Episode 105: Though I May Depart, You Shall Remain

The fifth episode of Hetalia: The Beautiful World (one hundred and fifth overall) was aired on February 22, 2013. It adapts the strips Though I May Depart, You Shall Remain from the fifth published manga.

Plot Summary
In a flashback, a warm fire blazes in an iron hearth as an old man and a young boy look over an old photograph album. The old man tells the boy that he used to work in Paris long ago, and that one time he met France.

The child says that France is but a country, and his grandfather agrees, pointing to a photograph in the book depicting France alongside an 18-year-old version of himself. The boy persists, telling his grandfather that France looks like a normal person, to which the man replies that he did look that way.

A screen appears, bearing the sentence "Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours" (French for "though I may depart, you shall remain").

In the present day, a man slaps a sleeping young soldier, shouting at him to wake up. The young man quickly gets up and apologizes. His senior tells him that though his work ethic may be acceptable in Gordes, it would not be tolerated in Paris. The young soldier explains that he was having a dream about his grandfather, and telling his boss that his grandfather used to show him photographs from Paris and how his grandfather met France.

Surprised, the older man recalls that the young man moved to Paris only recently. He points out to the younger man a person in the crowd, who is revealed to be France himself.

Shocked, the soldier says that he is the man in the picture album, astonished at his youthful appearance. He tears away from his boss, running to meet France. He rushes in front of France, demanding to know who he is. He explains to France that his grandfather took pictures of France when he was young, but that France still looked the same all those years later.

France puts a hand on the man's shoulder, smiling and telling him to say hello to his grandfather for him. The man asks again who France is. France moves on, telling him that "if I had to say, I'd be a ship! The government is the sails, the people the wind, and the times are the sea". He continues, saying that "if the sails are unfurled and there's a good wind, the ship moves forward fine". But, he notes, "there are times that it could suddenly run ashore and it'd be all over".

Confused, the soldier replies that that didn't answer his question. Instead of giving a straightforward answer, France merely turns around and says, "as long as there are people who repair the ship, it can be used forever".

The older man comes back, asking the younger man if he's satisfied his curiosity. The older man notes that France had been that way since he was a young lad.

The scene comes to the soldier's home, where he tells his wife the story. He notes that France looked exactly the same as he did fifty years ago. He adds that it is unfair, to be immortal whilst the mortals' lives speed by and they spend but a brief time at their primes. He asks his wife if she agrees.

She leans her face close to her husband's, asking him if he was sure that he really wanted that. Telling him that his life would pass at a different pace than everyone else's, after the two of them had children, lived their lives together, after she would no longer be able to hear his voice, and after she would die, he would continue to live forever, everyone he loves always leaving him behind. She asks how any normal human being could ever stand it, always ending up alone again no matter how much he loved somebody. If he had to bear that, she adds, she would feel so sorry for him. For her, she felt, living forever was not a blessing, but a curse.

Her husband agrees with her, telling her that without his mortal body, he would never be able to accomplish his dream: to grow old together, and be with her forever.

Back in the streets of Paris, France looks over the crowds of people going by and smiles wistfully.

Character Appearances

 * France
 * Protagonist's Grandfather
 * Protagonist
 * Soldier
 * Protagonist's Wife

Voice Cast

 * Protagonist: Takashi Kondo
 * France: Masaya Onosaka
 * Protagonist's Wife: Rina Satou

Trivia

 * In the original webcomic, the older guard claps to make the protagonist wake up.
 * France is shown to be surrounded by admirers when he is pointed out.
 * France waves to the soldier as he walks away in the webcomic, an action that he did not do in the anime.
 * This episode was the first of Hetalia: Axis Powers in which only one country appeared.
 * This episode is the only episode of The Beautiful World that does not use Mochi eyecatch transitions.