Kitayume

Kitakou Yumezakka, better known by its shortened name of Kitayume, is a webcomic site run by Hidekaz Himaruya. It began in March 2003 and is still running at the present. The website is best-known for being the home to the original webcomic version of Axis Powers Hetalia.

The site also features downloadable computer games, and features artwork for the three ongoing webcomics.



Axis Powers Hetalia
Main article: Axis Powers Hetalia (manga)

A webcomic about the nations of the world, personified as humans. The main storyline takes place in the era of WWII, and features the nations of both the Axis Powers and the Allied Forces as the regular cast.

The comic is named for both the Axis and the lead character Italy, with Hetalia being a portmanteau of Hetare ("useless") and Italia (Italy). It started as a oneshot in 2005 or 2006, but became a full series starting in late 2006.

Barjona Bombers
A webcomic detailing the story of a group of high school delinquents at Barjona High, and their adventures with their broadcasting club. The lead character, Yamato Nara, has since appeared in the Noto-sama games following Hinaji's departure and in the deleted sequel to Christmas Rampage 2007.

There were also games to introduce the Barjona series, but they were taken off of the site.

Advance! Kitakou Broadcasting Club/Kitakou Broadcasting Club PURE
Stories about a high school broadcasting club, drawn by Himaruya when he was still in high school and the first title to appear on Kitayume. The lead character, Noto Kanazawa, was the star of his own flash game series, entitled Noto-sama (with Hetalia characters making their first appearances in the 5th game). He also appeared in the Rampage sequel, in a crossover with the Hetalia characters.

Himaruya drew the comic with the intention of spreading the word about broadcasting club being a fun place to be, but found that the story took off in a bigger, unexpected direction. Before the success of Hetalia, both it and Barjona were the star titles for Kitayume. Kitakou also had a few simulation games available on the site, but they were later deleted.

After the shift to the "Black Noto" era, the early strips were at first rebranded with the "PURE" labeling, but with later redesigns of the site, the label was dropped. Due to the deletion of the Black Noto era, there is a noticeable and sudden change in art and character designs that can be seen in some strips. However, two "new" chapters of Kitakou reverted the characters back to the original uniforms and designs, suggesting that Himaruya may be retconning the lost era.

Discontinued Series
These series were once part of Kitayume but have either been taken off the main page, or deleted completely.

Live-A-Live
A webcomic based off of the 1993 SNES game of the same title.

MoeKan
A young Korean girl named Sena attends school in the United States, but has to put up with having a Japanese classmate.

Shimojirou
A comic featuring anthropomorphic animal characters and their interactions.

Advance! Kitakou Broadcasting Club (Black Noto era)
The Kitakou series after it took a more cynical shift with Noto snapping and becoming a yandere type character. The majority of this era was deleted from Kitayume, leaving confusion as to how Noto and other characters changed (as well as the art evolution seeming a lot more drastic).

Noto-sama
A simulation game featuring Noto and Yamato (previously Noto and Hinaji), from their respective series of '''Advance! Kitakou Broadcasting Club and Barjona Bombers'''. In the short game, they go around stripping other characters, including cast members of Axis Powers Hetalia/Hetalia: Axis Powers in the fifth and sixth installments.

Gakuen Hetalia (demo)
Main article: Gakuen Hetalia

A short dating sim demo featuring the characters of Hetalia, as high school students attending the World Academy W. The player character is Seychelles, a new student at the school.

It is unknown if the game will ever be completed and released.

Zurou no Sunika "The Deserted House"
A visual novel horror game featuring Youko Kotohira, a high school student who finds a summer job as a maid at a mysterious house in Fukushima. Also features Nomaru from Barjona Bombers as part of the cast. The voice acting was done in collaboration with The Code For Flower Of Iris.

Advance! Kitakou Broadcasting Club PURE
A series of Kitakou-related games that expanded on the Kitakou/Barjona universe and featured voice acting by The Code For Flower Of Iris. They were later removed from the site along with the other extended Kitakou material. A drama CD was also planned at one point, but scrapped.

Events
Kitayume has been host to various site events, most notably its April Fools' "hijackings". In 2007, France (of Hetalia) hijacked the site, leaving naked chibis of himself everywhere as he went on a fanservice rampage and stripped the other nations, in an April Fools-themed storyline. In Christmas 2007, France hosted the "Christmas bloodbath" event where he went around stripping the others once more. The story was followed by a deleted sequel in which Noto and Yamato decide to get revenge on Christmas, but wind up running into the nations (and being stripped of their clothing in turn).

Spain would attack the site on April Fools' Day of the the following year (on the behalf of France), though in 2009, Prussia would be the one to hack the site, transforming it temporarily into his own personal blog. In Christmas 2009, Himaruya decided to take a "Sudden Death" request challenge in which he would take several requests from fans, and also posted up new strips related to the event.

Blog
Main article: Bamboo Thicket (blog)

Kitayume also has its own blog, known as Bamboo Thicket. It contains production artwork for Himaruya's webcomics, as well as photos and stories of his day-to-day life.