[Edit]Hetalia: Axis Powers (ヘタリア Axis Powers ,
Hetaria Akushisu Pawāzu?) is a webcomic, later adapted as a manga and an anime series, by Hidekaz Himaruya (日丸屋秀和,
Himaruya Hidekazu?). The series presents an allegorical interpretation of political and historic events, particularly of the World War II era, in which the various countries are represented by anthropomorphic characters.
Hetalia (ヘタリア?) is a portmanteau combining
hetare (へタレ?, Japanese for "useless") and
Italia (イタリア?). This is to make light of Italy's apparent cowardice during World War II.
Himaruya originally created
Hetalia as an online webcomic, and so far two tankōbon have been published by Gentosha Comics, the first on March 28, 2008 and the second on December 10, 2008. The series was later adapted into drama CDs, and an anime series created by Studio Deen has also begun streaming online. On January 8, 2010, the anime series' international distribution was announced to be handled by Funimation Entertainment.
The main historical events portrayed in this work occur between World War I and World War II. The series often uses satire and comedy to address well-known historical events as well as historical and cultural trivia. Historical political and military interaction between countries is allegorically represented in
Hetalia as social and romantic interaction between the characters; the webcomic version in particular depicts military and economic incursions using various innuendo.
So far, over 40 countries have been personified as human characters. In
Hetalia, these characters are normally referred to by their country's name.
The Axis Powers group of characters consists primarily of Germany, Italy, and Japan, who are also the protagonists of the series. The representations of countries also part of the historical Axis powers, such as Austria, make additional appearances.
Source:
Wikipedia [Edit]
Appearance
He is a short, slim man with black hair, dark brown eyes, and is often depicted wearing a white naval uniform with black and gold accents. His first appearance in both the anime and the published manga shows him briefly wearing a more ornate version, with gold epaulets and frog clasps down in the front of the jacket. When he first appeared in the webcomic, he wore a standard gray/black uniformuntil sometime after joining the Axis. Despite that he looks young, he's actually
quite an old man.
In some of Himaruya's official art, his hair is dark brown and his eyes are a lighter
brown.
Personality & Interests
A shy, quiet and hard-working man, Japan doesn't know very much about the outside world and needs time to adjust to other people. But he's very curious and interested in learning things from other nations. His distinct island customs may seem mysterious to others, although he finds them perfectly normal. He tends to have the behavior of an "old man" and was a hikikomori for a long time Japan had spent about 250 years in isolation keeping only contact with Netherlands.
Though he appears horrified at the idea of nudity or intimate contact, he has erotic woodcuts in his possession, which he tries to hide secretly between his non-erotic books. Japan also voiced his preference for 2D girls over 3D girls to England, Greece, and France in one strip, hinting that he has an otaku side. His otaku side is further shown when he decides to buy a Shonen Jump magazine in his preparations for the New Year.
Japan seems to be fond of food in general, very similar to China's fondness, his country's food in particular, as evidenced by his annoyance of having his salted salmon taken off Germany's diet plan. He expressed dismay at the increase of the price of eggs due to a bad economy. He also had the urge to touch the Italy brothers' ahoges due to them reminding him of vegetables.
It is said that cockroaches are one of the things that Japan hates the most, to the extent where he could cry over them. Although he appears relatively calm most of the time, it is suggested that his anger would be the "scariest". However, it is shown that it's hard for him to get that angry, as he is mostly able to only summon an "unpleasant feeling".
He loves animals, especially cats, and owns a white dog called Pochi that resembles an Akita or Shiba Inu, both Japanese breeds. Some say it may be a Japanese Spitz due to his white and fluffy fur in some sketches and fanarts. He also eventually gets a rabbit and a guinea pig. He tends to have a weakness for things that are soft and fluffy.
Name Trivia
The Western order for his name would be Kiku Honda, with the Eastern being Honda Kiku. Kiku comes from the Japanese word for the Chrysanthemum flower, which is also the family crest of the Japanese Imperial family. Honda is a common Japanese surname that includes the kanji ᧄ hon, as in 日ᧄ Nihon Japan.
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