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Hetalia Axis Powers / A to H

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This page covers tropes in Hetalia: Axis Powers.

Tropes A To H | Tropes I to P | Tropes Q to Z

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    A 
  • A-Cup Angst:
    • After getting mistaken for a little boy, Liechtenstein was shown fretting over the flatness of her chest.
    • During a meeting of the female nations, Taiwan gets self-conscious about her breasts in comparison to Ukraine, Hungary, and Monaco.
    • Nyo!Japan is shown being self-conscious about her lack of equipment.
  • Aborted Arc:
    • The Hetalia Christmas Bloodbath of 2011, due to Himaruya's commitment to Gentosha Comics.
    • Also the 2013 Halloween event for unknown reasons.
  • Accent Adaptation:
    • Poland's Nagoya accent is translated as a Valley Girl accent in scanlations.
    • Sweden's Touhoku dialect is depicted as though he were mumbling.
    • Translators will sometimes have Hong Kong use an occasional "like" in his speech to reflect his Gyaru-o dialect.
    • This is averted with the other characters who have accents.
    • Also averted with the English dub of the anime, which simply gives the characters stereotypical national accents.
  • Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal:
    • Mr. Puffin wears a red bow tie.
    • The cat versions of Germany and Austria wear ribbons around their necks.
  • Accidental Kidnapping: Italy and Romano once kidnapped England, but only because he happened to fall into a hole that some kids dug in their yard. They weren't too happy about the situation, and even less happy when Germany dragged England back after he managed to escape.
  • Accidental Pervert:
    • Holy Roman Empire. Several times he has accidentally lifted up (or pulled down) Chibitalia's shorts.
    • Germany as well. He's tugged on both Italy and Romano's Idiot Hairs while not understanding the reaction they have to it.
    • Spain is also this, for the same reason...
    • Prussia, under the impression that Hungary was a boy (to be fair, she thought she was a boy too), groped her chest once, only to realize exactly what he was feeling under Hungary's shirt.
  • Accidental Proposal:
    • In one comic, Italy greets Japan with a kiss on the cheek and a hug. Japan demands that Italy accept responsibility and marry him.
    • The same thing happen with Japan and Netherlands' pets, where Netherlands' rabbit licked Japan's dog, and he immediately told Netherlands' rabbit to take responsibility.
  • Action Girl:
  • Actor Allusion:
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Numerous characters, although it doesn't help that Himaruya isn't always consistent with his coloring to begin with.
    • Italy's hair is brown in the manga, but the anime gives him auburn hair that sometimes looks like a saturated red. His eyes also went from brown to gold.
    • Romano's eyes are usually hazel in manga, but they're gold like his brother's in the anime. He's also slightly more tanned than his brother, but they have the same skin tone in the anime.
      • And sometimes, his eyes are green.
    • Canada's hair is a dirty blond in the anime, whereas in the manga he is shown with yellow-orange hair. His eyes also went from purple to blue, possibly to make him look more like America.
    • England's hair went from an ash blond shade to saturated yellow.
    • France's dark blond hair was changed to the same yellow as England's.
    • Sweden's hair was colored light brown in the first season, although later seasons have corrected this and changed his hair back to its original blond. His eyes also changed from a greenish hue to blue.
    • Finland's eyes are purple in the manga, but were changed to brown in the anime.
    • Latvia had purple eyes in the manga and blue eyes in the anime. The anime also made his hair darker.
    • Like Latvia, Estonia's hair was darker in the anime, and his eyes went from a blue-green to the same shade of blue as Latvia's.
    • Lithuania's eyes went from green to blue.
    • Belarus has dirty blond hair in the anime instead of the platinum blond hair she had in the manga.
    • China's black hair was changed to ash brown in the anime.
    • Korea also has black hair, but the unused anime design showed him with chestnut brown hair.
    • Germania's eyes changed from sea green to blue.
    • Spain, Egypt and Seychelles all have tanned skin in the manga, and Greece and Turkey have more olive complexions. In the anime, they all have the same skin color as the other characters.
    • The Netherlands got the same bright yellow hair that the other Europeans got instead of the light blond hair he has in the manga.
    • Poland has light blond hair in the manga, but got the same saturated yellow hair of most of Europe in the anime.
    • Note that the above examples all refer to the first four seasons. Season five mostly corrected these changes.
    • Kugelmugel has white hair in manga illustrations, while his anime appearance gave him platinum blond hair.
    • In the manga Russia has either platinum blond hair or dark blond hair. The anime gave him beige, almost silvery-white hair.
    • Iceland has purple eyes in the manga, but was given blue eyes during the first four seasons of the anime. He was given purple eyes in the fifth season and beyond, but his hair became platinum blond like the other Nordics' hair instead of the silver hair he has in the manga.
  • Adorably Precocious Child: Sealand, Ladonia and Moldova are this.
  • Aerith and Bob: Applies on an international level—some of the Nations have relatively common "human" names for the place they represent, while some have very rare names, and others are in between... if they have human names at all. Oh, and some of the human names are symbolic in some way, while others are more generic. Here are some examples:
  • Affectionate Gesture to the Head:
    • After Italy was shown agreeing with everything Germany said at a meeting, Germany patted him on the head.
    • France ruffled America's hair affectionately when he came to the latter's Centennial celebration.
    • Russia is fond of giving Latvia affectionate (and crushing) head pats...and if he didn't, Latvia would be taller than he is now.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Many nations have these for each other:
    • Finland has a lot of these for the other Nordics: He calls Denmark "Ta-san" (from the Finnish name for Denmark, Tanska). He refers to Sweden as "Su-san" (often rendered as "Mr. Sve"), calls Norway "Noru-kun" (rendered as just "Nor") and calls Iceland "Ice-kun" (rendered as just "Ice"). The other Nordics call him "Fin" in return.
    • Norway calls Denmark "anko," a term analogous to "onii-chan" (the familiar form of "big brother"). Scanlations generally render it as "Bro." All of the Nordics refer to him in turn as "Nor," and Denmark also calls him "brother" (kyoudai) and "best buddy" (shinyuu).
    • Iceland calls Sweden "Svi," from Sweden's Icelandic name, Svíþjóð. He calls Denmark "Dan," short for Denmark's name in Icelandic, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian (Danmark). The older Nordics just call Iceland "Ice."
    • Switzerland and Ukraine call Liechtenstein "Liechten."
    • Hungary calls Poland "Po-chan," or "Popo."
    • Ukraine calls Hungary "Hun-chan" ("Hunny" or "Hunny-baby"), while Hungary calls Ukraine "Uku-san" (rendered as "Raine" by some scanlations).
    • Poland calls Lithuania "Liet," or "Lithy," as it it sometimes rendered.
    • Prussia calls Germany "West."
  • Affectionate Parody: Of history and different countries in general, treating them with a well-meaning and almost endearing degree of respect.
  • Air Guitar: Prussia does a variation of this with a broom in "Go Forth! Newspaper Club! (part two)"
  • Airplane Arms: Sealand seems to be fond of running around his country like this.
  • Air-Vent Passageway: Germany, Italy, and Japan end up crawling through one of these on an alien spaceship in The Movie.
  • The Alcoholic: Germany and Prussia are very fond of beer, while Denmark is the heaviest drinker in Northern Europe, with Finland as a close second. Vodka is said to be Russia's fuel, and Luxembourg is named the heaviest drinker in the world in notes. Latvia is said to be this as well note , despite his young human age.
  • Alcohol Hic: England when he gets really drunk, and Finland once in a drama CD, and once when Drowning His Sorrows after Sweden calls off a battle with Lithuania and Poland.
  • Alien Abduction:
    • Appears to happen on a global scale in the end of "Paint it White", where the invading Pict SEEM to have billions of converted humans enter their mothership and then fly back home to their home planet. It's not stated that these Pict are the converted humans, and the Princess claims she'd return everything to normal as it was. It hasn't stopped some from interpreting it as a dark ending, however, or thinking that the princess lied. If that were the case, only Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Iceland are left.
    • Aliens once tried to abduct Mochimerica but ended up throwing him back in disgust.
  • Alien Invasion:
    • The premise of Paint It, White.
    • In 15th episode released in Birz, the characters discuss what they would do if aliens invaded. England said he'd just sit by while America beat them up. France decided that if they were cute enough, he would just surrender. Russia claimed that he would tear them apart if they came near his home. America then pointed out a theory that aliens wouldn't be able to survive in the Earth's atmosphere.
      England: And if that was the case, we'd be picking up dead aliens from the ground all over the place!
      China: Leave the cooking to me!
  • Aliens Speaking English/Japanese: America's alien friend Tony.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Oh, boy... where to start?
    • England may have an unrequited crush on America, though their past leaves many fans to believe the crush isn't so unrequited.
    • The Belarus/Russia/Lithuania love triangle. Belarus likes Russia, Russia likes Lithuania, Lithuania likes Belarus, and it all goes downhill from there.
    • Korea's affection towards China (and, to a lesser extent, Japan) is not requited.
    • Prussia seems to have a crush on his childhood frenemy Hungary, and his blog entries seem to indicate that he likes Italy as well.
    • Poland and Lithuania are a bit more debatable. At one point Lithuania says that he hates Poland. The latter replies that "it doesn't, like, change the fact that I like you." Mind you, Poland's words could also be translated as "I love you."
    • Judging by Finland's freaked out reaction, he isn't into Sweden's whole "wife" thing.
  • All Just a Dream:
    • When Canada has a dream about Quebec becoming an independent nation, he was relieved to find out it was only a dream.
      "Uwaaaahhhh! Not Montreal...! Anything but that! Thank goodness it was just a dream!"
    • Japan tries to convince himself that his "private lesson" with Greece was this.
    • After the what happened during the 2010 Christmas Bloodbath, England remarks that maybe he'll just go to sleep and find out it was all just a dream when he wakes up.
    • During the 2011 Christmas event, Iceland had an Awkwardly Gay Dream about Turkey, and was weirded out by it.
    • Estonia was relieved to find out that he hadn't really been transported to an alternate universe where everyone's genders were reversed.
    • England once had a dream where he was forced to play Cloudcuckoolander's Minder to America in Africa, trying to keep him safe from poisonous lizards, snakes, and poisonous plants. And then America showed up for real...
  • All Part of the Show: When a star falls on England's head, America is nothing short of impressed.
  • All-Stereotype Cast: Done deliberately and usually Played for Laughs. Japan is overly reserved, Italy is obsessed with pasta, America only wants to be the hero, etc.
  • All There in the Manual: Several characters appear in sketches in the author's blog long before their introduction in any strip. The blog regularly features a Q&A section that gives some insight and little tips about the nations themselves.
  • All Trolls Are Different: Norway is friends with a huge green one that comes to his defense when it's needed.
  • All Work vs. All Play: Germany would rather work while Italy would rather lounge around and relax.
  • The Alliance: The Allies, of course. The Axis are this as well, being rivals to the Allies.
  • Alternate Universe: In the 2010 Christmas Bloodbath, it's revealed that there is one where the Nations are cat people, don't wear any clothing, and there are 123 Frances. There is also the Hetalia Academy universe, the Nyotalia (gender reversed) universe, Nekotalia (with all characters being cats), and the Mochis storyline.
  • Alternate Universe Fic: These tend to show up frequently. Since there are multiple versions of each character in canon (mochi versions, cat versions, gender-reversed versions, the 2p or "another coloring" versions, the Hetalia Academy AU) there is plenty of opportunity for this to happen. Alternate History stories tend to show up on a regular basis, as do fics where the characters are normal people.
  • Ambiguously Human:
    • What the nations really are never gets specified. They seem to come into existence when something region-like is established (like early American colonies or Sealand). And when a micronation is dissolved like Republic of Nikko Nikko into Japan, the nation "becomes human" and starts aging.
    • In one comic strip, a guard questions France's identity since he appeared in the photo with his grandfather and looks exactly the same, not to mention some like China really are more than a millennia old.
    • Some also appear to become unhealthy from the social instabilities in their countries.
  • Ambiguous Gender: New Zealand was originally this. It didn't help that when a fan asked Himaruya if the character was male or female, he responded with a sketch of New Zealand asking "Which would you like me to be?" Eventually, years later, one of his blog entries referred to the character as male, thus ending the confusion.
  • America Saves the Day: Frequently invoked, as America constantly tries to fill the role of hero while snubbing the other Allies to cannon fodder.
  • Amicable Exes: Despite being divorced, Austria and Hungary are still on good terms, and are shown spending holidays together and exchanging gifts.
    • Czech Republic and Slovakia are a (presumably) non-romantic example; though they separate on bad terms, they realize that they miss one another and make up quickly.
  • Amplified Animal Aptitude: While most of the animals can't talk, they are clearly capable of understanding people and are able to think. In "Private Concert", Berlitz (one of Germany's dogs) bit Prussia because he tried to dress up Berlitz as a dragon.
    Berlitz: (thinking) That's because he tried to dress me up in a weird costume and called me a dragon! Of course I'd bite him! I only like cute clothes! And now because of him I'm being told off... I'm a very well-mannered dog, I know who I should bite and who I shouldn't!
  • Amusing Alien: America's little buddy Tony, provided you find his habitual cursing and severe hatred of the English amusing.
  • Amusing Injuries: When a nation gets hurt, it's almost always Played for Laughs.
    • England has had both a missile and a falling star stuck in his head.
    • France has been smacked with Hungary's frying pan on more than one occasion and was shot in the head once by Switzerland.
    • America broke his foot after misjudging distance and falling on his face.
    • Romano also injured himself when he stepped on a Banana Peel.
    • Russia broke his bones after jumping out of an airplane with no parachute because he thought that the snow on the ground would cushion his fall.
    • Germany supplexed Prussia when the latter tried to get him to come dance during the 2011 Halloween event.
  • Anachronic Order: The story may deal with history, but the events aren't shown in historical order.
  • Anachronism Stew:
    • In one episode of the anime, Italy mentions that Germany has pornographic DVDs, even though the DVD would not be invented until several decades after that point in the story.
    • Holy Roman Empire was shown waking up to a modern electronic alarm clock at one point.
    • Austria is shown wearing modern style glasses before they were invented.
    • One anachronism is acknowledged in this strip. England asks America (who is admittedly a technical wizard) if he's trying to show off by having a computer that won't be invented for forty-two years.
    • During WWII, France is shown wearing a WWI-era infantry uniform.
    • One episode of the anime depicts France with a digital camera, presumably in the 1940s. Yet it prints photos as if it were a Polaroid.
    • When a young China and little Japan met for the first time in the bamboo forest, which happened during ancient times, China was wearing a changshan (the male equivalent of the qipao), which the Chinese only begun wearing in the 17th century.
    • In the webcomic, Nero-chan (aka Emperor Nero) pulls out an acoustic guitar to sing one of his songs. Lampshaded by him and a freed slave:
      Freed slave: What are you doing!? Instruments like that didn't exist during Ancient Rome!
      Nero-chan: But this is Rome! There has to be at least one or two acoustic guitars from Takaminenote , right?
      Freed slave: There aren't any!
  • And Call Him "George": Russia's treatment of Latvia in general, including affectionate head pats that are implied to have crushed part of his spine.
  • Animal-Eared Headband:
    • They found an excuse. Belgium actually has a ceremony to honor dead cats.
    • It has been shown that when France goes streaking, he will often wear cat ears and nothing else.
    • Japan gives Greece some cat ears because Greece said he wished he were a cat.
    • Holy Roman Empire once had a dream about Italy and the cat festival.
    • At the very last strip on this page, America and England can be seen wearing cat ears.
    • During the 2011 April Fool's event, Spain and Prussia wore rabbit ears, America had bear ears, while France, Germany, and Russia all sported cat ears.
    • Multiple characters wore them as part of their costumes for the 2011 Halloween event.
  • Animal Reaction Shot: After America turns down a deredere England, his whale friend (who was previously smiling like an idiot) becomes sad.
  • Animals Hate Him: Russia. Lithuania's dog didn't like him, a hamster bit him when he tried to pet it, and a polar bear was once shown chewing on his head.
  • Animals Lack Attributes: Zig-Zagging Trope. The nations' pets and their feline counterparts are drawn with anuses (as a small "x" under the tails), but external genitalia are never shown.
  • Animated Adaptation: The anime is an adaptation of the webcomic and published manga.
  • Animate Inanimate Object: Russia's scarf once tried to strangle America.
  • Animation Bump: The beginning of season five had a lot of detail and beautifully rendered backgrounds.
  • Anime Accent Absence: China is an aversion (sort of), but the rest of the characters play this straight. Although this may be just Translation Convention, as it's implied that there is some sort of Common Tongue that they all speak in addition to their native languages.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling:
    • England is constantly annoyed by Sealand and his efforts to become a real country.
    • Korea's exuberant personality makes him annoying to his brothers China and Japan.
    • Romano sees Italy as an annoying little brother.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification:
    • Most of the characters are personifications of nations.
    • There are also characters who represent regions.
      • Bavaria and Saxony made brief appearances in the Chibitalia strips.
      • Hesse showed up in the 2011 Christmas event.
      • Bayern, Brandenburg, and Holstein were mentioned in the "Cleaning Prussia-san" game.
      • The Chinese provinces of Fujian, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu, and Sichuan were mentioned in one of Himaruya's blog entries.
      • Quebec was shown in one story.
      • Picardy helped France during the 2011 April Fool's Day event.
      • The Japanese feudal domains have characters.
      • Himaruya has created characters for all of the Japanese prefectures as well, although only a couple have made appearances in the series.
    • Personifications of groups and organizations also exist.
      • Prussia started out as the personification of the Teutonic Knights.
      • A personification of the Knights Templar has appeared in a few stories.
      • A character representing the United Nations appeared in one story.
    • General Winter is the personification of the Russian winter.
    • There are also several Mr. Newspaper characters. Each nation has one who is the personification of their media.
  • Anxiety Dreams:
    • Italy has one in which Germany and Japan leave him.
    • Canada had one where Quebec became an independent nation.
    • England once dreamt that an island rose up underneath Sealand, which resulted in him growing up and becoming a recognized nation.
  • April Fools' Plot: The various live events that have occurred on April Fool's Day, one even being made into an anime episode.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: The characters have seen (and interacted with) aliens, have counterparts in an Alternate Universe that are naked cat people, and Estonia has mochi versions of them as pets, yet no one other than Finland seems to believe England or Norway in regards to them being able to see fairies and other magical creatures.
  • Art Evolution: The art has become cleaner and everyone has gotten prettier as the series has progressed. And the new animation artwork for season five is an improvement over the previous seasons.
  • Artifact Title: The Axis Powers have had the spotlight stolen from them. The third and fourth seasons of the anime even goes under the title of World Series and season five is called The Beautiful World. This is somewhat defied in anime promotions which still tend to show the Axis and Allied Powers, although many of the other characters had gotten prominence as well.
  • Artistic Age: The approximate physical age of the characters doesn't seem to correspond to the actual age of their nations. Connected to Vague Age below.
  • Artistic License – Geography:
    • In an early episode, Italy proudly shows Japan the sights of "Rome"...with the Florence Cathedral looming in the background.
    • A more minor example is with North Italy's frequent references to pasta. While pasta is eaten in the north, the specialty there is polenta, and pasta is more prevalent in the south.
  • Artistic License – History:
    • One of the most egregious examples of this trope, and the most controversial, is the pronouncement in the manga's great depression strip that one of the reasons for the struggles of the Axis powers was the lack of colonies. Anyone who has read anything of the war in the Pacific knows that this was very much not the case for Japan. Koreans in particular were not amused.note 
    • There's an episode where Russia is talking about the Soviet Union and its fall. We see him standing with the Baltic nations, Belarus, Ukraine, and several shadowy figures meant to represent the other Soviet nations. One by one, they fade away as they leave the USSR. The anime showed Lithuania disappearing last, when in reality, Lithuania was the first to declare their independence.
    • In the dub, Sealand declares that his Prince made it a law that he has to be called "Super Larry". Sealand's Prince is actually named Roy.
    • Also in the dub, when the European nations are freaking out about the year 1000 and Judgement Day, France claims one of the reasons he's sure to go to Hell is because of the guillotine. The guillotine would not be invented until the end of the 18th century.
    • The series shows France and England trying to make an alliance with Poland just prior to WWII, only to have Poland not take them seriously. In reality, Poland was serious about the alliance.
    • Austria and Hungary's relationship has been shown as being consistently friendly over the years when it's really been more Tsundere, although there are hints of this in the strips.
    • At one point, Kugelmugel is shown talking to his "king." The micronation was a republic, and thus never had a king.
  • Artistic License – Ships: 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.
  • 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 Extra: Several characters who started out having minor parts early on in the series have gone on to have stories in both the manga and the anime focused on them.
  • Ascended Meme: Oh, Funimation:
    America: China, I choose you!
    (After the Allies have subdued the Axis)
    America: We caught 'em all!
    • Sadly averted with the "vital regions" meme in the dub.
    • The Bad Friends Trio (France, Prussia, and Spain). They appeared together in the strip about the War of Austrian Succession, and fans leaped on the idea of them being friends and hanging out together, despite no evidence to support this. Himaruya has since drawn the three of them together on occasion, the cover of the Arte Stella Piccalo art book features them, and they now have an image song together.
  • Attack Hello: Chibi Romano wakes Spain up this way.
  • 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!"
  • Audio Adaptation: There are several CD dramas, many of which predate the anime.
  • Author Avatar: Himaruya has said that Estonia is the closest character to him in terms of looks and personality; at one point, he even jokingly called him the "coolest" character in the series.
  • Author Filibuster: Averted. Himaruya clearly tries to avoid turning the whole series into a glorified soapbox for Anvilicious tracts. For the most part he succeeds: the closest he's gotten to this trope so far is a strip about Japan losing elements of his traditional culture, though this is more in the context of Westernization.
  • Awesome, yet Impractical:
    • The Axis discusses Ninja at one point and Japan points out that their famed throwing stars are this. Instead, he suggests that for the same purpose sharpened chopsticks would work better. Germany is a bit disappointed.
    • During WWII, Italy finally gets a hold of a decent, functioning tank (which, being Italy, is an accomplishment)... that smokes up the inside every time it fires, so tank crews left the top open during battle. Truth in Television, actually.
  • Ax-Crazy: Russia and Belarus at times. Though it occasionally seems to rub off on other Eastern Europeans like Lithuania and Hungary, especially when they're angry.

    B 
  • Badass Adorable:
    • Don't be fooled by Sealand's small size, because he can pack quite a punch.
    • Chibitalia once beat the crap out of Turkey.
    • Prussia considered himself this when he was young.
    • Most of the nations could qualify when they were kids.
  • Badass Longcoat: Many examples, among them being Sweden, Denmark, Romania and Moldova. A lot of them are part of the nations' military uniforms.
  • Banana Peel: Both America and Romano have slipped on them and landed on their faces. Oddly, America broke his foot, but Romano only needed a band-aid.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: The male characters have been shown shirtless on several occasions, but their nipples are never drawn.
  • Baseball Episode: This comic is about Italy's baseball team in the WBC.
  • Bathing Beauty: Hungary, as well as Czech Republic, who brags about her very famous spas.
  • Bathtub Scene: Japan gets one in episode seven of The Beautiful World.
  • Battle Aura:
    • Hungary had one when she showed up in Prussia's room while demanding that he return Austria's "vital regions."
    • When Italy asked France if he could have his paintings back, France inquired if he wanted to fight for them, all the while glowing with rage.
    • Austria got one after he found out that France had been spying on him and taking photos.
    • In the April Fools episode, Germany had one when he opened a package and discovered that he was being blackmailed into wearing a dress.
  • Battle in the Rain:
  • Beach Episode: Several times in both the manga and the anime when the nations get stranded on an island. It's pretty much a running gag by now, not that Italy ever seems concerned.
  • Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: France, UK, USA. (Perhaps also Italy, Japan and Germany?)
  • Bedmate Reveal: Germany often wakes up to Italy in his bed. Naked.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension:
    • Between England and America, lampshaded by France a couple of times. In one of the Drama CDs he refers to their fight as a "lovers' quarrel," and in the dub he comments, "When you two are done releasing sexual tension, we have got a meeting we need to finish!"
    • England and France at times too. The Paint It, White dub took this and ran with it.
      Narrator (about Britain): ...France is a long time acquaintance he's often found bickering with for bickering's sake. However, in their heart of hearts they love each other (Beat) Sexually.
    • Turkey and Greece can fall into this, too.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Don't set foot on Switzerland's property without permission. And God help you if you do anything to his little sister.
    • While England tends to have a Hair-Trigger Temper in general, mocking his cuisine or calling him a punk seems to really set him off.
    • Mentioning Turkey to Greece or vice versa. Especially if one sees Japan hanging out with the other.
    • The mere sight of Germany does this to Romano.
    • Do not tell mochi Canada that he looks like mochi America. He does not like it.
    • TRNC is not a micronation.
    • Don't wrongly accuse Russia of things, or else he'll come after you with his magic wand! Or rather, magic metal pipe of pain.
  • Between My Legs: While not as obvious as other examples, in volume four Estonia is framed between Fem!America's legs at the beginning of the "I Was Overwhelmed by Heroines" story..
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Finland, and there's historical precedence for it. One of his profiles puts it perfectly:
    "Even though he appears to be all soft and mellow, you won't want to mess with him!"
  • BFG: America has a gun the size of a cannon in the animated version of Hetalia Fantasia.
  • Big Applesauce: America lives in New York City. Himaruya also lived there when he first started the series.
  • Big Ball of Violence:
    • When France and England started fighting in the "Meeting of the World" story at the beginning of the series, it was drawn this way.
    • It happened again when the two were shown fighting during the Seven Years' War.
    • And again at the beginning of The Movie when the nations were arguing about who made the best movies.
  • Big Brother Instinct:
    • Switzerland took in Liechtenstein when she was starving in the rain and cared for her, even though he barely had enough to feed himself, and remains fiercely protective of her to this day.
    • England with America, at least when he was young.
    • All of the Nordics toward Iceland, but especially Norway, much to Iceland's chagrin. Denmark considers himself the elder brother to all of the Nordics, but is especially attentive toward Iceland, much to Norway's annoyance.
    • France sees himself as this toward many European nations (but considers Spain his elder brother in turn). Only North Italy really acknowledges him.
    • Romania with his brother Moldova, to the point that he gets depressed and feels like a failure when it seems that Moldova is considering going to live with Russia.
  • Big Brother Mentor:
    • Subverted with Latvia. He 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, mostly Veneziano, since Romano often screams and/or runs away every time he sees France. He was also this to England when they were kids.
    • Switzerland and his little sister Liechtenstein.
    • 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.
    • 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. Though given his behavior, he might be something of an Aloof Big Brother as well.
    • Prussia, to Germany.
    • Denmark was this for a young Iceland, combined with Parental Substitute. He gave Iceland advice on how to make friends, for one, and proclaims that he raised him.
  • Big Damn Hero: America desperately wants to be this.
  • Big Damn Movie: Complete with an Air-Vent Passageway escape, aliens that look like a cross between The Greys and Humanoid Aliens, and Italy saving the world with permanent markers.
  • Big Eater:
    • America is constantly stuffing his face, usually with junk food.
    • Italy, especially if it's pizza or pasta.
    • China is sometimes seen eating a lot.
  • Big Fancy House: From what we've seen, most (if not all) of the nations live in these.
  • Big Friendly Dog: Berlitz, one of Germany's dogs, is large and runs around a lot, but he let Japan dress him up in a frilly outfit.
  • The Big Guy: Russia is the tallest and more unstable of the Allied Forces.
  • Big Little Brother:
    • Prussia is shorter than his younger brother Germany.
    • England returned after an absence only to discover his adoptive little brother America had gotten taller than him.
    • China is shorter than his brother Korea and Macau.
    • In World☆Stars, it's revealed that Romano (South Italy) is slightly shorter than his younger brother, Veneziano (North Italy). He was not happy about that discovery.
      • And since Veneziano is shorter than Seborga...
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: England and everybody related to him, extending to some of his colonies. Hong Kong was cursed to have them, and Australia and New Zealand have pairs as impressive as England's. Characters with thick eyebrows that don't have anything to do with England include Cuba, Ecuador, Denmark, Greece, Turkey, Korea, Ancient Rome, and sometimes Russia.
  • Big, Screwed-Up Family:
    • The former Soviet and Eastern Bloc nations' relationships with each other. Russia likes to stalk the Baltic nations, Lithuania gets pushed around by both Russia and Poland at times, Latvia is a heavy drinker, Belarus is determined to marry Russia, and that's just the beginning.
    • The east Asian nations provide another example. China never seems to get much respect, despite being the big brother to all the others. Korea's enthusiasm makes him annoying to his neighbors, and his affection towards China and Japan isn't reciprocated. Any kind of meeting between the Asian nations will quickly turn chaotic.
    • England and the other UK nations (Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) is pretty messed up. The reason that England represents all of the UK at world meetings is because if all of his brothers came, they would quickly start arguing among themselves. England's relationships with the former British colonies can also count, as does his relationship with Sealand.
    • The members of the former Ottoman Empire don't always get along. The two most noticeable examples are Turkey and Greece, who almost always end up squabbling over something, and Hungary and Romania, who start glaring daggers the moment they see each other.
    • The various German states were shown constantly arguing amongst themselves. Their inability to get along is what caused Holy Rome's poor health.
    • Somewhat averted with the Nordics. In the past, they certainly follow this, since it is Denmark's actions that drive Finland and Sweden to flee from his house, but now days they all seem to get along well for the most part. Well, it is implied Denmark and Sweden still fight occasionally.
  • Bilingual Bonus: In the later mochi comic strips. The Japanese translation provided by Himaruya is much more polite than what mochi America is saying in English.
  • Binocular Shot:
    • When America is spying on the Axis through binoculars in season one, the shot is framed this way.
    • The sniper scope variation is used in season four when Italy takes aim at France.
  • Birthday Episode: One comic showed America having a birthday party.
  • Bishie Sparkle:
  • England as well while he was pretending to be an Italian. He even leaves a trail of sparks when Germany drags him away.
  • In season five, everyone seems to be sparkling a lot.
  • Biting-the-Hand Humor: Only in the dub, which has lampshaded the Off-Model animation on a few occasions.
  • Biting the Handkerchief: France has done this twice.
    • The first time was when he found out that the other Allied nations were having fun without him.
    • He did it again when England was shown sleeping during a meeting, and he was upset because he hadn't slept in days due to having nightmares about Germany's dogs.
  • Bittersweet Ending: While most of the series is lighthearted and funny, the occasional serious stories often end this way.
  • Bizarre Human Biology: Possibly Italy's Idiot Hair, if it was in fact the hair and not his scalp which is the erogenous zone.
  • Black Cloak: England wears one whenever he's cursing someone.
  • Black Comedy: Germany angrily saying to Italy, "Are you vanting me to gas you??" is this, doubled with Genius Bonus: If This Is A Man (US title Survival in Auschwitz), one of the most well-known personal account of the Holocaust, was written by a Jewish Italian, Primo Levi.
  • Black Magic: England has used this a few times in the series, while it's implied that Norway and Romania are also capable of this.
  • Blackmail: In the 2011 April Fools event, the nations received packages containing an outfit, an embarrassing photo of themselves, and a letter informing them that if they did not show up at a specific location that the embarrassing photo would be made public.
    • Portugal claims to know lots of "foolish stories" about Spain, and says that Spain can't say no to him because of it. Romano complains that Spain is much meeker than usual when Portugal is around.
  • 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.
    • Dozens of pounds of "Spom" and "Snackers" poured out of his shirt in the anime.
    • In volume four, we see that one of the things the Magic Club does is dress up like H*rry P*tter.
    • When he and Germany are snooping through the Americans' camp, Prussia finds a Playb*y magazine.
    • You can upload your favorite videos on HetaTube or broadcast live on HetaStreeeem.
    • In season five, Estonia was shown using Hetarinet Explorer to surf the internet.
  • The Blank: The Pict, who are also in a way expies of the Borg, considering their utter uniformity and advancement.
  • Blank White Eyes: Happens frequently, usually when a character is shocked or frightened.
  • "Blind Idiot" Translation: All too common in fanwork.
  • Blind Without 'Em: Estonia actually needs his glasses, unlike lots of other glasses-wearing characters. They also help conceal his expressions.
  • Blood from the Mouth:
    • Fairly common if a character has just finished a particularly intense battle.
    • After trying to establish order during a meeting of the German states, Holy Rome ended up coughing up blood as all the fighting among the states was causing his health to suffer.
    • England coughs blood when anyone mentions July 4th.
  • Blood Knight: Prussia, who from the days of the Teutonic Knights did nothing but fight and avoid alliances.
  • Blood on the Debate Floor: It's not unusual for debates between the nations to end in physical violence.
  • Blue Blood: Austria has elements of this, thanks to the influence of the Habsburgs. Luxembourg also has these influences, as Word of God notes that he once had a royal family to rival the Habsburgs.
  • Blue with Shock: Happens often when a character is shocked.
  • Bodyguard Betrayal: Germania was Ancient Rome's bodyguard, and it's said that he's the one that struck the final blow that killed him.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Rome is tall, muscular, loud, jovial, and always up for some fun or a good fight. At one point Germania even asks him if he can talk about anything other than fighting, sex, or booze. With the exception of seafood, apparently that's all he's interested in. America, Prussia, Cuba, Denmark, Turkey, and possibly Australia show signs of this as well.
  • Bookworm: Literature is one of England's hobbies (with his favorite book series being Sherlock Holmes), while Latvia is said to love reading poetry and romance novels.
  • Boring, but Practical: China's special technique consists of calling people on the phone for help. Works just fine.
  • Born as an Adult: A variation: The countries are "born" as very young children, looking to be the physical equivalent of toddlers. One notable exception, Germany, was born as an older child because he "already had a body" before he was born, which may indicate that he's the Holy Roman Empire.
  • Bowdlerise: For the most part, the anime is a faithful adaptation of the webcomic and published manga, but there are some exceptions.
    • In the original, Italy and Romano both sleep in the nude. In the anime, they are shown wearing shorts and tank tops in bed.
    • One story also showed Italy becoming distraught over the idea that Germany might not like him after Romano made a comment when they were getting ready for bed. As with the above example, Romano was naked (or at least shirtless), but was shown with a tank top in the anime. Italy threw on an unbuttoned shirt before running out of the house to go see Germany, but was otherwise nude. As with Romano, it was edited to show him wearing a tank top and shorts in the anime. The anime also left out the second half of the story, where Italy arrived at Germany's house and proceeded to ask if Germany liked him while the other was naked and taking a shower.
    • Similarly, a story that showed Spain shirtless when getting ready for bed was changed so that he was wearing a tank top.
    • In the webcomic, Chibitalia gives Holy Rome "her" panties as a parting gift. This was changed to a push broom in the anime.
    • Germany and Prussia wear Iron Cross necklaces in the original, but they were removed in the anime.
    • Germany's uniform was also changed from its original green to a teal color, and his Iron Cross pin was removed. However, these changes have been corrected in season five.
    • The original webcomic showed the nations with their WWII-era flags. They were changed to their modern flags in the published volumes of the manga and the anime, probably to eliminate any controversy.
    • Many of the stories that had a more than usual amount of fanservice or sexual innuendo have not been animated, and none of the live events (which tend to feature a lot of Ship Tease, fanservice, and nudity) were animated in the first four seasons, although The Beautiful World has animated the 2011 April Fool's Event and did so faithfully to the original.
    • In the manga, Australia's pet koala was shown Flipping the Bird at Japan, but in the anime, it was merely pointing at him.
    • Also, many of the stories that were more serious in nature (such as one that showed Japan stabbing China in the back) have not been animated.
    • In the webcomic, China introduces his brother Japan to Tibet. The anime replaced Tibet with a talking panda. As with the changes made to the flags, this was probably meant to avoid controversy.
  • Brass Balls: During the 2010 Christmas Bloodbath, China utters this immortal line to Hong Kong:
    "Choosing to go naked rather than wear a maid outfit? ....YOU'VE GOT BALLS-ARU!!"
  • Bratty Half-Pint:
    • Sealand, especially when he's around England.
    • Wy seems to be one as well, especially around the other micronations.
    • Ladonia is this towards Sweden.
  • Bratty Teenage Daughter: Iceland's immature side is a mild, gender-flipped version of this.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall:
    • In one episode, Japan talks to the viewer. It's a bit... odd.
    • At the beginning of the third season of the anime, Prussia, complains about how the show's writers don't make him a main character.
    • Russia introduces the viewers to his sisters at the beginning of one strip. In the anime, Belarus does this in the same story.
    • After seeing the sketches of them that America drew on the blackboard, dub!France exclaims:
      "They're even worse than our actual animation!"
    • Iceland has an awareness of the audience. He introduces himself to the audience at the beginning of The Movie, and tells the audience to stop staring at him during the Hetaween 2011 event.
    • Finland introduces the Nordics directly to the audience in a couple of strips.
    • The first episode of World Twinkle has Italy Cat speaking directly to the audience. At one point he tells Germany Cat to introduce himself to the audience.
  • Breakout Character: Thanks to the nature of the series and the many characters, this has happened as the series has grown, with many Nations having significant attention in both fandom and canon. See also Ascended Extra and Ensemble Cast, as it's tied very much to both.
  • Break the Haughty: Prussia is often subject to this: Just when he's won something, he's knocked off his pedestal very quickly.
  • Brick Joke:
    • Throughout the series, Chibitalia is always seen wearing a maid's outfit, despite being a boy. In episode 48, he gets a growth spurt and his voice suddenly changes, causing Austria to realize he's a male, and he goes out and buys men's clothing.
    • In the opening of the movie, Iceland wonders aloud how he can get more tourists to go to his place. At the end, during The Stinger, it turns out he got some of the aliens to stay (somehow) and was using them to attract tourists.
  • Britain Is Only England: Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland actually do exist as characters...technically. Despite this, England is also known as the UK even in canon, and represents the entirety of Britain much of the time.
  • British Teeth: Averted, England's teeth are totally normal and so are those of his colonies. Truth in Television, actually, in that Britain has very good dental care in Real Life.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Nikko Nikko voluntarily gave up his status as a Micronation to live as a Japanese citizen once again. Though Word of God says that he still represents his Micronation, he now ages normally, has a steady job, and has a kid.
  • Buffy Speak: The dub does this a lot.
    "Is this your girlfriend or boyfriend or gender neutral chibi thing?"

    C 
  • Call-Back:
    • In an episode in Season 1, America and England tell France that his brightly colored uniform is "too flashy." In season four, England sees France wearing a new, much more subdued uniform and starts teasing him. France explains that the old uniform was making him a target and comments that it was "too flashy."
    • In an early profile, Himaruya mentioned that Germany once drove his car into a bathroom because he insisted on following the GPS instructions exactly. In the first chapter of World☆Stars, he nearly did the same thing when driving Italy home after a meeting.
  • Call to Agriculture: A very literal example happens with Poland and Lithuania in the "What Happened After Tannenburg" strip.
  • Calling Your Attacks:
    • England is particularly prone to this.
      "Britannia Sword!"
      "Eat this! Britannia Beam!"
      "Britannia Fork!" (during the manga version of "Meeting of the World".)
      "Britannia Fist!" (in volume 3)
    • Romano's "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.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor: While many characters have been seen drunk on occasions, England in particular seems to be prone to doing this.
  • Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: England and France, also Spain and Romano.
  • Car Meets House: Word of God has stated that Germany once did this because he is so confident in technology that he insisted on following the GPS instructions exactly. He nearly did it again in World☆Stars, but Italy convinced him to follow his directions instead of the GPS.
  • 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.
  • Carpet of Virility: France, Turkey, and Rome all have chest hair. France and Rome in particular both have reputations for getting around.
  • Cassandra Truth: England and his unicorn. This can be extended to England's ability to see supernatural creatures. Possibly Norway too.
  • Cast Full of Gay: Well, of course it's subverted in that almost nobody's sexuality is actually stated. A deleted blog entry mentioned that Sweden is gay (or at least gay for Finland), and France has been confirmed to be attracted to anyone. But still, considering most of the characters are male...
  • Cast Full of Pretty Boys: While more female characters have been introduced as the series has progressed, they're still outnumbered by a large ratio. Averted in the gender-reversed Alternate Universe.
  • Cast Herd: Of course, people often group nations together in Real Life based on geography (the Baltics, the Nordics, etc.) or alliances during wars (the Axis, the Allies).
  • Cast of Personifications: While the occasional minor human character appears, the vast majority of the characters are the personifications of countries.
  • Cat Girl: They're mostly male, but in the Hetalia Bloodbath 2010 the nations from an Alternate Universe are all cat people. Estonia also sports this look when he dresses up as the Cheshire Cat for Hetaween 2011.
  • Catchphrase:
    • Italy: "PAAAAASTAAAAAAAA!"
    • Russia: "All will be one with Russia" and "Kolkolkolkolkolkol".
    • Korea: "Don't forget this one-aru!" and "Everything originated in me!"
    • Tony: (to England) "Limey bastard."
    • Romano: (to Germany) "Potato bastard" and (to Spain) "Tomato bastard."
    • Belarus: "Big Brother! Let's get marriedmarriedmarriedmarriedmarried."
    • Prussia: "Because I'm Awesome!"
    • America: "I'm the hero!"
  • Chain Letter: Courtesy of Poland. And if you don't send it, your capital will become Warsaw.
  • Character Blog: Prussia made one for an April Fool's event.
  • Characterization Marches On: Several characters have changed since the series started.
    • Russia was much more cruel, selfish and scary at the beginning. This has been toned down, and his more cute and innocent traits have been exaggerated instead.
    • Poland was a much more selfish character when he first appeared, especially towards Lithuania.
    • Belarus seems to have developed into something of a potty-mouth. Her cruelness has also been toned down, and she's more self-sacrificial towards Russia than possessive and violent.
    • While Finland looks the same, Himaruya's notes indicated that he's tougher than he originally thought, and some of the illustrations of him with a sniper-rifle certainly give him a more badass aura.
    • More than one character has been shown to have Hidden Depths that weren't visible before. France is a notable example - see the Hidden Depths example below.
    • A number of early strips and notes were deleted because of this; some of them point towards a different direction than what Himaruya eventually took for the characters, such as a strip of little America not being entirely sweet and innocent (i.e. he makes a mention of wanting to be rid of England in a very casual manner) and the notes on Spain having a "darker side" not shown to Romano (which is still popular in fanon, with a possible mention again in volume 5's notes and a lampshade-hanging done during Fool's Bath 2011).
    • Himaruya acknowledges that this happened with Prussia. He started off as a villainous, threatening character, only to become more comedic and pitiful with each appearance.
    • Hong Kong and Monaco were Perpetual Frowners in their first appearances. Later appearances made both much more cheerful.
  • Character Title: A slight variation. "Hetalia" is a portmanteau of "Italia" and "hetare," which means something like "useless." Thus, Useless Italy.
  • Cheated Angle: It's most notable with Italy and Romano's Idiot Hairs, which are almost always visible, but almost every character with an Idiot Hair has had moments of this as well.
  • Cheerful Child:
    • Liechtenstein has a sweet, optimistic personality.
    • Sealand is upbeat and energetic, unless he's around England, in which case he turns into a Bratty Half-Pint.
    • Moldova is this most of the time. When Russia comes around, though, he turns into The Stoic.
  • Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Something of a Zig-Zagging Trope. It was played straight a couple of times early on in the series, but has been averted later in the story line. The dub, however, uses this more frequently, and England even called France this in one episode.
  • Chef of Iron: China. Not only is he a Supreme Chef, but he's been shown attacking his enemies with a wok and ladle.
  • Chekhov's Gun: In The Movie: The pen Italy uses to scribble on the files in the beginning., although it could also count as a Chekhov's Hobby since Italy likes to draw/paint.
  • Cherry Blossoms: Japan is sometimes shown with them in official artwork, and had them floating around him when he first appeared in the anime.
  • The Chew Toy: Lithuania and Latvia often find themselves at the receiving end of Russia's attention.
  • Childhood Friends: Many nations are shown to have been this. Switzerland and Austria for one, though neither likes to acknowledge it in the present, and Denmark and Norway for another.
  • Child Soldiers: A number of lighthearted examples can be found in strips based mostly back during the Middle Ages when many of the nations were young, hardly more than children or teenagers. Most of these wars are treated as cartoonish, childish skirmishes between kids barring the more adult Turkey killing Greece's mother and the nations only come out with bumps and bruises at worst. One rare serious example was shown in a strip based on a battle between a teenage Teutonic Knight!Prussia and the equally young Poland and Lithuania. Prussia was about ready to bring his sword down on Poland's head after Lithuania retreated. Good thing Liet came back up just in time and was there to press a knife to Prussia's throat and stop him. Another involves a badly wounded Hungary reeling from her clearly painful defeat in Turkey's hands, when she's in the middle of puberty.
  • Chinese Vampire: China dresses as one for one Halloween.
  • Chocolate of Romance:
    • The Valentine's Day strip involves, well, Valentine's Day chocolate. England goes to give America a chocolate bar that he had heard America wanted, but sees that he already has an entire bucket full of chocolate.
    • The Valentine's Day strip from Hetalia: World Stars features Japan, France and Italy talking about the Japanese habits surrounding this day. Japan feels a bit of unease and tension in this particular day due to the social pressures. Cue Taiwan giving him some chocolate gifts (something which she does yearly) and France and Italy staring at him with a certain amusement.
  • Choke Holds:
    • Germany has put Italy in a sleeper hold on more than one occasion, usually because Italy was doing something annoying.
    • England also tried to choke America when the latter was being obnoxious.
    • Young Russia was shown choking young Prussia (who was still the Teutonic Knights at the time) after the Battle of the Ice in season five.
    • England and France once tried to simultaneously choke each other while they were fighting.
  • Christmas Episode: There have been a few.
    • One where Finland gave everyone presents.
    • Another was set in the Hetalia Academy universe where various characters were interviewed about their Christmas traditions.
    • There was also one where Germany and England played a game of soccer, although this was a reference to the Christmas Truce in World War I.
    • The live events such as the Hetalia Bloodbath 2010 and Hetalia Bloodbath 2011 might also count.
  • Christmas Songs: A couple were released as bonus features.
    • The Axis have "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"
    • The Allies sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Tibet and Mongolia made very brief appearances early in the webcomic, but have not been seen or even mentioned since.
  • Clothing Damage: The 2010 Christmas "Bloodbath" (See above), has shirts and pants sliced open by a mysterious figure.
  • 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.
    • England also has an extremely active imagination, in reference to the fact that the world's most famous fantasy authors are almost all English.
    • America definitely fits this as he loves dreaming up fantasy lands and heroes, and also is very ditzy and aloof to what most people have no problem understanding, he also comes up with ridiculous outlandish ideas that are perfectly normal in his point of view.
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Germany at least tries to keep Italy out of trouble, and goes running to his aid whenever he's in a bad situation.
    • England has a dream at one point where he plays this to America in Africa, trying to warn him away from dangerous snakes, lizards, and poisonous plants. But then America shows up for real...
    • Latvia is shown to be something of a grounding influence for Sealand.
  • Cluster F-Bomb:
    • Tony the Alien has a spectacularly filthy mouth and peppers his sentences with "fucking" or "bitch."
    • Romano whenever Germany is around, especially when he is also around Veniziano. "POTATO BASTARD!!"
    • England, when he gets wound up, tends to favour words like "wanker" and "bastard."
  • Code Name: The creator has given some of the nations human names, mostly due to pressure from the fans, but they're popular and are frequently used in fanworks.
  • Color-Coded Eyes: Many nations have green eyes, some of which are connected to their country's generally green landscapes and geography (England and Switzerland, for example).
  • Color Failure: Often combined with Blank White Eyes and Blue with Shock to show a strong emotional reaction.
  • Comforting Comforter: Japan draped a blanket over Italy after the latter fell asleep in "Hetalia of the Dead."
  • Comically Missing the Point: Italy, Spain, and America are frequently clueless about what's going on around them and/or other people's feelings, which leads to some amusing situations.
  • The Comically Serious: Germany, Lithuania, Norway and Switzerland are the most prevalent examples in the series.
  • Common Tongue: The nations can talk without learning each other's language. Author notes says they share a unique language they known from birth, which still keeps Separated by a Common Language and accents.
  • Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: England wasn't all that happy when America got him out of Italy. Of course, the fact that he was suspended by a rope from a flying plane probably had something to do with that.
  • Contemplate Our Navels: As a child, Iceland spent a lot of time wondering about the nature of his existence. It makes sense, considering there were no other nations around to explain anything to him.
  • Continuity Lockout: The opening section of the first volume of the published manga is full of references to characters and events that were meant as Shout Outs to fans of the webcomic. The first episode of the anime, with its fast pace, can make this even more baffling to new fans.
  • Cool Helmet: General Winter is always shown wearing one.
  • Cool Mask: Turkey is almost always wearing a mask.
  • Cool Shades: Molossia wears them whenever he's around other people to make himself look more badass.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: At the end of the 2007 April Fool's event, the other nations managed to catch France and were trying to decide how to punish him. It was suggested that they strip him or get him into a ridiculous outfit (which is what France had been doing to everyone else), until Italy pointed out that France would probably enjoy it. Sweden had the idea that they should force him to praise England, sing English songs, and eat England's cooking for an entire day. It didn't take long for France to break down and apologize.
  • Counting Sheep: There was an entire series of Drama CDs in which the characters tried to help each other get to sleep by counting sheep.
  • Covert Pervert:
    • France insists England is one of these. When England denies it, he cites several sexual records held by English people, plus England has been drawn reading porn before.
    • 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 by how dirty her mind is.
    • Japan. Not only did Italy once mistook his Ukiyo-e books for porn, but he also appears to be a fan of 2D.
    • When they were captured, Italy blabs about the Porn Stash he found in Germany's house.
  • Cowardly Lion: Lithuania; Finland notes that even though he's usually so kind, his face and aura in battle change.
  • Cozy Catastrophe: What the events of Paint It, White look like from Switzerland and Liechtenstein's perspective, which seem as though nothing's happening. Thanks in part to Permanent Neutrality.
  • Crazy Cultural Comparison: Usually between Japan and America, as the creator is able to draw on his own experiences from when he lived in New York City.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: Both Greece and Turkey become this whenever they see Japan in the presence of the other.
  • Creator Cameo: In the movie, Tony sends America a photo that they're hoping will help them defeat the invading aliens. One of the people in the photo looks suspiciously like Himaruya.
  • 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 helps that Himaruya used to live in New York, giving him a good "outsiders view" of Japan and a better understanding of the stereotypes associated with it.
  • Credits Running Sequence: The Axis and Allies are shown marching in place during the ending credits for the first two seasons.
  • Crop Circles: They're the result of aliens playing a Photoshop-like video game.
  • Crossdressing Voices: In both versions: China, Sealand, Chibitalia, Chibi Romano and Chibi America. Latvia in the dub. Switzerland in the Japanese version but not the English dub.
  • Crossover: The author has done a few short crossovers with his other works.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Latvia is spacey and shy, but he's also a "hidden genius" that "manages to do the impossible," like building an entire railroad under Russia's orders despite having no experience doing so. He might be Obfuscating Stupidity, according to his volume 4 profile.
  • Crush Blush:
    • Holy Rome frequently does this around Chibitalia.
    • Germany does this as well during the Valentine's comic when he gives Italy flowers and a ring.
  • Cue the Sun: At the end of The Movie, after the invading aliens have been defeated and left Earth, returning things to how they had been before, the main characters are left peacefully watching the sun rise over the ocean... at which point they realize that they're once again stuck on That F**cking Island with no way of getting home.
  • Cultural Cross-Reference: The series is full of this. The references can range from literature, movies, television, games, even computer programs, and run the gambit of internationally known series to ones that are obscure even in their country of origin.
  • Cultural Posturing: Most of the nations have something about their culture that they claim is the best in the world.
  • Culture Clash: When the series isn't using history for comedy, it's using this.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Hungary once did this to the entire Prussian army.
  • Curse:
    • England has tried to curse multiple characters.
    • Russia is capable of deflecting a curse placed on him onto someone else, and merely sitting in England's cursed chair was enough to destroy it.
  • Cute and Psycho: Russia is both very cute, and very...messed up.
  • Cute Bruiser: Finland, who cries and drowns his sorrows when Sweden calls off a battle with Lithuania and Poland.
  • Cute, but Cacophonic: Mr. Puffin, especially when he tries to hijack Iceland's character song With Love, From Iceland.
  • Cute Ghost Girl: One lives in (or near) Japan's home. Japan can not see her, but England can, and the girl's antics get on his nerves when he stays with Japan.
  • Cute Kitten:
    • Nekotalia, an AU of sorts where all the characters are cats.
    • Greece is frequently shown with cats.
    • Italy and Japan are sometimes shown petting them.
    • Himaruya's cats as well.
  • Cute Little Fangs:
    • Belgium is sometimes drawn with one to accompany her Cat Smile.
    • Romania has them, most likely a reference to Dracula.
    • Romania's little brother Moldova has them as well.
  • Cuteness Proximity:
    • England and his magical creatures. Although, since most of the other nations can't see them, if they witness England talking to them, they generally start to question his sanity.
    • Although they're not serious in general, Italy and China have a tendency to squee over cute things.
    • Himaruya himself counts. He's drawn more than one comic that illustrates him him doing this to his pet cats and rabbits.
    • Norway shows signs of this, from asking to pet England's magical flying rabbit because he thinks it's cute, to shopping for pink stuffed bunnies during the 2009 April Fools Event.

    D 
  • Dance Party Ending: The movie ends this way.
  • Dancing Theme: The ending for The Beautiful World.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Russia, most definitely. It's said to be the reason why he's...a little messed up. Latvia's fragility is said to be the result of him experiencing many unfortunate events at a young age, while Vietnam is mentioned as having had a "rough past."
  • Dating Sim:
  • Dead Person Conversation: Germany had a conversation with Rome one night when he came to see how Italy was doing.
  • Deep-Immersion Gaming: The Hetalia Fantasia audio dramas, as well as an episode of the anime, shows the characters playing an online fantasy RPG with each other.
  • Delicious Distraction:
    • During the American Revolution, America kept sending England's letters back unopened, so Canada attached a note that read "There is food inside." The last panel shows America trying to restrain himself from opening the package.
    • While bored during a meeting, Rome can be seen daydreaming about food and women.
  • Denied Food as Punishment: What Austria did to Chibitalia when he misbehaved.
  • Deserted Island: A Running Gag in the series involves the characters getting stranded on one. It's happened so often that fans refer to it as That F*cking Island.
  • Desperately Craves Affection: It's implied that Russia is this. Unfortunately, he tends to scare people away.
  • Determinator: Sealand's going to get recognized no matter what, while Estonia isn't going to give up his goals of being a Nordic anytime soon.
  • Did They or Didn't They?: Was Japan's "private session" with Greece just a dream, or is Japan simply in denial about what happened?
  • Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: The first two endings have been sung by Italy in-universe (his voice changed in the middle of Maru Kaite Chikyuu, and in World Series 34 Germany tells him to stop humming Hatefutte Parade).
  • Diet Episode:
    • In an episode in season one, America discovered that he had gained weight, and started asking the other nations for diet advice.
    • In another episode, Japan and Germany were shown going on a diet for health reasons. Germany decides that he must dedicate himself and not be a hypocrite about his own eating habits if he's going to force Japan to do so. When he turns down a beer, Prussia seriously freaks out in worry.
  • Disguised in Drag:
    • France apparently did this in the anime.
      Italy: Germany, I saw a pretty girl, so I hit on her, but it was France in disguise!
    • Italy once dressed up like a woman on April Fool's Day to prank Japan.
  • Dismotivation: Romano's volume 5 profiles paints him like this:
    "He does have the will to work, he just doesn't feel like it for now!"
    • Out of all the micronations, Seborga has the best chance of actually becoming independent...but it's just too much work, you know?
    • Latvia only works hard when he's threatened or ordered to do so.
  • Distressed Dude: Italy, oh so much. He's frequently shown freaking out about things like being attacked by an enemy, being afraid of losing his friends, and not being able to tie his shoelaces.
  • Ditto Aliens:
    • Tony and his alien friends all look alike.
    • The Pict in The Movie (and with a good reason). In an interesting twist, it's shown that although the Pict got so advanced and powerful because they were all alike, the diversity and differences between Earth's nations turn out to be much more than a match.
  • The Ditz: Italy, America, and Spain all qualify. When America comments that he was told to "read the atmosphere in the room" he claims he can't find a book with that name, and Italy says that they should go looking for a copy together.note 
  • Divided We Fall: In Paint it, White the nations eventually realize that, like it or not, they're going to have to work together if they want to defeat the aliens.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?:
    • "He crushed my vital regions! Crushed them!"
    • "Ah, my knob!"
    • Dubbed America's reaction to turning back into a human at the end of Paint It White was, um...
      America: I'm happy to see you, hands! We're gonna have so much fun!
    • Waiter!France was also very keen on letting the Pictonians know that he "never lets a guest leave unsatisfied". This line would have seemed a whole lot more innocent if France's voice didn't make it sound like he was trying to have phone sex 24/7.
    • Ditto to America's "Because I know how to give a good time!" Lampshaded in the out-takes "What am I, a hooker?"
    • After Italy convinces Japan and Germany to abandon their brutal diet and exercise routine, their apologies are, well...
      Japan: Apologies. I wanted to get better too fast. Instead, I ended up becoming stubborn.
      Germany: It's my fault. I'm the one who started it. Please forgive me, it won't happen again.
      Italy: How nice! We're all sorry. Can we move past this now?
  • A Dog Named "Dog": Or, rather, a puffin named Puffin (combined with Formally-Named Pet), an outlier in a series where most of the nations' animals have non-species names. There's also Norway's troll companion, Troll.
  • Dog Pile of Doom: Type C happens to Germany in the movie when a group of Pictonians jump on him at once.
  • Don't Try This at Home:
    • In the first episode of season five, this warning appears on the screen when Japan explains to Germany that shuriken are actually quite ineffective, and that sharpened chopsticks would do more damage.
    • After America excitedly broke Japan's window to tell him about Halloween, the following scene showed America repairing the window while asking the audience not to break in through their friends' windows.
  • Doting Parent:
    • Spain was this to Romano, despite the latter's Tsundere personality.
    • 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, though America's Attention Whore behaviour didn't help), let alone Sealand.
    • The Roman Empire was shown spending time with young Italy, and even came back from the afterlife to check up on him.
      "Aww, he's so kyooot~"
    • Norway is "needlessly attentive" to Iceland, in the latter's words.
  • Dragged into Drag: A variation of this happens in one of the Chibitalia stories. Hungary convinces Chibitalia to wear some of her old clothes to get a reaction from Holy Rome. Admittedly, Chibitalia always wore dresses, but Hungary was the only one in the household at the time who knew that he was really a boy.
  • Dramatic Spotlight:
    • France was shown in one while Biting the Handkerchief when he found out that the other Allies were having fun without him.
    • In the second "Buon San Valentino" episode, when Germany hugged Italy, the two of them were highlighted by a spotlight.
  • Drawing Straws: A variation occurs in The Movie when the characters draw straws to determine who they will team up with while infiltrating the invading aliens' spaceship. Instead of being different lengths, the straws have colored tips, and the people who get the same color have to work together.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: As a child, Italy had a dream where he met a younger Japan.
  • Dreaming of Times Gone By:
    • Holy Rome has been shown dreaming of times he spent with Chibitalia.
    • England has had dreams about America when he was young.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: Germany and Prussia do this when they infiltrate an American army camp.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty:
    • Germany, especially towards Italy, when helping his allies train for war.
    • Prussia was this when training America for the Revolutionary War.
  • Drink-Based Characterization:
    • Alcohol: Russia and his vodka, naturally. Oh, and the German brothers and their beer, and France and his wine.
    • Tea: England, of course. Japan and China have also been seen drinking tea. Macau is fond of tea as well, while India has been seen with a teacup on one piece of official art. Oh, and as mentioned in their image songs, Taiwan has her bubble tea, and Hong Kong mentions both traditional Chinese tea (indirectly, through yum cha) and local milk tea.
  • Drives Like Crazy:
    • Italy, much to Japan's horror, has no concept of a speed limit.
    • Himaruya has also stated that the normally laid-back Greece speeds up when he gets behind the wheel.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: China and England, about their relations with Japan and America, respectively. Finland does this after Sweden calls off a battle with Poland and Lithuania.
  • Dub Text: The dub does this quite a bit, usually by adding sexual innuendo or ramping up the Ho Yay. A rare deliberate example.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady:
    • China is sometimes confused by fans for being a woman. It's been lampshaded by Himaruya himself, as well as in the dub.
    • Hong Kong has been thought to be a Bifauxnen by some people.
    • Kugelmugel was thought to be a girl at first. During the 2011 Christmas event, Liechtenstein heard Germany refer to him as a boy, and thought that he must have made a mistake.
    • Poland already looks like a girl to start with, and then he occasionally crossdresses. Prussia pointed it out when they were children.
    • Lithuania as well, though not quite to Poland's extent; he's put in the "unsure" section along with Poland on a character gender chart.
  • The Dutiful Son: Canada during the World☆Stars chapters dealing with the American Revolution; he stays as the loyal and comforting presence to an emotionally-broken England after America's departure, even when America tries to get him to declare independence. He even chews America out for causing England's heartbreak.
  • DVD Bonus Content:
    • Along with the commentary mentioned below, there are interviews with anime director and some of the Japanese voice actors.
    • There is also additional historical information on the events that the series touches on.
    • The movie and seasons three, four, and five have blooper reels for the English dub, some of which have gone on to become memes in the fandom.
  • DVD Commentary: This is available for the dubbed anime.
  • Dying for Symbolism: The characters are the nations, so the death of a character is the fall of a nation (e.g. Rome). If the nation gets into dire straits (economic crisis, social strife etc.), the nation gets sick.

    E 
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference: A lot of this, especially considering where Art Evolution has taken the series: Most notably, America at first lacked his Idiot Hair, Bulgaria was at first drawn as having his Eyes Always Shut, and Italy's trademark curl was much smaller than it is now.
  • Edutainment Show: Admit it: Hetalia has taught you something. There's also a fair amount of fanwork that can be educational.
  • Eek, a Mouse!!: When Holy Rome sees a mouse, he imagines Chibitalia being scared. He chases after it, but ends up in an Accidental Pervert situation when the mouse runs under Chibitalia's skirt.
  • 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.
  • Eiffel Tower Effect: The series will sometimes open a story with a shot of a famous landmark to establish where it takes place.
  • Ejection Seat: Italy got the idea from Poland. It didn't work well for either of them.
  • 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".
  • Embarrassing Old Photo: The driving force behind the Blackmail in the "Fool's Bath 2011" ironically taking embarrassing photos of the nations in the different outfits is what France send Picardy to do.
  • Emoticon:
    • Himaruya frequently uses them in the notes of the webcomic.
    • One of the bonus CDs released had emoticons of the main characters in place of track names:
      • (=ヮ=)
      • ミ-」-]
      • W廿_廿)
      • ([∂]ω[∂])
      • (言ω言)
      • ζリ*´点`)
      • (^J^)
      • ~τW‘ワ‘)
  • Emotionless Girl:
    • They're all guys, but Japan, Hong Kong, Egypt, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland rarely (if ever) display their emotions.
    • Subverted by Belarus, who looks emotionless until her Yandere side is revealed.
  • Ending Theme:
    • Seasons 1 and 2 (Axis Powers) had the song "Marukaite Chikyuu".
    • Seasons 3 and 4 (World Series) used "Hatafutte Parade".
    • Season 5 (The Beautiful World) ended with "Mawaru Chikyuu Rondo".
    • Season 6 (The World Twinkle) used "Hetalian☆Jet".
  • 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.
    • This was the premise of the movie.
    • In the 2010 Christmas event, it's eventually revealed that the reason the nations from the parallel universe were stripping everyone was because someone had a message written on their body, and if they didn't find it before midnight, their world would be destroyed.
  • Energetic and Soft-Spoken Duo: America and Canada, twin brothers, qualify. America is boisterous, energetic and loud, while Canada is timid, shy and quiet to the point where most of the others can't see him or remember his name most of the time except for rare occasions where they mistake him for America. The only time we see Canada raise his voice is a three hour rant about his brother.
  • Enraged by Idiocy:
    • Germany has a tendency to lose his temper when things get out of hand at meetings or when Italy is oblivious to what is going on around him.
    • England gets exasperated at America's idiocy on more than one occasion.
  • Ensemble Cast: Italy was originally the main character (hence the title of the series), but it quickly grew to include Germany, Japan, England, America, France, Russia, and China due to their roles in WW2. As the series expanded to feature stories from other time periods, the cast continued to grow, and many of the newer characters have grown prominent in both canon and in the fandom. It's reached the point where there's either no real main character anymore (although the World 8 are still prominent in marketing) or that everyone's one. Much like world history, of course.
  • Europeans Are Kinky:
    • France is the most notable example.
    • England is often seen reading porn, and has a tendency to wear very little when he's drunk.
    • Germany has a porn collection that includes a lot of hardcore BDSM.
    • Hungary claims that her love for Austria is pure, but she's been revealed to be a Yaoi Fangirl with a very dirty mind.
    • Belarus is addicted to porn and has a thing for her brother, and maybe even sister.
    • Ukraine is quite eager to bring up her breasts.
  • Everyone Looks Sexier if French: France, naturally.
  • Everything Is Online: In the 2010 Christmas Bloodbath, Russia managed to hack into everyone's cell phones and caused them to keep making noise. Estonia was able to quickly use his computer to block Russia.
  • Everything's Better with Sparkles: The theme for season five was "sparkle sparkle." It would probably be easier to list the characters that didn't sparkle in that season.
  • Evil Laugh:
    • England and Prussia laugh or cackle when they're up to something.
    • Russia prefers to giggle.
  • Excited Title! Two-Part Episode Name!: A few in the fifth season.
    • "Go Forth! Newspaper Club!!"
    • "Brother! We are...!!"
    • Keep on Moving!! March Forward, Sealand!
  • 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).
  • Eyes Always Shut: Italy. It's been lampshaded on a couple of occasions:
    • In one episode, Italy is shown waking up in the morning with both eyes wide open accompanied by the text on the screen reading:
      "I tried opening my eyes today!" -Italy
    • During the 2011 Christmas event, a fan wrote in requesting that Italy keep both of his eyes open for a couple of minutes. It wasn't long before the other characters got weirded out, and Germany covered Italy's eyes, claiming that they were "too limpid."
    • Bulgaria was drawn this way in his first appearance (in both the manga and anime), but in all subsequent appearances, has had fully open eyes.

    F 
  • The Faceless:
    • Played with in the case of Turkey. At first this trope was played straight; his eyes were always covered with a mask, if not his whole face. In the 2007 Christmas Event, a fan asked to see his face. While he did show up without his mask (much to France and Greece's shock), either his back was to the audience or his face was otherwise obscured by a word bubble or something else. In the very last panel of the scene, he finally turns and faces the audience.
    • Luxembourg got this treatment during his debut during the Hetaween 2011 Event. It looked like we finally would get to see his face in the 2011 Christmas Event, but it turned out to be just a weird dream that Belgium had.
  • Faceless Masses:
    • Seen in the first episode at the Meeting of the World, all sitting around the table.
    • The Pictonians in the movie Paint It, White
  • Face Palm: Germany has done this on more than one occasion, usually because of something Italy did.
  • Face Plant: America and Romano both landed face-down after slipping on a Banana Peel.
  • Facial Markings: Ladonia has a streak of paint across his right cheek and nose.
  • Fairy Tale Motifs: The theme for some of the costumes in the 2011 Halloween Event.
  • Fairy Tale: Word of God has said Norway's design as a mysterious character was inspired by Norwegian fairy tales.
  • Fan Disservice:
  • Fanservice:
    • Himaruya has often filled requests for fans.
    • This is what a good deal of what the live events are dedicated to.
    • There's so much of this in Beautiful World. A good chunk of the male characters are partially or completely naked and show off their well-tone muscles.
  • Fantastic Arousal: What happens when you pull on the Italies' Idiot Hairs. Austria's mole is also said to be an erogenous zone.
  • Fantasy Kitchen Sink: God, Santa Claus, fairies, unicorns, trolls, Kappa and other Youkai, Talking Animals, at least two different species of aliens, ghosts, magic, and Alternate Universes all exist in the series in addition to the personified nations.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: One side of Cyprus' hair is much longer than the other.
  • Fast-Food Nation: In America's introductory scene, the other characters are unable to understand what he is saying because he is scarfing down burgers while talking. When England asks him to stop, he switches to drinking cola while talking instead.
  • Fate Worse than Death: The Kolkhoz that Russia threatens his subordinates with. Or living/working/etc. with Russia for that matter.
  • Fee Fi Faux Pas: Latvia tends to just blurt out whatever's on his mind, especially in front of Russia...which often lands him in hot water.
  • Female Gaze: When the male countries show off their bodies, the fangirls go crazy.
  • Fingore: Belarus broke Lithuania's fingers when they went on a date together, although he didn't even notice until Poland pointed it out to him.
  • Fish out of Water: How Japan often feels around Germany and Italy.
  • Five-Finger Discount: In the episode "Turkey&!" (as well as the manga strip it's based on), Germany and Italy are sightseeing at the Galata bridge when a thief runs up and steals Italy's camera. Unfortunately for the thief, Turkey was fishing off the bridge and immediately caught him and berated him for scaring tourists away.
  • Flanderization: What the dub does to more or less everything from the sub, although the Chibitalia segments tend to be left alone.
  • Flashback:
    • After being left out from an Allied Forces meeting, France flashed back to several points in his history to make himself feel better.
    • When America found some old toys that England made for him as a child, it caused him to reminisce on the time they spent together while he was growing up.
  • Flat-Earth Atheist: England ridicules America's belief in aliens and Tony, despite the fact that he lives in a Fantasy Kitchen Sink.
  • Flipping the Bird:
    • Mochimerica will sometimes grow an arm just so he can do this to Russia.
    • Molossia did this to the other micronations when they showed up at his place in "It's a Treasure Box of Countries."
    • Australia's pet koala did this to Japan in the second part of "Go Forth! Newspaper Club!!"
  • 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 genuine "dere" in Yandere for him.
    • Poland and Lithuania with the rye fields.
    • Meanwhile, fandom never misses an opportunity to depict England with roses (England's national flower).
    • And France is often shown with roses or floral imagery.
    • Hungary and Taiwan use flowers and/or flower-shaped hair jewelry as accessories, with Hungary's flowers representing Lake Balaton.
    • Vietnam is often shown with lotuses, her national flower.
  • Flowers of Romance: Germany gives flowers (and a ring) to Italy in the "San Valentino" comic.
  • Flying Saucer: Tony and the other aliens of his species use them.
  • Foil: Many nations act as these to each other, including Italy and Germany, England and America, Denmark and Norway, and Spain and Romano.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling:
    • Through they're adoptive siblings, England is serious and focused, while America is fun-loving and adventurous.
    • Czech Republic and Slovakia aren't siblings, but Czech is serious and hardworking, while Slovakia is irresonsible and flighty.
    • Prussia and Germany appear to be a case of this at first glance, but as Prussia's true nature is serious and hardworking, it's subverted.
  • Foregone Conclusion: The Axis Powers lose.
  • Foreign Cuss Word:
    • Romano once let out a "che palle!" in the manga.
    • America does this on occasion in the webcomic, like the time he and England put the F-word on the crate that had Italy in it.
    • Mochi America takes this up to eleven.
    • The dubbed anime has multiple characters do this.
  • Foreign Queasine:
    • England, naturally, especially since the series is based on stereotypes.
      "In hell, the chefs are English..."
    • Some of Finland's food can be seen this way.
    • 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.
    • Japan reacts this way to America's brightly colored food.
  • Foreshadowing: In Paint It, White, Italy is using a felt pen to draw faces on the pictures of the faceless Noppera during a meeting between the Axis and the Allies. At the end of the movie, this is how he stops the Noppera's invasion, as well as how he gets all of the other countries back to normal.
  • Formally-Named Pet: Mr. Puffin, Iceland's pet bird.
  • Former Teen Rebel: England, but he tends to get pissed off if anyone brings it up. Norway, Denmark and Sweden as well during their Viking days.
  • Fortune Teller: Romania does this in World☆Stars in an attempt to determine if he's Ancient Rome's descendant or not.
  • Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: Characters occasionally answer fan mail, sometimes devoting entire miniseries to it, and during the live events the nations will read and respond to fan letters.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the scene where Italy is reading his so-called war records (read: photos of himself with pretty girls) in front of Japan, there's a bookcase in the background. If you look closely, you can see an entire series on pasta (including "Wonderful Pasta" and "Excellent Pasta"), a book called "Mr. Hetare", and a title with a German flag on on the spine with the title "German Dais..." before getting cut off by the screen. Other titles are in Japanese. Looks like the the Axis boys keep a communal bookcase.
  • French Jerk:
    • While France is this at times (especially if England is around), he isn't portrayed as being this 24/7.
    • Himaruya's notes have stated that Fem!France is very snobbish.
  • Freudian Excuse:
    • Volume Four shows Russia when he was small, explaining that although it's unthinkable now, he used to be bullied a lot during this period. The manga showed him being pushed around by Mongolia, Prussia, Denmark & Sweden, a wild hamster...
      • Volume 3 showed the first time Lithuania and Russia met ("The Tartar Yoke" in the manga), while the latter was under Mongolian rule. Later, Hungary sympathizes with Russia after hearing from Lithuania about him.
    • Belgium thinks that the Netherlands' strict, penny-pinching ways are the result of his poverty as a young nation, as well as her showing him the success she enjoyed as a child.
    • England thinks that America's tendency toward big, loud and extravagant stems from when he was still hungry.
    • Latvia being Prone to Tears is said to be the result of his experiencing many unfortunate events at a young age.
  • Friendless Background:
    • Japan kept himself isolated for a long time. When he did start to open up, he worried that this would have a negative impact on his future relations with others.
    • England often feels this way.
    • In the Valentine's comics, Germany thinks about how his whole life seems to have been an endless cycle of war, hatred, and mistrust.
    • Iceland was born and spent his younger years alone.
  • Friendlessness Insult: During the colonization of the Americas, we get a scene where France remarks "Why, if it isn't Friendless England!", causing England to grumble about hating to go to continental Europe.
  • Friendship Song: England's song "My Friend", in which England talks about his friends Brownie, Pixy and the Unicorn.
  • Friend to All Living Things: America, who's befriended whales and aliens among other things. England and Norway are very close with the fairies and spirits from their homes, as well.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: Prussia at least twice started from humble origins and by conquest and fervent work built himself into a power to be recognized.
    "He was the odd one in the HRE and by overcoming the odds he continued to gain strength and grew into a military state that could take on large-scale battles, leading to being acknowledged by the other Germanic states."
  • Fun Size: England can use his Magic Wand to make the other nations smaller and younger.
  • Fun T-Shirt: "I Pasta"

    G 
  • Gag Dub: The English dub certainly qualifies. Some English voice actors have admitted that a significant chunk of their dialogue was ad-libbed. With this and the short length of the episodes, it has a very Abridged Series feel.
  • Gag Series: The main purpose of the series is humor, and there's no overall plot.
  • 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.
  • Gender Is No Object: As Hungary aptly demonstrates, being a woman in a world where many of the other characters are male doesn't make you any less of a badass and/or prominent figure.
  • Generic Cuteness: Some characters are mentioned as being plainer looking than the others, but you wouldn't know it based on looks alone.
  • The Generic Guy: Estonia is far less quirky than most other characters. He even lampshades it at one point:
    "Hello! I'm the one who usually doesn't stand out, Estonia! Do you remember me?"
  • Genius Loci: The Nations themselves, by their very nature, arguably count.
  • Genre-Busting: The whole premise of the series itself is genre busting, since it is a series about personified nations living and acting out the lives based on the historical happenings and interactions of the countries they represent. For the most part it's a Comedy, it has its Historical Fiction values, and has plentiful Boys' Love subtext to it. If that weren't enough, there's the ocassional strips that come out from nowhere, that don't fit into this genre (or a chrononlogical timeline), but interact with the magical background related to the nations themselves. It's hard to predict what might happen next in the series.
  • Gentle Giant:
    • Sweden is actually a very nice guy. He just looks big and scary.
    • Cameroon as well. It's been shown that he enjoys playing soccer with children.
  • Germanic Depressives:
    • Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Germania, naturally.
    • Averted with Prussia (who is loud and fun-loving) and Liechtenstein (who is sweet and cheerful),
  • Ghost in the Machine: During the Valentine Special, Germany's head-workers are swamped by foreign emotions.
  • Ghost Pirate: The Nordics dress as ghost pirates for Hetaween 2011.
  • Ghost Story: The theme of the Hetalia Hetaween 2013 event, with each nation dressing up as a spirit from one of their country's ghost stories. A few nations get to tell the stories themselves.
  • Girlish Pigtails:
    • Seychelles wears her hair in pigtails tied by red ribbons.
    • Liechtenstein had them before she cut her hair.
    • Fem!England and her 2P counterpart both have long hair tied into pigtails.
    • Fem!Canada has them as well.
    • Czech Republic wore her hair like this as a child.
  • Giving Up the Ghost: When Russia grabbed Latvia to help him stop shaking, it scared Latvia so much that his soul flew out of his body.
  • Global Ignorance: America couldn't find Japan on a map, and he thought that he could drive to Germany from his place.
  • The Glomp:
    • Italy did this to Japan once.
    • Russia does this to Lithuania offscreen when he accidentally implies they are friends.
    • Finland does this to Estonia after he and Sweden escape from Denmark's control.
    • Slovakia does this to Czech Republic after she admits to missing him after their separation (in an indirect way, of course).
  • Glory Days: And many nations who were former empires reminisce about them, especially Prussia and Austria.
  • God: He's shown up a few times, often wondering why he's always the one being blamed for certain mishaps with characters.
    • In the webcomic, after Rome came back from the afterlife to check on Italy, he comments that he was glad that God allowed him to do so. This was followed by a picture of God beaten and tied up.
    • He appeared in Hungary's dreams once and instructed her to hit France with her frying pan the next time she saw him.
    • He was also the one who transported Estonia to the Nyotalia universe. Or at least that's what Estonia saw in his dream.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: Portugal wears a pair of "badass goggles" (in the notes' words) with his uniform.
  • Good Angel, Bad Angel: They appear on Germany's shoulders, Italy as the angel and Romano as the demon. Both of them give him the same option.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal:
    • In the manga, Russia barely even notices his heart falling out; apparently it happens a lot. China was being fine after being stabbed in the back, and it is likely that almost the entire cast is being able to resurrect from anything done to their physical bodies as long as their nations are intact.
    • It is subverted for Prussia. A dog has bitten him and he doesn't recover as fast as usual. This is because his country no longer exists and these traits start to fade away, which will probably have him end up dying or becoming normal, someday.
  • Goofy Print Underwear:
    • Spain has been shown with tomato-print boxers on more than one occasion.
    • China has panda-print underwear.
    • It's been revealed that Romano wears tomato-print boxers like Spain.
    • An image on Himaruya's blog showed Bulgaria wearing underwear that had forest creatures printed on it.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: The silhouetted version happens to France in the Christmas Rampage strip, when an upset Switzerland shoots him.
  • Gratuitous English: America does this a lot in the original version, as does his alien pal Tony. England as well, but not to the same extent.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language:
    • In the webcomic, you can count on almost every characters saying something in their native language.
    • The Image Songs often throw in foreign words or phrases from time to time.
    • Also happens in the anime.
    • The mochi nations always talk in their native languages.
    • Fanwork often takes this up to eleven, with a good helping of "Blind Idiot" Translation added in.
  • Gratuitous French: France, naturally. Although he does it more in the dub.
  • Gratuitous German: As with France, it's more prevalent in the dub.
  • Gratuitous Italian: Italy and Romano.
  • Gratuitous Japanese: Only in the dub, along with a lot of Intentional Engrish for Funny. Also, Japanese suffixes are used in the published manga, and are often left in scanlations along with terms like "ani-ki" and "onii-san."
  • Gratuitous Ninja: According to Italy, ninja show up frequently in German movies because Germany is of this opinion.
  • Gratuitous Russian: Not as much as the other characters, but Russia does throw in the occasional "da."
  • Gratuitous Spanish: Spain, obviously. Oddly enough, Cuba doesn't seem to do this.
  • Green-Eyed Monster:
    • If either Greece or Turkey sees Japan in the presence of the other, they turn into this.
    • In the Valentine's comics, Germany gets jealous when he sees Italy flirting with pretty women.
  • Grey-and-Grey Morality: None of the Nations are portrayed as completely evil, even Russia. Then again, despite being good-at-heart, they've done some regrettable things in history.
  • The Greys: 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.
  • Grim Reaper: Appears in a strip where England is dying (or at least very ill).
  • Groin Attack: When America and Canada are playing catch with a baseball, this happens to Canada. Ow.
  • Guilty Pleasure:
    • Germany secretly loves baking.
    • There are definitely some fans that consider the series this.
  • The Gunslinger: Switzerland prefers to use rifles, and Germany has wielded guns a few times in the series.

    H 
  • Hair Color Dissonance: Many examples, as hair colors are not always kept completely consistent between pieces of art.
  • Hair-Contrast Duo:
    • Subverted with Italy and Germany. Germany (blond) is serious and strict while Italy (brunet) is cheerful and carefree.
    • Played straight with Poland and Lithuania. Poland (blond) is ditzy and easygoing and Lithuania (brunet) is serious.
  • Hairstyle Inertia: Almost all of the characters, despite them being centuries old and popular hairstyles having changed dramatically over the years.
    • Poked fun at in one story where England grew his hair out in an effort to be more stylish. However, after months of letting it grow, he discovered that it was a mess and asked France to style him for it. After rejecting the first two hairstyles France gave him, he fell asleep during the third try. France took the opportunity to cut England's hair back to its old style.
    • Averted with Liechtenstein, who used to have long hair, but later cut it so that she would look more like Switzerland.
    • Also averted with Hong Kong, who had long hair as a child, but ended up with short hair after he was under England's care.
    • Averted, young Ukraine has been drawn with long hair that she braided and wrapped around her head, but has short hair as an adult.
    • Averted again in the case of young Netherlands who left his hair down, and spikes it up when he's an adult.
    • Averted in the case of Czech Republic, who wore her hair in Girlish Pigtails as a child, but wears it in a short bob as an adult.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Germany and England have these.
  • Halloween Episode:
    • In one story, it's revealed that England always tries to scare America on Halloween, so America gets some help from Japan in order to scare England.
    • Another story showed the characters in costumes collecting sweets and having a party.
    • Hetaween 2011, in which America threw a costume contest for the holiday.
  • Hammerspace:
    • Russia sometimes pulls his pipe out of nowhere. His pipe itself can hold all sorts of things.
    • During one of the Christmas events, France got a call from Italy on his cell phone, despite the fact that he was wearing cat ears, a tail, and nothing else.
    • In the 2011 Halloween event, Ukraine pulled a toy horse for Poland to ride from thin air.
  • Hangover Sensitivity: After getting trashed one night, England shows up to an Allied Forces meeting the next day with his jacket over his head, swearing that he's never going to drink again.
  • Happy Dance: Russia does this after defeating Poland and Lithuania.
  • 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 condom when the latter had asked for a pencil eraser.
  • Head Pet: Prussia's pet bird is frequently shown sitting on top of his head.
    • Mr. Puffin's usual perch is Iceland's head, or else Iceland's shoulder.
  • Healing Factor: It's not entirely clear if this is a perk of being a nation or just part of the cartoon slapstick, but the nations can heal up fine from injuries which would be very quickly fatal to a normal person, such as being shot in the head or falling out of a plane. (The former option is suggested when Prussia appears to be losing his healing ability.)
  • Heavy Sleeper:
    • Italy never woke up when Rome came to visit one night and got into a lengthy argument/conversation with Germany.
    • France slept through an Allied Forces meeting where China got fed up with how the others were treating him and started yelling while kicking and punching everything in sight.
    • Greece in the very first chapter sleeps through the entirety of the chaotic meeting, even with nations yelling and fighting one another.
    • Canada: He sleeps through his alarm and is late for a meeting in his first strip, and he even seems to be narcoleptic.
  • Heh Heh, You Said "X": Only in the dub.
    • In Season 1, Germany and Italy see a scientist giving a lecture:
      Scientist: ...and our research has but cracked...
      Italy: Hehehe... that professor guy doesn't know it, but he just said butt crack!
    • In Season 5, when Turkey commented on how different Germany and Prussia's personalities were:
      Austria: Maybe they're different on the surface, but when it comes to clothes, they share an anal-retentive streak.
      Turkey: Hahaha! You just said anal!
  • Height Angst:
    • Italy is very anxious about the difference in height between himself and Germany. It's so bad that he won't even wear a helmet because he feels like it's making him shorter.
    • A piece of art drawn by Himaruya during the 2010 World Cup showed Japan standing with Cameroon, Denmark, and Netherlands and looking very self conscious about his height.
  • Hero of Another Story: Also tied to the numerous characters, many other nations down to the minors ones are protagonists in their own stories.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Many examples:
    • Poland and Lithuania, even if Poland pushes the definition of "heterosexual" quite a bit.
    • Finland and Estonia. They plan festivals together, and Estonia asks Finland to put in a word with the other Nordics.
    • Japan and America have become this in the present day, bonding over video games and the like.
    • Bulgaria and Romania, and it's historically accurate.
    • Portual and England have a deep bond, according to Word of God. They do have the world's oldest living alliance in the Windsor Treaty, and England is said to have taught Portugal how to fight and lends him his technological skill.
    • If the relationship between Italy and Germany is just platonic, they're definitely this.
  • Hidden Depths: Most of the characters show shades of this at some point.
    • France, for example, often comes across as nothing more than a shallow pervert. This comic hints that he may want to settle down, leading to some fans speculating that being essentially immortal means that he has to watch anyone he falls in love with grow old and die, so he sticks to short flings and one-night stands because it's emotionally easier to deal with.
    • England, as well, he seems pretty grumpy and rude on occasion, but watch how he treats his fairy companions and it's obvious he really does care about his friends. It becomes pretty obvious his acerbic personality is a self-defence mechanism to protect himself, especially as it seems he used to be bullied when he was younger.
    • Prussia appears at first glance to be nothing but an overly arrogant, careless, wild and irresponsible hooligan-type, but his true nature is said to be methodical and severe, much like Germany. He has shown a few signs of it in strips, including his role as a Big Brother Mentor to Germany. Additionally, he does experience emotions like loneliness and sadness, no matter how much he tries to deny them.
  • High-Pressure Emotion:
    • When Chibitalia took Holy Rome's hand while teaching him to paint, the latter's face got bright red.
    • Chibi Romano also got flustered and red faced when he tried to explain to Spain that he got worried when he saw him surrounded by German soldiers.
  • High School AU: The Hetalia Academy comics take place in an Alternate Universe where the nations are all students, as does the PSP Visual Novel game.
  • Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: France's default outfit. Truth in Television, and the bright colors making him a target was addressed in the series.
  • Hikikomori: Japan was one for hundreds of years while he was in isolation, and is outright called a hikikomori in the webcomic.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: The dub includes this as bonus material for the movie, season three, and season four.
  • Historical Domain Character: Several have made appearances or have been mentioned, including Napoléon Bonaparte, Frederick the Great, Adolf Hitler, Joan of Arc, Niccolò Machiavelli, Maria Theresa, William Shakespeare, and Vlad the Impaler. A full list can be found near the bottom of this page.
  • Historical Injoke: The entire premise.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: France, during the 2011 April Fool's event. He got a request for a picture of everyone as kids, so he asked England to use his magic wand to make everyone small.
    France: ...Hmm? England? Are you listening to me?
    England: So I can make everyone small, right? That includes you!
    France: Ah...! Crap... hold on! Aargh!
  • Holding Hands: America's flashback within a flashback shows a moment where the young America takes England's hand as they both go home.
  • Holiday Ceasefire: There's a strip about the famous Christmas Truce of 1914, showing England and Germany laying on the ground after the football/soccer game.
  • Hollywood Cuisine: If a character has a Trademark Favorite Food, there's a good chance that it's this.
  • Honorable Marriage Proposal: Italy hugs Japan and Japan treats it like a sexual act, demanding that Italy "Take responsibility".
  • Horse of a Different Color: Estonia has casually ridden around on Mochiamerica in a couple of instances.
  • Hot as Hell: Austria, Hungary and Prussia dress as sexy devils for one Halloween.
  • Hot-Blooded: Prussia, Denmark and Cuba are often loud, outgoing, and full of passion. Iceland is secretly this, but is embarrassed by it and acts stoic in an attempt to seem mature.
  • Hot Springs Episode:
    • Japan has a hot spring at his home. The story showing the Anglo-Japanese alliance had England relaxing in it and talking to a couple of magical creatures who could no longer be seen by Japan.
    • Another episode had Japan and Italy soaking together after forming an alliance.
    • Hungary brought Taiwan to Lake Hévíz on one occasion.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen: Many nations who were former empires get moments of this, and at one point Portugal tells Spain that he's glad that Spain's in dire straits since his empire days, since it makes him feel better about his own fate.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Russia and Belarus, even if Belarus is the even more horrifying and dominant of the two.
    • Czech Republic is much shorter than Slovakia.
  • Humanoid Abomination: The nations are very cute, true . . . but their existence is unexplained, they're functionally immortal, only fall ill when the country they personify is in dire straits, have a powerful Healing Factor, many are subject to Bizarre Human Biology with their ahoges and other parts, and their immortality at times rubs off on animals close to them. The first chapter of World☆Stars even alludes to this:
    "They can live for a few days, or for several centuries. They can just disappear one day, or change their names and personalities. And they can appear again, called back by somebody's sudden memory..."
  • Humanoid Aliens:
    • Tony and the other members of his species are The Greys.
    • The Pict from The Movie have humanoid forms, but they lack any color, facial features, hands, feet, or any other distinctive traits.
  • 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 Dog's 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*...
    • Japan's excuse for refusing to eat raw snails in the dub? He's still full from eating raw fish. Almost immediately, he comments that Western food can be so weird.note 
    • England mocks America's belief in aliens...while being the same guy who talks to unicorns, fairies, and other spirits on a daily basis.

Alternative Title(s): A To H

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