User blog:Ceras SanMarina/Kitayume rarities: Old Hidekaz Himaruya Q&A bits on UK

In the Japanese fandom this year, a few different fanwikis have surfaced on the internet. Some of these wikis have turned out to be a goldmine when it comes to lost images and information on Hetalia. Though Himaruya did remove several images from his site, a good portion still exist "hidden" in the site files (though others seem to be permanently gone, sad as that is).

Some Japanese fans also luckily took the liberty of archiving posts from the old Kitayume blog before its shutdown, and some of the text from those is archived on the fanwikis.

The most interesting of those "lost" questions have to do with the status of Arthur Kirkland ("Is he England or is he the UK?") and tidbits about his brothers, as well as a potential Ireland character. Web translators fail at getting translation across clearly, but an anonymous fan has translated them (with minor grammar corrections done for easier flow). I don't know if they'll be posted to the main community, so I'll just post them here for now.

Himaruya does mention Scotland, N.Ireland, and Wales in a note on England's eyebrows in a "memo" section on his site, underneath an image of England/UK and Sealand as dot-eyed chibis. The rough translation is a little something like this:

"I would like to draw Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. They would all have these same eyebrows."

The source for all the below quotes is this UK fanwiki, where you can find them (as well as the above) in raw Japanese:


 * Mayugeiggg (Fourth Q&A section)

A fan's question on the UK brothers
&gt;Q: Do you have plans to bring out Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

A: Yes (I think). But I haven't stopped drawing about the UK yet. I'll probably debut them someday when I draw all about the life of United Kingdom But it looks like the spotlight is going to continue on United Kingdom before then.

''Note: This was a rather old question too, it seems (being from his old blog). Judging by how he's stalled in his storylines and work, undoubtedly due to other works and real life, it may be even longer before we see these guys show up in canon. Designs for them would be nice though!''

Is he England, the UK, both?
&gt;Q: Is the UK England?

  A: The UK is UK

He is "England" only when his big brothers Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales appear.

''Note: It seems the fanon assumption that Arthur acts as the representative of all of them for the UK does indeed have basis. So he's both England AND the UK, but is only truly "England" when his brothers are around. If that's tricky enough, the merchandise and profiles can't really decide on which name to call him by either. And look, Northern Ireland is referred to as a "big brother" again!''

On (the Republic of) Ireland
&gt;Q: I was told that Northern Ireland has the same eyebrows as UK, but is Ireland the same? Or different?

A: Ireland's are a bit fatter, but they seem to give off a different feeling than the UK Brothers.

''Note: This is the question I was most intrigued to know the translation of. So there we have it: N.Ireland and Ireland are separate characters...and it seems Ireland's brows are even bigger than all the UK brothers'. Seeing as how thick the anime makes those brows at times, Ireland's must be pretty frightening. Also, in the original text and translation, Himaruya refers to Ireland as "Mr.Eire" (Mr.Airu). Cute~''