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Once upon a time, the Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean. Then it collapsed, leaving his grandson Italy in his place. But all he wanted to do was cook, draw, and flirt with women.
Cut to World War One. Germany waits at the Italian front, ready to face the heir to the mighty Roman Empire...
He finds Italy hiding in a tomato crate. Poor Italy is scared and has no idea what the hell is going on, so Germany takes him under his wing, where he remains until World War II. At the same time, the "Allied Forces" are getting ready to counter attack... if they can reach an agreement, that is.
A popular Japanese series that is an allegorical tale of the history of Europe, especially during World War Two, with anthropomorphizations of different countries and the various stereotypes associated with them. Axis Powers Hetalia is at once educational, irreverently silly, occasionally touching, and potentially very offensive. Surprisingly, it gets many of the more subtle and less well known relationships between European countries rather well represented, which you usually wouldn't expect of foreign writers. Starting off as a webcomic, Hetalia garnered a strong fan following, and was eventually published in print form. A series of drama CDs were made later; an anime adaptation has been released, but broadcast on television was canceled in favor of alternate means. The word Hetalia is a portmanteau of hetare and Italia (Itaria), which means hopeless Italy, as Germany soon discovers. Hopeless in a cute way. You know, with the Axis powers, it's not bad to be bad at being bad.
The manga adaptation has been licensed by Tokyopop and is scheduled for September 2010. In the meantime, the original webcomic can be read here , with scanlations at the Hetalia LiveJournal community or these compilation sites.
The anime is currently in its third season, titled World Series Hetalia (a fourth season was recently greenlit). A movie ("Paint It White") is currently airing in theaters. Also, FUNimation has licensed all four seasons and the movie. Subbed episodes can be viewed at FUNimation's website or on Veoh. The dubs of episodes 1-4 are now available on FUNimation's website. Note that the dub deviates from the original to a large extent. Whether in a good way or a bad way is up to the viewer (see Broken Base below).
Also, don't forget to visit the Character Sheet! Now has its own Tear Jerker, Memetic Mutation, Ship Tease, and Fetish Fuel page. Check them out!
By the way, there are two Italies (Veneziano and Romano), but assume we mean Veneziano (North Italy). Similarly, "Korea" refers to South Korea unless otherwise specified.
- Accidental Marriage: In one comic, Italy greets Japan in the typical European fashion with a kiss on the cheek and a hug. Japan demands that Italy accept responsibility and marry him.
- Not to mention the same thing happen with Japan and Holland's pets, where Holland's rabbit licked Japan's dog and he immediately told Holland's rabbit to take responsibility.
- Adaptation Dye Job: Most obviously with America and England who apparently switched hair colors: America's hair is more of a dirty blond in the anime, while England's original ash blond hair got a lighter and more vivid hue.
- Other changes in hair colors include: Italy's brown hair being changed to auburn (sometimes appearing as a very saturated red), Belarus having dirty blonde hair instead of her original platinum shade, Sweden and Latvia going from being blond to having sandy brown hair (which is strange, because of all countries, Sweden should definitely be blonde), and Finland's light blond hair receiving the same hue as England. And in his unused anime design, Korea had chestnut brown hair instead of his original black.
- While his hair is colored black in the official manga art, the anime portrays China with "ash brown" hair.
- News flash: While the first episode featured Sweden with sandy brown hair, episode 69 features him with his usual blond hair...
- Affectionate Parody: Of history.
- Aliens Speaking English/Japanese: America's alien friend Tony.
- The Alliance: The Allies, of course.
- All Love Is Unrequited: England apparently has an unrequited(?) crush on America. The most obvious hint is the Valentines strip where England gives America some chocolates while blushing and being all embarrassed. America giving mixed signals (mocking England in one moment, claiming to be hurt because England didn't give him Valentine's chocolates in the next) doesn't exactly help matters.
- Unrequited love is the basis of the whole Belarus/Russia/Lithuania love triangle as well. Belarus likes Russia, Russia likes Lithuania (sorta), Lithuania likes Belarus, and it goes downhill from there.
- Korea's incestuous affection towards China (and to a degree, Japan) isn't exactly requited either.
- It is hinted that Prussia may have a crush on his childhood friend/enemy Hungary, who is obviously infatuated with former-husband Austria, who cares for her but is not as vocal as she is about his feelings (but isn't indifferent either, like some people say).
- If his April Fool's blog and drama CD of it are anything to go by, Prussia seems to have a crush on Italy, too.
- In a more platonic version, Lithuania and Poland's early friendship. When Lithuania professes to hate Poland, Poland tells him that he doesn't care, and "it doesn't, like, change the fact that I like you"
- Not entirely platonic, mind you - the expression Poland uses in the Japanese version could just as well mean "love".
- The Holy Roman Empire also got rejected by Chibitalia who found him scary, but in the end Chibitalia returned his feelings.
- All Part Of The Show: When a star falls on England's head, America is nothing short of impressed.
- All There In The Manual: Several characters (such as Vietnam, Taiwan and Thailand) have only appeared in sketches in the author's blog.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: Because the characters are countries, and no country has a clean past, it's not very hard to find much darker interpretations of the characters, especially when set during the past for any colonial power.
- The American Revolution: Shown in a flashback during one of the rare serious strips, "America Cleans Out the Storage".
- Anachronic Order: Though the story may deal with history, the events aren't shown in historical order.
- Anachronism Stew: Some of the comics have the Roman Empire and Prussia interacting with characters in ostensibly modern times.
- In the real world, Prussia actually survived up until the end of World War II as a constituent state of Germany, and after WWII, it is implied that Prussia takes on the part of East Germany, often refering to his brother Germany as "West". With some East German nostalgia still floating around in the only recently-reunified Germany, Prussia probably won't be disappearing any time soon, and even with Germany's unification, Prussia will almost definitely still be around, just like Romano and Veneziano both still exist despite Italy uniting.
- If his blog is anything to go on, Prussia is now living in Germany's house. With Austria. Let's face it, he's too much of a fan favorite to get axed.
- And so the proof is in; you can't kill off awesome.
- Austria is always wearing modern style glasses, even before the 20th century.
- In one episode of the anime, Italy mentions that Germany has pornographic DVDs, though the DVD was not invented until several decades after that point in the story.
- Don't forget the alarm clock beeping in what's supposed to be the 17th century.
- And Sweden and Finland adopting Sealand, though Sealand was founded almost one hundred and sixty years after Sweden and Finland historically separated. Although to be fair, only Sweden is shown taking care of Sealand. Fans naturally inter-operate Finland as the mother figure due to the whole "wife" thing. In fact, only a single strip even shows them all together, nevertheless acknowledging them as a family unit.
- One anachronism is acknowledged in the strip. England asks America if he's trying to show off by having a computer that won't be invented for forty-two years.
- Animal Reaction Shot: After America turns down a deredere England, his whale friend who was previously smiling like an idiot becomes sad.
- Anime Accent Absence: Except for China who speaks with a stereotypical Chinese accent (even his Verbal Tic "aru" is a parody of that), and America who is once seen trying to speak Japanese with an English accent. It's worth noting, though, that characters from various countries speaking the language of the show with foreign accents is a cultural convention not shared by all countries. Many cultures, Japan included, don't use foreign accents or dialects unless it's actually important for the plot/character, etc.
- The planned dub, however, will be an aversion. Depending on how it turns out, it would either be better than the Japanese dub or outright offensive.
- Based on Word Of God it's most likely that the Japanese in the manga is just Translation Convention. In a (now sadly deleted) blog entry Word Of God confirmed that America and England speak English when they talk to each other which is obvious in the strip where England corrects America's English, or the rubber incident. Note also that in the former case it's a world conference so probably they're all speaking English as a lingua franca. In other strips there are more than one languages involved (such as America visiting Japan for the first time: there's even an interpreter present, and as noted above, America is speaking Japanese with an English accent; or the strip with Korea and a Chinese song). Word Of God also said that probably there's a special language that all of them understand, which is how they communicate with newborn countries.
- An Axe To Grind: Denmark and Spain are sometimes drawn with one.
- Attractive Bent Gender: Italy explains to Germany why he was captured by the Allies. "There was a pretty girl so I hit on her. But then, it was France in disguise!"
- Art Evolution: The art has become much less angular, but the characters are still easily recognizable (in part because of pronounced physical traits, such as Russia's scarf).
- Volume 3 features some strips that were entirely redrawn - it's most obvious in the "little America doesn't want England to leave" one.
- Art Shift: Almost all of the characters go chibi at one point. Also, France has a tendency to shift into a 1970s Shoujo art style when distraught.
- Ascended Meme: Oh, Funimation:
- Baka: what England often calls America. The barrage of 'baka's in the 26th episode of the anime should probably be referred to instead as a Cluster Baka Bomb. In an Image Song, England uses the word 31 times at America.
- Thirty-two if you count the "America no baka!" at the very end.
- Wow, that's unintentionally ironic. It's almost forgotten now, but during WWII the Americans often called kamikaze planes "baka bombs" - and they did indeed attack in groups (aka clusters).
- Bare Your Midriff: New Micronation Wy-chan◊
- Battle In The Rain: Nearly happens in the strip dealing with The American Revolution.
- Played straight when Italy tries to win his independance from Austria at Custoza
- Banana Peel: America didn't expect it, and so he ended up breaking his leg. Which is odd because he landed face first.
- And when it happened to Romano, who also landed face-first, all he needed was a band-aid.
- Beach Episode: In the manga, England and America get "stranded" on an island (they're not really stranded but they don't realize this). In the anime, it's Germany, Italy and Japan. In the drama CD the entire main cast gets stranded on an island, but they don't seem to mind.
- Happened to the Axis in the strips and manga as well. It's pretty much a running gag by now, not that Italy ever seems concerned.
- Beam Me Up Scotty: Contrary to what fanon says, the infamous "vital regions" memetic line was never used by either Prussia or Russia. Austria (in the "Maria Theresa" series) said Prussia had done it. Spain also used it (in Spain's Lazy Morning") and Lithuania (in Checkmating Poland).
- And America never called England "Iggy." Nor "dad" for that matter (see Big Brother Mentor).
- Russia never referred to himself as "Mother Russia."
- Bedmate Reveal: Germany often wakes up to Italy in his bed. Naked.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between England and America, lampshaded by France in the dub: "When you two are done releasing sexual tension, we have got a meeting we need to finish!"
- Big Brother Mentor: Subverted. Latvia offers Sealand the benefit of his experience but when he remembers his history he's the one who needs a shoulder to cry on. Luckily Sealand has confidence to spare.
- France is a bad influence, verging on Trickster Mentor, to the Italies.
- Don't forget Switzerland and his little sister Lichtenstein.
- And despite the fan tendency to make England America's 'mom' or 'dad', he explicitly adopts America as his little brother and America explicitly says "I'm not your little brother anymore!" when he severs their connection.
- Let's not forget China, who basically raised all of his younger siblings as their older brother, even if he's rarely treated as such by anyone other than Korea.
- In a way, Austria is also like this for Holy Roman Empire and Chibi Italy. He's just much more reserved about it. He also is sort of like this for Germany in the Valentine's strip.
- Big Damn Movie
- Big Eater: America (to keep up to date with stereotypes) loves all manner of junk food, especially hamburgers and soda. One strip features him becoming concerned about his weight causing him to try out different diets. (He still appears fit no matter what, of course.) Italy and his obsession with pasta fits here, too.
China: "I prioritize eating over everything else."
- Biggus Dickus: Russia and America used condoms for psychological warfare.
- Big Screwed Up Family: Two in Eastern Europe providing a general Dysfunction Junction.
- Then there's the East Asian family, and to some extent, the UK and the former British Empire.
- And England with his mean big brothers, assumed to be Scotland and Wales.
- Big Ol Eyebrows: The former British Empire. Possessed by England, Australia, Hong Kong and Sealand, but not Seychelles, Canada, America or Egypt
- Bishounen - Pretty much every single fanart of the characters. Whether you think they're pretty in the actual manga/anime or not is up to personal taste.
- Due to Art Evolution China and France get prettier and prettier. In volume 3 young France sometimes looks like a girl.
- Blade On A Stick: Hungary's Weapon Of Choice (aside of her frying pan).
- Variation: During "America Cleans Up The Storage", England and America face off with muskets with bayonets.
- Finland carries a spear as a baby Nation.
- Bland Name Product: In the first drama CD, Mc Donald's is censored just so you can hear "Mc * nald's". In the second CD, we get "D* nkin' Donuts".
- Though America is eating a sandwich with a wrapper clearly labeled "Subway" in the second chapter of the published manga.
- Blind Idiot Translation All too common in fanfic, when authors want to add a little cultural flavor by having the characters speak in their own languages. Unfortunately, when the authors don't speak the language themselves, they often turn to Babelfish, with predictable results.
- Not restricted to fanfiction at all. As with many times fanartists attempt to include another language, laughably bad translations vastly outnumber the correct ones.
- Blue Bishonen Ghetto: Hungary and Liechtenstein are the only prominent female characters. There are quite a few more (Belarus, Belgium, Seychelles, Vietnam, Taiwan, Ukraine, Monaco, the not-quite a country Principality of Wy, Old Greece aka the actual Greece's mother, and actual Egypt's mother Old Egypt), but they are either peripheral (though Ukraine and Belarus have had strips of their own, Seychelles appeared in side stories once or twice and starred in Gakuen Hetalia, and Belgium appeared in the anime and in at least one strip in the manga) or appear only in the author's blog. And even if you include them, they are still outnumbered significantly. Old concept art for Gakuen was thought to include female African nations, though they only turned out to be models for the African class uniforms. A female Kenya does appear in the demo, but has yet to show up anywhere outside of it.
- It's now discussed if New Zealand is a female or a male. This sketch showing her or him is fairly androgynous, so...◊
- It's been said that the artist didn't know how to draw female characters at first.
- Granted, Belarus, Ukraine and (more recently) Belgium also have about as much appearances in the manga as Hungary and Liechtenstein, so they're not really peripheral. But the rest, sort of, yeah.
- Boy In A Box: Germany first discovers Italy cowering in a tomato crate.
-
Brother Sister Incest Sibling Incest: Belarus adores her older brother Russia and wants to marry him, much to Russia's horror. On the Ho Yay side, South Korea also makes no secret of his deep and apparently sexual affection towards China and Japan, wanting to claim their "breasts" as his own.
- Of course, this is intentional to show economic and social alliances.
- Breaking The Fourth Wall: In one episode, Japan talks to the viewer. It's a bit ... odd.
- Brick Joke: Throughout the series, Chibi Italy is always seen wearing a maid's uniform, despite being a boy. In episode 48, he gets a growth spurt, causing Austria to realize he's a man, and he goes out and buys men's clothing.
- Broken Base: Oh boy, where to start? Funimation's release of the English dub has taken the previously more-or-less united fanbase (outside of Shipping, mind you) and shattered it, probably beyond repair. Within hours of Funi showing some rather controversial scenes at a convention, massive flame wars erupted over the script changes and both fans and the haters of the series have gone neck to neck in attacking each other, if fans at each others' throats were not enough. Fans of the dub call it a perfectly-localized version with freshly-researched new lines, while haters call it a cheap, bowdlerized South Park Follow The Leader that goes completely against Himaruya's own views and Crosses The Line Twice. The flames have yet to die down.
- Calling Your Attacks: "Britannia Sword!"
- "Eat this! Britannia Beam!"
- "Britannia Fork!" (during the manga version of "Meeting of the World".)
- "Britannia Fist!" (in volume 3)
- And let's not forget Romano's new "Napolitan Attack!" from Volume 3.
- Canada Eh: Played straight. Canada is frequently forgotten about and mistaken for America, and says "Maple..." whenever he gets hurt. awwww...
- Cardboard Prison: Germany at one point simply digs a way out of a prison camp.
- England repeatedly escaped from an Italian prison (because his jailers fell asleep from crying too much). Subverted in that Germany constantly dragged him back.
- Cassandra Truth: England and his unicorn. This can be extended to England's ability to see supernatural creatures.
- Cast Full Of Gay: Well, of course it's subverted in that almost nobody's sexuality is actually stated - save Sweden, whose old character notes state it, France whose character description in Book 1 states that he goes for both men and women, and Austria and Hungary, who used to be married. There are hints to some others' sexuality, Italy in the Valentine's Day strips confesses that his first love was a boy (Holy Roman Empire) and Spain claims he wants to marry both North and South Italy, and waits until 2005 when Spain legalized same-sex marriages. But still, considering most of the characters are male...
- Austria was also married to Spain at one point, and Poland and Lithuania were married (One of the first things Poland did was ask Lithuania to show him his penis.
- Cat Girl: They found an excuse. Austria actually has a ceremony to honor dead cats.
- The ceremony actually originated from Belgium.
- It has been shown that when France goes streaking, he will often wear cat ears and nothing else.
- Japan also gives Greece some cat ears because Greece said he wished he were a cat.
- Let's not forget when HRE has the dream about Italy and the cat festival.
- Catch Phrase: "All will be one with Russia" and "Kolkolkolkolkolkol".
- "PAAAAASTAAAAAAAA!"
- Don't forget this one-aru!
- Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys: Averted: Not France but Italy, The Millstone, so that makes it Pasta Eating Surrender Monkeys. In the webcast, the powers of Europe play football with the chibitalia brothers. As in play football using them.
- Zig Zagging Trope: However, Francis aka France does get this in the Chibitalia strips, although in the renaissance real France was no pushover. This is because France's adventures in Italy specifically were unsuccessful.
- France rethinks his military history, and declares any loss on God playing tricks, and revels in victories where he obviously went after a country already defeated by someone else (and often told to go away because his attacks are weak and annoying). Italy, on the other hand, has a scrap book of his military history which just shows him hanging out with his allies (which implies that he let them do all the work).
- Actually, Italy's scrapbook shows him with a series of different girls. He didn't fight, he flirted.
- The Chew Toy: Ukraine and the Baltic States — Latvia and Lithuania in particular.
- Chinese People: Thailand, China. Hong Kong, despite the Big Ol Eyebrows.
- Chinese Girl: Taiwan, Vietnam, China in the Gender Flip art (either fanart or the canon Himaruya doodles)
- Mukokuseki This is a somewhat rare aversion of making the Japanese character generically stateless or anime-like but making other East Asians more realistic. This time, Japan looks like his relatives.
- Christmas Episode: A very special Christmas episode. Oh, and there was another where Finland gives everyone presents.
- The portion on the island is subverted in that what it's representing wasn't simply made up for the series to have a Christmas episode, but was an actual occurrence in WWII.
- The original comic was followed by some bonus strips (you have to scroll down a bit) with even more nekkid goodness.
- Christmas In Japan: What Prussia does, really. France and England ending up celebrating the beauty of friendship together has a distinct flair of the same.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: When you get right down to it, almost all of the characters are to a degree. The most noticeable examples would be Finland, Poland and North Italy.
- Cluster F Bomb: Tony the Alien has a spectacularly filthy mouth and peppers his sentences with "fucking." Romano is prone to "Goddamnit" whenever Spain is around, too. He also likes to call him a "jackass".
- Not to mention the plethora of ethnic slurs that nearly all of the countries use for one another.
- Code Name: The characters are usually called by their nation name in the series, but they also have human names.
- To be fair, though, the human names were the creator bending to fan insistence, rather than that he actually wanted to include them (which is displayed in that not only are the names picked with little care, but that they never appear in the series).
- America's human name (Alfred) actually does make an appearance in one strip, but only in the background. Considering that he was in a commercial at the time, that may have been some sort of alias. Fans have also speculated that, since humans and countries coexist in Hetalia, the country names might only be used between countries and the human names might only be used by humans talking to countries. Whether or not the names are canon or Word Of God or what, many fanfic writers and such still prefer to use them because they feel that using the country names is awkward.
- The Colonial Period: Shown in a few strips.
- Covert Pervert: France insists England is one of these. When England denies it, he cites several sexual records held by English people.
- Hungary insists that her love for Austria is "pure," but all the footage she has of him in compromising positions says otherwise. Even France himself is amazed on how dirty her mind is.
- Japan is a more subtle version. IIRC, his Ukiyo-e stash includes shunga art, and Italy once mistook it for a Porn Stash.
- Truth in fiction. Ukiyo-e has traditionally been sexual at times. The most famous of which involves a woman being pleasured by an octopus.
- When Germany is captured, Italy claims that he is Too Kinky To Torture, and mentions in passing, the strange magazines and DVDs in Germany's house. "The latest one I found featured dogs!"
- In one strip, 6 nations actually argue who the most perverted amongst them is.
- Crazy Awesome: Prussia. His ego could choke a horse, he's a boundlessly ambitious psychotic punk who delights in mischief, and yet caves at the sight of cute things... a freak among freaks, and a fan favorite. Plus, he, Spain and France together form a posse often dubbed the 'Bad Touch Trio', 'The Bad Ass Trio', or 'The Bad Friends Trio.' They're just a trio of Badness.
- Don't forget Denmark, the hyperactive control-freak alcoholic with a very big axe.
- Creator Provincialism: Both averted and played straight: Japan is the Straight Man of the Axis, but he has his share of bizarre quirks too.
- It certainly helps that Himaruya lives in New York, giving him a good "outsiders view" of Japan and a better understanding of the stereotypes associated with it.
- Misplaced Nationalism: Part of the fandom.
- Crossdressing Voices: Switzerland is voiced by Romi Paku and China is voiced by Yuki Kaida.
- Less common in the English dub, but China (voiced by Clarine Harp) has one.
- Cross Over: The author has done a few short crossovers with his other works.
- Crosses The Line Twice: Some of the lines of the Funimation dub are this.
- * cough* Romano! * cough*
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome - The Hetalia movie is about as padded as a Japanese bra. However, its CMOA comes in a Rome ojii-chan performs a remix of his Crowning Music Of Awesome in Visual-Kei fashion.
- Crowning Moment Of Heart Warming: The 5 Year Commemoration strip.
- Crowning Music Of Awesome: Russia's character song, 'зима (Winter)' is probably this. I mean, just listen to it!
- Also recently joining the ranks is China's 2nd character song, 'Aiyaa Yonsennen'. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who cried tears of BLOOD upon listening to it.
- Made even more liable to make one cry when one realizes it's got a large focus on Japan's betrayal and harm of China - even though it was taken out of the anime.
- Culture Clash: When they aren't using history for comedy, they're using this.
- Cute Shotaro Boy - Sealand, Latvia, and the Holy Roman Empire.
- Dating Sim: Parodied in one comic. No matter what option China chooses, it ends with Korea and sex. (Bad ending: "If you don't like me, I'll just XXX you!")
- Played straight in Gakuen Hetalia (although it's unfinished).
- Did Not Do The Research: In the episode where England is shown beating Spain, the anime gives England hilariously inaccurate warships, complete with a totally screwed-up version of the English flag.
- Instead of St George's Cross they made it look like an inverted Swiss flag◊.
- A set of old deleted 2006 strips for chapter 3 were recently scanlated. Let's just say that either the author did not do the research, or found a very unreliable source (thus did some bad research). If they had stayed part of the canon, let's just say the Internet Backdraft would be a lot more immense.
- Die For Our Ship: Unfortunately even this fandom has instances of this, but thankfully it hasn't reached dangerous levels yet. (Now, as for Ship To Ship Combat...)
- The Ditz: Italy is the 'cute and klutzy' type, America is more the 'lovable oaf' variety. When they're politely told to to 'read the atmosphere in the room' before they do something tactless, they think The Atmosphere In The Room is a book.
- Word Of God says that America could read the atmosphere if he wanted to - he just doesn't bother with it.
- He also seems to indicate that the only ones truly incapable of doing so are the Italy's and Spain.
- Does This Remind You Of Anything: "He crushed my vital regions! Crushed them!"
- Doting Parent: Spain, dangerously combined with his Shotacon tendencies. England was a doting older brother when he raised America (the revolution kinda did away with that), but not Canada (whom he occasionally mistakes for America), let alone Sealand.
- Dreaming Of Things To Come: As a child, Italy had a dream where he met a younger Japan.
- Dropped A Bridget On Him: Young Prussia used to think that young Hungary was a boy; in all fairness, so did she, sometimes forgetting even after she grew
breasts up. And everyone thought that Chibitalia (child Italy) was a girl (the Holy Roman Empire included), until he hit puberty. Also, some fans refer to HK as a female, thinking "she" is a really convincing Bifauxnen, even though the character identification flowchart groups him with the guys◊.
- Drowning My Sorrows: China and England, about their relations with Japan and America, respectively.
- Ear Worm: Buono tomato, buono tomato, buono buono ooh!
- And since England's character CD was released: Pub, pub, pub tte GO! Fish and chips!
- And since France's character CD was released: Para pappara parii pappari pari papparero!
- What about Russia's Pepepe pepepepe pechka. It makes him sound absolutely adorable...until you remember exactly who's singing...
- "Pechka" apparently means "stove" in Russian. What.
- Although it's not a stove like to cook something with, it's more like a fireplace. Which makes sense concidering the first part of the song is about how "swan lake has frozen over" and that it's cold, and that he hates being cold.
- China's song "Hello China".
- Grandpa Rome & Chibitalia's song: Lalalalala lovely Rururururu renaissance~
- The new ending theme, Hatafutte Parade.
- From the movie we now have "World Ondo," which is absolutely adorable in that it has all of the main eight singing together.
- How about FUNimation's own song used in their trailer for the dub? Coincidentally, it also features a la la la la la melody.
- Edutainment Show: Admit it: Hetalia has taught you something.
- Not to mention a few doujinshi here and there with educative points in them.
- Egopolis: Inverted. Obviously, Veneziano/North Italy is named after Venice, a city in northern Italy, to distinguish him from his brother, Romano/South Italy, who's named after Rome, though it's actually in the centre. Romano's history usually covers roughly this area, but it probably settles who then has the middle.
- Embarrassing Cover Up: America walks in on England doing some sort of secret magic ritual to curse Germany. England quickly welcomes him to "the costume party".
- Engrish: "Allied Foces".
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Prussia, Hungary and Belarus - though with such a huge cast every character is bound to have some sort of a following. And the other Nations may have trouble remembering who Canada is, but the fans sure don't.
- Lately, the Nordics, especially Denmark, have been getting this treatment.
- Everyone Looks Sexier If French: France is actually a Leisure Suit Larry and Handsome Lech who often gets bitchslapped for being a pervert. He still manages to undress and grope (and some more) the other nation-tans, though.
- Everythings Cuter With Kittens: the Nekotalia strips in volume 3.
- Eye Take: America walks in just as England is talking to and petting his nice spirits that come up to him (that America cannot see).
- Faceless Masses: Seen in the first episode at the Meeting of the World, all sitting around the table.
- Fan Nickname: South Italy is called Romano by the fandom, and by the author himself, to avoid confusion with (North) Italy, even though his real "human" name is Lovino. Likewise, North Italy is nicknamed Veneziano for Venice, even though his name is Feliciano.
- Due to his character design, Germania is sometimes called "Legolas".
- Many Japanese fans refer to England as "Iggy", a shortened version of "Igirisu" (= the UK in Japanese). The English language fandom took this a step further and uses "Iggy" as other characters' nickname for England in fanfics.
- Although the author has also used "Iggy" in the manga, there's even a strip about England titled "Iggy-Iggy Annoyance"
- The Taiwanese side of the fandom calls its nation-tan "Wanwan". Others try to bypass Taiwan's lack of "human name" and call her "Meimei", which means "little sister" in Mandarin Chinese, or simply "Mei", which means "plum blossom".
- Poland calls Lithuania "Liet", which has been adopted by the fandom. It comes from Lietuvos, the endonym for Lithuania.
- Fanon: What many fans assume to be true about the series and its characterizations is more often this.
- Fan Service: Both sexual (due to France's machinations) and non-sexual (in the author's blog he sometimes grants requests like "South Korea wearing glasses" or switching around clothes).
- Squee: One of those pictures of switching around clothes on his blog was England wearing America's jacket◊. There was pretty much an explosion of fan arts for that within the Japanese fandom.
- Fascist Italy: Obvious from the title.
- Fate Worse Than Death: The Kolkhoz that Russia threatens his subordinates with. Or living/working/etc. with Russia for that matter.
- Fetish Fuel: Russia's complicated psyche, the Ho Yay, the censored nudity, the girls's quirks, all the different military uniforms, etc...
- Five Man Band: The Allied Forces can be seen like this. Roles are subjected to change, of course:
- Flower Motifs: Russia is sometimes seen with sunflowers. In one strip, Russia tells Lithuania that he dreams of "living in a warm place surrounded by sunflowers". They put the "dere" in Yandere for him.
- Latvia attacks Sealand with a Lily of the Valley at one point (which is, interestingly, Finland's national flower), the first hint of his Yandere potential.
- Rye fields. Just... dear God, the rye fields.
- Meanwhile, fandom never misses an opportunity to depict England with roses (England's national flower). And then there's France and his own roses...
- Let's not forget Hungary and Taiwan's use of flowers and/or flower-shaped hair jewelry as accesories. Hungary's pink flower symbolizes Lake Balaton aka The Hungarian Sea, BTW.
- As red roses are a declaration of love in Germany, Italy giving them to Germany causes a great deal of confusion in the Valentine comic.
- Foreign Queasine: England cooks good food badly but Finland cooks horrible food well. Salty licorice, anyone?
- "In hell, the chefs are English..."
- It has also been mentioned that Sweden's Surströmming (canned fermented Baltic herring) can be used as a deadly weapon. Although whether the food itself or his preparation of it is what renders it inedible is not clear.
- Fourth Wall Mail Slot: Characters occasionally answer fan mail, sometimes devoting entire miniseries to it.
- France has filled many a special dedicated to fan suggestions.
- Fridge Brilliance: One can only imagine the reaction from some particular countries when the Allies win WWII! :D
- Also, did anyone realize the ED's resemblence to Disney's Small World theme park ride?!
- Gag Boobs: Ukraine, who complains about them causing her stiff shoulders and is constantly reattaching one of the buttons on her shirt. In the anime she even has a special sound effect for them that can be heard through doors.
- Gag Dub: the English dub certainly qualifies.
- Some English voice actors have admitted that a significant chunk of their dialogue was ad-libbed.
- Gender Flip: The quasi-official◊ genderswitched versions of the countries (girl!England and boy!Hungary in particular) are pretty popular, especially on the Japanese side of fandom, along with fannish versions.
- Generation Xerox: Germania, Old Italy, Old Greece and Old Egypt are very similar to the Holy Roman Empire, The Two Italies, modern!Greece and modern!Egypt. (Respectively, duh).
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Some fans like the character representing their nation more, because whenever he appears they can get all the culture references before they are explained (or even when they are not explained at all).
- America is Number 2 favorite character in a poll on the American side, whereas in the Japanese poll he's like the 15th. Americans like making fun of themselves?
- South Italians that listen to the Buono Tomato song can immediatly understand that it's a Tarantella, a south Italian dance that mimics the effects of chorea (an abnormal involuntary movement disorder). In the comics, Romano suffered from that disease when young...see? Everything in Hetalia has a reason!
- The dub uses this trope word for word when Romano calls Germany Hasselhoff as an insult.
- Getting Crap Past The Radar: China meets a Hello Kitty rip-off named Shinatty-chan. "Shina" is a Japanese word for "Chinese" that is roughly comparable to the word "Negro" in the US; a formerly neutral word made charged by its derogatory use during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
- There's a recurring joke about Prussia "invading" someone's "vital regions", and others either noting how inappropriate it sounds or making even more inappropriate comments. One of the funniest examples is when Prussia invaded the Silesia zone in Austria and then had Hungary threatening him with a spear and demanding to have "Austria's nether regions" back...
- England refers to Germany as a "Kraut", a slur for Germans used by the
Allies in World War II English, on more than one occasion.
- This is almost entirely averted in the dub, where the radar doesn't seem to exist, or at least is broken.
- Ghost In The Machine: During the Valentine Special, Germany's head-workers are swamped by foreign emotions.
- Good Scars Evil Scars: Lithuania (several, possibly due to Russia's abuse) and China (a single but large one, after Japan injures him with his katana and leaves). Both cover them with their clothes.
- Chibitalia mentions that the Roman Empire has lots of scars and eventually died from them because of all of his battles.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The silhouetted version happens to France in the Christmas Rampage strip, when an upset Switzerland shoots him.
- In another strip, Japan pulls a katana on China and then the scene switches to a panda eating, with China's horrified screams on the background.
- Grim Reaper: Appears in a strip where England is dying.
- Gratuitous English: "HAHAHA! Nice fight!"
- The previews for America's special. Enough said.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language In the series, but mostly demonstrated in the fanworks. The major difference is that, where most of the mistakes in the series come from voice actors, most of the fan mistakes can be summed up with Blind Idiot Translation.
- Groin Attack: When America and Canada are playing catch with a baseball, this happens to Canada.(Ow.)
- Guilty Pleasure: For certain people who watch the show, including men, good luck explaining this.
- Halloween Episode: There are several instances dealing with things like this, including America and Japan exchanging horror media, England trying to scare America on Halloween, and Germany panicking over the possibility of a ghost.
- Haunted Castle: One was turned into a hotel, in a strip where the resident evil spirit tries and fails to scare Japan, England and America.
- Have A Gay Old Time: In one strip England grumbles about America's "incorrect" English.
- Also the time where differing meanings for the word "rubber" caused America to give England a prophylactic when he had asked for a soft device that erases pencil lines.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Poland and Lithuania, even if Poland pushes the definition of "heterosexual" quite a bit. Spain and Romano fall somewhere between this and Ho Yay.
- Het Is Ew: Surprisingly averted, since the het couples are less numerous for obvious reasons yet they have pretty loyal supporters.
- Hey Its That Voice: In full effect when you realize that the Allies' meetings feature (in Japanese) Kamina, Sasuke, Gluttony, and Vash. Not to mention that Hitsugaya is kicking around as Switzerland.
- High School AU: The computer game "Gakuen Hetalia".
- Holding Hands: America's flashback within a flashback where the young America takes England's hand as they both go home. Pretty much a brief Crowning Moment Of Heart Warming surrounded by a Tear Jerker.
- Ho Yay: A lot. (Though not as much as many people seem to believe.)
- Humiliation Conga: America, when he has to apologise for the Great Depression here, at the end of "Lithuania's Immigration" (leading to a Yank The Dogs Chain}.. Actually, the treatment he gets differs from country to country depending on how badly they crashed. It ranges from 'America it seems is too inexperienced in these things' (Japan -3), to 'Your Ass is mine!' (France, -30). And Russia takes the cake by being typically tactless (+ 65).
- Hypocritical Humor: England and France both consider themselves gentlemen, but they are often shown otherwise, with foul language and loose ways respectively. At one point, England looks down on America for being childish, saying that a gentleman doesn't waste time on what a little brat does. America then insults England's cooking, which leads England to call him a * censored* ...
- Identical Grandson: Germany looks like Germania with shorter hair. The Roman Empire also looks like an older, more mature Italy.
- Idiot Hair: North and South Italy, the Roman Empire, South Korea, Taiwan and Canada have one. For the Italy brothers, it acts as an erogenous zone (see here◊); Korea's is occasionally drawn with a face (supposedly representing his "Korean spirit.")
- America and Austria didn't have it at first but seem to have developed it later.
- Greece has a sort of double idiot-hair thing on top of his head.
- Turkey has one similar to Greece on the side of his head, though it's hard to notice.
- The Roman Empire seems to have a few of them, but the most obvious is one that is identical to that of North Italy.
- Norway has one too, albeit, it's detached from his head and floats.
- Australia has two of them.
- Some of them seem to have some sort of importance, like America's being Nantucket, Austria's being Mariazell or S. Korea's being his "Korean spirit".
- Hair is often the way of linking various relatives, as the Latin nations display the hair curl, and those connected to England have his eyebrows. This isn't all-encompassing, though, as America has normal eyebrows and Korea has a hair curl.
- Image Song: Italy's VA Namikawa Daisuke sings the ending theme, and the main eight characters's seiyuus are slated to have their own respective albums.
- Immortal Immaturity: Almost all the characters, but China stands out as a 4,000 year old
Hello Kitty Shinatty-Chan lover. Inverted for England, who's grown out of his 'wild youth' (read: piracy on the high seas), which only survives as his foul mouth and his quick temper, and Sweden who grew out of his viking phase a while ago.
- Incest Is Relative: Prevalent in the fandoms of East Asian couples and inter-New Continent Family relationships like America/England, Canada/France and America/Canada.
- Not to mention Italycest and Germanycest having very loyal followings.
- It's also unclear at times whether or not the characters are Not Blood Siblings, owing mostly to lack of knowledge about how exactly nations are born and how they are related to each other. For instance, China found newborn Japan in a forest, so it's debatable whether or not they're really brothers, and the same may apply for the rest of the Asian nations. Many fans are more than happy with this because it lets them decide for themselves whether or not some relationships are Squicky.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Or Boy, rather. Italy frequently neglects to put on pants, much to his allies' chagrin, particularly Germany.
- Insulted Awake: America brings England back from the dead this way.
- Invisible President: When the President of the United States appears, his face is obscured by the caption bubbles. Either we see the back of his head, or he bows and we only see the top of his head. A similar phenomenon occurs when Germany is talking to his "boss". As with Japan when he's talking to his "boss". China's 'boss' is a giant dragon. ...or edited to appear as such.
- Averted when Austria, Prussia and Spain talk to their own "bosses" (Empress Marie Therese, King Friederich II and Queen Joanna of Castile, respectively), whose faces we can see clearly.
- Also when Italy becomes aligned with Russia, Italy's "boss" is clearly seen, though Russia's is only shown from the back.
- Island Help Message: That F* cking Island.
- Its Popular Now It Sucks: some fans of the webcomic are not so thrilled about the surprising success of the anime and the influx of new fans. The funny thing is that most of them only started complaining when the fandom was already huge.
- I Want My Beloved To Be Happy: Spain lets Italy leave during the War of the Austrian Succession.
- Sweden also thinks this about Finland during the Polish-Swedish wars, however he thinks it's too embarassing to say just in front of Finland.
- Another example could be with England and America. There's much fighting before England makes a choice between either shooting a disarmed America or letting him go. He doesn't shoot.
- I Was Just Joking: When America tells England how great it feels to remember defeating him in the American Revolutionary War, England looks as if he's been genuinely hurt. America then says that that's a lie, which brings England back to his usual irritated Tsundere state.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Cuba is big, gruff, and intimidating and definitely doesn't get along with America, but he's actually a nice guy. He likes chilling out with ice cream or cigars and is friends with Canada (even if he sometimes mistakes him for America).
- Jesus Taboo: Averted, he appears sometimes. At one point, he is shown to be frustrated with Prussia who all of a sudden seems to be remorseful about something (for once).
- Probably pointing out that Prussia is one of the Teutonic Knights, which is a religious organization that has a long history of being very violent. The religious aspect of Prussia is so forgotten (mainly due to Prussia's outlandish behavior and ego) that to bring up that the character is probably quite devout is often something of shock.
- Just Joking Justification: something fans of this series use when defending it.
- Kansai Regional Accent: Spain has a heavy Osaka accent, and Belgium is described as speaking in Shiga dialect though she hasn't actually been seen doing so yet.
- Other dialects include Poland's Nagoya accent, and Sweden's -very- heavy Tohoku dialect.
- Kawaisa
- Know Nothing Know It All: Korea is usually saying he invented things, like education. Also, Poland used to treat Lithuania like his lackey and tried to make Liet live like him. Many of the nation-tans have a moment acting like this (They are all good at heart, though).
- Launcher Of A Thousand Ships: Oh Italy. It doesn't matter how useless everyone thinks he is, there are still quite a few countries in this show that want to occupy his vital regions. As for the fanbase, the fans seem to have a tendency to convert their homelands into little black dresses. America and Japan get around a lot. England, too, mostly because he's a very popular character.
- Lethal Chef: Britain. No surprise. This trope is played with in the show and is a major plot point in the movie.
- Let Him Choose: In the comic that introduces Colonial America, England and France decide to have America choose which of them he wants as his big-brother. America sees a dispirited England in a Corner Of Woe and chooses him over France.
- Limited Wardrobe: Sort of inverted, sort of not. The characters have costumes from across the centuries, but this still doesn't keep up the real world's evolution of fashions and still might be wrong for the period, especially since they tend to stick to one iconic look.
- Little Green Men or The Grays: Tony is America's cute little alien friend (he crashed at Roswell in 1947), who can be seen most of the time at America's house. He has a foul mouth, speaks English/Japanese/Hetalia's universal language, watches America's movies, sometimes abducts people, and apparently hates the British.
- Loads And Loads Of Characters: Just look at that cast list.
- Lonely Together: "The Anglo-Japanese Alliance Between Two Lonely People," anyone?
- Love Bubbles: Not exactly, but the anime has a pretty pink background accompanying Germany whenever he goes into deredere mode, usually around Italy.
- Italy tends to have hearts coming from him, but this is often towards Italian things (such as food and their traditions) as opposed to another character.
- Love Hurts: In the Christmas Episode, a drunk England suddenly snaps out of his stupor when reminded of how he spent a hundred years trying to get over the pain of his unrequited love. (He didn't succeed; he just moved on to another stage.)
- Belarus breaks all of Lithuania's fingers not even ten minutes into their date. And he doesn't seem to mind.
- Love Triangle: Triang Relations type 2: Lithuania has a crush on Belarus, who completely abhors him. Russia's favorite subordinate is Lithuania, who is terrified of him. Belarus wants to marry Russia, who is terrified of her. It's very... twisted, indeed.
- Type 3: Greece —> Japan <— Turkey. Complete with the two ends of the triangle arguing about which one of them Japan pays more attention to. Japan may prefer Greece over Turkey (fandom certainly thinks so, and you can't really blame them), but he remains evasive of any questions about the matter.
- Type 4: Austria and Hungary are an Official Couple, but it's hinted that Prussia has feelings for Hungary. That's likely the most canon take on their relations, but fandom enjoys playing with all possible combinations of the Frying Pangle, sometimes even making it a Type 7 or Type 8 in their works.
- Lucky Charms Title: The Delicious★Tomato Song
- And Hello★China.
- And, from the recent movie soundtrack release, Casino ★ Show Time!
- Luminescent Blush: Most characters have this on constantly.
- Magical Realism: Hints of it, especially regarding the nature of the characters and how they come to be.
- Manga Effects
- Meganekko: Several characters wear glasses but Austria, Estonia and upcoming nation-tan Thailand in particular fit the trope.
- Meido: As a young child living with Austria, Italy used to wear maid outfits. Especially in the Chibitalia chapter, which lampshades the trope when the Holy Roman Empire is seen with a portrait of Chibitalia and is asked if the model was a servant.
- Probably a historical joke, along with Chibimerica's light blue frock. See the Wholesome Crossdresser below.
- Memetic Outfit: England's "Britannia Angel" outfit, in which he has magic powers, such as being able to turn other characters back into children. Also his Sexy Waiter outfit.
- Mind Game Ship: Whenever someone ships Russia with anyone else, the fic usually turns out like this.
- Modesty Towel: Variation in the Christmas Episode; Spain pulls a shower curtain towards himself and barely covers his crotch.
- Often used whenever a character is displayed with their full body in nudity (as opposed to the hips and up). France gets this treatment quite a bit.
- Moe Anthropomorphism: The other foundation the series was built on.
- Moe Couplet: Sealand and Latvia. Sealand helps Latvia not be a twitching emotional wreck and Latvia keeps Sealand grounded to reality.
- Also America and Japan. America can come across as obnoxious and pushy at times and Japan as dull to some. Put them together, however, and America becomes the cheerful, eager friend who gets Japan to open up to new things and Japan the calm, mature one who balances out America's boisterousness. Plus, in spite of the obvious Opposites Attract potential, they've got pretty much zero Ho Yay between them, which makes many people prefer them as BFFs rather than lovers.
- Greece and Japan too, whose relationship seems to be mainly based on them both being quiet Kindhearted Cat Lovers who soften or endear each other's negative traits and are unlikely to ever fight. You can make a drinking game out of the number of times they're described as "cute" or "moe" by fans, seriously. (Not that that's a bad thing, mind you.)
- Monochromatic Eyes: Japan, Liechtenstein, Norway, and the Holy Roman Empire.
- Mood Whiplash: The comics about the American Revolution, Lithuania's sleepover at Poland's house and Bloody Sunday. Just... Bloody Sunday.
- There are quite a few milder examples than the ones given above as well. Episode 50 of the anime(the one with the table-turning) contains one between America and Japan. When America asks Japan if there's anything bothering him, Japan proceeds to pour his heart out, sharing with America how excited yet apprehensive he is about learning Western culture. Then he concludes by asking if they (Japan and America) will be able to get along from then on. Ouch.
- Moral Guardians: Pulled the show off regular TV airings to other electronic distributions. Nationalist Korean netizens reacted to a Japanese parody of Korea being broadcast about as well as you might expect. Some of the English and Japanese fandom reacted to ''that'' about as well as you'd expect, too.
- It doesn't help that it kicked off when some of the Korean protesters doctored images and taking panels out of context to make it even worse (the strip in question was much more insulting to the Japanese than the Koreans) and also used fanart for "evidence." The anti-Korean Fan Dumb was very ugly but there was a lot of ugly things on the other side as well.
- Muggles: We sometimes see normal people hanging around.
- The prefectures of Japan have appeared as people in one strip, but Nantucket is America's idiot hair and Texas is his glasses, and Corsica is Italy's right nipple, and god knows what swapped around territories like Alsace-Lorraine are...
- If Nantucket is America's idiot hair and Texas is his glasses, then what's Florida?
- Their citizens are definitely around, as we see a great deal of them in the armies, and when the countries walk around various cities. England, at one point, tries to take advantage of this by blending into crowds in Italy.
- Aside from the background characters, the only prominate human characters are the bosses and Shinatty-Chan, who is shown to be some older guy in a Shinatty-chan suit.
- There's one strip when one guy wonders what exactly France is, as the poor sap says that France hasn't aged since his grandfather's time.
- Neat Freak: Austria the aristocrat. He gets angry when seen disheveled, even if it's his wife. Germany is somewhat like this too; one strip has Italy cooking and Germany is cleaning up his mess right next to him. Which is funny because Italy was raised as a maid.
- Probably more a sign of how obsessive Germany is about cleanliness, as he is shown scrubbing counters which have been kept neat.
- Which culminates to Austria huffing over even Germany's worn drawers like an old wife, as Germany puts it.
- Nice Hat: The Holy Roman Empire. Turkey combines it with Mask Power. Prussia is sometimes seen wearing one too.
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Used in a Halloween strip as Japan tells America to use Russia as a receptionist in order to scare England. Otherwise, countries are often shown as being very scared of anyone who'd beaten them before or who has a reputation; hence why many freak out whenever they are asked to interact with Germany or Russia. Also, the Italies are afraid of England and Southern Italy appears to be terrified of France.
- Non Human Sidekick: America has whales and the visitor from outer space named Tony (who hates England for some reason), England has fairies and at least one unicorn, Germany has been shown with 4 different dogs, a little dog goes along with Finland and Sweden, Greece has his cats, France has a manipulative little bird called Pierrot, Egypt has a jackal named Anubis and Australia has a koala and a dingo in his first sketch. As of the April Fools '09 event, Prussia has at least one small yellow bird that likes to sit on his head. Canada also has his bear, Kumajiro.
- Talking Animal: Hana-Tamago, Sweden and Finland's pet dog, can talk during the Christmas Episode. Finland is surprised but doesn't think too much of it when they start to read some fan letters. Also, Canada carries around a bear named Kumajiro, who always forgets who he is.
- When France comes over to get better relations with Japan, Japan is too scared to meet him but requests to see the cat that France brought along.
- No Swastikas: Averted; they can be seen in the last chapter of Volume One of the published manga.
- Now Or Never Kiss: Sorta. In the Chibitalia strip, Holy Roman Empire kisses Chibitalia on the lips before leaving Austria's mansion, since they don't know if they'll ever see each other again.
- Not Blood Siblings: Switzerland and Liechtenstein (he found her in an alley, as she was slowly dying due to recession).
- Don't forget about England and America. There's a reason the latter doesn't have the big ol' eyebrows as well.
- That wouldn't explain how Hong Kong ended up with the eyebrows, but I concede that England and America fit this trope.
- England cursed Hong Kong to have his eyebrows.
- And you also have England with most of his "charges".
- And China and Japan - in the manga and anime, we see how China and Japan met. This may not hold true for the rest of East Asia.
- Odd Friendship: Poland and Lithuania; America and Japan.
- Official Couple: Germany and Italy; Austria and Hungary.
- This is actually a point of contention for many fans. Some believe that Sweden and Finland, Spain and Romano, and/or Greece and Japan qualify for this status too, but others believe that there isn't enough outright canon support for them yet and/or that they're just results of Yaoi Fangirls taking Played For Laughs Ho Yay scenes too seriously. Some even go so far as to say that not even Germany and Italy or Austria and Hungary are truly "official" or that they're only one-sided crushes, or that it's impossible for nations to even be in committed, long-lasting relationships with just one other nation, period. The last claim is probably just a severe case of Anti Goggles, but your mileage will probably vary on the other claims, especially considering that they often come from those who support pairings that conflict with the "official" ones.
- Off Model: Some moments in the anime. One that comes especially to mind is when they show Chibitalia with what's supposed to be a younger Romano in episode 2◊.
- Old Shame: Himaruya has deleted some strips and illustrations for the series over the years, especially ones that he felt were either too embarrassing in content or in art style to keep on the site. Most notably, the original beginning to the third chapter of the webcomic is gone for good and it actually starts at the fourth page in its present form.
- Since they were recovered by a fan, it turns out that he might have had a justified reason: Two out of the three pages had some Unfortunate Implications in mixing up Germany and Russia's roles in their pre-WWII relationship and could have caused controversy in being retained. It also seems he changed his mind on how to depict the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, along with possibly Germany's youth.
- Another set of strips by the title of "Botticelli's Erotic Painting" were also removed from the site around the same time as the above strips, but for a very different reason involving France and the younger Italy.
- Older Than They Look: Most of the characters don't look older than thirty. Could be a case of Really Seven Hundred Years Old depending on your interpretation of the nature of the series. It's worth noting though that apparently all countries start out as children and with time they grow into adults (see the Italy brothers, Japan and America).
- Most of the characters are described to be in their 20's. The ages are odd, though, in that countries like Germany and Italy are given the same age despite the two nations being around for very different periods of time; and China still being young despite him being several times older than any of the other nations. Japan is the only one who seems to feel his age, which is again odd as he's half as old as China.
- Actually, China has expressed how he feels his old age to his "boss" (The Dragon, though not The Dragon) more than once in earlier translated strips. And the Germany thing is probably because he decided to change Germany's childhood, as stated elsewhere on this page (the whole HRE thing), though Fanon also has it that some countries age faster or slower than others, considering their development. (And I'm sure what kind of Bishonen Himaruya wants said country to look like plays a great part in it as well).
- In the Chibitalia chapter, glimpses of the Roman Empire as an old, scarred, tired-looking man are seen and suggest that the characters can age and eventually "die".
- Then again, when the Roman Empire reappears in a later strip he looks no more than forty and is quite energetic. Then again, at the end of the strip he mentions that he persuaded God to let him go visit Italy, so apparently countries that cease to exist eventually pass on to... heaven or someplace similar.
- One Head Taller: The 2 cm height difference between America and England tends to be exaggerated by both fanartists and the author himself. (In fact, England is usually drawn much shorter than he actually is - according to the height info, he's the same height as France. This is possibly because his personality is very reminiscent of The Napoleon.)
- England's height may have been retconned in the comic: in one strip young France teases England about being small. Sure, they're both children at that point, but little England is very short.
- One can argue that France is older than England so France would be taller. However, I think the retcon was made that England had a complex about being shorter than his former male colonies than anything. The age thing doesn't seem to come into play though; as Prussia, who is over twice as old as Germany, is shorter.
- Although it's been noted that although he is older, Prussia is shorter than Germany because of malnutrition.
- Don't forget Italy and Germany. The anime even makes fun of the 8cm height difference, as Italy finds it too hard to reach up and hug Germany, and his ankles give way, so Germany has to kiss him instead.
- China and Japan. The characters are built on stereotypes.
- Really, every single pairing that has received substantial Ho Yay falls under this trope. Seriously. Just take a look at Sweden and Finland, Spain and Romano, and Greece and Japan. Or heck, even Korea and China, and Russia and Lithuania.
- Russia and China... dear lord.
- One Man Army: Every single character, in an unusually literal example.
- Subverted once and a while, as both American and Italian armies are shown at points. It seems the multi-manned army only is shown for effect.
- Only Sane Man: Germany for the Axis Powers and England for the Allied Powers. If you stretch the definition of "sane" a bit, that is.
- For the Allied Forces, China sometimes reaches this level and acts as the voice of reason when England proves that he's not so above it all, especially when fighting with France.
- Estonia for Eastern Europe as well.
- Opposites Attract: Lithuania and Poland, Germany and Italy.
- Periphery Demographic: One of the biggest foundations of Axis Powers Hetalia is the Ho Yay, which the more history-based fans often find... disturbing. However, there's a sort-of agreement between both groups in regards to the heterosexual Official Couple formed by Austria and Hungary: it's just So. Damn. CUTE!. Plus, if you're sad your country never appears in foreign news outside of the tragic, prepare for the lighter side...
- Perma Stubble: France thinks this makes him look more mature, "like an older brother" (cue incest related squick). Fans think it just makes him look sexy and debonair.
- Turkey, Grandpa Rome, and Cuba also have this too.
- Perpetual Frowner: Sweden and Hong Kong. Also, Germany, while he does occasionally smile, generally has a serious or angry expression. Japan is also generally seen with a blank face, although he has smiled once or twice (because it involved cats, of course); one comic has Italy trying to get him to smile and succeeding only in making him show an angry/pissed-off face.
- Switzerland notices he hasn't been laughing much recently, and tries to make himself laugh. He can't.
- Norway and Iceland, too.
- And Germania. I remember one strip where he tried to smile, but couldn't.
- Personality Swap: Germany and Italy (try to) switch personalities in one strip just for the heck of it.
- Pettanko: Liechtenstein is mistaken for a boy because of this when she decides to look just like Switzerland for a day. (This dilemma is soon solved with ribbons.)
- Phenotype Stereotype: Most European nation-tans north of Italy are blond, if not blue-eyed (exceptions: Austria, Hungary, Lithuania, Monaco, and new nation-tan Holland).
- Actually, this is a bit of Truth in Television, studies shown that the blond population in Europe increases if you go northward (the Nordic countries have a high population of blondes).
- Pity The Kidnapper: Germany takes Italy prisoner, but kicks him out at the end of the First World War.
- A running gag in the series, as anybody who captures Italy is going to regret it very quickly.
- Politically Correct History: Needed to keep the series a comedy, but often used as a big complaint point for the series' critics.
- Porn Stash: Italy mistakes Japan's ukiyo shunga for this.
- Portmanteau Couple Name: Ro-Ber-To
- The Japanese fandom has Joker for America x England (Alfred F. Jones x Arthur Kirkland.) The reverse is 過剰 (pronounced ka-jo).
- There are actually a lot of these for various pairings: GerIta or Gertalia (Germany/Italy), SuFin (Sweden/Finland), Spamano (Spain/Romano), Franada (France/Canada), FrUK (France/England), RoChu and Giripan (Russia/China and Greece/Japan, respectively, based on their Japanese pronounciations), etc.
- Power Trio: Germany is Superego (rational), Italy is Id (emotional), Japan is Ego (middle man).
- Comic Trio: More often than they'd like.
- Fanon created other trios, including the so-called "bad-touch" trio of Prussia, Spain, and France, as well as the "fail brothers" Denmark, Prussia (again) and England.
- Pinky Swear: Used to symbolize Germany and Italy's Pact of Steel.
- Red Oni Blue Oni: Germany and Prussia have blue and red eyes, respectively. They very much fit the trope.
- America and England fit this at times as well.
- Denmark and Sweden as well, complete with color scheme.
- Refuge In Audacity: If the series weren't so cute and silly, it would probably be much more offensive.
- Regional Riff
- Rie Kugimiya: The voice of Liechtenstein.
- And Latvia in the drama C Ds.
- Roswell Incident: Though there were extra-terrestrials already in America by this time.
- Russian Guy Suffers Most: Inverted and played staight. Bloody Sunday and failed White Sea canal strips cover his history of suffering. But most of the time he's a superpower that likes making others suffer.
- Sailor Earth: People tend to design their own countries frequently.
- Say My Name: Estonia: LATVIAAAAAA!!!
- America: "England? ENGLAND!!"
- Germany: ITALIAAAAAA!!
- Austria: Preußen? Preußen!? PREUßEEEEEEEEEN!!! [[And, drama tracks~<3]]
- Satellite Character: The Holy Roman Empire. Is he the boss? Does he just own the house? He doesn't interact much with the others. He's not Germany, by the way. Or is he? Hmmm...
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: "Patapata~! Patapata~!" The sound effect for flapping...for Italy's white flag of surrender.
- Scarf Of Asskicking: Russia and Holland each have one.
- Sentai Has been mentioned in the Drama CD and during the Fourth Wall Mail Slot. America is the Red Ranger of course! America and Sealand are fans.
- Selective Squick: There are some people who like the humor and the idea of the series, but are scared off by the Ho Yay.
- Meanwhile, there are others that are drawn to the Ho Yay but might find some of the Unfortunate Implications surrounding the show's interpretations of various historical events a little too disturbing.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: When Greece offers Japan a "private lesson" to help him improve his sex life, the scene switches to a "view" of East Asia with Japan's screams in the background (and China yelling back at him because he can't sleep). When we're back to Japan, he's naked in bed next to a sleeping Greece and screaming his head off.
- Sexy Santa Dress: Poland. 'Nuff said. Though there was this one picture on the author's blog where Vietnam wore one, too.
-
She Is Not My Girlfriend I Am Not His Wife: Sweden calls Finland his wife. Finland does not like it at all.
-
She He Is All Grown Up: England leaves young America to return to his country, telling the boy to do his best and become strong. When he comes back, England is shocked to find that America has grown to be taller than him.
- Ship To Ship Combat: In the end, not even this fandom proved to be immune to this. See main entry for details.
- Shirtless Scene: Germany and Italy have a few. Usually together. There's also an entire Christmas special devoted to characters taking off their shirts (and a bit more).
- Often tied to France, as he is quick to try and strip others (and, evidently, has a long history of doing this to raid other countries while they're unconscious).
- Shotacon: France, Spain and Hungary.
- Shown Their Work: If Himaruya didn't do his research, it would be a DISASTER. He even cites his sources. He says that it's because good researchers do, but it's secretly because he didn't want to be sued.
- However, there are some inaccuracies that might be there for the sake of avoiding censorship, such as saying that Japan had no colonies around the time of the Great Depression (when in fact, it already had Taiwan).
- The comic also says Italy didn't either, so it may just be in comparison to Britain and France.
- Shout Out: Finland's last name is a reference to The Kalevala. Namely, to Väinämöinen, the main hero of the story.
- Of course, they could've used a name from Kalevala that was actually used as a name in Finland.
- Episode 3 of the World Series opens with Japan and Greece looking at the Spartan ruins, and Greece says: "This... is... the land of Sparta."
- On his blog, Himaruya once posted a drawing of Hungary holding her frying pan, with "Let's Frying Pan Love" written next to it.
- Sibling Yin Yang: North and South Italy; Switzerland and Liechtenstein; America and Canada; Prussia and Germany.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: The only surefire way to keep England out of your house is to invite France. America observes that after 900 years of war the only thing that keeps these two old timers going is antagonizing each other.
- Greece and Turkey are also this too. In fact, the only time Greece loses his easygoing nature is when Turkey's around.
- Cuba considers America his nemesis, too. Poor Canada...
- Slasher Smile: Usually smiling calmly, Russia usually pulls this out by the end of a strip he's in.
- In one strip, Japan imagines Italy pulling one.
- See this◊ strip as well.
- In another strip, America has this while wielding a chainsaw along with Scary Shiny Glasses. Probably the only time America didn't look his normal self. Though it was only scary due to Canada's paranoia, as America was just normally using his chainsaw to cut wood.
- This might be a Shout Out to the recent soft wood crisis between Canada and USA (to make a long story short, USA decided to overtaxes Canada's softwood as an attempt to promote its own lumber. However, according to treaties they both signed, this was forbidden.) Or not.
- Probably not...
- Sleep Cute: Lithuania, exhausted from being overworked by his boss Russia, unintentionally falls asleep on a couch only to wake up to find himself beside Russia, who for once is in deredere mode.
- Subverted with Greece and Japan, when the first dozes off next to the other for some seconds but then wakes up like nothing happened.
- Sliding Scale Of Silliness Versus Seriousness: For most of the series, it falls on the silly side, but it is occasionally serious without moving into any jarring Mood Whiplash. The series cannot be taken too seriously without dire consequences.
- Soft Snow: Averted, when Russia thinks he doesn't need a parachute when he sees snow on the ground from an aircraft, adding that no one knows snow like him. He ends up breaking all his bones (only one in the anime).
- Spoiler: In one strip England visits Japan wearing a T-shirt with the infamous Harry Potter spoiler on it. When Japan freaks out, England takes his shirt off only to reveal that the spoiler is also written all over his chest.
- Smoking Is Cool: Cuba and his famous Cuban cigars.
- Netherlands, too, with his Pipe of Asskicking.
- Stalker With A Crush: Belarus, to Russia. Russia himself, to Lithuania. Russia also wears a panda suit and stalks China.
- Standard Snippet: The Oriental Riff was used in episode 23 when Germany, Italy, and Japan stumble onto a Chinatown.
- Stock Footage: Applies to the anime with "That F* cking Island", as some fans refer to it. Basically involves the Axis being stuck on an island, ambushed by the Allies, and attacked with a wok by China until some diversion comes to break it up. The same exact animation and lines are recycled, save for a few minor differences. It got so excessive that the plot of the Christmas story with Finland was even changed to take place on the island, rather than out in the remote wilderness.
- Some Youtube comments speculate that they were trying to make fun of Endless Eight...
- Stoic Spectacles: Actually, Austria has a great emotional range: he can be 'solemn', 'sullen', 'stern', 'saturnine', 'harsh' and 'sterner'.
- Except when he's being undressed against his will.
- Not to mention Sweden, who speaks in a grunting dialect, rarely changes his facial expression, and scares pretty much everybody when they first meet him.
- Summon Magic: England
- Super Deformed: Done sometimes in the strips, but almost the only thing you see in the merchandise.
- Surprise Santa Encounter: Finland and America have both dressed as Santa Claus at one point. Poland did and turned up expecting presents.
- Tactful Translation: Done at least once, when America comes to Japan to make friends with whales.
Japan: Go Away.
Translator: It's nice that you have such interesting pursuits, but please pursue them in your own residence.
- Take That Me: Any worries that the author's homeland would get a light touch fades pretty quick: Japan is a hilariously stereotypical, polite-but-evasive Inscrutable Oriental and who initially has problems socializing with outsiders, among other things.
- Talking To Himself: The Italy brothers have the same seiyuu, as do the North American brothers.
- China and Taiwan are also voiced by the same actress in China's drama track, while the child versions of the Italy brothers now share the same voice (Aki Kanada being a replacement for Daisuke Namikawa for Chibi Romano).
- Mostly averted for the dub, with the exception of Eric Vale as America and Canada.
- Tastes Like Diabetes: How some fans (particularly the older male crowd) see the younger versions of the nations, especially Chibitalia and the Holy Roman Empire. Some newcomers to the anime also tend to be disgusted and taken aback by the idea of these little guys and moe having business in their "history" series.
- Team Dad: Austria in the Chibitalia chapters.
- Tear Jerker: More than you'd think, actually.
- The Chibitalia chapter ends with the Holy Roman Empire (portrayed as a younger Germany) leaving Chibitalia aka Italy, kissing him and saying that he's "loved Italy since the 900s and will keep loving him no matter how many hundreds of years pass." If you're familiar with European history, you can guess how well that ends. They meet again as adults, but of course Germany has forgotten all about it by now. He may have started to recover his memories in the Valentines Special, but it's not clear.
- Not to mention the scene when Italy refuses to join with Holy Roman Empire. He explains that his grandfather, Rome, died because he begame too powerful, and had painful wounds from being attacked. He begs Holy Roman Empire not to become the next Rome, saying that he likes him just as he is. What does HRE do? He runs off in tears in lieu of a response.
- Chibitalia's desperate attempt to attract attention as HRE walks away to go to war - "Are you really leaving? No way... no way, Holy Roman Empire... wait, wait! What do I do... Holy Roman Empire!!"
- Also the "Cleaning Out the Storage" chapter, when America remembers how England helped raise him... only to nearly kill the rebellious America during The American Revolution and break down in tears when he can't bring himself to do so. ( "You used to be... so big...".)
- "England and Japanese Folklore" ends on a slightly somber note that bemoans the loss of Japanese traditions.
- Despite its brevity, Make A British Food was rather sad with America reminiscing about England and his (bad) food.
- Russia's Start Of Darkness. "Hey, Lithuania... We don't want children who can't play nice, right?"
- Lithuania's dream(s).
- ""There's a side of Lithuania... I don't know". SEVERE Mood Whiplash there.
- Much milder than the other examples here, but poor Korea's reaction to seeing what China really thinks of him with the super-powered binoculars. "These are broken... so Korea didn't make them..."
- The animated rendition of how Liechtenstein and Switzerland met. It was sad in the manga, but the anime made it even more heartbreaking.
- America's face in the last panel here. It projects how, even though America bugs England constantly, when he sees that England is happier around his, ahem, 'imaginary friends' than America, America's a little heart broken.
- The End Of The World As We Know It: Little England and France were very surprised when the world didn't end in the year 1000.
- The Movie: The Plot? Alien Invasion.
- After seeing it in Ikebukuro, this troper would call the plot lost in fanservice.
- They Changed It Now It Sucks: Many fangirls' opinion on the alterations to the English dub script. See Broken Base above.
- They Just Didnt Care: The only explanation for some of the human names. Which makes sense, as Himaruya never intended for them to exist, but the fans insisted. Applies to both Himaruya's name choices and the english-speaking fanbase's romanizations thereof. Vargas is a Spanish name not Italian, Tino is uncommon in Finland but Timo is very common, Weillschmidt is not a name but Beilschmidt is, it's Elizabeta and not Elizaveta, and Toris is a very popular name in Lithuania... for dogs.
- A few of the human names have actually shown up in at least two strips, one being Spain's April Fools' news show. However, as it's an April Fools-themed strip, Your Mileage May Vary if the human names alluded to in it ("Im Yonsoo", "Honda-san", "Adnan-san") have any standing in canon. Another strip has America referred to as "Alfred", but as he was acting in a commercial, it's probable that it was only his character's name.
- Together Umbrella: Japan and Greece in one comic. Italy makes a poster of himself and Germany under one, not quite understanding what it means (but then again, maybe he just doesn't mind).
- Toy Ship: The Holy Roman Empire and Chibitalia. To a degree, Latvia and Sealand.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Almost every character makes a reference to their own cuisine. America loves hamburgers, England loves tea, North Italy loves pasta, South Italy loves tomatoes, and all of the North American nations love ice cream.
- True Neutral: Per history, Switzerland and his sister Liechtenstein
- Taken to ludicrous levels in the movie, ascending to virtual superpower status as they are the only powers to be left out of the alien takeover and have a peaceful picnic over the course of the movie.
- Tsundere. Several male characters fit in the Type A. England and Germany are frequently called Tsundere even in official canon, namely author's notes and the drama CD.
- England is heavy on The Smirk, And especially◊ when◊ around◊ America◊. When he's in deredere mode, though, he sometimes shows such vulnerability that he qualifies as The Woobie. He's also referred to as a Tsundere by both fandom and Word Of God (specifically, the Drama CDs and some author notes)
- America seems to be a odd variation of the Type A Tsundere himself. His tsuntsun/The Smirk side is represented less by mood swings and more by his penchant to step on people's toes with his rampant KY-ness, cheerful Love Freak mannerisms and occasional arrogance; he also shoots down England's advances and seems to have fun when he relentlessly teases the other nation-tan. However, he has shown genuine sadness and melancholy as he remembers their common past times (especially in "America Cleans Out The Storage"), as well as some degree of worry for the other's well-being, which can be seen as him being deredere.
- It could be that he's a Type B (dere dere), since England is the only one he purposely annoys/teases.
- Switzerland is a combination of Type A and He Was Never My Heterosexual Life Partner to Austria. The Gunslinger is especially fond of The Violent Approach (duh).
- Himaruya actually calls Germany a Tsundere in the notes. It's hard to tell his exact type given his usually staid demeanour. He seems to be a Type A fond of a mix between Cold Shoulder and Smirk (less about merely throwing insults around or having mood swings, more about being grumpy and a Drill Sergeant Nasty to Italy). He's usually a 'take no guff' guy around everybody, but you can just tell he's making exceptions for Italy. And to drive the point further, the Valentines strip had Germany pretty much the whole time in full-blown deredere mode.
- South Italy is a fierce mix of all Tsun Type A varieties, partially out of insecurity that Spain only wants him for his inheritance and that his lack of domestic/artistic talents made him inferior to his little brother. And yep, Romano's Tsundere side is specially strong when around Spain.
- When asked by Japan to explain his odd mixture of affection and confrontation, Korea, of course, claims to have invented Tsundere (all types, presumably). He's still not one himself, though.
- Twincest: The fanon America/Canada pairing, which has a small but very loyal following in some Ho Yay centered circles.
- The Un Favorite: Canada has always been overshadowed by America ever since they were little. As soon as England seemed to be paying more attention to Canada, America came along and took his attention back.
- For that matter, poor Canada is usually treated as a non-entity - people either forget who he is or don't even notice him. (In one strip Russia spends a whole meeting sitting in his lap because he didn't notice that Canada was already sitting in the chair. Later Russia comments to Belarus on how comfortable his chair was.)
- Also played with in regards to Belarus. She treats the other Baltics so badly because she thinks she is Russia's Unfavorite because of them. Hell, she's even jealous of Ukraine...
- Romano (South Italy) is this in some degree, especially during his "childhood" days when Spain was more fixated on Italy than him. He was seriously worried that he didn't have anything to offer, lacking his brother's domestic and artistic skills.
- The Unintelligible: Sweden's grunt speak. The author based it on his trouble with Japan's northern accent (more exactly, Tohoku accent) that some of his staff use.
- Unpleasable Fanbase: Especially now, with the recent release of the English dub.
- Though between complaints about which countries were being introduced as characters, complaints about the male to female ratio in the series, and fangirl wars between which pairings were the best, it was plenty unpleasable before.
- Ditto for the dub voice actors: opinions range all over the place for all the characters and their accents, especially the Italy brothers. (Although everyone seems to agree that China's voice is a little iffy.)
- Unusual Euphemism: Sealand lampshades this in the dub:
Sealand: Sometimes I ride the goat while swabbing the deck, and that is not a euphemism for anything.
- Turtle Power: All over this strip
- Unkempt Beauty: Greece, apparently. Iceland as well.
- Valley Girl: Totally Poland, like ehmagawd. Based on the Japanese equivalent.
- Verbal Tic: China ends most of his sentences with "aru", which is derived from a Japanese stereotype of Chinese people. When talking to England (for example in the Britannia Angel strip) "aru" sometimes changes to "ahen" which means "opium".
- Sealand finishes most of his sentences with "desu yo," which is basically ending everything with an exclamation point.
- When America talks business, he develops the Verbal Tic "-gates".
- How did this get so far without mentioning Italy's "ve"?
- Or Romano's "CHIGI!" when he's especially upset or when his ahoge is touched?
- Vocal Evolution: Japan's voice in the first Drama CD is very soft. In later CDs and the anime, the same seiyuu switches to a much deeper tone, allegedly because fans complained that he'd sounded too similar to Italy.
- It happened to America as well. In the first C Ds he has a sort of low tenor voice. Then in the anime and cosecutive drama CDs his voice gets higher and higher (as well as more and more hyper), except for dramatic scenes where it drops back to its normal tone.
- Canada's voice has been getting less inaudible lately.
- Greece's voice in the anime became considerably slower from his episode with France to his episodes with Japan, presumably to emphasize his Heavy Sleeper nature better.
- Viewer Gender Confusion: Hong Kong has been confirmed as male, but some fans are still confused. As for China, the author himself lampshades this trope in regards to him by listing him as the only female Allied member on the official character chart... before adding a "Not" on the end.
- We Are Struggling Together: The Allies find working with each other difficult.
- That pretty much goes for any group ever, as all the countries seem to hate at least something about every other one, and it's hard to find even a single pair that don't bicker at some point.
- White Haired Pretty Boy: Iceland and Prussia, though Prussia's Hot Blooded personality is a subversion.
- Widget Series: A history lesson in the form of stupid
- Wife Husbandry: The way some (fanon) couples like England/America and Spain/Romano can be seen as.
- Who Is This Guy Again: Cana - er...who?
- Wholesome Cross Dresser: Poland and both Italies (when little). Japan wears an apron over a woman's kimono when he cleans house and cooks. Although the Italies' dresses may be another historical in-joke
- The Woobie: Oh, Canada...
- And then there's China. No matter how hard he tries, no one ever seems to respect him. Hell, even his allies pick on him and order him around. His adopted Japan stabbed him in the back for seemingly no reason! (For a Japanese man to acknowledge this is extremely liberal-minded. You can tell Hidekaz isn't a nationalist).
- And let's not forget little England crying about how lonely he is, or a grown-up England getting his heart trampled on by America...
- And let's not forget Lithuania either! Russia really gave him a hard time, didn't he?
- Ukraine. She aches constantly, her economy is in shambles, she has a hard time making friends, and she's so kind that she often winds up picked on for it. No wonder she's always crying.
- Why don't we just say that everyone is a woobie at some point?
- Woolseyism: The dub constantly swings between this and Gag Dub. Opinions definitely abound as to whether or not this is a good thing or the worst thing ever.
- Funimation were also responsible for the Gag Dub of Shin-chan, so mileage does vary.
- The World Cup: The author grabbed the opportunity to draw some funny strips and cute chibis playing football. Fandom grabbed the opportunity to revel in the (perceived) UST.
- Japanese fanartists have developed a new meme of depicting Spain as a football referee, handing out yellow and red cards. This is, of course, a reference to the Germany v. Serbia game where the Spanish referee went a bit card-happy and one of the German team's players ended up being ordered off the pitch.
- World War One
- World War II
- Written In Absence: In the Drama CD titled Prologue, America is assigning Power Ranger colors to the five main allies. He says China will be green, but he's not there because he's busy taking care of his panda. China did not have a voice actor until later.
- X Meets Y: Anime HoYay meets Histeria... for anyone who remembers that show.
- Yandere and Yangire: Russia, Russia, Russia. Latvia shows signs of this as well, likely because of Russia. Also, Russia's sister Belarus: she is obsessed with her older brother, is often represented with a knife, and shares Russia's penchant to abuse people who show care for her - especially Lithuania... Heck, Belarus is so Yanderiffic that Russia is scared of her!
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Taiwan has the looks (but not the personality) while Lietchenstein has the personality traits. On the other side of the gender fence, Japan's Gender Flipped self is a completely straightforward YN, according to the author's notes) while Lithuania combines it with Woobieness.
- Yaoi Fangirl: The most prominent fanbase for this show, in the English-speaking world at least.
- You Should Know This Already: The Axis Powers lose.
- Your Mileage May Vary: Given the premise of the series, this is inevitable.
- Yonkoma: Most of the series is in this form.
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