History AxisPowersHetalia / AToH

This page covers tropes in ''WebComic/AxisPowersHetalia''.

'''Tropes A To H''' | [[AxisPowersHetalia/IToP Tropes I to P]] | [[AxisPowersHetalia/QToZ Tropes Q to Z]]

* AbortedArc:
** The Hetalia Christmas Bloodbath of 2011, due to Himaruya's commitment to Gentosha Comics.
** Also the 2013 Halloween event for unknown reasons.
* AccentAdaptation:
** Poland's Nagoya accent is translated as a ValleyGirl 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.
* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal:
** Mr. Puffin wears a red bow tie.
** The cat versions of Germany and Austria wear ribbons around their necks.
* AccidentalKidnapping: 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.
* AccidentalPervert:
** 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 [[IdiotHair Idiot Hairs]] while not understanding [[FantasticArousal 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.
* AccidentalProposal:
** 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.
* ActionGirl:
** Hungary and her FryingPanOfDoom.
** Fem!Italy is tougher than her male counterpart.
* ActorAllusion:
** At the beginning of the "France teaching Italy about sexual intercourse" scene in the dub of ''World Series'', Italy hums the first opening of ''Manga/SgtFrog''.
** Isn't it funny how the [[Creator/NoriakiSugiyama voice actor]] of the [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight person that worked with King Arthur]] is now another Arthur who is Britain himself?
* ACupAngst:
** 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.
* AdaptationDyeJob: 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 [[http://i45.tinypic.com/wcmesg.jpg 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.
* AdjustingYourGlasses: Canada used the "by the corner" method in the second part of "Hetalia of the Dead" in season five.
* AdorablyPrecociousChild: Sealand, Ladonia and Moldova are this.
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead:
** 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 [[AndCallHimGeorge (and crushing)]] head pats...and if he didn't, [[BodyHorror Latvia would be taller than he is now]].
* AffectionateNickname: 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."
* AffectionateParody: Of history and different countries in general, treating them with a well-meaning and almost endearing degree of respect.
* AirGuitar: Prussia does a variation of this with a broom in "Go Forth! Newspaper Club! (part two)"
* AirplaneArms: Sealand seems to be fond of running around his country like this.
* AirVentPassageway: Germany, Italy, and Japan end up crawling through one of these on an alien spaceship in TheMovie.
* TheAlcoholic: 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 [[AllThereInTheManual named the heaviest drinker in the world in notes]]. Latvia is said to be this as well [[note]] He claims he can drink up to 40 cups of alcohol at his best[[/note]], despite his young human age.
* AlcoholHic: England when he gets [[CantHoldHisLiquor really drunk]], and Finland once in a drama CD, and once when DrowningHisSorrows after Sweden calls off a battle with Lithuania and Poland.
* AlienAbduction:
** Appears to happen on a global scale in the end of "Paint it White", where the invading Pict [[spoiler: SEEM to have billions of converted humans enter their mothership and then fly back home to their home planet]]. It's not stated that [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: Iceland]] are left.
** Aliens once tried to [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/nonlinear.php?omoti abduct Mochimerica]] but ended up throwing him back in disgust.
* AlienInvasion:
** 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 [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys 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:''' [[ExtremeOmnivore Leave the cooking to me!]]
* AliensSpeakingEnglish[[TranslationConvention /Japanese]]: America's alien friend Tony.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: 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.
* AllJustADream:
** 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 a HomoeroticDream 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 CloudcuckoolandersMinder to America in Africa, trying to keep him safe from poisonous lizards, snakes, and poisonous plants. [[spoiler:And then America showed up for real...]]
* AllPartOfTheShow: When a star [[http://community.livejournal.com/hetalia/35780.html falls on England's head]], America is nothing short of impressed.
* AllStereotypeCast: Done deliberately and usually PlayedForLaughs. Japan is overly reserved, Italy is obsessed with pasta, America only wants to be the hero, etc.
* AllThereInTheManual: 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.
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Norway is friends with a huge green one that comes to his defense when it's needed.
* AllWorkVSAllPlay: Germany would rather work while Italy would rather lounge around and relax.
* TheAlliance: The Allies, of course. The Axis are this as well, being [[TheRival rivals]] to the Allies.
* ''"Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra"'': Alluded to with the first few notes of the opening music of seasons one through four.
* AlternateUniverse: In the 2010 Christmas Bloodbath, it's revealed that there is one where the Nations are [[spoiler:[[CatGirl cat people]], don't wear any clothing, and there are 123 Frances]]. There is also the [[HighSchoolAU Hetalia Academy]] universe, the Nyotalia (gender reversed) universe, Nekotalia (with all characters being cats), and the Mochis storyline.
* AlternateUniverseFic: 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. AlternateHistory stories tend to show up on a regular basis, as do fics where the characters are normal people.
* AmbiguousGender: 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.
* AmericaSavesTheDay: Frequently invoked, as America constantly tries to fill the role of hero while snubbing the other Allies to cannon fodder.
* AmicableExes: 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.
* AmplifiedAnimalAptitude: While most of the animals can't talk, they are clearly capable of understanding people and are able to think. In [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/nonlinear.php?blog-entry-1566 "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!
* AmusingAlien: America's little buddy Tony, provided you find his habitual cursing and severe hatred of the English amusing.
* AmusingInjuries: When a nation gets hurt, it's almost always PlayedForLaughs.
** 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 BananaPeel.
** 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.
* AnachronicOrder: The story may deal with history, but the events aren't shown in historical order.
* AnachronismStew:
** In one episode of the anime, Italy mentions that Germany has pornographic [=DVD=]s, 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 [[http://community.livejournal.com/hetalia/5087111.html this strip]]. England asks America (who is admittedly a [[GeniusDitz 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}} 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 Takamine[[note]]a famous Japanese guitar maker[[/note]], right?
--->'''Freed slave''': There aren't any!
* AndCallHimGeorge: Russia's treatment of Latvia in general, including [[AffectionateGestureToTheHead affectionate head pats]] that are implied to have ''[[BodyHorror crushed part of his spine]]''.
* AnimalEaredHeadband:
** [[JustifiedTrope 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 [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/birz.php?ep006 this page]], America and England can be seen wearing cat ears.
** During the [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/2011april1/index.php?page1 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.
* AnimalReactionShot: After America [[LoveHurts turns down]] a deredere England, his whale friend (who was previously smiling like an idiot) becomes sad.
* AnimalsHateHim: 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.
* AnimalsLackAttributes: ZigZaggingTrope. The nations' pets and their feline counterparts are drawn with anuses (as a small "x" under the tails), but external genitalia are never shown.
* AnimatedAdaptation: The anime is an adaptation of the webcomic and published manga.
* AnimateInanimateObject: Russia's scarf once tried to strangle America.
* AnimationBump: The beginning of season five had a lot of detail and beautifully rendered backgrounds.
* AnimeAccentAbsence: China is an aversion (sort of), but the rest of the characters play this straight. Although this may be just TranslationConvention, as it's implied that there is some sort of CommonTongue that they all speak in addition to their native languages.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling:
** 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.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification:
** Most of the characters are personifications of nations.
** There are also characters who represent regions.
*** [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland 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 [[http://bamboothicket2.livejournal.com/198530.html 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 UsefulNotes/UnitedNations appeared in one story.
** General Winter is the personification of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Winter Russian winter.]]
** There are also several Mr. Newspaper characters. Each nation has one who is the personification of their media.
* AnxietyDreams:
** 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.
* AprilFoolsPlot: The various live events that have occurred on April Fool's Day, one even being made into an anime episode.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: The characters have seen (and interacted with) aliens, have counterparts in an AlternateUniverse that are [[spoiler: 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.
* ArtEvolution: The art has become [[http://i46.tinypic.com/1zn4wna.jpg cleaner and everyone has gotten prettier]] as the series has progressed. And the new animation artwork for season five is [[http://ohgodnohetaliaanimeart.tumblr.com/post/35169004671/compare-and-contrast an improvement]] over the previous seasons.
* ArtifactTitle: 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 (aka the [[FanNickname World 8]]), although many of the other characters had gotten prominence as well.
* ArtisticAge: The approximate physical age of the characters doesn't seem to correspond to the actual age of their nations. Connected to VagueAge below.
* ArtisticLicenseGeography:
** 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.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
** 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]]Germany and Italy also had colonies, just not as many as the other European nations. The Hetalia Academy game corrects this; the other African nations find it hilarious that Ethiopia is Italy's colony. The above strip is also made confusing by the fact that Himaruya had initially planned to include Libya and Ethiopia in the webcomic. Like many of his plans though, they have yet to come to fruition.[[/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.
* ArtisticLicenseShips: In the episode where England is shown beating Spain, the anime gives England [[ArtisticLicenseHistory 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 [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/historyfail.jpg an inverted Swiss flag]].
* ArtShift: 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.
* AscendedExtra: 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.
* AscendedMeme: Oh, Creator/{{Funimation}}:
-->'''America:''' [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} 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 [[http://www.hetarchive.net/images/plog-content/images/scans/comic-birz-extras/2012-05_piccolo-cover.jpg cover]] of the Arte Stella Piccalo art book features them, and they now have an image song together.
* AttackHello: Chibi Romano wakes Spain up this way.
* AttractiveBentGender: 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!"
* AudioAdaptation: There are several CD dramas, many of which predate the anime.
* AuthorAvatar: 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.
* AuthorFilibuster: 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.
* AwesomeYetImpractical:
** 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 [[BoringButPractical sharpened chopsticks]] would work better. Germany is a bit disappointed.
** During WWII, Italy finally gets a hold of a decent, functioning tank (which, being [[TheDitz Italy]], is an accomplishment)... that smokes up the inside every time it fires, so tank crews left the top open during battle. TruthInTelevision, actually.
* AxCrazy: 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.
* AnAxeToGrind: Denmark and Spain are sometimes drawn with one.
* BadassAdorable:
** 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.
* BadassLongcoat: Many examples, among them being Sweden, Denmark, Romania and Moldova. A lot of them are part of the nations' military uniforms.
* BananaPeel: 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.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: The male characters have been shown shirtless on several occasions, but their nipples are never drawn.
* BareYourMidriff:
** Wy and her GenderFlip self both wear crop-tops that reveal their stomachs.
** Fem!America and her 2P counterpart wear their shirts tied beneath their breasts.
** Fem!Germany and 2P Fem!Germany wear short tank tops that almost look like sports bras.
** 2P Fem!Prussia wears a short top underneath her open jacket.
* BaseballEpisode: [[http://hetalia.livejournal.com/1124276.html This comic]] is about Italy's baseball team in the WBC.
* BathingBeauty: Hungary, as well as Czech Republic, who brags about her very famous spas.
* BathtubScene: Japan gets one in episode seven of ''The Beautiful World''.
* BattleAura:
** 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.
* BattleInTheRain:
** [[AvertedTrope Nearly happens]] in the strip dealing with UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution.
** Played straight when Italy tries to win his independence from Austria at [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/comicdiary.php?nikkimanga10 Custoza]]
* BeachEpisode: 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.
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: France, UK, USA. (Perhaps also Italy, Japan and Germany?)
* BeautyMark: Austria has one on the left side of his chin, and it's said to be [[FantasticArousal an erogenous zone]] for him. Kugelmugel has one under his left eye, while Portugal has one under his right eye.
* BedmateReveal: Germany often wakes up to Italy in his bed. [[HoYay Naked.]]
* BelligerentSexualTension:
** 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.
* BerserkButton:
** 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 HairTriggerTemper 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! [[spoiler: Or rather, ''magic metal pipe of pain.'']]
* BetweenMyLegs: 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..
* BewareTheNiceOnes: ''Finland'', and [[TruthInTelevision 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.
* BigApplesauce: America lives in New York City. Himaruya also lived there when he first started the series.
* BigBallOfViolence:
** 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 [[RunningGag again]] when the two were shown fighting during the Seven Years' War.
** And ''[[RuleOfThree again]]'' at the beginning of TheMovie when the nations were arguing about who made the best movies.
* BigBrotherInstinct:
** 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 ''[[UpToEleven 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.
* BigBrotherMentor:
** 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 TricksterMentor, 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 AloofBigBrother as well.
** Prussia, to Germany.
** Denmark was this for a young Iceland, combined with ParentalSubstitute. He gave Iceland advice on how to make friends, for one, and proclaims that he raised him.
* BigDamnHero: America desperately wants to be this.
* BigDamnMovie: Complete with an AirVentPassageway escape, aliens that look like a cross between TheGreys and HumanoidAliens, [[spoiler: and Italy saving the world with permanent markers.]]
* BigEater:
** 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.
* BigFancyHouse: From what we've seen, most (if not all) of the nations live in these.
* BigFriendlyDog: Berlitz, one of Germany's dogs, is large and runs around a lot, but he let Japan dress him up in a frilly outfit.
* TheBigGuy: Russia is the tallest and [[PsychopathicManchild more unstable]] of the Allied Forces.
* BigLittleBrother:
** 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...
* BigOlEyebrows: 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 [[http://spidersinstockings.tumblr.com/post/68332812010/do-you-remember-russia-has-bushy-eyebrows sometimes Russia]].
* BigScrewedUpFamily:
** 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.
* BilingualBonus: In the later mochi comic strips. The Japanese translation provided by Himaruya is much more polite than what mochi America is saying in English.
* BinocularShot:
** 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.
* BirthdayEpisode: [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/nonlinear.php?indy One comic]] showed America having a birthday party.
* BishieSparkle:
** France and Estonia seem to get them more and more often as the series goes on.
** Italy sometimes gets them when he's [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/birz.php?ep006 talking about girls]].
** Austria gets them when France takes a photograph of them together.
** England as well while he was pretending to be an Italian. He even leaves a trail of them when Germany drags him away.
** In season five, ''everyone'' seems to be sparkling a lot.
* {{Bishounen}}: Thanks to ArtEvolution, pretty much every male character is this or a {{Hunk}} now.
* BitingTheHandHumor: Only in the dub, which has lampshaded the OffModel animation on a few occasions.
* BitingTheHandkerchief: 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.
* BittersweetEnding: While most of the series is lighthearted and funny, the occasional serious stories often end this way.
* BizarreHumanBiology: Possibly Italy's IdiotHair, if it was in fact the hair and not his scalp which is the erogenous zone.
* BlackCloak: England wears one whenever he's cursing someone.
* BlackComedy: [[CrossesTheLineTwice Germany angrily saying to Italy]], "Are you vanting me to ''gas'' you??" is this, doubled with GeniusBonus: 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.
* BlackMagic: 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.
* BladeOnAStick:
** Hungary's WeaponOfChoice (aside from her frying pan).
** Variation: During "America Cleans Up The Storage", England and America face off with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musket muskets]] with bayonets.
** Finland carries a spear as a baby Nation.
* BlandNameProduct:
** 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 [[AnachronismStew "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 [[Website/YouTube HetaTube]] or broadcast live on [[Manga/HetaliaBloodbath2010 HetaStreeeem]].
** In season five, Estonia was shown using Hetarinet Explorer to surf the internet.
* TheBlank: The Pict, who are also in a way expies of [[Franchise/StarTrek the Borg]], considering their utter uniformity and advancement.
* BlankWhiteEyes: Happens frequently, usually when a character is shocked or frightened.
* BlindIdiotTranslation: All too common in fanwork.
* BlindWithoutEm: Estonia actually ''needs'' his glasses, [[PurelyAestheticGlasses unlike lots of other glasses-wearing characters]]. They also help conceal his expressions.
* BloodFromTheMouth:
** 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.
* BloodKnight: Prussia, who from the days of the Teutonic Knights did nothing but fight and avoid alliances.
* BloodOnTheDebateFloor: It's not unusual for debates between the nations to end in physical violence.
* BlueBlood: Austria has elements of this, thanks to the influence of the Habsburgs. Luxembourg also has these influences, as WordOfGod notes that he once had a royal family to rival the Habsburgs.
* BlueWithShock: Happens often when a character is shocked.
* BodyguardBetrayal: Germania was Ancient Rome's bodyguard, and it's said that he's the one that struck the final blow that killed him.
* BoisterousBruiser: 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 ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''), while Latvia is said to love reading poetry and romance novels.
* BoringButPractical: China's special technique [[spoiler: consists of calling people on the phone for help. Works just fine.]]
* BornAsAnAdult: 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, [[spoiler: 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, [[https://web.archive.org/web/20120906032934/http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/nonlinear.php?nazene Italy and Romano both]] [[SleepsInTheNude sleep in the nude.]] In the anime, they are shown wearing shorts and tank tops in bed.
** [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/nonlinear.php?pt 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 ShipTease, fanservice, and nudity) were animated in the first four seasons, although ''The Beautiful World'' has animated the [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/2011april1/index.php 2011 April Fool's Event]] and did so faithfully to the original.
** In the manga, Australia's pet koala was shown FlippingTheBird 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.
* BrassBalls: 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-[[VerbalTic ARU]]!!"
* BrattyHalfPint:
** Sealand, especially when he's around England.
** Wy seems to be one as well, especially around the other micronations.
** Ladonia is this towards Sweden.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Iceland's immature side is a mild, gender-flipped version of this.
* BreakingTheFourthWall:
** 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 TheMovie, and tells the audience to stop staring at him during the ''Manga/Hetaween2011'' 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.
* BreakoutCharacter: Thanks to the nature of the series and the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, this has happened as the series has grown, with many Nations having significant attention in both fandom and canon. See also AscendedExtra and EnsembleCast, as it's tied very much to both.
* BreakTheHaughty: Prussia is often subject to this: Just when he's won something, he's knocked off his pedestal ''very'' quickly.
* BrickJoke:
** 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 TheStinger, [[spoiler:it turns out he got some of the aliens to stay (somehow) and was using them to attract tourists]].
* BritishTeeth: Averted, England's teeth are totally normal and so are those of his colonies. TruthInTelevision, actually, in that Britain has very good dental care in RealLife.
* BroughtDownToNormal: Nikko Nikko voluntarily gave up his status as a Micronation to live as a Japanese citizen once again. Though WordOfGod says that he still represents his Micronation, he now ages normally, has a steady job, and has a kid.
* BuffySpeak: The dub does this a lot.
-->"Is this your girlfriend or boyfriend or gender neutral chibi thing?"
* CallBack:
** In an episode in season one, 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 [[CarMeetsHouse 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.
* CallToAgriculture: A very literal example happens with Poland and Lithuania in the "What Happened After Tannenburg" strip.
* CallingYourAttacks:
** 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.
* CanadaEh: Played straight. Canada is frequently forgotten about and mistaken for America, and says "Maple..." whenever he gets hurt.
* CantHoldHisLiquor: While many characters have been seen drunk on occasions, England in particular seems to be prone to doing this.
* CantLiveWithThemCantLiveWithoutThem: England and France, also Spain and Romano.
* CarMeetsHouse: WordOfGod has stated that [[http://hetalia.livejournal.com/4628.html 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.
* CardboardPrison:
** 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.
* CarpetOfVirility: France, Turkey, and Rome all have chest hair. France and Rome in particular both have reputations for getting around.
* CassandraTruth: England and his unicorn. This can be extended to England's ability to see supernatural creatures. Possibly Norway too.
* CastFullOfGay: 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 AnythingThatMoves. But still, considering [[SituationalSexuality most of the characters are male]]...
* CastFullOfPrettyBoys: 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 AlternateUniverse.
* CastHerd: Of course, people often group nations together in RealLife based on geography (the Baltics, the Nordics, etc.) or alliances during wars (the Axis, the Allies).
* CastOfPersonifications: While the occasional minor human character appears, the vast majority of the characters are the personifications of countries.
* CatGirl: They're mostly male, but in the Manga/HetaliaBloodbath2010 [[spoiler: the nations from an AlternateUniverse are all cat people]]. Estonia also sports this look when he dresses up as the [[Franchise/AliceInWonderland Cheshire Cat]] for ''Manga/Hetaween2011''.
* 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 [[MadnessMantra marriedmarriedmarriedmarriedmarried]]."
** Prussia: "Because I'm Awesome!"
** America: "I'm the hero!"
* ChainLetter: Courtesy of Poland. [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment And if you don't send it, your capital will become Warsaw.]]
* CharacterBlog: [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/oresamanoblog/ Prussia made one]] for an April Fool's event.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: 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 HiddenDepths that weren't visible before. France is a notable example - see the HiddenDepths 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).
** [[WordofGod Himaruya]] acknowledges that this happened with Prussia. He started off as a villainous, threatening character, only to become more [[ButtMonkey comedic and pitiful]] with each appearance.
** Hong Kong and Monaco were [[PerpetualFrowner Perpetual Frowners]] in their first appearances. Later appearances made both much more cheerful.
* CharacterTitle: A slight variation. "Hetalia" is a portmanteau of "Italia" and ''"hetare,"'' which means something like "useless." Thus, ''[[TheLoad Useless Italy.]]''
* CheatedAngle: It's most notable with Italy and Romano's [[IdiotHair Idiot Hairs]], which are almost always visible, but almost every character with an IdiotHair has had moments of this as well.
* CheerfulChild:
** Liechtenstein has a sweet, optimistic personality.
** Sealand is upbeat and energetic, unless he's around England, in which case he turns into a BrattyHalfPint.
** Moldova is this most of the time. When Russia comes around, though, he turns into TheStoic.
* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Something of a ZigZaggingTrope. 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.
* ChefOfIron: China. Not only is he a SupremeChef, but he's been shown attacking his enemies with a wok and ladle.
* ChekhovsGun: In TheMovie: [[spoiler: The pen Italy uses to scribble on the files in the beginning.]], although it could also count as a ChekhovsHobby since Italy likes to [[spoiler: draw/paint.]]
* CherryBlossoms: Japan is sometimes shown with them in official artwork, and had them floating around him when he first appeared in the anime.
* TheChewToy: Lithuania and Latvia often find themselves at the receiving end of Russia's [[{{Yandere}} attention]].
* ChildhoodFriends: 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.
* ChildSoldiers: 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 [[spoiler: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. [[spoiler: 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.
* ChineseVampire: China dresses as one for one Halloween.
* ChocolateOfRomance:
** The Valentine's Day strip involves, well, Valentine's Day chocolate. [[HoYay 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 [[ShipTease Taiwan giving him some chocolate gifts]] (something which she does yearly) and France and Italy staring at him with a certain amusement.
* ChokeHolds:
** 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 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ice the Battle of the Ice]] in season five.
** England and France once tried to simultaneously choke each other while they were fighting.
* ChristmasEpisode: There have been a few.
** One where Finland gave everyone presents.
** Another was set in the [[AlternateUniverse 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 UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
** The live events such as the Manga/HetaliaBloodbath2010 and Manga/HetaliaBloodbath2011 might also count.
* ChristmasSongs: 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."
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Tibet and Mongolia made very brief appearances early in the webcomic, but have not been seen or even mentioned since.
* ClothingDamage: The 2010 Christmas "Bloodbath" (See above), has shirts and pants ''sliced open'' by a mysterious figure.
* CloudCuckooLander:
** 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.
* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: 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 [[AllJustADream dream]] at one point where he plays this to America in Africa, trying to warn him away from dangerous snakes, lizards, and poisonous plants. [[spoiler: But then America shows up for ''real''...]]
** Latvia is shown to be something of a grounding influence for Sealand.
* ClusterFBomb:
** 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."
* CodeName: 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.
* ColorCodedEyes: Many nations have green eyes, some of which are connected to their country's generally green landscapes and geography (England and Switzerland, for example).
* ColorFailure: Often combined with BlankWhiteEyes and BlueWithShock to show a strong emotional reaction.
* ComfortingComforter: Japan draped a blanket over Italy after the latter fell asleep in "Hetalia of the Dead."
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Italy, Spain, and America are frequently clueless about what's going on around them and/or other people's feelings, which leads to [[HilarityEnsues some amusing situations]].
* TheComicallySerious: Germany, Lithuania, Norway and Switzerland are the most prevalent examples in the series.
* ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: 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.
* ContemplateOurNavels: 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.
* ContinuityLockout: The opening section of the first volume of the published manga is full of references to characters and events that were meant as [[ShoutOut 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.
* CoolHelmet: General Winter is always shown wearing one.
* CoolMask: Turkey is almost always wearing a mask.
* CoolShades: Molossia wears them whenever he's around other people to make himself look more badass.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: 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 [[TooKinkyToTorture probably enjoy it]]. Sweden had the idea that they should force him to [[spoiler: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.
* CountingSheep: There was an entire series of Drama [=CDs=] in which the characters tried to help each other get to sleep by counting sheep.
* CovertPervert:
** 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 [[ShirtlessScene compromising]] [[BlackComedyRape positions]] [[YaoiFangirl 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 PornStash he found in Germany's house.
* CowardlyLion: Lithuania; Finland notes that even though he's usually so kind, his face and aura in battle change.
* CozyCatastrophe: What [[AlienInvasion the]] [[AssimilationPlot events]] of ''Paint It, White'' look like from Switzerland and Liechtenstein's perspective, which seem as though ''nothing's happening.'' Thanks in part to [[TrueNeutral Permanent Neutrality]].
* CrazyCulturalComparison: Usually between Japan and America, as the creator is able to draw on his own experiences from when he lived in New York City.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Both Greece and Turkey become this whenever they see Japan in the presence of the other.
* CreatorCameo: 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.
* CreatorProvincialism: Both averted and played straight: Japan is the StraightMan 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.
* CreditsRunningSequence: The Axis and Allies are shown marching in place during the ending credits for the first two seasons.
* CropCircles: They're the result of aliens playing a Photoshop-like video game.
* CrossdressingVoices: In both versions: China, Sealand, Chibitalia, Chibi Romano and Chibi America. Latvia in the dub. [[Creator/RomiPark Switzerland in the Japanese version]] but not the English dub.
* CrossOver: The author has done a few short crossovers with his other works.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: 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 ObfuscatingStupidity, according to his volume 4 profile.
* CrushBlush:
** 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.
* CueTheSun: At the end of TheMovie, 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 [[RunningGag once again stuck on That F**cking Island]] with no way of getting home.
* CulturalCrossReference: 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.
* CulturalPosturing: Most of the nations have something about their culture that they claim is the best in the world.
* CultureClash: When the series isn't using history for comedy, it's using this.
* CurbStompBattle: 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.
* CuteAndPsycho: Russia is both very cute, and very...[[PsychopathicManchild messed up]].
* CuteBruiser: Finland, who ''cries'' and [[DrowningMySorrows drowns his sorrows]] when Sweden calls off a battle with Lithuania and Poland.
* CuteButCacophonic: Mr. Puffin, especially when he tries to hijack Iceland's character song ''With Love, From Iceland.''
* CuteGhostGirl: 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.
* CuteKitten:
** 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.
* CuteLittleFangs:
** Belgium is sometimes drawn with one to accompany her CatSmile.
** Romania has them, most likely a reference to Literature/{{Dracula}}.
** Romania's little brother Moldova has them as well.
* CutenessProximity:
** 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.
* DancePartyEnding: The movie ends this way.
* DancingTheme: The ending for ''The Beautiful World''.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: ''Russia'', most definitely. It's said to be [[FreudianExcuse 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."
* DatingSim:
** Parodied in one comic. No matter what option China chooses, it ends with Korea and sex. ([[BlackComedyRape Bad ending: "If you don't like me, I'll just XXX you!"]])
** Played straight in ''Gakuen Hetalia''.
* DeadPersonConversation: Germany had a conversation with Rome one night when he came to see how Italy was doing.
* DeathBySex: Mentioned in an author's note discussing American horror movies. "However, generally speaking, when you have sex, you die."
* DeepImmersionGaming: The Hetalia Fantasia audio dramas, as well as an episode of the anime, shows the characters playing an online fantasy RPG with each other.
* DeliciousDistraction:
** 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.
* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: What Austria did to Chibitalia when he misbehaved.
* DesertedIsland: A RunningGag in the series involves the characters getting stranded on one. It's happened so often that fans refer to it as [[MemeticMutation That F*cking Island]].
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: 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.
* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Was Japan's "private session" with Greece just a dream, or is Japan simply in denial about what happened?
* DietEpisode:
** 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.
* DisguisedInDrag:
** 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.
* DistressedDude: 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 [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking not being able to tie his shoelaces]].
* DittoAliens:
** Tony and his alien friends all look alike.
** The Pict in TheMovie ([[AssimilationPlot 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.
* TheDitz: 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]]It should be noted that according to WordOfGod, America is capable of reading the atmosphere in the room, he simply chooses not to.[[/note]]
* DividedWeFall: 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.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** "He crushed my vital regions! Crushed them!"
** "Ah, my knob!"
** Dubbed America's reaction to [[spoiler: turning back into a human]] at the end of Paint It White was, [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar um...]]
-->'''America:''' I'm happy to see you, hands! [[ADateWithRosiePalms 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 [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII this]] now?
* ADogNamedDog: Or, rather, a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin puffin named Puffin]] (combined with FormallyNamedPet), an outlier in a series where most of the nations' animals have non-species names. There's also Norway's troll companion, Troll.
* DogPileOfDoom: Type C happens to Germany in the movie when a group of Pictonians jump on him at once.
* DontTryThisAtHome:
** 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.
* DotingParent:
** 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 AttentionWhore 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.
* DraggedIntoDrag: 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.
* DramaticSpotlight:
** France was shown in one while BitingTheHandkerchief 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.
* DrawingStraws: A variation occurs in TheMovie 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.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: As a child, [[http://community.livejournal.com/hetalia/740659.html Italy had a dream]] where he met a younger [[spoiler: Japan]].
* DreamingOfTimesGoneBy:
** Holy Rome has been shown dreaming of times he spent with Chibitalia.
** England has had dreams about America when he was young.
* DressingAsTheEnemy: Germany and Prussia do this when they infiltrate an American army camp.
* DrillSergeantNasty:
** Germany, especially towards Italy, when helping his allies train for war.
** Prussia was this when training America for the Revolutionary War.
* DrivesLikeCrazy:
** 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.
* DrowningMySorrows: China and England, about their relations with Japan and America, respectively. Finland does this after Sweden calls off a battle with Poland and Lithuania.
* DubText: The dub does this quite a bit, usually by adding sexual innuendo or ramping up the HoYay. A rare deliberate example.
* DudeLooksLikeALady:
** 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.
* TheDutifulSon: 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 [[WhatTheHellHero chews America out]] for causing England's heartbreak.
* DVDBonusContent:
** 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.
* DVDCommentary: This is available for the dubbed anime.
* DyingForSymbolism: 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.
* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: A lot of this, especially considering where ArtEvolution has taken the series: Most notably, America at first ''lacked'' his IdiotHair, Bulgaria was at first drawn as having his EyesAlwaysShut, and Italy's trademark curl was much smaller than it is now.
* EdutainmentShow: Admit it: Hetalia has taught you ''something''. There's also a fair amount of fanwork that can be educational.
* EekAMouse: When Holy Rome sees a mouse, he imagines Chibitalia being scared. He chases after it, but ends up in an AccidentalPervert 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 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Sicilies roughly this area]], but it probably settles who then has the middle.
* EiffelTowerEffect: The series will sometimes open a story with a shot of a famous landmark to establish where it takes place.
* EjectionSeat: Italy got the idea from Poland. [[HilarityEnsues It didn't work well for either of them.]]
* EmbarrassingCoverUp: America walks in on England doing some sort of secret magic ritual to curse Germany. England quickly welcomes him to "the costume party".
* EmbarrassingOldPhoto: The driving force behind the {{Blackmail}} in the [[FanNickname Fool's Bath 2011]] ironically [[spoiler: 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‘)
* EmotionlessGirl:
** They're all guys, but Japan, Hong Kong, Egypt, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland rarely (if ever) display their emotions.
** Subverted by [[HotBlooded Belarus]], who looks emotionless until her {{Yandere}} side is revealed.
* EndingTheme:
** Seasons one and two (Axis Powers) had the song "Marukaite Chikyuu."
** Seasons three and four (World Series) used "Hatafutte Parade."
** Season five (The Beautiful World) ended with "Mawaru Chikyuu Rondo."
** Season six (The World Twinkle) used "Hetalian☆Jet".
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt:
** 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 [[spoiler: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.]]
* EnergeticAndSoftSpokenDuo: 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.
* EnragedByIdiocy:
** 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.
* EnsembleCast: 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 UsefulNotes/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.
* EuropeansAreKinky:
** 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 YaoiFangirl 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.
* EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench: France, naturally.
* EverythingIsOnline: 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.
* EverythingsBetterWithCows: ''Flying'' cows [[http://www.horror-vacui.net/hetarchive/scanlation/shorts/2011april1/usiusi.jpg to be precise.]]
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: The theme for season five was "sparkle sparkle." It would probably be easier to list the characters that ''didn't'' sparkle in that season.
* EvilLaugh:
** England and Prussia laugh or cackle when they're up to something.
** Russia prefers [[GigglingVillain to giggle.]]
* ExcitedTitleTwoPartEpisodeName: A few in the fifth season.
** "Go Forth! Newspaper Club!!"
** "Brother! We are...!!"
** Keep on Moving!! March Forward, Sealand!
* EyeTake: America walks in just as England is talking to and petting his nice spirits that come up to him (that America cannot see).
* EyesAlwaysShut: Italy. It's been [[LampshadeHanging 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 [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness in his first appearance]] (in both the manga and anime), but in all subsequent appearances, has had fully open eyes.
* TheFaceless:
** 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.
* FacelessMasses:
** Seen in the first episode at the Meeting of the World, all sitting around the table.
** The Pictonians in the movie ''Paint It, White''
* FacePalm: Germany has done this on more than one occasion, usually because of something Italy did.
* FacePlant: America and Romano both landed face-down after slipping on a BananaPeel.
* FacialMarkings: Ladonia has a streak of paint across his right cheek and nose.
* FairyTaleMotifs: The theme for some of the costumes in the 2011 Halloween Event.
* FairyTales: WordOfGod has said Norway's design as a mysterious character was inspired by Norwegian fairy tales.
* FanDisservice:
** Did we really need to see the Baltic Trio [[WholesomeCrossdresser in tutus]] in TheMovie?
** France often delivers this, especially before the ArtEvolution hit him. [[http://i.imgur.com/Rqt4bt7.gif Want to see a French maid?]]
** Is a scene showing Lithuania's naked and brutally scarred back all that necessary?
* 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.
* FantasticArousal: What happens when you pull on the Italies' [[IdiotHair Idiot Hairs]]. Austria's mole is also said to be an erogenous zone.
* FantasyKitchenSink: God, Santa Claus, fairies, unicorns, trolls, {{Kappa}} and other {{Youkai}}, [[TalkingAnimal Talking Animals]], at least two different species of aliens, ghosts, magic, and [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Universes]] all exist in the series in addition to the [[NationsAsPeople personified nations]].
* FashionableAsymmetry: One side of Cyprus' hair is much longer than the other.
* FastFoodNation: 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.
* FateWorseThanDeath: The Kolkhoz that Russia threatens his subordinates with. Or living/working/etc. with [[{{Yandere}} Russia]] for that matter.
* FeeFiFauxPas: Latvia tends to just blurt out whatever's on his mind, especially in front of Russia...which [[AndCallHimGeorge often lands him in hot water.]]
* FemaleGaze: 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.
* FishOutOfWater: How Japan often feels around Germany and Italy.
* FiveFingerDiscount: In the episode "Turkey&!" (as well as the manga strip it's based on), Germany and Italy are sightseeing at the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galata_Bridge 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.
* FlatEarthAtheist: England ridicules America's belief in aliens and Tony, despite the fact that he lives in a FantasyKitchenSink.
* FlippingTheBird:
** 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!!"
* FlowerMotifs:
** Russia is sometimes seen with sunflowers. In one strip, Russia tells Lithuania that he dreams of "living in [[SunnySunflowerDisposition 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 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Balaton Lake Balaton.]]
** Vietnam is often shown with lotuses, her national flower.
* FlowersOfRomance: Germany gives flowers (and a ring) to Italy in the "San Valentino" comic.
* FlyingSaucer: Tony and the other aliens of his species use them.
* {{Foil}}: Many nations act as these to each other, including [[TheDitz Italy]] and [[TheComicallySerious Germany]], [[TheMeanBrit England]] and [[LoveFreak America]], [[BoisterousBruiser Denmark]] and [[DeadpanSnarker Norway]], and [[PerpetualSmiler Spain]] and [[PerpetualFrowner Romano]].
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling:
** 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 [[HiddenDepths true nature is serious and hardworking]], it's subverted.
* ForegoneConclusion: The Axis Powers lose.
* ForeignCussWord:
** 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 UpToEleven.
** The dubbed anime has multiple characters do this.
* ForeignQueasine:
** 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 ''[[TheMovie 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. [[spoiler: 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.]]
* FormallyNamedPet: Mr. Puffin, Iceland's pet bird.
* FormerTeenRebel: England, but he tends to get pissed off if anyone brings it up. Norway, Denmark and Sweden as well during their Viking days.
* FortuneTeller: Romania does this in ''World☆Stars'' in an attempt to determine if he's Ancient Rome's descendant or not.
* FourthWallMailSlot: 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.
* FreezeFrameBonus: 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.
* FrenchJerk:
** While France is this at times (especially if [[SitcomArchNemesis England]] is around), he isn't portrayed as being this 24/7.
** Himaruya's notes have stated that Fem!France is very snobbish.
* FreudianExcuse:
** 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' [[NonIdleRich strict, penny-pinching ways]] are the result of his poverty as a young nation, as well as her showing him the [[ChildProdigy success she enjoyed]] as a child.
** England thinks that America's tendency toward [[UpToEleven big, loud and extravagant]] stems from when he was [[TheGreatDepression still hungry]].
** Latvia being ProneToTears is said to be the result of his experiencing many unfortunate events at a young age.
* FriendlessBackground:
** 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 [[UsefulNotes/WithEuropeButNotOfIt 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.
* FriendshipSong: England's song "My Friend", in which England talks about his friends Brownie, Pixy and the Unicorn.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: 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.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: 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."
* FunSize: England can use his MagicWand to make the other nations smaller and younger.
* FunTShirt: "I '''♥''' Pasta"
* GagBoobs: Ukraine, who complains about them causing her stiff shoulders and is constantly reattaching one of the buttons on her shirt. In the anime she even has a special sound effect for them that can be heard through doors.
-->'''Latvia:''' Is that... boobies? Is that... boobie sounds I hear?
* GagDub: 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 [[TheAbridgedSeries Abridged Series]] feel.
* GagSeries: The main purpose of the series is humor, and there's no overall plot.
* {{Gainaxing}}: Ukraine's GagBoobs bounce whenever she makes the slightest move.
* GenderFlip: The [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minnna.jpg 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.
* GenderIsNoObject: 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.
* GenericCuteness: Some characters are mentioned as being plainer looking than the others, but you wouldn't know it based on looks alone.
* TheGenericGuy: 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?"
* GeniusLoci: The Nations themselves, by their very nature, arguably count.
* GenreBusting: 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 HistoricalFiction values, and has plentiful BoysLove '''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 [[MundaneFantastic magical background]] related to the nations themselves. It's hard to predict what might happen next in the series.
* GentleGiant:
** 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.
* GermanicDepressives:
** Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Germania, naturally.
** Averted with Prussia (who is loud and fun-loving) and Liechtenstein (who is sweet and cheerful),
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** China meets a Hello Kitty rip-off named Shinatty-chan. "Shina" is a Japanese word for "Chinese" that is roughly comparable to the word "Negro" in the US; a formerly neutral word made charged by its derogatory use during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
** There's a recurring joke about Prussia "invading" [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything someone's "vital regions"]], and others either noting how inappropriate it sounds or making even more inappropriate comments. One of the funniest examples is when Prussia invaded the Silesia zone in Austria and then had Hungary threatening him with a spear and demanding to have "Austria's nether regions" back...
** England refers to Germany as a "Kraut", a slur for Germans dating back to WWI, a few times.
** Averted in the dub. Creator/{{Funimation}} deliberately cast all the characters as culturally offensive as they could. They wanted to get the series rated TV-MA to [[RefugeInAudacity avoid the radar]].
* GhostInTheMachine: During the Valentine Special, Germany's head-workers are swamped by foreign emotions.
* GhostPirate: The Nordics dress as ghost pirates for ''Hetaween 2011''.
* GhostStory: The theme of the ''Manga/HetaliaHetaween2013'' 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.
* GirlInABox: A gender-reversed version, as Germany first discovers Italy cowering in a tomato crate.
* GirlishPigtails:
** 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.
* GivingUpTheGhost: When [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/nonlinear.php?uy Russia grabbed Latvia]] to help him stop shaking, it scared Latvia so much that his soul flew out of his body.
* GlobalIgnorance: America couldn't find Japan on a map, and he thought that he could drive to Germany from his place.
* TheGlomp:
** 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 ([[{{Tsundere}} in an indirect way, of course).]]
* GloryDays: 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.
* GogglesDoNothing: Portugal wears a pair of "badass goggles" (in the notes' words) with his uniform.
* GoodAngelBadAngel: [[http://www.horror-vacui.net/hetarchive/scanlation/shorts/index.php?birz-10-08 They appear on Germany's shoulders]], Italy as the angel and Romano as the demon. [[ButThouMust Both of them give him the same option.]]
* GoodThingYouCanHeal:
** 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 [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:Prussia]]. A dog has bitten him and [[http://hetascanlations.tumblr.com/post/101431568050/blog-update-private-concert he doesn't recover as fast as usual]]. This is because [[spoiler: his country no longer exists and these traits start to fade away, which will probably have him end up dying or becoming normal, someday]].
* GoofyPrintUnderwear:
** 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.
* GoryDiscretionShot: The silhouetted version happens to France in the Christmas Rampage strip, when an upset Switzerland shoots him.
* GratuitousEnglish: America does this a ''lot'' in the original version, as does his alien pal [[SirSwearsALot Tony]]. England as well, but not to the same extent.
* GratuitousForeignLanguage:
** In the webcomic, you can count on almost every characters saying something in their native language.
** The [[ImageSong 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 UpToEleven, with a good helping of BlindIdiotTranslation added in.
* GratuitousFrench: France, naturally. Although he does it more in the dub.
* GratuitousGerman: As with France, it's more prevalent in the dub.
* GratuitousItalian: Italy and Romano.
* GratuitousJapanese: Only in the dub, along with a lot of IntentionalEngrishForFunny. Also, Japanese suffixes are used in the published manga, and are often left in scanlations along with terms like "ani-ki" and "onii-san."
* GratuitousNinja: According to Italy, ninja show up frequently in German movies because Germany is of this opinion.
* GratuitousRussian: Not as much as the other characters, but Russia does throw in the occasional "da."
* GratuitousSpanish: Spain, obviously. Oddly enough, Cuba doesn't seem to do this.
* GreenEyedMonster:
** 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.
* GreyAndGreyMorality: 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.
* TheGreys: 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.
* GrimReaper: Appears in a strip where England is dying (or at least very ill).
* GroinAttack: When America and Canada are playing catch with a baseball, this happens to Canada. Ow.
* GuiltyPleasure:
** Germany secretly loves baking.
** There are definitely some fans that consider the series this.
* TheGunslinger: Switzerland prefers to use rifles, and Germany has wielded guns a few times in the series.
* HairColorDissonance: Many examples, as hair colors are not always kept completely consistent between pieces of art.
* HairContrastDuo:
** 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.
* HairstyleInertia: 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 GirlishPigtails as a child, but wears it in a short bob as an adult.
* HairTriggerTemper: Germany and England have these.
* HalloweenEpisode:
** 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.
** ''Manga/{{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.
* HangoverSensitivity: 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.
* HappyDance: Russia does this after defeating Poland and Lithuania.
* HauntedCastle: One was turned into a hotel, in a strip where the resident evil spirit tries [[NightmareRetardant and fails]] to scare Japan, England, and America.
* HaveAGayOldTime:
** 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.
* HeadPet: 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.
* HeavySleeper:
** 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.
* HehHehYouSaidX: Only in the dub.
** In season one, 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 five, 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!
* HeightAngst:
** 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 [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup 2010 World Cup]] showed Japan standing with Cameroon, Denmark, and Netherlands and looking very self conscious about his height.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Also tied to the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, many other nations down to the minors ones are protagonists in their own stories.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: 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 WordOfGod. 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'' [[ShipTease just platonic]], they're definitely this.
* HiddenDepths: Most of the characters show shades of this at some point.
** France, for example, often comes across as nothing more than a shallow pervert. [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/nonlinear.php?vais 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 BigBrotherMentor to Germany. Additionally, he ''does'' experience emotions like loneliness and sadness, no matter how much he tries to deny them.
* HighPressureEmotion:
** 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.
* HighSchoolAU: The Hetalia Academy comics take place in an AlternateUniverse where the nations are all students, as does the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] Visual Novel game.
* HighlyConspicuousUniform: France's default outfit. TruthInTelevision, 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.
* HilariousOuttakes: The dub includes this as bonus material for the movie, season three, and season four.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Several have made appearances or have been mentioned, including UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat, UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc, Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli, UsefulNotes/MariaTheresa, [[ShakespeareInFiction William Shakespeare]], and UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler. A full list can be found near the bottom of [[http://www.hetarchive.net/characters.php this]] page.
* HistoricalInjoke: The entire premise.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: 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!
* HoldingHands: America's flashback within a flashback shows a moment where the young America takes England's hand as they both go home.
* HolidayCeasefire: There's a strip about the famous Christmas Truce of 1914, showing England and Germany laying on the ground after the football/soccer game.
* HollywoodCuisine: If a character has a TrademarkFavoriteFood, there's a good chance that it's this.
* HollywoodHacking: Estonia in a few instances, and it's indeed epic.
* HollywoodNerd: Estonia, being great with computers.
* HomoeroticDream: Iceland [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/xmas2011/2011_12_re2.php once had a dream]] where he was flying through the air with Turkey while the latter was only wearing boxer shorts, his mask, and a Santa hat. His reaction when he woke up:
-->"Am I completely mental to be dreaming dreams like this?"
* HonorableMarriageProposal: Italy hugs Japan and Japan treats it like a sexual act, demanding that Italy "Take responsibility".
* HornyDevils: Austria, Hungary and Prussia dress as these for one Halloween.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Estonia has casually ridden around on Mochiamerica in a couple of instances.
* HotBlooded: Prussia, Denmark and Cuba are often loud, outgoing, and full of passion. Iceland is [[HiddenDepths secretly]] this, but is embarrassed by it and acts [[TheStoic stoic]] in an attempt to seem mature.
* HotSpringsEpisode:
** 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 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Hév%C3%ADz Lake Hévíz]] on one occasion.
* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: 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.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Russia and Belarus, even if Belarus is the even more horrifying and dominant of the two.
** Czech Republic is ''much'' shorter than Slovakia.
* HumanoidAbomination: 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 HealingFactor, many are subject to BizarreHumanBiology with their [[IdiotHair 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..."''
* HumanoidAliens:
** Tony and the other members of his species are TheGreys.
** The Pict from TheMovie have humanoid forms, but they lack any color, facial features, hands, feet, or any other distinctive traits.
* HumiliationConga: America, when he has to apologise for the Great Depression [[http://community.livejournal.com/hetalia/95663.html here]], at the end of "Lithuania's Immigration" (leading to a YankTheDogsChain). 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).
* HypocriticalHumor:
** England and France both consider themselves gentlemen, but they are often shown otherwise, with [[ClusterFBomb foul language]] and [[AnythingThatMoves 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 [[CensoredForComedy *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]]In the webcomic/manga and Japanese anime, he said that he was full because he had eaten a rice ball, which made Japan's reluctance to eat escargot an example of ForeignQueasine in the original.[[/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.
----

* BoringButPractical: China's Special Technique [[spoiler: consists of calling people on the phone for help. Works just fine.]]

** In the original, [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/nonlinear.php?nazene Italy and Romano both]] [[SleepsInTheNude sleep in the nude.]] In the anime, they are shown wearing shorts and tank tops in bed.

** Germany's uniform was also changed from it's original green to a teal color, and his Iron Cross pin was removed. However, these changes have been corrected in season five.

* BoringButPractical: China's Special Technique [[spoiler: consist in calling people on the phone for help. Works just fine.]]

* BonusMaterial:
** The first edition versions of volumes four and five of the Japanese manga had special booklets.
** The Japanese [=DVDs=] come with [=CDs=] containing audio dramas and character songs.
** The first run of the [=DVDs=] in North America came with Hetalia-themed bandanas.

* {{Bishounen}}: Thanks to ArtEvolution, pretty much every male character is this or a {{hunk}} now.

** When France and England started fighting in the "Meeting of the World" story at the beginning of the series, it was was drawn this way.

* BellyDancer: Whenever Turkey is featured in {{gender flip}}ed fanarts, he goes from a BoisterousBruiser UsefulNotes/TurksWithTroops to a [[FemmeFatale sexy, self-assured]] and ''very'' well-endowed belly dancer. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6443904_1627.jpg See it here]].
** Also, among J-Fen it's popular to depict a teenage Ottoman!Hungary dressed up as a belly dancer.

** Played straight when Italy tries to win his independance from Austria at [[http://www.hetarchive.net/scanlations/comicdiary.php?nikkimanga10 Custoza]]

* DrawingStraws: A variation occurs in TheMovie when the characters draw straws to determine who they will team up with while infiltrating the invading aliens' space ship. Instead of being different lengths, the straws have colored tips, and the people who get the same color have to work together.

* AirVentPassageway: Germany, Italy, and Japan end up crawling through one of these on an alien space ship in TheMovie.