England

Arthur Kirkland (アーサー・カークランド, Aasaa Kaakurando) is a main character in the anime and manga series, Axis Powers Hetalia. He is the characterisation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ( イギリス, Igirisu, or simply UK for short) as well as the member-country England, and acts as part of the Allied Forces.

Appearance
He has short blond hair, green eyes, and dresses in a green military uniform. His eyebrows are rather thick and prominent, a trait that is shared by his younger brother Peter, as well as Australia and Hong Kong.

Personality and Interests
Arthur was formerly a great empire and pirate that tormented Antonio, stripping the Spaniard's status as a powerful nation. In modern times, he claims to be a gentleman, though is cynical, sharp-tongued and prone to rough speech, and yearns for the golden years. He is noted as being horrible at cooking, which has caused Alfred, his former charge, to have "bad" taste in food. Arthur is also apparently the "king of losing things" and can be described as "spacey" because of his strong belief in magic, spirits, fairies, and other fantasy-related creatures. He has the ability to communicate with supernatural beings and is not limited to creatures from his homeland, being able to interact with various Japanese youkai and spirits. Despite this, Arthur often ridicules Alfred's belief in aliens, as well as Alfred's alien friend, Tony. According to the author's notes, Arthur's interests include embroidery, craftsmanship, reading literature, rock music, and giving scathing criticisms to Alfred's movies.

Arthur is also terrible with expressing himself and others often misunderstand him, so he can also be rather self-deprecating or tsundere. Behind his cynical, realistic view on the world, he is a romanticist. When drunk, his personality will change from that of a gentlemen to a bitter and violent delinquent.

It is mentioned at least two times in the series that Arthur has brothers (one representing Scotland, the others presumably Wales and Ireland/Northern Ireland), who hate him and used to drive him away with stones and arrows when he was a child, and went as far as to deliver curses to him through the mail.

Peter Kirkland (Sealand)
Main Article: Peter Kirkland

Peter is Arthur's youngest brother, an abandoned naval for who declared himself a nation at the end of WWII. The two always bicker because Sealand, wanting to be recognized as a full-fledged nation, often sneaks into conferences the other countries attend (such as the G8, in which Peter pretended to be Canada). Despite being called "Jerk England" and being promised that he will one day bow to Peter, Arthur, though annoyed, does look out for Peter.

Alfred F. Jones (America)
Main Article: Alfred F.Jones

He was discovered as a small child by Tino and Berwald, who later told Arthur and Francis about his existence. Arthur and Francis fought over who could be his older brother, though Alfred chose Arthur after he began to cry because he didn't have anything to offer compared to Francis's cooking. Arthur cared for Alfred as his "little brother" and visited Alfred's home whenever he found the time, but he always needed to return to Europe after his visits. Only Alfred was capable of liking or tolerating Arthur's terrible cooking, resulting in Arthur being delighted and Alfred adopting the same "tasteless-ness." Arthur also provided Alfred with toys and clothes and was shown to be very affectionate to Alfred, even letting him sleep in Arthur's bed when he couldn't sleep due to reading horror stories. One day, when Arthur visited, he was surprised to find out that Alfred had grown from a child into a teen and had become increasingly independent, no longer needing to rely on Arthur.

Soon after, the Revolutionary War broke out and Alfred fought Arthur for his freedom and right to be his own nation. Near the end of the war, Arthur gave up, not being able to shoot Alfred when he had the opportunity to and chose to let him be independent. While Arthur cried in front of him, Alfred stated "You used to be so...big."

This memory always makes Arthur upset, and when drunk, he is known for cursing Alfred for leaving him and wishing for old times (Arthur states that 'someone left him heartbroken' for centuries, and it is assumed he refers to Alfred), especially when American Independence Day, or Alfred's "birthday", arrives. The Revolutionary War caused a rift between the two and they constantly bicker and have disagreements. Despite this, they care for each other and work together when necessary.

Francis Bonnefoy (France)
Main Article: Francis Bonnefoy

Despite both being members of the Allied forces, Arthur and Francis have a deep-rooted historical rivalry between them. While they often have petty disagreements, they appear to have a level of respect for each other and are quick to team up with each other if a third party should enter the argument. Francis tried to marry Arthur to save his country once, even though neither of them really wanted it. In strips focusing on Arthur's childhood, he is often shown being picked on by a pre-teen Francis. On one occassion, he scoffs at Arthur for not growing his hair long, and when Arthur's longer hair turns out a mess, Francis teases him, saying he'll cut it into a "cool" style, only to cut it back to its original style.

Anime


Arthur first appeared in Episode 01 where he disagreed with Alfred's plan and later on began fighting with Francis before being stopped by Ludwig. Arthur briefly appears in Episode 06 with the rest of the Allies, as they spy on the Axis, and later roast marshmallows. In Episode 07, he gets irritated at Alfred for eating while speaking (of their plan to bring down the Axis). In Episode 08, Arthur attempts to feed the kidnapped Feliciano his cooking, but after he complains of the taste, the Allies send him back in a box labeled "FUCK." Arthur later manages to successfully capture Ludwig by kidnapping Feliciano again to use him as bait.

In Episode 09, Arthur and Alfred argue over the latter's plan at an Allied Forces meeting, and proceed to argue over each others' taste in food. After re-planning their tactics, Arthur decides which members of the Allies will take down each member of the Axis.

Arthur cameos in Episode 10 in Francis's series of flashbacks, first as a knight who manages to conquer France. He is then shown to have masterminded the defeat of Napoleon's army (by a pit trap), and later defeats Antonio's armada as a pirate. In Episode 11, after another Allied Forces meeting went sour, Arthur is cheered up by his "imaginary" friends.

In a flash-forward to 1956 in Episode 12, a war-torn Francis proposes to Arthur, but is rejected. Later in the same episode (and back in the WWII timeframe), Arthur is shown to be spying on the Axis.

After being defeated by Ludwig in Episode 13, Arthur attempts to get revenge by summoning the devil, but gets Ivan instead.

Episode 30 focuses on Arthur's visit to see Kiku after the Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902.

In the anime, his hair is a more vivid yellow shade of blond, rather than the darker blond used in the manga illustrations.

Trivia

 * Before fans settled on the Kirkland rendering (which was more accurate from the katakana), some early fanworks referred to him as Arthur Clarkland.


 * He is referred to as United Kingdom, or UK for short, in most merchandise and in his character design on the official anime website (and in some merchandise and fanworks, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, his full nation title). In other instances, however, he is referred to as England, most notably in Gakuen Hetalia and the English-language preview for America's Cleaning Of The Storage. The Japanese word Igirisu means Britain but is sometimes used to refer to England (normally rendered as Ingurando in katakana or eikoku in kanji) in colloquial speech. He is commonly referred to with either name by fans, though England tends to be used to differentiate him from his brothers (that represent the other parts of the UK). A note by Hidekaz Himaruya confirms that Arthur would only be known as England to his brothers, while he would be known as UK to the others.


 * Although he's always called Igirisu in the manga and anime, historically, he would be known as simply England up until the 18th century, when The Kingdom Of Great Britain was formed, uniting both England and Scotland (the Act of Union of Wales and England had already taken place 1536-1543). In the early 19th century, Ireland was added, creating The United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Ireland. After Ireland split to declare itself independent in 1919, the Irish War Of Independence waged until 1922, when it became the Irish Free State. Six of the 32 counties of Ireland (mostly from the province of Ulster where there was a great English/Scottish population) rejoined the UK while the other 26 counties formed the Republic of Ireland.


 * Arthur has a genderswapped version of himself, minus the brows and now with twin pigtails and glasses. She has no official name but fans often refer to her as Igiko, which stands from Igirisu and the Japanese word for child,ko (which is usually tacked on to the end of girls' names), thus meaning England girl.
 * The name "Arthur" is likely to be a reference to Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes series, who was famed for his obsession with fairies. It could also refer to the legendary King Arthur.


 * A UK character is actually first seen at the end of Hetalia: Chapter 1, however, his design was not yet completely finalized. He appears as a short-haired man with a UK label on his shirt and with somewhat thinner eyebrows. Notes in the special booklet for the third volume of the published manga reveal that Arthur was originally to have normal eyebrows, as well as have the appearance of a middle-aged man who dressed much younger. Himaruya decided to give him thicker eyebrows, as he liked the idea of a character having brows modeled after ones of a Shiba dog.
 * He appears to be modeled after the character Hikone Kalom from Himaruya's other webcomic Barjona Bombers, though he is the exact opposite of Kalom in personality.


 * Himaruya once stated that Arthur's eyebrows are actually trimmed, although they don't appear that way since they still remain thick in appearance. He has also stated that Ireland has thicker eyebrows, but with a "different feel" to them.


 * It is possible that Arthur has a tattoo, for he mentions in his version of Marukaite Chikyuu that "My tattoo really hurts, but it's a hot six-string!" (six-string meaning electric guitar).