These are all excellent questions!
Although Pearl Harbour isn’t covered, there is documentation of the nations getting scars from wars and political repression.
As for natural disasters? While they haven’t been shown to get scars from them, the nations’ personalities are sometimes based on their climate and geography. Iceland is a good example of that. He has a “hot side” of his personality to account for volcanic eruptions/hot springs.
Guide coming up tonight!
In the version I’ve accessed via Hetascanlations, the Vatican is mentioned, but the character near the line of dialogue isn’t tagged as such.
Unless that was a mistake, I don’t think it was intended to be him.
There’s also the fact that in the context of the strip, we see an unknown American stand in as a spokesperson for his people’s attitude towards Christmas.
It would follow, then, that the character above acts more as a mouthpiece for residents of Vatican City, which would make sense given that there’s another clergy member placed right above him (below here
↓
).
Usually when characters are first introduced in canon, they’ll have an official title underneath them. Like this…
I also double-checked on Bamboo Thicket before I made that post to see if there were any illustrations made of the Vatican. I didn’t find any in the tags.
Unless the Japanese print version of World Stars is slightly different regarding illustrations (I wouldn’t know, but I know that strips are often redrawn), the online English version merely translates the chapters that Hima’s posted.
In that case, if you could provide a sourced image that would be helpful.
I’ve answered this indirectly in other writings, but as a
subject that repeatedly comes up in the manga, it deserves its own post.
This is one thing that I’ve always been careful with, given
that labels like Stockholme Syndrome are loosely thrown around in the fandom.
Thing is, the underling situation doesn’t quite fit the medical definition of
SS. It’s certainly not a healthy
situation, though, and I have no problem clearing that up in the future. Point
is, it doesn’t do any good to attribute serious conditions like that, especially
since these exaggerations result in gross misrepresentations of the characters.
PTSD, on the other hand, is something that the nations have
canonically been shown to have real symptoms of, right to the nail of the medical
definition.
Post coming up tonight.
Oh, this one is certainly tricky! America’s personality
primarily borrows from two stages of development. Still, it’s striking how
consistent his characterization is with Freudian theory.
I’ll also have to create a separate post analyzing how
England passed on his mental health issues/ inferiorities [in psychology we
call these neuroses] to America. But, that’s for another time.
Post on America’s personality coming up soon!
Honestly, same. I
remember watching the first episode and immediately dropping it. That was years
ago, but I still think it took me a solid year before I picked it up again.
What really did it for me was the manga.
The anime is an awful portrayal
and substitute for the manga, especially because of time constraints and
one-sided portrayals of the characters. Yes, some of the earlier strips were
extremely questionable – hence the initial reputation-ruining fanbase. I should
also mention that the old fanbase’s behaviour didn’t just come out of nowhere. As
such, I can’t really blame people for having such a horrid impression of it.
Either way, Hima’s clearly learned from his
early mistakes (I’m talking 2006-2009ish), and his craft has since changed into
something truly incredible. It’s unfortunate, but those early phases of the
series still overshadow his content today.
As for any advice? I
would try introducing your friend to World Stars first. It gives context when
you’re exposed to the newer strips first instead of being put off by the older ones. Hopefully, this makes things a bit easier to digest.
If they’re not an avid
reader and the anime route is an absolute must, I would recommend showing them “A
bientôt! Until We Meet Again”
(episode 15 of Beautiful World), “Though I may depart you shall remain,” (episode
5 of Beautiful World) and “Davie” (episode 11 of World Twinkle).
There are a
few reasons.
1) Personality Change = Loss of Memory
It’s stated in chapter 1 of world stars that upon gaining a new title,
nations can also undergo a personality change.
Because your personality, as in how you interact with others and the
world, is very much rooted in experience [memories], this implies that gaining
a new title causes the nation to lose all memories from their previous
existence.
In other theories, this is what I
use to explain the overwhelming evidence that Germany is suffering from amnesia
and doesn’t remember his past existence as Holy Rome.
Basically, how I read the panel is that the personality change is
sudden; it happens spontaneously. In that case, there wouldn’t be new
experiences to account for this change.
2) Prussia’s canonically undergone
several title changes.
If the above rule applies, then he should have
eventually forgotten about these previous existences. That is, unless he had
access to something that could trigger his memory…
3) The nations’ memories aren’t
perfect.
Prussia openly admits to recording diaries to avoid
forgetting things.
Notice again how Hima places emphasis on the fact that Prussia’s had
several existences.
Why would he do that in a strip that revolves around memory
if it wasn’t to hint at the fact that Prussia is actively striving to maintain
memories of his past?
I’m fine with both fam. Ella was created as an online nickname, while I go as Ariella in person. You could literally call me bitch nugget and I’d still be happy that you remembered my existence.
Very, considering
that they’re reflections of their people. This includes beliefs.
Ex: Prussia
once repented for his sins after touching Hungary’s chest. Although, to be fair, Hungary didn’t identify as a girl then.
I’m not an expert, far from it! All I do is link strips to make sense out of canon information. Religion actually comes up quite a bit in the strips, more than you’d think.
Vatican City is only mentioned by Hima in passing on his blog and lacks an official design/ formal appearance. He’s hypothetically described as an old man that would constantly get into arguments/make up with Italy.
Post on religion coming up tonight!
Interestingly, in the original webcomic, the UK actually had its own design, but
this was eventually scrapped.
As you mentioned, England later assumed the embodiment of the UK, with each
member state still possessing its own respective personification. It’s the same
thing that happened with Russia, who had also stood in to represent the Soviet Union.
We only have a personification for the UN thus
far. But, considering how old this strip is, I’m not sure if Hima intends to do
anything with him considering that he hasn’t popped up again.
Ellawritesficssometimes 