Rumors and Misconceptions

Like many manga and anime series, Axis Powers Hetalia is subject to much fan speculation and various theories, which may turn into misconceptions when newcomers confuse fanon with canon. Mistranslations of profiles and strips may also contribute to some as well. This is a listing of the different rumors, misconceptions, and fan-theories related to the series and its characters.

The Series Title
"Is the title of the series "Hetalia Axis Powers" or "Axis Powers Hetalia?"

The title of the series, more specifically the order of the words, has been up for debate ever since the published manga and anime came out. While most fanworks use the abbreviation APH, the published manga and anime render the title as Hetalia Axis Powers (or Hetalia: Axis Powers), which is the official "international" title for the series in both of those incarnations.

However, the original webcomic is titled Axis Powers Hetalia, and the title appeared this way in the first independent drama CD (Axis Powers Hetalia: The CD), as well as on two of the later commercial drama CDs. It may be that the original title was intended to be read as "Axis Powers:Hetalia", though it remains uncertain.

It would appear that either title is valid for the series, although the APH ordering would apply to the webcomic and some of the merchandise, while the HAP ordering would apply to the anime, published manga, and other merchandise. Two of the commercial drama CDs leave out the "Axis Powers" part altogether, and simply refer to the series as Hetalia.

The Polish translation of the published manga (released on November 13th, 2009) opted to use the original APH order for its release, though it remains to be seen what order other countries will use to refer to the series by.

The Italy Brothers: Twins?
Rumor: Veneziano and Romano are twins.

Fact: While the Italy brothers are often portrayed as identical twins in fanart and fanfiction, there is little in canon to support or suggest that to be the case. In the case of them being twins, it is more likely that they would be fraternal due to the differences in their size and appearance.

In a response to a question by a fan, Hidekaz Himaruya mentioned that he had designed Romano to be a few years older than Veneziano, and that their respective physical ages were approximately 22-23 and 20.

But it is to be noted that Romano's appearance has changed slightly over the course of the comic, and that there was originally more of a visible height difference between the two. The child version of Romano also shrunk in height in later-drawn strips, and now appears to be the same size as the younger Veneziano (while in his Chibitalia debut, he was shown to be significantly larger). Romano also was originally colored to have tanner skin than his brother, and had green (or hazel) eyes. In later artwork and the anime adaptation, Romano's skintone was lightened and his eyes were changed to brown.

Due to the characters being nations (and therefore not as fully-human as they appear to be), their aging patterns are also shown to be different than a normal human's would be. Characters who knew each other as child-nations have been shown to out-age each other, or that younger nations may wind up outgrowing their older peers once they hit their equivalent of puberty. In a liner note to the webcomic version of Chibitalia, Himaruya suggested that Romano's growth remained (and remains) slow due to the long-term influence of Spain, who had control over him for a lengthy period of time.

But proponents of the twin theory suggest that perhaps Romano physically aged faster than Veneziano at birth, and only slowed down once he became controlled by Spain.

In their profiles, the brothers' birthdays are both given as March 17th, 1861, the foundation date of the Kingdom of Italy. As both brothers are shown in the series to have been in existence since the days of the Roman Empire, it would appear that they count their unification as a shared birthday and celebrate it as such.

North Korea
Rumor: There is a North Korea in the series/The Korea in the series is North Korea.

Fact: There has yet to be a character for North Korea in Hetalia, though a number of fan-created characters do exist, the most notable being "Hyung-soo", created by the doujinshi artist Lo_wah.

Occasionally, there is also the misconception that South Korea is the North, due to the fact that he is usually simply labeled as Korea (with no specific designation). But his nation name, Daehan-minguk, would suggest that he is the South, as the name is generally used to refer to it by. South Korea is also written in kanji as Kangoku (which is used for the character), while North is rendered as Choseon. Factoids from his profile indicate that his culture reflects South Korea as well, rather than the North's. It is also noteworthy that he only appears in the contemporary strips, and that the flag used for him is the South Korean one. His original profile also stated that he was "an unbelievable nation in the south of the Korean Peninsula". The only thing to suggest him possibly representing both halves would be a comment by China, who was aggravated that he had to "share a border" with Korea.

A scrapped early design for the character is in existence, where they were originally designed as a female and said to be an idol-wannabe. Some fans theorize that her design could possibly be reused for a North Korea character, though Hidekaz Himaruya did recycle the basics of her design into the character Sena, from his discontinued webcomic entitled MoeKan (A portmanteau of moe and the first part of kankoku).

But in 2007, Himaruya did state that he had plans to make a male North Korea character, and described them as being timid in personality and a musician, as well as being a "twin" of South Korea. However, as they were based off a Korean friend of his that moved away, and due to the controversy of North Korea in the news, fans feel that it is unlikely that they will be introduced any time soon.

Holy Roman Empire's Fate
Rumor: Holy Roman Empire grows up to be Germany, having survived his apparent dissolution and death, but with amnesia. Alternatively, Germany is Holy Roman Empire reincarnated after his death at the hands of France in the Napoleonic Wars.

Fact: Though the first is a popular theory supported by pieces of evidence in-series, most visibly in the cliffhanger to the strip Buon San Valentino, it remains to be seen what the exact connection between Germany and Holy Roman Empire is. Detractors of the theory will point out the differences in the government of the German Confederation (and German Empire) in relation to the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the fact that it took the German remnants time to form into that nation. After its dissolution, the German states of the Holy Roman Empire were first formed into The Confederation of The Rhine and were under the control of France from 1806 to 1813, while the German Confederation was established in 1815.

In historical reference, supporters of the theory will point to the Holy Roman Empire's full name (from the 16th century onward), which was The Holy Roman Empire Of The German Nation. Fans will also point to Hitler's statement of Nazi Germany being the Third Reich, with the Holy Roman Empire considered to be the second (while the original Roman Empire was the first). But it is actually more historically accurate to consider the Empire to be the actual First Reich. The correct Second Reich would be classified as the German Empire (which lasted from 1871 to 1918). This would make a stronger case for HRE's connection to Germany, since all three Reichs would be the same character. But a counter-argument for this would be that the Second Reich would better represent Prussia, for it grew out of his conquests and annexations in the 1860s.

In-series, it has been noticed that Hidekaz Himaruya has seemed to go out of his way in not showing a younger Germany in any of the strips, while Holy Roman Empire happens to have an uncanny resemblance to Germany and look much like he would as a child. Germany is also shown to have a hairstyle similar to HRE's when his hair is not slicked back, and both have prominent sideburns. A design of a teenage HRE furthers the connection, along with a scrapped piece of art where the child HRE dreams of himself and Chibitalia in their adulthood. In the latter image, the adult HRE is shown from the nose down, but appears to resemble Germany in his height, build, and hairstyle.

Holy Roman Empire was also an offspring of Germania, as was Prussia, who is confirmed in later strips to be Germany's older brother. But Germania is shown to have many other offspring, and it is also debatable as to whether they are his children or grandchildren, as the official sources provide conflicting information. It is also a common misconception that Prussia is the older brother of HRE, when in fact it would be the reverse (with Prussia originating from the Teutonic Order in-series, rather than Old Prussia).

One variant of the reincarnation theory was inspired by a doujinshi entitled Risorgimento: Holy Roman Empire did in fact die, but his body was revived and came to be the young Germany, who may physically resemble HRE but is not him in spirit.

Some members of the Japanese fandom (as well as the international one) for Hetalia have a third theory for the connection, it being that the two characters are not related in any way and the similarities are red herrings or mere coincidence in a possible bait-and-switch move by Himaruya. The only official word given on HRE's fate at this time (other than his apparent demise being reported in a scrapped strip) was in Himaruya's response to a fan's question (circa 2007), where he promised that eventually:


 * "Chibitalia and Holy Roman Empire will have a happy ending."

But the meaning of that statement has been left up to debate as well.

Prussia
This section compiles the theories, rumors, and misconceptions related to the character of Prussia.

Childhood
Rumor/Theory: The Prussia in the series is not the original, for he killed/merged with the original Prussia, who was a Baltic.

Fact: The early days of Prussia are something that have yet to be delved into in full, although a young Prussia (in his Teutonic Knight incarnation) appears in the 3rd and 4th portions of the webcomic Extra Story entitled Liechtenstein's Journal Of Swiss Dopiness.

In his official profile, it is said that Prussia was born as the "St.Maria Order", though it is more likely that Himaruya meant The Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem. He then evolved to become The Monastic State Of The Teutonic Knights. This period on his profile is followed by a space reading "a bunch of other stuff", before skipping to his incarnation as Prussia.

It is notable that he was not born as representing Old Prussia, a historical Baltic region which the Teutonic Knights later conquered and divided into Royal Prussia (a province of Poland) and Ducal Prussia. The latter would later become Brandenburg-Prussia, and then the Kingdom of Prussia. Its final incarnation after it was annexed by Germany was known as the Free State Of Prussia, which was later dissolved de jure by the Allied Forces in 1947.

As Prussia starts off as a Teutonic Knight, fans have theorized that he killed off the original and took their name when he conquered their land, or simply merged with them and became the dominant personality. Alternatively, Old Prussia may not have had any character to represent it, and may simply have been a piece of important territory (or a "vital region") for the Baltics, as Silesia was to Austria.

The union of Brandenburg and Prussia is also something that has yet to be depicted in the series, leaving fans to speculate if there is a character for Brandenburg and what may have happened to him. As Prussia's profile stated that he avoided any marriage, it is commonly assumed that he may have physically merged with Brandenburg, or killed him off as well.

Post-WWII Status
A few different rumors and theories exist for the fate of Prussia, when it comes to strips set later in history for Hetalia:


 * Theory 1: Prussia is dead in the post-WWII timeline, as the nation was historically dissolved by the Allies in 1947. Any instances of him alive in modern strips are actually of him as a ghost.


 * Theory 2: Prussia survives the dissolution, due to having been transformed into East Germany and falling under the control of Russia.


 * Theory 3: Prussia survives the dissolution, as he has fallen under the control of Russia and become the representation of the Kaliningrad Oblast (as it used to be Königsberg, the capital of Prussia).

Fact: Prussia's exact status in the modern-day strips is something that has yet to be explained in full. The common fan theory before he appeared in contemporary strips was that he was dead, and the dissolution of Prussia became a subject explored in fanworks. The alternate theory was that Prussia "evolved" to become East Germany, and fell under the control of Russia.

In a response to a fan question, Hidekaz Himaruya explained that in the modern-day strips, Prussia finds himself lonely due to being more like an enclave than an actual nation, and that he freeloads off of his brother and Austria.

But a series of production notes by Himaruya indicate that the second theory might be the valid one for Hetalia canon, as Prussia is described to have been under the control of Russia post-WWII and was stuck working unprofitable jobs for some time. It has also been stated that Prussia hates Russia, and he has been shown to refer to his younger brother as "West" (though he also refers to him as such before Germany was historically split). Regardless of what name he may have taken on later, he is still referred to as "Prussia" in events as recent as the April Fools' 09 storyline and site event, where he hijacked Kitayume and created his own blog.

Voice Actor
Rumor: Prussia is voiced by Subaru Kimura, most famous for being the later voice of Gian in the series Doraemon.

Fact: When Episode 10 was released, many fans in both the Japanese and international fandoms assumed that an uncredited Kimura had voiced Prussia, due to the distinct type of voice used for the character. However, Prussia's voice actor was never officially confirmed for a long time, and fans wondered if the "mystery" voice actor would be recast if Prussia got a larger role in the series.

The speculation came to an end when an interview in Comic Birz revealed that Atsushi Kousaka had voiced Prussia in episode 10, and would continue to voice the character. It was also revealed that Hidekaz Himaruya had approved the casting and had anticipated that Kousaka would be the best choice for Prussia.

An Albino?
Rumor: Prussia is an albino, as evidenced by his pale hair and reddish eyes.

Fact: While his design does invoke the image of an albino, it has yet to be outright confirmed or commented on by Himaruya. In most fanart, he is simply colored with gray or white hair, though Prussia's actual hair and eye coloring are shown to vary:


 * In the official color chart, his hair is depicted as an almost off-white shade. His eyes are described as a "reddish-purple" (red-violet), with more violet than red in them. He appears with this color scheme on the cover to The CD Of The Awesome Me.


 * In his appearance in Christmas Rampage 2007, he has dark blond hair and blue eyes. He also appears with this color scheme in Noto-sama 5 and would have appeared that way in Gakuen Hetalia as well.


 * A sketch done of Prussia with his hair slicked back (to imitate his brother) has him colored with silver hair and red eyes.


 * The Hetalia trading card series depicts Prussia with ash blond hair and red eyes, and his chibi figurine follows that scheme. He also appears this way in a few colored character sketches, and official art for The Blog Of The Awesome Me.


 * In the anime adaptation, his hair is silver (or a silver-blond) and his eyes are a deeper red.

Some believe that his color variations are meant to reference the first line of the Prussian anthem: "Ich bin ein Preuße, kennt ihr meine Farben?" (I am a Prussian, do you know my colors?).

Germany's Last Name
Rumor: Germany's full human name is Ludwig Beilschmidt.

Fact: When the human names for the characters were originally stated by Hidekaz Himaruya, Germany was simply listed as Ludwig, with no surname. Himaruya stated that there was a reason that Germany wasn't given a surname, and that fans would eventually find out the reason and the significance for it.

But after Himaruya's old blog shut down, all references to the characters having human names (or human ages) were removed. Some fans have taken to giving Germany the full name of Ludwig Beilschmidt to correspond with his older brother Prussia (whose human name was given as Gilbert Beilschmidt). A common fanon theory is that Prussia adopted the amnesiac HRE and raised him to become Germany, presumably christening him with the name Ludwig as well. Another assumption (based off of historical information) is that Austria raised HRE up after he fell out of France's control, thus he was the one to rename him. It is to be noted though, that HRE apparently died in his teens, while most portrayals of these theories place Ludwig (as the former HRE) as a young child.

Shotalia
Rumor: Character designs of a teenage Holy Roman Empire and Italy brothers can be found in the special edition booklet of Axis Powers Hetalia volume 2, and are meant for the Shotalia storyline.

Fact: The sketch in question was actually drawn by Himaruya as a tribute to a fangame he liked that was loosely based off of his Shotalia idea (which he said would cover the Thirty Years War). It first appeared on his original blog and Kitayume in late 2007, and was reposted to his new blog, Bamboo Thicket. The fangame, Gloria Hetalia, has yet to be completed.

A canon sketch of an older HRE does exist, and was created when Himaruya first announced his plan for Shotalia. Neither of these sketches can be found in the volume 2 booklet, though sketches for other characters are displayed, including theoretical RPG designs for the Axis and Allies.

Although the storyline was first planned back in 2007, no further announcements about it have been made, leading to speculations that it has either been postponed or scrapped entirely.

Fans have noticed that the teenage Italy appears to be wearing papal robes in the fangame that the sketch was based off of, the implication being that the original artist meant for Italy to represent the Papal States, which has to lead to some criticisms over the inaccuracy. The teenage version of HRE appears as a knight in the game, and dresses in a similar fashion to the Teutonic Knight incarnation of Prussia.

A teenage version of Italy has made brief appearances in Hetalia canon, while the teenage version of Romano has only appeared in a few blog sketches and was briefly shown from behind in Maria Theresa And The War Of Austrian Succession (where Italy appeared as well).

Human Names
Although the characters' human names are no longer listed and none of the newer cast members have been given any, fans will often come up with their own names for those characters.

This can cause some confusion if fan names are mixed in with the official names, leading to the misconception that they are official as well.

Rumors:
 * Ukraine's human name is Yekaterina Braginskaya, and her nickname is "Katyusha".
 * Denmark's human name is Mathias Køhler.
 * Hong Kong's human name is Kaoru.

Facts:
 * Ukraine has not actually been given an official human name, though her nickname came from the Japanese fandom and is a term for a headband, as well as a type of rocket launcher. It is also a diminutive form of the name Ekaterina/Yekaterina, which is used for her given human name in fanon. Braginskaya is also the feminine form of the surname Braginski/Braginsky. "Katyusha" is also the title of a Russian wartime song (though an earlier Japanese song of a similar title is known to be in existence as well).


 * Mathias Køhler was a name for Denmark that an anonymous editor put on the Hetalia page of TVTropes. As there was no human name given for him by Hidekaz Himaruya, it can be assumed to be one of a few fanon names that have been used for the character.


 * Kaoru is a fanon name often used by both the Japanese and international fandom for Hong Kong, as it means "fragrant" while Hong Kong means "fragrant harbor". But it should be noted that "Kaoru" is a Japanese name, which would be unlikely for a character not representing Japan to use. Other fans opt to use the name Hong for him due to this reason. Hong Kong is often given an 'English' name in fanworks (for example, "Michael,") in reference to the westernization of Hong Kong while it was a colony.

Spelling Debates
Due to the human names having not been listed in English, there are often debates over how to spell certain characters' human names. As some seem to be uncommon or nonexistent as a name in the nation's language, it becomes even harder to tell which may have been the intended spelling.


 * The human name given for Lithuania is often rendered as Toris Lorinaitis, from its katakana spelling of Toris Rorinaitisu. Two other spellings given for it are Taurys Laurinaitis, Toris Raurinaitis and Thoris Lolinitis. It is uncertain what Hidekaz Himaruya may have intended, though Laurinaitis does exist as an actual surname.


 * Hungary's human name is another popular debate subject. While her last name is clearly Héderváry, her given name (written as Erizabeta in katakana) has a number of possible spellings: Elizabeta, Elizaveta, and Elisabeth/Elizabeth, along with its Hungarian equivalent Erzsébet. The last of these may have been the intended name in mind, though Elizabeta and Elizaveta are the most commonly used in the fandom. It is also possible that Elisabeth may have been the intended spelling, as an allusion to Elisabeth of Bavaria.


 * Switzerland's given name is usually spelled Vash in the international fandom, while Japanese fans seem to alternate between that spelling and two others: Basch and Bache. As with the letter "L" being spelled with an "R" character in kana, "V" is replaced with a "B". It is believed that Vash may be derived from the French word vache (cow).


 * Finland's name is given as Teino Vainamainen, commonly rendered as Tino Väinämöinen. However, some believe that Himaruya may have meant for him to be called Timo, which is a more common Finnish name than Tino.


 * China's surname is spelled as both Wong and Wang, though his given name (Yao) rarely has a variation. But in a blog entry, Himaruya stated that Yao could also be rendered as Yue in Japanese.


 * Belarus' surname was long believed to Alfroskaya and was listed as such on various fansites. But it was eventually discovered that the katakana read Arurofuskaya (rather than Arufuroskaya), which has lead to the spelling Arlovskaya slowly falling into use. Her given name has been spelled out as both Natalia and Natalya.


 * Korea's name has had the most spellings to date. Though the correct Korean rendering is Im Yong Soo, it has been listed as Im Yonsu, Im Yun Soo, and Im Yong Su. Earlier spellings, derived from the rendering of his name in katakana, included: Ren Yong Soo, Lim Young-soo, and Lee Young-soo.


 * Prussia's surname was initially spelled out as Weillschmidt in fansite profiles and different fanworks. But after the discovery that Bairushumitto would more accurately be Beilschmidt in English (as well as the fact that Weillschmidt didn't exist outside of Hetalia fandom as a surname, and "Beil" meaning "Axe" in German), the previous spelling is slowly falling out of use.


 * Greece's human name is often rendered as Heracles Karpusi, with Karpusi being the Greek word for "watermelon". But some other fan translations will refer to him as Herakles Karpossi, Heracles Carpus, or Heracles Karpsh.


 * Estonia's surname is usually rendered as von Bock, however, some fans opt to render it as von Fock or von Vock, due to there being no difference between "V" and "B" in Japanese. His given human name spelling has also been debated over ("Edward" versus "Eduard").


 * Turkey's surname is rendered as Adnan in most listings, though some opt to use Annan instead. There is also debate as to whether his given human name is Sadiq or Sadik.

Denmark, Norway, And Iceland In The Anime?
Rumor: Denmark, Norway, and Iceland were going to appear in the first season of Hetalia.

Fact: The "announcement" of these three characters being in the anime was actually a hoax, believed to have originated from 2chan. A photoshopped image was circulated around the internet, showing the three characters to be on a viewing screen (in actuality, it was a fanart photoshopped onto it). False information also circulated about the characters' voices, with the rumored seiyū being:


 * Denmark: Tomokazu Sugita
 * Norway: Miyuki Sawashiro
 * Iceland: Mitsuki Saiga

Even after the hoax was exposed, some anime sites still have yet to remove the erroneous seiyū listings, which has continued to cause some confusion to newcomers in the fandom.

Korea's Voice Actor
Rumor: The seiyū Kaoru Mizuhara was to play South Korea in the anime version, but lost the role when his part was cut.

Fact: The above was a misconception that happened when Mizuhara was discovered to be part of the cast in Hetalia Drama CD: Prologue 2. In her interview segment, she mentioned Kankoku and Korean barbeque, leading to assumptions that she was meant to be Korea's seiyū. A mistranslation of the segment also added to the confusion.

However, it was later discovered that Mizuhara's mentioning of Korea was only in a "what if" situation of her being cast in the anime, with the Korean BBQ being something that she had enjoyed eating. Another seiyū had suggested a "Monaco" character for her earlier in the segment, before she decided to pick Korea. The only role that Mizuhara has had to date in Hetalia was a minor female voice in that drama CD.

An animation error in Episode 14 shows that Korea was originally going to be in the episode, though the rest of the shots where he would have appeared were edited to remove him due to the South Korean protests. It is unknown who he would have been voiced by, had Studio DEEN not cut him from the series.

The Published Manga
Rumor: Gentosha Comics has discontinued production of the collected editions of Axis Powers Hetalia, due to controversy and the South Korean protests.

Fact: While there was a noticeable lack of announcement for the release date of Axis Powers Hetalia volume 3, it was never confirmed if the published manga had in fact been stopped due to the protests.

Gentosha did later put out two "storyboard collections" and a guide (World Wide Walking) for the animated adaptation, which suggested that they had not completely stopped publishing Hetalia-related materials. After a long hiatus, the third volume of the series was finally announced on September 24th, 2009, with a targeted release date for Spring 2010.

Hong Kong's Gender
Rumor: Hong Kong is female.

Fact: Due to his somewhat androgynous appearance, Hong Kong's true gender has caused some confusion, with some fans believing that "he" is actually a "Bifauxnen" or a cross-dresser. However, his profile and trading card clearly state him to be a boy, and a "character distinction chart" by Hidekaz Himaruya also lists him as as a male.

Hong Kong and Taiwan
Rumor: Hong Kong and Taiwan are twins.

Fact: There is nothing in the series to suggest this being the case, though some fans will often consider the two to be twins due to their connections to China and both appearing to be young. Furthermore, the territories have had little history shared together other than both being under control of China, so while it is likely that they would be considered "siblings", it is not very likely that they would be twins.