married another nations. Wouldn’t break and
upset their people, wouldn’t that cause trouble… And if they represent the
same country how’d that work. I’m sorry, very confused.

Even though the words
are used interchangeably, unification
is more often used in reference to the formation of one country (i.e., states,
territories coming together; German Unification, Italian Unification), whereas
marriage involves the union and/ or partnership between two countries.

Unions don’t necessarily have
romantic overtones either [x].

I was just wondering, do you think the
england’s personality is at all influenced by the germanic stereotype? some
consider him part of the germanic family (historically england has strong
germanic influences + he has blond hair where the rest of his family seem to be
brunettes and redheads) and he’s definitely bad at showing his emotions, or do
you think these stereotypes only apply to actual german-speaking countries?

Probably not. He may not
be good at conveying himself, but unlike the Germanics, England is volatilely
expressive. He’s not stoic but rather extremely hot-tempered, sensitive, and
impulsive [x].

On the other hand, there
has been some Germanic influence depicted, albeit minimal. From what I can
recall, there is one panel depicting the Danish Conquest of England [x].

Thank you, same to you :D.

I know that Austria spent part of his life in his
wheelchair [x], and that Romano had chorea when he was younger (Vol 1).

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].

Q & A

would you consider france a narcissist? lately
people seem to make that one of his character traits and (correct me if I’m
wrong) I haven’t seen a lot of straight of narcissism in him, but yeah I could
be wrong. Thank you.

Yes and no.

There are different definitions of narcissism, so sometimes
they’re muddled and conflated together. He’s a mix and match of them.

He’s a narcissist in terms of his love for himself and the
great care and pride he takes in his physical appearance. He also satisfies the
craving for admiration requirement [x] [x].

The
most important point I want to stress is that France, unlike most narcissists, isn’t
selfish [x].

Do you think that Russia is annoyed at America
so much because America isn’t intimidated by him or something along those
lines? I ask this because America always seems purposefully oblivious to
Russia’s threats and relatively unphased by them while other nations are
terrified.

I really like how you said “purposefully oblivious,” because
that’s exactly how I read it too. A good example of this comes from Volume 5–America is completely unfazed by the threat.

Anyways, I would say so. Russia even admits that he sometimes
wants to “smash his [America’s] glasses into ten equal parts,” [x].

What was probably most frustrating for Russia is that
America was also able to keep up with his taunts and passive-aggressive stunts.

Ex: Russia gives America a ticket to Siberia for his
birthday. America says that he’ll use it to blow his nose if he gets a cold.
CLASSIC Cold War humour [x].

99% sure this would be canon [x].

where exactly do Germany’s dogs appear in the
comics? I’ve only seen the one where Berlitz bites Prussia. Also, has there
been any canon content where Germany got all lovey with his pups? Thanks!!

The strip you mentioned:
Private Concert [x].

Three dogs are named in
Germany’s Hattafutte Parade: Aster, Berlitz, and Blackie.

According to Hetarchive,
a trading card set indicates that he may also have two Dalmatians [x].

Berlitz shows up in
Volume 5. He’s male.

There’s also this panel
showing Germany grooming what looks to be his dachshund judging by its long
ears [x].

This seems to be a
bit out of the blue but do you think that Austria’s a lightweight in terms of drinking
alcohol….I have my doubts since Austrians drink more beer( and alcohol) than
Germany per capita do you think these statistics could affect a
nation……Just askin’

Population
statistics do affect certain traits and behaviours of the nations, but I don’t think
I’ve seen Himaruya incorporate alcohol tolerance yet, other than the fact that
Germany in canon drenches himself in beer several times a year.

I’m not sure on how
heavy Austrians are in drinking, but Austria the personification might be a lightweight.

He’s out cold while
the rest of the nations he’s with continue to drink all night [x].

Austria also tires easily, so that’s something to consider.

Q & A

Can I request some wholesome Britain please? 🇬🇧

Of course! England was the first person to follow America on Twitter [x].

to what extent are the countries affected by
climate/weather extremes in their countries? for example how would aussie be
affected by the droughts going on right now?

Two ways, as far as I’m
concerned.

They experience the
natural weather just like any other regular human does.

Ex: America hating the
cold weather [x].

Climate has also been
proven to impact the nation’s personality.

Ex: Iceland’s hot and
cold personality respectively stems from the volcanic activity and cool weather
of his country [x].

Do you think Romano was aware/ever became aware
of the fact that he got special treatment? Do you think he was happy about
that? (I have not read all of the comics so forgive me if it’s been stated in
canon.

He didn’t realize it
until he read a Spanish history textbook as an adult.

Vietnam once asks him to
teach her how to smile [x].

I
also hold that England and Romano are realistic. I’m tired of the criticism of
people hating on characters whose moods aren’t picture perfect. People are like
this in real life. Another character I would add is Italy and America; both
mask their insecurities by overcompensating with smiles.

Q & A

Thank you 😀

Most canon? I’m not sure
what you mean by that, but this is Okinawa’s character [x].

Do you think Czechoslovakia could be considered canon? I
mean, they were married and all and the split was called a divorce, so…

While it is hinted that they miss living with each
other, (i.e., Czechia not having Slovakia to hand her a towel when she takes a
shower and Slovakia realizing that Czechia makes better toast), as well as the
fact that they both get flustered and embarrassed whenever this topic arises,
they haven’t explicitly confirmed feelings for each other. Therefore, it’s not
canon [x].

Additionally something I’ve noticed, in the post where
America grumbles that England didn’t give him any chocolate: Not only was
America eating it in a gluttonous seeming manner to show England he didn’t
care, he had a whole bucket of it. That kind of ideology ‘if i have much more
of ___ then i can be happier and better than other people’ seems excessively
America-esque.

The strip [x]:

It is very much “America-esque!” It’s part of his
characterization. He hoards things in bulk due to being poor and not having had a
lot of possessions when he was younger—notice the link with the chocolate again! [x].

If you want to analyze this psychologically, he filled the void of his loneliness with material objects that would only fulfill him temporarily. It didn’t adress his lacking interpersonal life.

Is there a reason
for why a nation’s immortality can spread to other living beings?

Not that I can recall. My guess is that because time functions differently for them, an
invisible forcefield envelops around their body. Humans or pets that get close
to the nation and the different pace of this time forcefield for prolonged
periods of time subsequently causes them to experience time differently too.

I also forgot to mention something! We do have an instance
of a nation’s immortality rubbing off on a human: Howard the Spy from volume 3 [x].

Himaruya notes that while England took precautions not to spend
too much time with Howard, it’s possible that he may have lived and stayed
youthful longer than the average human [x].

Hey, do you remember the time where himaruya
promised that the story of chibitalia and holy rome will have a happy ending?
What do you think about that?

I’ve done a longer post on this, but I’m 90% sure that the
Chibitalia storyline mimics Disney’s version of Cinderella [x].

Making the unconfirmed assumption that Holy Rome is, in
fact, Germany, I think the big reveal is going to pan out with Germany finding
the old pair of panties that Chibitalia gave to Holy Rome as a parting gift [x].

Since objects in the manga have proven to trigger repressed
memories [x], I think that’s how Germany’s officially going to find out/ not
being able to deny anymore that he’s Holy Rome.

I mean, how else would they have a happy ending if Holy Rome isn’t alive?

Q & A

For those curious,
it’s 116 f or more up there. Yikes. I’ll take our 83 to 96 f later today. I
wanted to ask yesterday, but the ask box didn’t seem to
be connected to the server (at least that’s what it told). How do you think the
Republic of Ireland is related to the UK brothers? It’s not been stated they
are a sibling, or even a relative, so that makes me curious. Happy Canada Day
up there 🎆

[Thank you! The ask box situation has been fixed, but the
read more coding issue still hasn’t been resolved! I’m so sorry, but I can’t
always answer asks right away….]

Himaruya isn’t sure what to do with Ireland, so no relation
has been confirmed [x]. Thus far, we only know that England is the son of four
siblings, including Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland [x].

If I’m to speculate here, they could be siblings if Himaruya ever decides to elaborate on the
character. Aside from historical relations, geographic proximity is
occasionally used as a defining factor for sibling relationships.

Given that Northern Ireland is England’s sibling and was originally
partitioned from Ireland, I don’t think this is too much of a stretch. Things get even
more complicated when you see that Northern Ireland is listed as England’s older brother… what a can of worms, eh?

Do you happen to know why people say APH
England doesn’t know how to swim? I’m pretty sure that was a joke in the comic
strips, but everyone seems to consider it canon.

Like you said, it is a joke, stemming from how British
people in horror films have a tendency of not being able to swim. I know I’ve
talked about this before, but my opinion has since shifted. I personally wouldn’t
consider it to be canon given the context [x].

Which Hetalia character has the biggest amount of
ships/harem? Why is it that a lot of the characters can be shipped with everything?
(including fridges apparently).

(Fridges aren’t even the
brink of some of the madness in the fandom :P)

In my experience of
reading fanfiction, I would probably say England. He’s very versatile and fits
well in several dynamics. (e.g., FrUk, UsUk, AsaKiku, EngSey, EngBel, EngIta, and SpUk).

People have different tastes; of course it’s going to vary.

How do you think the Eastern European countries (Ukraine and
Hungary in particular) would interact with their Romas/Gypsies? What would
their relationships be like?

From what I can recall, there is no canon
depiction of this. It’s difficult to say due to the fact that citizenship in one country
doesn’t have meaning in their way of life.

However, given that the nations
represent all people within their territories, including those of different
ethnicities, race, religion, and class, Hungary and Ukraine would personally treat them the same way as they
would with any other citizen, even if they don’t possess citizenship. Citizenship
is a social construction. I believe what’s more important is the fact that
these people live in certain jurisdictions.

I know you said Luxembourg was referring to Belgium and
Netherlands as older siblings are terms of endearment rather than him being
biologically related but, do you think he could at least be related to Belgium
considering that a lot of his former land now belongs to Belgium and their countries
have close relations? (sorry for this being long.)

(Please don’t be sorry!)

The corroborating source
I mentioned in an earlier post [x].

The post [x].

It’s complicated because
as I mentioned before, the Bamboo Thicket post and the corresponding Hetarchive
page state two different things. The post is listed as a rough
translation, but the fact that Himaruya refers to Luxembourg using terms of
endearment instead of directly confirming a sibling relationship to Netherlands
and Belgium in the question is pretty clear.

I don’t know what else
to say. If it doesn’t claim that they’re biological siblings, then they’re not. I’m not a translator and don’t speak Japanese either. Still, what I would like to look into more is why that translation is cited
as rough…

Hetalia Manga Q & A

Does the manga volumes have every Hetalia
Webtoon Hima’s made??

[Anon is talking about
volumes 1-6, not World Stars]

Oh dear God, no. There’s
so many more unpublished strips available online. (That’s not including the
card games, RPGs, etc.)

The Hetascanlations/ Hetarchive team is your
best friend in that regard, trust me. They do a tremendous service for this fandom and I cannot thank them enough.

There, you can find the original main story, extras, non-linear strips (although, some of them have been re-drawn in the
published manga), events, transcripts from the drama CDs, comic diary entries,
character notes, translated chapters of World stars, and translated posts from Hima’s
blog (Bamboo thicket).

Hetarchive.net
(main)

Ex
sub-page: http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/nonlinear.php

Where can you get World Stars?

From what I’ve seen,
there’s only Japanese (it was originally published in Japan by Shueisha)
versions of World Stars with the occasional German translation of the volumes.
I have yet to see any physical copies containing an English translation, but I
could be wrong.

***Beware: I’ve often
seen the mistake of people buying World Stars volumes without checking the language
it’s written in. That’s the FIRST thing you should be searching for when
looking at the product summary.***

Again, the
Hetascanlations team has translated most of World Stars (from Hima’s blog), and
continues to do so. There’s slight differences in the volumes regarding
the ordering of the chapters, but it’s concretely the same material.

http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/worldstars.php

So what do you do if you want Hetalia manga but
you live in the UK. And Rightstuf’s shipping fees are insanely ridiculous
because of that?

[Right Stuf anime is
where you can purchase English translations of the first six volumes.
Admittedly, the shipping fees are extremely high as they’re sent out from
Japan]

Buy an English
translation of the first six volumes here: https://www.rightstufanime.com/

Unfortunately, I don’t
have much of an answer for that. Right
Stuf is the only website I’ve found that distributes directly from Tokyo
Pop. If anyone has found a cheaper route, feel free to let me know.