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Fascism has never looked so cute.
Once upon a time, the Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean. Then it collapsed, leaving his grandson Italy in his place. But all he wanted to do was cook, draw, and flirt with women.
Cut to World War One. Germany waits at the Italian front, ready to face the heir to the mighty Roman Empire...
He finds Italy hiding in a tomato crate. Poor Italy is scared and has NO idea of what the Hell is going on, so Germany takes him under his wing, where he remains until World War II. At the same time, the "Allied Forces" are getting ready to counter attack... if they can reach an agreement, that is.
A popular Japanese series that is an allegorical tale of the history of Europe, especially during World War Two, with anthropomorphizations of different countries and the various stereotypes associated with them. Axis Powers Hetalia is at once educational, irreverently silly, occasionally touching, and potentially offensive. Starting off as a webcomic, Hetalia garnered a strong fan following, and was eventually published in print form. A series of drama CDs were made later; an anime adaptation has been released, but broadcast on television was canceled in favor of alternate means. The word Hetalia is a portmanteau of hetare and Italia (Itaria), which means hopeless Italy, as Germany soon discovers. Hopeless in a cute way. You know, with the Axis powers, it's not bad to be bad at being bad.
Can be read here , with scanlations at the Hetalia LiveJournal community or APH Scanlation Index (which is just a more user-friendly archive of the LJ community scanlations). Also, don't forget to go to the Character Sheet!
Currently in its second season. A movie has been greenlit.
By the way, there are two Italies (Veneziano and Romano), but assume we mean Veneziano (North Italy).
- Accidental Marriage: In one comic, Italy greets Japan in the typical European fashion with a kiss on the cheek and a hug. Japan demands that Italy accept responsibility and marry him.
- Adaptation Dye Job: Most obviously with America and England who apparently switched hair colors: America's hair is more of a dirty blond in the anime, while England's original ash blond hair got a lighter and more vivid hue.
- Other changes in hair colors include: Italy's brown hair being changed to auburn (sometimes appearing as a very saturated red), Belarus having dirty blonde hair instead of her original platinum shade, Sweden and Latvia going from being blond to having sandy brown hair (which is strange, because of all countries, Sweden should definitely be blonde), and Finland's light blond hair receiving the same hue as England. And in his unused anime design, Korea had chestnut brown hair instead of his original black.
- Affectionate Parody:Of history.
- Aliens Speaking English/Japanese: America's alien friend Tony.
- The Alliance: The Allies, of course.
- All Love Is Unrequited: England apparently has an unrequited(?) crush on America. The most obvious hint is the Valentines strip where England gives America some chocolates while blushing and being all embarrassed. America giving mixed signals (mocking England in one moment, claiming to be hurt because England didn't give him Valentine's chocolates in the next) doesn't exactly help matters.
- Unrequited love is the basis of the whole Belarus/Russia/Lithuania love triangle as well. Belarus likes Russia, Russia likes Lithuania (sorta), Lithuania likes Belarus, and it goes downhill from there.
- Korea's incestuous affection towards China (and to a degree, Japan) isn't exactly requited either.
- It is hinted that Prussia may have a crush on his childhood friend/enemy Hungary, who is obviously infatuated with former-husband Austria, who cares for her but is not as vocal as she is about his feelings (but isn't indifferent either, like some people say).
- If his April Fool's blog and drama CD of it are anything to go by, Prussia seems to have a crush on Italy, too.
- In a more platonic version, Lithuania and Poland's early friendship. When Lithuania professes to hate Poland, Poland tells him that he doesn't care, and "it doesn't, like, change the fact that I like you"
- Not entirely platonic, mind you - the expression Poland uses in the Japanese version could just as well mean "love".
- All Part Of The Show: When a star falls on England's head, America wants to know how.
- All There In The Manual: Several characters (such as Vietnam, Taiwan and Thailand) have only appeared in sketches in the author's blog.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: Because the characters are countries, and no country has a clean past, it's not very hard to find much darker interpretations of the characters, especially when set during the past for any colonial power.
- The American Revolution: Shown in a flashback during one of the rare serious strips, "America Cleans Out the Storage".
- Anachronic Order: Though the story may deal with history, the events aren't shown in historical order.
- Anachronism Stew: Some of the comics have the Roman Empire and Prussia interacting with characters in ostensibly modern times.
- In the real world, Prussia actually survived up until the end of World War II as a constituent state of Germany.
- And after WWII, it is implied that Prussia takes on the part of East Germany - for instance, he often refers to his brother Germany as "West".
- And with some East German nostalgia still floating around in the only recently-reunified Germany, Prussia probably won't be disappearing any time soon.
- Austria is always wearing modern style glasses, even before the 20th century.
- In one episode of the anime, Italy mentions that Germany has pornographic DV Ds, though the DVD was not invented until several decades after that point in the story.
- Don't forget the alarm clock beeping in what's supposed to be the 17th century.
- And Sweden and Finland adopting Sealand, though Sealand was founded almost one hundred and sixty years after Sweden and Finland historically separated.
- Animal Reaction Shot: After America turns down a deredere England, his whale friend who was previously smiling like an idiot becomes sad.
- Anime Accent Absence: Especailly odd conisdering each character represents a country, you'd think there'd be a hint of an accent somehwere...
- They're apparently all speaking either Japanese or some other language with Japanese as Translation Convention.
- Art Evolution: The art has become much less angular, but the characters are still easily recognizable (in part because of pronounced physical traits, such as Russia's scarf).
- Art Shift: Almost all of the characters go chibi at one point. Also, France has a tendency to shift into a 1970s Shoujo art style when distraught.
- Baka: what England often calls America. The barrage of 'baka's in the 26th episode of the anime should probably be referred to instead as a Cluster Baka Bomb. In an Image Song, England uses the word 31 times at America.
- Battle In The Rain: Nearly happens in the strip dealing with The American Revolution.
- Banana Peel: America didn't expect it, and so he ended up breaking his leg. Which is odd because he landed face first.
- Beach Episode: In the manga, England and America get "stranded" on an island (they're not really stranded but they don't realize this). In the anime, it's Germany, Italy and Japan. In the drama CD the entire main cast gets stranded on an island, but they don't seem to mind.
- Big Brother Mentor: Subverted. Latvia offers Sealand the benefit of his experience but when he remembers his history he's the one who needs a shoulder to cry on. Luckily Sealand has confidence to spare.
- France is a bad influence, verging on Trickster Mentor, to the Italies.
- Don't forget Switzerland and his little sister Lichtenstein.
- And despite the fan tendency to make England America's 'mom' or 'dad', he explicitely adopts America as his little brother and America explicitly says "I'm not your little brother anymore!" when he severs their connection.
- Let's not forget China, who basically raised all of his younger siblings as their older brother, even if he's rarely treated as such by anyone other than Korea.
- Big Eater: America (to keep up to date with stereotypes) loves all matter of junk food, especially hamburgers and soda. One strip features him becoming concerned about his weight causing him to try out different diets. (He still appears fit no matter what, of course.) Italy and his obsession with pasta fits here, too.
- “I prioritize eating over everything else.”
- Biggus Dickus: Russia and America used condoms for psychological warfare.
- Big Screwed Up Family: Two in Eastern Europe providing a general Dysfunction Junction.
- Then there's the East Asian family, and to some extent, the UK and the former British Empire.
- And England with his mean big brothers, assumed to be Scotland and Wales.
- Big Ol Eyebrows: The former British Empire. Possessed by England, Australia, Hong Kong and Sealand, but not Seychelles, Canada, America or Egypt
- Bishounen - Pretty much every single fanart of the characters. Whether you think they're pretty in the actual manga/anime or not is up to personal taste.
- Blade On A Stick: Hungary's Weapon Of Choice (aside of her frying pan).
- Variation: During "America Cleans Up The Storage", England and America face off with muskets with bayonets.
- Bland Name Product: In the first drama CD, Mc Donald's is censored just so you can hear "Mc *nald's". In the second CD, we get "D*nkin' Donuts".
- Though America is eating a sandwich with a wrapper clearly labeled "Subway" in the second chapter of the published manga.
- Blue Bishonen Ghetto: Hungary is the only prominent female character. There are quite a few more (Liechtenstein, Belarus, Belgium, Seychelles, Vietnam, Taiwan, Ukraine, Old Greece aka the actual Greece's mother, and actual Egypt's mother Old Egypt), but they are either peripheral (though Ukraine, Belarus and Liechtenstein have had strips of their own, Seychelles appeared in side stories once or twice and starred in Gakuen Hetalia, and Belgium appeared in the anime) or appear only in the author's blog. And even if you include them, they are still outnumbered significantly. Recently, the author has posted art of female African nations, though they have yet to appear in any strips.
- Boy In A Box: Germany first discovers Italy cowering in a tomato crate.
-
Brother Sister Incest Sibling Incest: Belarus adores her older brother Russia and wants to marry him, much to Russia's horror. On the Ho Yay side, South Korea also makes no secret of his deep and apparently sexual affection towards China and Japan, wanting to claim their "breasts" as his own.
- Of course, this is intentional to show economic and social alliances.
- Breaking The Fourth Wall: In one episode, Japan talks to the viewer. It's a bit ... odd.
- Calling Your Attacks: "Britannia Sword!"
- "Eat this! Britannia Beam!"
- Cardboard Prison: Germany at one point simply digs a way out of a prison camp.
- Cassandra Truth: England and his unicorn. This can be extended to England's ability to see supernatural creatures.
- Cat Girl: They found an excuse. Austria actually has a ceremony to honor dead cats.
- The ceremony actually originated from Belgium. Not that it matters a lot, it's still a cute strip.
- Cat ears are go if there's an excuse or not. [1]
- Catch Phrase: "All will be one with Russia" and "Kolkolkolkolkolkol".
- Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys: Averted: Not France but Italy, the Millstone, so that makes it Pasta Eating Surrender Monkeys. In the webcast, the powers of Europe play football with the chibitalia brothers. As in play football using them.
- The Chew Toy: Ukraine and the Baltic States — Latvia and Lithuania in particular.
- Chinese People: Korea, Thailand, China. Hong Kong, despite the Big Ol Eyebrows.
- Chinese Girl: Taiwan, Vietnam, China in the Gender Flip art (either fanart or the canon Himaruya doodles)
- Please tell me I wasn't the only one who thought China was a girl at first?
- Please tell me I'm not the only person who still thinks China is a girl?
- Mukokuseki This is a somewhat rare aversion of making the Japanese character generically stateless or anime-like but making other East Asians more realistic. This time, Japan looks like his relatives.
- Christmas Episode: A very special Christmas episode. Oh, and there was another where Finland gives everyone presents.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: When you get right down to it, almost all of the characters are to a degree. The most noticeable examples would be Finland and North Italy.
- Cluster F Bomb: Tony the Alien has a spectacularly filthy mouth and peppers his sentences with "fucking." Romano is prone to "Goddamnit" whenever Spain is around, too. He also likes to call him a "jackass".
- Code Name: The characters are usually called by their nation name in the series, but they also have human names.
- The Colonial Period: Shown in a few strips.
- Covert Pervert: France insists England is one of these. When England denies it, he cites several sexual records held by English people.
- Hungary insists that her love for Austria is "pure," but all the footage she has of him in compromising positions says otherwise. Even France himself is amazed on how dirty her mind is.
- Japan is a more subtle version. IIRC, his Ukiyo-e stash includes shunga art, and Italy once mistook it for a Porn Stash.
- When Germany is captured, Italy claims that he is Too Kinky To Torture, and mentions in passing, the strange magazines and DVDs in Germany's house. "The latest one I found featured dogs!"
- Crack Pairing: C'mon... How was this not added as an example yet?
- Oh dear god, the things you find in the kink meme...
- To be fair, most of the pairings have historical basis ... somewhere. The canon would never be able to cover them all for obvious reasons, so why not leave it to fandom?
- Crazy Awesome: Prussia. His ego could choke a horse, he has no friends, he's a boundlessly ambitious psychotic punk who delights in mischief, and yet caves at the sight of cute things... a freak among freaks, and a fan favorite.
- Don't forget Denmark, the hyperactive control-freak alcoholic with a very big axe.
- Creator Provincialism: Both averted and played straight: Japan is the Straight Man of the Axis, but he has his share of bizarre quirks too.
- Crossdressing Voices: Switzerland is voiced by Romi Paku and China is voiced by Yuki Kaida.
- It's because of this crossdressing that I thought China and Switzerland were girls.
- Cross Over: The author has done a few short crossovers with his other works.
- Crowning Moment Of Heart Warming: There are quite a few, but this troper's favorite is the 5 Year Commemoration strip.
- But what about the kiss between the Holy Roman Empire and Chibitalia? I d'awwed hard!
- Cute Shotaro Boy - Sealand and Latvia.
- Dating Sim: Parodied in one comic. No matter what option China chooses, it ends with Korea and sex. (Bad ending: "If you don't like me, I'll just XXX you!")
- Played straight in Gakuen Hetalia (although it's unfinished).
- Die For Our Ship: Mostly averted- check the main entry-, but thankfully, instances of this are very rare and quite subtle most of the time.
- The Ditz: Italy is the 'cute and klutzy' type, America is more the 'lovable oaf' variety. When they're politely told to to 'read the atmosphere in the room' before they do something tactless, they think The Atmosphere In The Room is a book.
- Word Of God says that America could read the atmosphere if he wanted to - he just doesn't bother with it.
- Does This Remind You Of Anything: "He crushed my vital regions! Crushed them!"
- Doting Parent: Spain, dangerously combined with his Shotacon tendencies. England was a doting older brother when he raised America (the revolution kinda did away with that), but not Canada (whom he occasionally mistakes for America), let alone Sealand.
- The Roman Empire with Italy. "Aww, he's so kyooot~"
- Dreaming Of Things To Come: As a child, Italy had a dream where he met a younger Japan.
- Dropped A Bridget On Him: Young Prussia used to think that young Hungary was a boy; in all fairness, so did she, sometimes forgetting even after she grew
breasts up. And everyone thought that Chibitalia (child Italy) was a girl (the Holy Roman Empire included), until he hit puberty. Also, some fans refer to HK as a female, thinking "she" is a really convincing Bifauxnen, even though the character identification flowchart groups him with the guys◊.
- Drowning My Sorrows: China and England, about their relations with Japan and America, respectively.
- Ear Worm: Buono tomato, buono tomato, buono buono ooh!
- And since England's character CD was released: Pub, pub, pub tte GO! Fish and chips!
- And since France's character CD was released: Para pappara parii pappari pari papparero!
- Edutainment Show: Admit it: Hetalia has taught you something.
- Mostly that international diplomacy is all about yaoi.
- *Insert George Carlin joke here*
- Don't get me started with the phallic-shaped bullets, tank shells, missiles,
- Hopefully this page has, too.
- It makes me LOL, and that's enough by now. =)
- For this troper, the fanfiction has taught her bits of foreign languages and history from countries she never would have learned about otherwise. When a series' fanfic can teach you something, you know it's doing something right.
- You have no idea how much this troper wishes she'd found the fandom before her history exams- textbooks are all well and good, but there's nothing like fanfic to hammer lessons home.
- This troper agrees, she once got a question on a history test correct merely because of the "Bloody Sunday" strip. Thank you, Hetalia.
- Hell, when a series' kink meme is teaching you history it must be doing something right.
- Not to mention a few doujinshi here and there with educative points in them.
- Egopolis: Inverted. Obviously, Veneziano/North Italy is named after Venice, a city in northern Italy, to distinguish him from his brother, Romano/South Italy, who's named after Rome, though it's actually in the centre. Romano's history usually covers roughly this area, but it probably settles who then has the middle.
- Embarrassing Cover Up: America walks in on England doing some sort of secret magic ritual to curse Germany. England quickly welcomes him to "the costume party".
- Probably based on the real event in which the UK dropped hundreds of astrological pamphlets predicting defeat for Germany over their territory in order to lower the morale of the superstitious rural populace.
- Meets I Was Just Joking inversion and metahumor: Poland asks for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to help change a lighbtulb.
- They have "dumb Pollack" jokes in Japan?!
- Apparently yes, and Hidekaz says he thinks they're hilarious.
- Er, no, Hidekaz picked that one up in New York City.
- Engrish: "Allied Foces". All the more jarring and hilarious by the fact that the author lives in America.
- The anime seems fond of using this, as well, with long segments in Engrish without subtitles. It's actually well-conjugated and sensical the majority of the time; the Voice Actors are just horrible at pronunciation.
- The Engrish in question here was thankfully only for the previews of a certain episode, which oddly enough was entirely in Japanese.
- Actually, there was a huge comedy sequence (apparently a simulation game where you play as Germany) being narrated in Engrish and Japanese. The English sounded vaguely like Kanemaru Jun'ichi, who's an part-time English teacher...
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Prussia, Hungary and Belarus - though with such a huge cast every character is bound to have some sort of a following. And the other Nations may have trouble remembering who Canada is, but the fans sure don't.
- Lately, the Nordics, especially Denmark, have been getting this treatment.
- Eye Take: America walks in just as England is talking to and petting his nice spirits that come up to him (that America cannot see). This troper can't look at his reaction without at least chuckling.
- Faceless Masses: Seen in the first episode at the Meeting of the World, all sitting around the table.
- Fan Nickname: South Italy is called Romano by the fandom, and by the author himself, to avoid confusion with (North) Italy, even though his real "human" name is Lovino. Likewise, North Italy is nicknamed Veneziano for Venice, even though his name is Feliciano.
- Due to his character design, Germania is sometimes called "Legolas".
- Many Japanese fans refer to England as "Iggy", a shortened version of "Igirisu" (= the UK in Japanese). The English language fandom took this a step further and uses "Iggy" as other characters' nickname for England in fanfics.
- The Taiwanese side of the fandom calls its nation-tan "Wanwan". Others try to bypass Taiwan's lack of "human name" and call her "Meimei", which means "little sister" in Mandarin Chinese.
- Poland calls Lithuania "Liet", which has been adopted by the fandom. It comes from Lietuvos, the endonym for Lithuania.
- Fan Service: Both sexual (due to France's machinations) and non-sexual (in the author's blog he sometimes grants requests like "South Korea wearing glasses" or switching around clothes).
- Squee: One of those pictures of switching around clothes on his blog was England wearing America's jacket◊. There was pretty much an explosion of fan arts for that within the Japanese fandom.
- Fascist Italy: Obvious from the title.
- Fate Worse Than Death: The Kolkhoz that Russia threatens his subordinates with. Or living/working/etc. with Russia for that matter.
- Fetish Fuel: Russia's complicated psyche, the Ho Yay, the censored nudity, the girls's quirks, all the different military uniforms, etc...
- Five Man Band: The Allied Forces can be seen like this. Roles are subjected to change, of course:
- Flower Motifs: Russia is sometimes seen with sunflowers. In one strip, Russia tells Lithuania that he dreams of "living in a warm place surrounded by sunflowers". They put the "dere" in Yandere for him.
- Latvia attacks Sealand with a Lily of the Valley at one point (which is, interestingly, Finland's national flower), the first hint of his Yandere potential.
- Rye fields. Just... dear God, the rye fields.
- Meanwhile, fandom never misses an opportunity to depict England with roses (England's national flower). And then there's France and his own roses...
- Let's not forget Hungary and Taiwan's use of flowers and/or flower-shaped hair jewelry as accesories. Hungary's pink flower symbolizes Lake Balaton aka The Hungarian Sea, BTW.
- Foreign Queasine: England cooks good food badly but Finland cooks horrible food well. Salty liquorice, anyone?
- "In hell, the chefs are English..."
- Don't know why they haven't mentioned Iceland's food yet. Þorrablót anyone?
- Fourth Wall Mail Slot: Characters occasionally answer fan mail, sometimes devoting entire miniseries to it.
- Freaky Thursday: Germany and Italy (try to) switch personalities in one strip just for the heck of it.
- Gag Boobs: Ukraine, who complains about them causing her stiff shoulders and is constantly reattaching one of the buttons on her shirt. In the anime she even has a special sound effect for them.
- Gender Flip: The quasi-official◊ genderswitched versions of the countries (girl!England and boy!Hungary in particular) are pretty popular, especially on the Japanese side of fandom, along with fannish versions.
- Generation Xerox: Germania, Old Italy, Old Greece and Old Egypt are very similar to the Holy Roman Empire, The Two Italies, modern!Greece and modern!Egypt. (Respectively, duh).
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: some fans like the character representing their nation more, because whenever he appears they can get all the culture references before they are explained (or even when they are not explained at all).
- America is Number 2 favorite character in a poll on the American side, whereas in the Japanese poll he's like the 15th. Americans like making fun of themselves?
- A little bit. It's important to be able to laugh at yourself, but it's also nice to see a depiction of America that isn't completely negative. Yes, he's a clumsy, tactless oaf, but he seems to ultimately mean well.
- South Italians that listen to the Buono Tomato song can immediatly understand that it's a Tarantella, a south Italian dance that mimics the effects of chorea (an abnormal involuntary movement disorder). In the comics, Romano suffered from that disease when young...see? Everything in Hetalia has a reason!
- Getting Crap Past The Radar: China meets a Hello Kitty rip-off named Shinatty-chan. "Shina" is a Japanese word for "Chinese" that is roughly comparable to the word "Negro" in the US; a formerly neutral word made charged by its derogatory use during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
- There's a recurring joke about Prussia "invading" someone's "vital regions", and others either noting how inappropriate it sounds or making even more inappropriate comments. One of the funniest examples is when Prussia invaded the Silesia zone in Austria and then had Hungary threatening him with a spear and demanding to have "Austria's nether regions" back...
- I'm actually surprised at the lack of Florida jokes in the series.
- That's probably because it's a specifically American joke that didn't occur to the author.
- Or not. He kinda lives in New York.
- England refers to Germany as a "Kraut", a slur for Germans used by the Allies in World War II, on more than one occasion.
- The original version of "Battle for America" had another one of these. When Finland mentions seeing a little child around (baby America), Sweden asks him if he wants to have a child, and after letting Finland gush some over little America more he promises to do "his best". Since Sweden calls Finland "his wife", this implies that Sweden wants to have sex with Finland and see if he can get him pregnant...
- Ghost In The Machine: During the Valentine Special, Germany's head-workers are swamped by foreign emotions.
- Good Scars Evil Scars: Lithuania (several, possibly due to Russia's abuse) and China (a single but large one, after Japan injures him with his katana and leaves). Both cover them with their clothes.
- Chibitalia mentions that the Roman Empire has lots of scars and eventually died from them because of all of his battles.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The silhouetted version happens to France in the Christmas Rampage strip, when an upset Switzerland shoots him.
- In another strip, Japan pulls a katana on China and then the scene switches to a panda eating, with China's horrified screams on the background.
- Grim Reaper: Appears in a strip where England is dying.
- Gratuitous English: "HAHAHA! Nice fight!"
- Gratuitous Foreign Language
- Groin Attack: When America and Canada are playing catch with a baseball, this happens to Canada. (Ow.)
- What? Nut shots are the universal language of comedy!
- Halloween Episode
- Haunted Castle: One was turned into a hotel, in a strip where the resident evil spirit tries and fails to scare Japan, England and America.
- Have A Gay Old Time: When England asks America for a "rubber", the first thing that comes to America's mind isn't an eraser.
- This is more dialect difference that the word being outdated. Rubber is the normal word for an eraser in England, and the other meaning is unknown. They explain it in the strip.
- In another strip England grumbles about America's "incorrect" English.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Poland and Lithuania.
- Het Is Ew. Surprisingly averted, since the het couples are less numerous for obvious reasons yet they have pretty loyal supporters.
- High School AU: The computer game "Gakuen Hetalia".
- Holding Hands: America's flashback within a flashback where the young America takes England's hand as they both go home. Pretty much a brief Crowning Moment Of Heart Warming surrounded by a Tear Jerker.
- Ho Yay: A lot. (Though not as much as many people seem to believe.)
- Humiliation Conga: America, when he has to apologise for the Great Depression here, at the end of "Lithuania's Immigration" (leading to a Yank The Dogs Chain}.. Actually, the treatment he gets differs from country to country depending on how badly they crashed. It ranges from 'America it seems is too inexperienced in these things' (Japan -3), to 'Your Ass is mine!' (France, -30). And Russia takes the cake by being typically tactless (+65).
- Hypocritical Humor: England and France both consider themselves gentlemen, but they are often shown otherwise, with foul language and loose ways respectively. At one point, England looks down on America for being childish, saying that a gentleman doesn't waste time on what a little brat does. America then insults England's cooking, which leads England to call him a *censored*...
- Identical Grandson: Germany looks like Germania with shorter hair. The Roman Empire also looks like an older, more mature Italy.
- Idiot Hair: North and South Italy, the Roman Empire, South Korea, Taiwan and Canada have one. For the Italy brothers, it acts as an erogenous zone; Korea's is occasionally drawn with a face.
- America and Austria didn't have it at first but seem to have developed it later.
- Greece has a sort of double idiot-hair thing on top of his head.
- Turkey has one similar to Greece on the side of his head, though it's hard to notice.
- The Roman Empire seems to have a few of them, but the most obvious is one that is identical to that of North Italy.
- Norway has one too, albeit, it's detached from his head and floats.
- Australia has two of them.
- Some of them seem to have some sort of importance, like America's being Nantucket, Austria's being Mariazell or S. Korea's being his "Korean spirit".
- Image Song: Italy's VA Namikawa Daisuke sings the ending theme, and the main eight characters's seiyuus are slated to have their own respective albums.
- Immortal Immaturity: Almost all the characters, but China stands out as a 4,000 year old
Hello Kitty Shinatty-Chan lover. Inverted for England, who's grown out of his 'wild youth' (read: piracy on the high seas), which only survives as his foul mouth and his quick temper.
- Incest Is Relative: Prevalent in the fandoms of East Asian couples and inter-New Continent Family relationships like America/England, Canada/France and America/Canada.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Or Boy, rather. Italy frequently neglects to put on pants, much to his allies' chagrin, particularly Germany.
- Invisible President: When the President of the United States appears, his face is obscured by the caption bubbles. Either we see the back of his head, or he bows and we only see the top of his head. A similar phenomenon occurs when Germany is talking to his "boss". As with Japan when he's talking to his "boss". China's 'boss' is a giant dragon. ...or edited to appear as such.
- Averted when Austria, Prussia and Spain talk to their own "bosses" (Empress Marie Therese, King Friederich II and Queen Joanna of Castile, respectively), whose faces we can see clearly.
- I Want My Beloved To Be Happy: Spain lets Italy leave during the War of the Austrian Succession.
- Sweden also thinks this about Finland during the Polish-Swedish wars, however he thinks it's too embarassing to say just in front of Finland.
- Another example could be with England and America. There's much fighting before England makes a choice between either shooting a disarmed America or letting him go. He doesn't shoot.
- I Was Just Joking: When America tells England how great it feels to remember defeating him in the American Revolutionary War, England looks as if he's been genuinely hurt. America then says that that's a lie, which brings England back to his usual irritated Tsundere state.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Cuba is big, gruff, and intimidating and definitely doesn't get along with America, but he's actually a nice guy. He likes chilling out with ice cream or cigars and is friends with Canada (even if he sometimes mistakes him for America).
- Jesus Taboo: Averted, he appears sometimes. At one point, he is shown to be frustrated with Prussia who all of a sudden seems to be remorseful about something (for once).
- Just Joking Justification: something fans of this series use when defending it.
- Kansai Regional Accent: Spain has a heavy Osaka accent, and Belgium is described as speaking in Shiga dialect though she hasn't actually been seen doing so yet.
- Other dialects include Poland's Nagoya accent, and Sweden's -very- heavy Tohoku dialect.
- Kawaisa
- Know Nothing Know It All: Korea is usually saying he invented things, like education. Also, Poland used to treat Lithuania like his lackey and tried to make Liet live like him. Many of the nation-tans have a moment acting like this (They are all good at heart, though).
- Let Him Choose: In the comic that introduces Colonial America, England and France decide to have America choose which of them he wants as his big-brother. America sees a dispirited England in a Corner Of Woe and chooses him over France.
- Little Black Dress: Oh Italy. It doesn't matter how useless everyone thinks he is, there are still quite a few countries in this show that want to occupy his vital regions. As for the fanbase, the fans seem to have a tendency to convert their homelands into little black dresses. America and Japan get around a lot. England, too, mostly because he's a very popular character.
- Little Green Men or The Grays: Tony is America's cute little alien friend (he crashed at Roswell in 1947), who can be seen most of the time at America's house. He has a foul mouth, speaks English/Japanese/Hetalia's universal language, watches America's movies, sometimes abducts people, and apparently hates the British.
- Loads And Loads Of Characters: Just look at that cast list.
- Love Bubbles: Not exactly, but the anime has a pretty pink background accompanying Germany whenever he goes into deredere mode, usually around Italy.
- Love Hurts: In the Christmas Episode, a drunk England suddenly snaps out of his stupor when reminded of how he spent a hundred years trying to get over the pain of his unrequited love. (He didn't succeed; he just moved on to another stage.)
- Belarus breaks all of Lithuania's fingers not even ten minutes into their date. And he doesn't seem to mind.
- Love Triangle: Triang Relations type 2: Lithuania has a crush on Belarus, who completely abhors him. Russia's favorite subordinate is Lithuania, who is terrified of him. Belarus wants to marry Russia, who is terrified of her. It's very... twisted, indeed.
- Luminescent Blush: Most characters have this on constantly.
- Magical Realism: Hints of it, especially regarding the nature of the characters and how they come to be.
- Manga Effects
- Meganekko: Several characters wear glasses but Austria, Estonia and upcoming nation-tan Thailand in particular fit the trope.
- Meido: As a young child living with Austria, Italy used to wear maid outfits. Especially in the Chibitalia chapter, which lampshades the trope when the Holy Roman Empire is seen with a portrait of Chibitalia and is asked if the model was a servant.
- Probably a historical joke, along with Chibimerica's light blue frock. See the Wholesome Crossdresser below.
- Memetic Outfit: England's "Britannia Angel" outfit, in which he has magic powers, such as being able to turn other characters back into children. Also his Sexy Waiter outfit.
- Mind Game Ship: Whenever someone ships Russia with anyone else, the fic usually turns out like this.
- Modesty Towel: Variation in the Christmas Episode; Spain pulls a shower curtain towards himself and barely covers his crotch.
- Moe Anthropomorphism: The other foundation the series was built on.
- Moe Couplet: Sealand and Latvia. Sealand helps Latvia not be a twitching emotional wreck and Latvia keeps Sealand grounded to reality.
- Monochromatic Eyes: Japan, Liechtenstein, Norway, and the Holy Roman Empire.
- Moral Guardians: Some Korean groups were not amused, hence Hetalia wasn't shown on open TV but on broadband and cellphones. Which made the Fan Dumb, both Japanese and English, start spewing very ugly anti-Korean counter-comments.
- It doesn't help that it kicked off when some of the Korean protesters doctored images and taking panels out of context to make it even worse (the strip in question was much more insulting to the Japanese than the Koreans) and also used fanart for "evidence." So Yeah, the anti-Korean Fan Dumb was very ugly but there was a lot of ugly things on the other side as well.
- Muggles: We sometimes see normal people hanging around, maybe they're provinces, no wait those are their body parts, sometimes they're the country's leader but America takes orders from the President and wait China's is a dragon, you know what, don't think about it too hard.
- The prefectures of Japan have appeared as people in one strip, but Nantucket is America's idiot hair and Texas is his glasses, and Venice is Italy's right nipple, and god knows what swapped around territories like Alsace-Lorraine are, So Yeah...
- Neat Freak: Austria the aristocrat. He gets angry when seen disheveled, even if it's his wife. Germany is somewhat like this too; one strip has Italy cooking and Germany is cleaning up his mess right next to him. Which is funny because Italy was raised as a maid.
- Nice Hat: The Holy Roman Empire. Turkey combines it with Mask Power. Prussia is sometimes seen wearing one too.
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: This troper firmly believes that Russia is this. Mmhmm.
- Non Human Sidekick: America has whales and the visitor from outer space named Tony (who hates England for some reason), England has fairies, a little dog goes along with Finland and Sweden, Greece has his cats, France has a manipulative little bird called Pierrot, Egypt has a jackal named Anubis and Australia has a koala and a dingo in his first sketch. As of the April Fools '09 event, Prussia has at least one small yellow bird that likes to sit on his head. Canada also has his bear, Kumajiro.
- Talking Animal: Hana-Tamago, Sweden and Finland's pet dog, can talk during the Christmas Episode. Finland is surprised but doesn't think too much of it when they start to read some fan letters. Also, Canada carries around a bear named Kumajiro, who always forgets who he is.
- No Swastikas: Averted; they can be seen in the last chapter of Volume One of the published manga.
- Now Or Never Kiss: Sorta. In the Chibitalia strip, Holy Roman Empire kisses Chibitalia on the lips before leaving Austria's mansion, since they don't know if they'll ever see each other again.
- Official Couple: Germany and Italy; Sweden and Finland; Austria and Hungary.
- Older Than They Look: Most of the characters don't look older than thirty. Could be a case of Really Seven Hundred Years Old depending on your interpretation of the nature of the series. It's worth noting though that apparently all countries start out as children and with time they grow into adults (see the Italy brothers, Japan and America).
- In the Chibitalia chapter, glimpses of the Roman Empire as an old, scarred, tired-looking man are seen and suggest that the characters can age and eventually "die".
- Then again, when the Roman Empire reappears in a later strip he looks no more than forty and is quite energetic. Then again, at the end of the strip he mentions that he persuaded God to let him go visit Italy, so apparently countries that cease to exist eventually pass on to... heaven or someplace similar.
- One Head Taller: The 2 cm height difference between America and England tends to be exaggerated by both fanartists and the author himself. (In fact, England is usually drawn much shorter than he actually is - according to the height info, he's the same height as France. This is possibly because his personality is very reminiscent of The Napoleon.)
- England's height may have been retconned in the comic: in one strip young France teases England about being small. Sure, they're both children at that point, but little England is very short.
- One can argue that France is older than England so France would be taller. However, I think the retcon was made that England had a complex about being shorter than his former male colonies than anything.
- Don't forget Italy and Germany. The anime even makes fun of the 8cm height difference, as Italy finds it too hard to reach up and hug Germany, and his ankles give way, so Germany has to kiss him instead.
- One Man Army: Every single character, in an unusually literal example.
- Only Sane Man: Germany for the Axis Powers and England for the Allied Powers. If you stretch the definition of "sane" a bit, that is.
- Opposites Attract: Lithuania and Poland, Germany and Italy.
- Periphery Demographic: One of the biggest foundations of Axis Powers Hetalia is the Ho Yay, which the more history-based fans often find... disturbing. However, there's a sort-of agreement between both groups in regards to the heterosexual Official Couple formed by Austria and Hungary: it's just So. Damn. CUTE!. Plus, if you're sad your country never appears in foreign news outside of the tragic, prepare for the lighter side...
- Perpetual Frowner: Sweden and Hong Kong. Also, Germany has maybe smiled once, and that was when he was young.
- LIES! Germany smiles while making clocks, and he smiles when he salutes Italy before marching off to war. And some other times... Probably.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Almost every European nation-tan north of Italy is blond, if not blue-eyed. Once again, Lithuania is screwed on this.
- Actually, this is a bit of Truth in Television, studies shown that the blond population in Europe increases if you go northward (the Nordic countries have a high population of blondes).
- Pity The Kidnapper: Germany takes Italy prisoner, but kicks him out at the end of the First World War.
- Politically Correct History: Needed to keep the series a comedy.
- Porn Stash: Italy mistakes Japan's ukiyo shunga for this.
- Portmanteau Couple Name: Ro-Ber-To
- The Japanese fandom has Joker for America x England (Alfred F. Jones x Arthur Kirkland.) The reverse is 過剰 (kajou, "excessive" though the meaning is irrelevant).
- Power Trio: Germany is Superego (rational), Italy is Id (emotional), Japan is Ego (middle man).
- Comic Trio: More often than they'd like.
- Also later played on with other countries, including the so-called "bad-touch" trio of Prussia, Spain, and France, as well as the "fail brothers" Denmark, Prussia (again) and England.
- Pinky Swear: Used to symbolize Germany and Italy's Pact of Steel.
- Real Life Writes The Plot: More so than any other series, really.
- Red Oni Blue Oni: Germany and Prussia have blue and red eyes, respectively. They very much fit the trope.
- America and England fit this at times as well.
- Refuge In Audacity: If the series weren't so cute and silly, it would probably be much more offensive.
- Rie Kugimiya: The voice of Liechtenstein.
- Roswell Incident: Though there were extra-terrestrials already in America by this time.
- Russian Guy Suffers Most: Inverted and played straight.
- Inverted: The ones who suffer the most when Russia's around are usually his subordinates.
- Played straight: Bloody Sunday and failed pipeline strips. Especially Bloody Sunday. This troper cries every time.
- Sailor Earth: People tend to design their own countries frequently.
- Say My Name: Estonia: LATVIAAAAAA!!!
- America: "England? ENGLAND!!"
- Germany: ITALIAAAAAA!!
- Satellite Character: The Holy Roman Empire. Is he the boss? Does he just own the house? He doesn't interact much with the others. He's not Germany, by the way. Or is he? Hmmm...
- Sentai Has been mentioned in the Drama CD and during the Fourth Wall Mail Slot. America is the Red Ranger of course! America and Sealand are fans.
- Selective Squick: There are some people who like the humor and the idea of the series, but are scared off by the Ho Yay.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: When Greece offers Japan a "private lesson" to help him improve his sex life, the scene switches to a "view" of East Asia with Japan's screams in the background (and China yelling back at him because he can't sleep). When we're back to Japan, he's naked in bed next to a sleeping Greece and screaming his head off.
She Is Not My Girlfriend I Am Not His Wife: Sweden calls Finland his wife. Finland does not like it at all.
She He Is All Grown Up: England leaves young America to return to his country, telling the boy to do his best and become strong. When he comes back, England is shocked to find that America has grown to be taller than him.
- Shirtless Scene: Germany and Italy have a few. Usually together. There's also an entire Christmas special devoted to characters taking off their shirts (and a bit more).
- Shotacon: France, Spain and Hungary.
- Shown Their Work: If Himaruya didn't do his research, it would be a DISASTER. He even cites his sources. He says that it's because good researchers do, but it's secretly because he didn't want to be sued.
- However, there are some inaccuracies that might be there for the sake of avoiding censorship, such as saying that Japan had no colonies around the time of the Great Depression.
- The comic also says Italy didn't either, so it may just be in comparison to Britain and France.
- Shout Out: Finland's last name is a reference to The Kalevala. Namely, to Väinämöinen, the main hero of the story.
- Of course, they could've used a name from Kalevala that was actually used as a name in Finland.
- Sibling Yin Yang: North and South Italy; Switzerland and Liechtenstein; America and Canada; Prussia and Germany.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: The only surefire way to keep England out of your house is to invite France. America observes that after 900 years of war the only thing that keeps these two old timers going is antagonizing each other.
- Greece and Turkey are also this too. In fact, the only time Greece loses his easygoing nature is when Turkey's around.
- Cuba considers America his nemesis, too. Poor Canada.
- Slasher Smile: Usually smiling calmly, Russia usually pulls this out by the end of a strip he's in.
- In one strip, Japan imagines Italy pulling one.
- In another strip, America has this while wielding a chainsaw along with Scary Shiny Glasses. Probably the only time America didn't look his normal self. Though it was only scary due to Canada's paranoia, as America was just normally using his chainsaw.
- Sleep Cute: Lithuania, exhausted from being overworked by his boss Russia, unintentionally falls asleep on a couch only to wake up to find himself beside Russia, who for once is in deredere mode.
- Sliding Scale Of Silliness Versus Seriousness: For most of the series, it falls on the silly side, but it is occasionally serious without moving into any jarring Mood Whiplash. The series cannot be taken too seriously without dire consequences.
Soft Water Soft Snow: Averted, when Russia thinks he doesn't need a parachute when he sees snow on the ground from an aircraft, adding that no one knows snow like him. He ends up breaking all his bones.
- In the anime, he ends up breaking only one bone, which annoys this Troper.
- Spoiler: In one strip England visits Japan wearing a T-shirt with the infamous Harry Potter spoiler on it. When Japan freaks out, England takes his shirt off only to reveal that the spoiler is also written all over his chest.
- Smoking Is Cool: Cuba and his famous Cuban cigars.
- Stalker With A Crush: Belarus, to Russia. Russia himself, to Lithuania. Russia also wears a panda suit and stalks China.
- Stoic Spectacles: Actually, Austria has a great emotional range: he can be 'solemn', 'sullen', 'stern', 'saturnine', 'harsh' and 'sterner'.
- Not to mention Sweden, who speaks in a grunting dialect, rarely changes his facial expression, and scares pretty much everybody when they first meet him.
- Super Deformed: Done sometimes in the strips, but almost the only thing you see in the merchandise.
- Surprise Santa Encounter: Finland and America have both dressed as Santa Claus at one point. Poland did and turned up expecting presents.
- Talking To Himself: The Italy brothers have the same voice actor, as do the North American brothers.
- Team Dad: Austria in the Chibitalia chapters.
- Tear Jerker: More than you'd think, actually.
- The Chibitalia chapter ends with the Holy Roman Empire (portrayed as a younger Germany) leaving Chibitalia aka Italy, kissing him and saying that he's "loved Italy since the 900s and will keep loving him no matter how many hundreds of years pass." If you're familiar with European history, you can guess how well that ends. They meet again as adults, but of course Germany has forgotten all about it by now. He may have started to recover his memories in the Valentines Special, but it's not clear.
- Not to mention the scene when Italy refuses to join with Holy Roman Empire. He explains that his grandfather, Rome, died because he begame too powerful, and had painful wounds from being attacked. He begs Holy Roman Empire not to become the next Rome, saying that he likes him just as he is. What does HRE do? He runs off in tears in lieu of a response.
- Chibitalia's desperate attempt to attract attention as HRE walks away to go to war - "Are you really leaving? No way... no way, Holy Roman Empire... wait, wait! What do I do... Holy Roman Empire!!"
- Also the "Cleaning Out the Storage" chapter, when America remembers how England helped raise him... only to nearly kill the rebellious America during The American Revolution and break down in tears when he can't bring himself to do so. ( "You used to be... so big..." makes This Troper tear up every time. She probably isn't the only one.)
- "England and Japanese Folklore" ends on a slightly somber note that bemoans the loss of Japanese traditions.
- Slightly? "England and Japanese Folklore" is one of the most gorgeously sad things This Troper has ever seen. Yes, he's pathetic.
- Despite its brevity, Make A British Food was rather sad with America reminiscing about England and his (bad) food.
- Russia's Start Of Darkness. "Hey, Lithuania... We don't want children who can't play nice, right?"
- Lithuania's dream(s).
- ""There's a side of Lithuania... I don't know". SEVERE Mood Whiplash there.
- Much milder than the other examples here, but poor Korea's reaction to seeing what China really thinks of him with the super-powered binoculars. "These are broken... so Korea didn't make them..."
- They Just Didnt Care: The only explanation for some of the human names. Which makes sense, as Himaruya never intended for them to exist, but the fans insisted. Applies to both Himaruya's name choices and the english-speaking fanbase's romanizations thereof. Vargas is a Spanish name not Italian, Tino is uncommon in Finland but Timo is very common, Weillschmidt is not a name but Beilschmidt is, and Toris is a very popular name in Lithuania... for dogs.
- Together Umbrella: Japan and Greece in one comic. Italy makes a poster of himself and Germany under one, not quite understanding what it means (but then again, maybe he just doesn't mind).
- Toy Ship: The Holy Roman Empire and Chibitalia. To a degree, Latvia and Sealand.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Almost every character makes a reference to their own cuisine. America loves hamburgers, England loves tea, North Italy loves pasta, South Italy loves tomatoes, and all of the North American nations plus Cuba love ice cream.
- True Neutral: Switzerland and his sister Liechtenstein
- Tsundere. Several male characters fit in the Type A. England and Germany are frequently called Tsundere even in official canon, namely author's notes and the drama CD.
- England is heavy on The Smirk, And especially◊ when◊ around◊ America◊. When he's in deredere mode, though, he sometimes shows such vulnerability that he qualifies as The Woobie. He's also referred to as a Tsundere by both fandom and Word Of God (specifically, the Drama CDs and some author notes)
- America seems to be a odd variation of the Type A Tsundere himself. His tsuntsun/The Smirk side is represented less by mood swings and more by his penchant to step on people's toes with his rampant KY-ness, cheerful Love Freak mannerisms and occasional arrogance; he also shoots down England's advances and seems to have fun when he relentlessly teases the other nation-tan. However, he has shown genuine sadness and melancholy as he remembers their common past times (especially in "America Cleans Out The Storage"), as well as some degree of worry for the other's well-being, which can be seen as him being deredere.
- It could be that he's a Type B (dere dere), since England is the only one he purposely annoys/teases.
- Switzerland is a combination of Type A and He Was Never My Heterosexual Life Partner to Austria. The Gunslinger is especially fond of The Violent Approach (duh).
- Himaruya actually calls Germany a Tsundere in the notes. It's hard to tell his exact type given his usually staid demeanour. He seems to be a Type A fond of a mix between Cold Shoulder and Smirk (less about merely throwing insults around or having mood swings, more about being grumpy and a Drill Sergeant Nasty to Italy). He's usually a 'take no guff' guy around everybody, but you can just tell he's making exceptions for Italy. And to drive the point further, the Valentines strip had Germany pretty much the whole time in full-blown deredere mode.
- South Italy is a fierce mix of all Tsun Type A varieties, partially out of insecurity that Spain only wants him for his inheritance and that his lack of domestic/artistic talents made him inferior to his little brother. And yep, Romano's Tsundere side is specially strong when around Spain.
- When asked by Japan to explain his odd mixture of affection and confrontation, Korea, of course, claims to have invented Tsundere (all types, presumably). He's still not one himself, though.
- Twincest: The fanon America/Canada pairing, which has a small but very loyal following in some Ho Yay centered circles.
- The fanon pairing of Romano/Italy has a small following as well, though it's debatable whether they're actually twins or not.
- They're not. Their official profiles list Romano as 23 and Veniciano as 20.
- This Troper has also seen two or three Taiwan/Hong Kong shippers around. Again, not sure if they're twins or not.
- The Un Favorite: Canada has always been overshadowed by America ever since they were little. As soon as England seemed to be paying more attention to Canada, America came along and took his attention back.
- For that matter, poor Canada is usually treated as a non-entity - people either forget who he is or don't even notice him. (In one strip Russia spends a whole meeting sitting in his lap because he didn't notice that Canada was already sitting in the chair. Later Russia comments to Belarus on how comfortable his chair was.)
- Also played with in regards to Belarus. She treats the other Baltics so badly because she thinks she is Russia's Unfavorite because of them. Hell, she's even jealous of Ukraine...
- Romano (South Italy) is this in some degree, especially during his "childhood" days when Spain was more fixated on Italy than him. He was seriously worried that he didn't have anything to offer, lacking his brother's domestic and artistic skills.
- The Unintelligible: It took some time for this troper to fully understand Sweden's grunt speak. The author based it on his trouble with Japan's northern accent (more exactly, Tohoku accent) that some of his staff use.
- Valley Girl: Totally Poland, like ehmagawd. Based on the Japanese equivalent.
- Verbal Tic: China ends most of his sentences with "aru", which is derived from a Japanese stereotype of Chinese people. When talking to England (for example in the Britannia Angel strip) "aru" sometimes changes to "ahen" which means "opium".
- Sealand finishes most of his sentences with "desu yo," which is basically ending everything with an exclamation point.
- When America talks business, he develops the Verbal Tic "-gates".
- Vocal Evolution: Japan's voice in the first Drama CD is very soft. In later CDs and the anime, the same seiyuu switches to a much deeper tone, allegedly because fans complained that he'd sounded too similar to Italy.
- Then halfway into the anime series he switches to a higher and softer voice again.
- Viewer Gender Confusion: In the end, is Hong Kong a male Perpetual Frowner or a really convincing Bifauxnen? The fandom treats the kid as male, but inquiring troper wants to have official confirmation of sorts.
- Again, fucking China.
- Jossed by the character identification flow chart◊ which lists HK with the men. The very first question is about the character's gender. Three "not sure" characters are present, but HK is not one of them.
- We Are Struggling Together: The Allies find working with each other difficult.
- White Haired Pretty Boy: Iceland and Prussia, though Prussia's Hot Blooded personality doesn't fit him squarely into this trope.
- Wholesome Cross Dresser: Poland and both Italies (when little). Japan wears an apron over a woman's kimono when he cleans house. Although the Italies' dresses may be another historical in-joke
- The Woobie: Oh, Canada...
- And then there's China. No matter how hard he tries, no one ever seems to respect him. Hell, even his allies pick on him and order him around.
- And let's not forget little England crying about how lonely he is, or a grown-up England getting his heart trampled on by America...
- Word Salad Title
- World War One
- World War II
- Written In Absence: In the Drama CD titled Prologue, America is assigning Power Ranger colors to the five main allies. He says China will be green, but he's not there because he's busy taking care of his panda. China did not have a voice actor until later.
- Yandere and Yangire: Russia, Russia, Russia. Latvia shows signs of this as well, likely because of Russia. Also, Russia's sister Belarus: she is obsessed with her older brother, is often represented with a knife, and shares Russia's penchant to abuse people who show care for her - especially Lithuania... Heck, Belarus is so Yanderiffic that Russia is scared of her!
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Taiwan has the looks, Lietchenstein has the personality traits. Japan parodies the trope by, as mentioned, dressing like the archetypical Japanese housekeeper (female kimono, apron, and headgear included) when he does housework. His gender flipped self is one, too.
- Yonkoma: Most of the series is in this form.
- Your Mileage May Vary: For some, it's a funny way to poke fun at history and National Stereotypes. For others, the most offensive (or absolutely stupid) thing ever. Since the cancellation of the anime TV broadcast, some parts of the fandom have become increasingly paranoid. The Internet Backdraft is just staaaaaaarting.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Averted (or, more properly, superseded by Phenotype Stereotype.) All the characters have realistic and plausible hair colors, mostly limited to black, brown, or blond depending on the region. Prussia seems albino though.
- Erm, purple eyes?
- With the exception of Russia. Because Russia's just that... uhm... Russian?
- Purple eyes do exist, they're just REALLY rare. When you get blue eyes with not enough pigment so red shows through and they kind of blend. Might be a reference to how genetic disease ridden the Russian nobility was. Probably Rule Of Cool though, but it is possible.
- How does this trope relate to eyes again?
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