New Zealand

New Zealand (ニュージーランド, Nyū Jīrando) is a supporting character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers.

Appearance
New Zealand has light-brown hair styled in a short curly bob, with spiral-shaped ahoges on each side of his head (although sometimes only the left one is visible). These ahoges are designed to resemble ram horns. His eyebrows are thick and closely resemble England's. He wears the red version of the New Zealand Army Band uniform, which has black cuffs and collar and golden trimming. His pants are also black with red stripes and his hat is black with a red stripe, a gold emblem in the center. He sometimes wears a golden sash over his right shoulder. He is sometimes depicted holding a wooden cane which may be intended to resemble a shepherd's staff. He speaks in a Shikoku dialect.

Personality and Interests
New Zealand is usually depicted in a cheerful manner and seems to have a good relationship with England. He is shown to have a pet sheep, which helped conceal his nudity during his cameo in the Christmas 2010 event. Character notes in Volume 4 describe him as a big-hearted shepherd with a carefree personality. According to England, he is responsible, contrasting with Australia's recklessness. Character notes describe him as the type to focus on a passing cat mid-conversation and feel disappointment when it vanishes from sight.

Australia
Main Page: Australia

New Zealand appears alongside Australia, asking England to judge their Halloween sheep costumes and decide which is the best. He states that they have created a "blood feud" over the issue. Character notes reveal that he does not want to lose to Australia in sports. When they were younger, England entrusted New Zealand with keeping an eye on Australia due to their close proximity and New Zealand's responsible personality. New Zealand becomes irritated with Australia's high-strung and impulsive attitude, in one instance asking England for permission to hit him.He does not want Australia to behave strangely, thinking it will reflect on himself, and encourages him to avoid making England worry.

Manga
New Zealand's first appearance was on a Hetalia world map included in volume 3. The character's strip debut was during the Christmas 2010 event. New Zealand later appeared during the Halloween 2011 event, asking England to judge which one of the three Oceania nations (Australia, Tonga, and NZ) has the greatest sheep costume. He also appears in the Christmas 2011 event, initially dressed as a sheep and tricking Australia. New Zealand later leaves Australia and arrives at the Axis' Christmas party. New Zealand appeared again in volume 5 mistaking one of Canada's horror movies for an American one.

Anime
New Zealand makes a non-speaking cameo in the Hetalia: The Beautiful World episode titled "Hetalia of the Dead - First Part," standing behind England, who is seated. He has brownish hair with the ram-like curls at the sides of his head; is wearing a yellowish shirt, beige pants, and brown shoes. He makes his speaking debut in the following episode, Hetalia of the Dead - Second Part.

Trivia

 * New Zealand's gender was a topic of interest since initial debut, and Himaruya was purposely vague on the issue. For example, he drew a sketch of New Zealand asking "Which do you think I am?" and covered New Zealand's chest with their sheep. Some sketches suggested that New Zealand may, in fact, be male, but there was an absence of any gender-specific references or any outright confirmation. In Volume 4, when referring to him in his profile, the word seinen was used. Seinen most often appears in masculine context, but is sometimes used to mean youth or a person in their social and physical growth period. New Zealand's gender was confirmed in a November 2013 blog post which referred to him as a male.
 * His spiral shaped ahoges may also be designed to resemble the koru (spiral), which is an important symbol in Māori art.