Vietnam

Vietnam (ベトナム Betonamu) is a supporting character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers.

Appearance
Vietnam has long, dark brown hair, she wears it in a low ponytail with a red bow. She wears a bright green áo dài - which is the Vietnamese traditional women's clothing, and a flat, conical hat (called a nón lá) tied to her back by a string red bow. Vietnam often carries a boat paddle.

In one of her appearances in World☆Stars, she wears a Vietnamese navy uniform, with a fancy hair accessory. In a later illustration featuring her character profile, she is seen with the same uniform holding with her nón lá.

Personality and Interests
Vietnam is described as "headstrong" due to the number of strong women in Vietnamese history. She appears a bit shy when it comes to her looks, appearing apprehensive when Taiwan wishes to take a picture with her and is uncomfortable wearing a Santa outfit in a 2009 Christmas Request. In a blog post, Himaruya mentioned that Vietnam has a natural skillfulness and uses it to create a variety of different objects, and Austria mentions in one comic that he special ordered cinnamon from Vietnam.

In the volume four strip Ilha Formosa ~Beautiful Island~, Vietnam claims that she is not photogenic. In the Christmas 2011 event, Vietnam shows that she doesn't know how to smile and requests Thailand's help.

In her new profile in chapter 376 of Hetalia: World Stars, she is described as an energetic nation with a lot of pride, and she values tradition and honour. She prefers coffee to tea and adds a lot of condensed milk to it. She is also dangerous when drunk.

Manga
Vietnam makes an official debut in 2011 with her first appearance in the manga. Her first appearance is in Volume 4, in which Taiwan took her to a photo studio, and their photos are digitally altered, causing Vietnam to be shocked by the end result.

Taiwan also invites Vietnam to a meeting about anime in Comic Birz episode 17, in which the members talk about "the feeling you have when you have a favorite anime and the voice actors get firmly associated with the characters in your head, and then there is the slightest change and you suddenly get this strange hazy feeling that something isn't right".

At the Halloween 2011 Event, Vietnam is shown winning the costume contest by wearing a giant robot costume.

At the Halloween 2013 Event, Vietnam appeared with the costume made by Taiwan and nón lá. She showed her shyness because she thought that the skirt was too short.

Vietnam appeared as a member of ASEAN following the 2021 resumption of Hetalia: World Stars. She is seen showing up to the 'casual meeting' worrying that she had dressed too informally, only to find that the other Southeast Asian nations had turned up looking more relaxed than she was.

Anime
Vietnam made a non-speaking cameo in The World Twinkle: Surprise Halloween as the winner of the costume contest in a robot costume. However, unlike in the comic, the robot was not labelled as Vietnam. Vietnam made another non-speaking cameo in the anime of Hetalia: World Stars where she attended the world conference. She was sat next to Hungary in the audience.

Taiwan
In a strip in Volume 4 of the manga, Taiwan takes Vietnam to a photo studio to take pictures of themselves, Taiwan calling Vietnam "cute". At the studio, their photographs are retouched to make their eyes bigger, as this was often done. Upon receiving the photographs, Vietnam finds the retouched photos shocking, as Taiwan finds them cute.

Thailand
Though Thailand and Vietnam came to the Halloween 2011 party in the same group, their main interaction has been in the Christmas 2011 event, in which a fan requested that Vietnam smile. As Vietnam asks Thailand how to smile, she notices that he wore a funny shirt, which then caused her to smile as she asked where he got it.

Asean
She has good relations with other Southeast Asian countries despite her opposite personality. Sometimes she feels quite the opposite of them.

Trivia

 * The sketch named Asia3, later revealed as an alternate draft of the Vietnam character, was slightly controversial as many fans made claims that it was actually a sketch of a character representing the Philippines or Indonesia.
 * According to volume 4, Vietnam appears to be higher than Taiwan, however, according to the most recent databook Hetalia⭐︎Collezione, Vietnam is actually shorter than her by two centimeters. It's unknown if Taiwan grew between her appearance in Volume 4 and the most recent strips or if it's merely a retcon by Himaruya.Tumblr n62b7xXcCC1s5rsfio2 250.jpg
 * Before chapter 376 of Hetalia: World Stars, Vietnam seems to have difficulty smiling, which is shown when she asks Thailand's help to learn how to laugh
 * Along with Thailand, Vietnam is the first ASEAN countries to appear. She is also the second female country in Asia to appear
 * Although unconfirmed, the name of Vietnam is believed by the audience to be 'Lien' (Liên)
 * According to some unidentified sources, her voice actors are Ai Kayano (J) and Brittney Karbowski (E) (?)
 * Some fans refer to Vietnam as Northern Vietnam due to the fact that her flag is that of the North Vietnamese. Therefore, fans speculate that Vietnam had a brother/sister that was the South until their potential death in 1975 after the annexation of Saigon.