[ SECRET POST #2037 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2037 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 067 secrets from Secret Submission Post #291.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - personal attack ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[kallanda_lee]

I keep hearing things about Hetalia, and it seems to me that the very premise of it will invariable lead to someone being offended.

[(Anonymous)]

I started reading Hetalia because of everyone complaining here. got me curious

[kallanda_lee]

Is it worth the read?

[(Anonymous)]

I eventually got into it because of all the talk on f!s, and because I was previously interested in personified countries. I've been out of the fandom for about two years now so I don't know how much is changed, but the canon is mostly light fluffy one-gag comic strips, with a few longer stories and some interesting historical footnotes. The anime is...pretty much the strips, in five minute episodes. The dub version of the anime is a little 'edgier', I guess...there was a lot of wank about it when it was first released and that's around the time I left it, but I think they were going for a more Western style of satire. Some people prefer that.

For me, the main draw was the fanworks. I just really liked how people interpreted different historical events and concepts with the characters, and there was a lot of good art, and opportunities for polyamorous multishipping, which is a thing I always love.

I can't really imagine anyone wanting to get into it who wasn't already intrigued by the idea of countries-as-people so...if that sounds like you, go for it! hetalia used to have translations of the manga, but since it's been licensed I don't know if they still do.

[(Anonymous)]

SA

WOOPS, forgot we weren't on LJ. I have no idea if that's the same comm or not.

[(Anonymous)]

haven't started yet but yeah, the wank got me interested as well xD

[(Anonymous)]

It really depends. All the American fans I know seem more amused than anything else by the representation of the United States. Surprisingly, I also know some Poles who like their country, too (Poland is portrayed as an effeminate, slightly callous cross-dresser who speaks in the AmE equivalent of a Valley Girl accent). Himaruya hit the mark on some countries and apparently screwed up a bunch of others (or some countries have a better sense of humor and a more honest understanding of themselves than others. Who knows).

Belgium is shown as a rather sweet girl, the younger sister of the Netherlands and the older sister of Luxembourg.

[(Anonymous)]

I've known a few Spanish fans who were pretty okay with it and fft Canada is actually pretty hilarious to me.

[kallanda_lee]

Ha, I bet the latter is the whole Benelux thing at work.

So, what's it actually about, story-wise?

[(Anonymous)]

The main story line(s) follows some historical events, most of the strips are based on unrelated historical events, curiosities of one country or anecdotes of another country etc, so there's no much of a "story".

Hetalia is just the countries interacting with each other (and also with some very few historical figures).

[kallanda_lee]

Ah, thank you!

[ecoerrante]

Pretty much what the anon said - there isn't really a 'story' as much as it jumps around to different events and has the countries interacting because of them [and, despite the name, most of it actually doesn't take place during WW2.]

[(Anonymous)]

As I'm sure you've figured out by now, each country and some non-countries are actually people. Wars, disputes, treaties, and alliances are actually incidents between two or more of these superhuman entities. It is uncertain whether they are tied directly to the land or to the people, but these personifications are physically hurt during wars, famines, tragedies, etc.

It starts off just before WWII with Germany searching for Holy Roman Empire to help him. He finds Italy instead and this starts off one of the most homoerotic relationships ever.

A lot of canon is just random stories of various historical events. The main characters are the major Axis (Italy, Germany, Japan) and Allied Powers (England, China, Russia, France, and America), though Prussia, the Nordic countries, Spain, South Italy, Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland have a decent amount of strips. Switzerland appears periodically, as do Austria, Ukraine, and Belarus. A running gag in canon is that many of the other countries physically cannot see Canada (and think he's America when they do see him) and even America, his brother, routinely overlooks him.

Relationships between countries are based on historical alliances, conquests, wars, etc. Greece and Turkey are always fighting, England acts as America's older brother, Sweden considered Finland his wife for a time, Denmark believes himself to be the older brother of the other Nordic countries, and Spain has a homoerotic and protective relationship with S. Italy.