England

England (イギリス, Igirisu) is a main character in the anime and manga series Hetalia: Axis Powers. He represents both the United Kingdom and England, and is part of the Allied Forces. The English dub refers to him as Britain, a shortened and often informal way to refer to the United Kingdom.

In 2008, Himaruya gave out human names to some of the characters and he received the name Arthur Kirkland (アーサー・カークランド, Āsā Kākurando).

Appearance
Main article: Uniform Guide: England England has messy, short blond hair and lime-green eyes. According to France, he's rather slender. In World War II, he dresses in a green dress military uniform, which consists of a green jacket, a brown Sam Browne Belt (the over-the-right-shoulder-and-waist-belt), green pants tucked into his boots, off-white shirt (sort of off-yellow in the manga and webcomic in the colored drawings), a tie that's a shade of green that's slightly darker than the rest of his uniform, and brown boots that almost come up to his knees.

Himaruya has stated that he dresses smart casual most of the time, and as a punk when he's out for fun. His eyebrows are very prominent and bushy, despite that he apparently trims them. Himaruya mentions that his eyebrows were cursed into bushiness. They are a trait that is shared by his younger brother Sealand, as well as Australia, Hong Kong, and Wy. He also happens to be the same height as France.

In the original manga, his hair seemed to be golden blond, but in the first four seasons of the anime, it is bright yellow. The first four seasons of the anime also exaggerated the size of his eyebrows.

Personality and Interests
England is a fanciful, blunt, obstinate former pirate who used to torment Spain. In modern times he claims to be a gentleman; however, he is cynical, sharp-tongued, prone to rough speech, and yearns for the golden years. He often uses British vocabulary, such as 'bloody' and 'git'. He is noted for being horrible at cooking which has caused America, his former charge, to have "bad" taste in food.

England is also, apparently, the "king of losing things", and France has described him as "somehow extremely useless when it comes to matters not pertaining to himself or America". He can be described as "spacey" because of his strong belief in magic, spirits, fairies, and other fantasy creatures. He has the ability to perform magic, such as spells and curses, and can also summon demons and other magical creatures. He is able to communicate with supernatural beings and is not limited to creatures from his homeland, being able to interact with youkai and spirits from Japanese folklore. He also happens to have fantasy friends, such as a flying bunny, unicorns, fairies, gnomes, and Captain Hook, but oddly enough he did not believe in Santa Claus until Finland came and brought them presents. Despite this, England often ridicules America's belief in aliens and Tony.

According to the author's notes, England's interests include embroidery, craftsmanship, literature, rock music, and giving scathing criticisms to America's movies. He appears to be sharp-witted and surprisingly creative, although he seems to have rather bad luck. According to the author, he is rarely afraid of anything, and is rather interested in ghost stories, especially if he can use them to startle America. He also seems to be very stubborn and strong-willed and does not easily succumb to stress or pressure. He is shown to be startlingly mature at times and is very friendly with young or cute people and magical creatures. He also has a quite strong sense of responsibility and has been seen scolding France and America when they don't take things seriously. In some recent notes, the author has stated that England has a very rich and unlimited personality and that he can't decide whether England is a serious person or not.

Because of his status as an island nation, England is pretty distant and prefers to work alone. Perhaps because of this, he does not know how to express himself, leading to others often misunderstanding him. He is also depicted as being self-deprecating or tsundere. For example, despite his generally harsh behavior, he is definitely stated to have a softer side and seems to genuinely care for other nations. This is illustrated by the fact that he likes giving them advice, yet specifically mentions that he "does not do it because he's worried about them". Despite all this, he highly values his country's pride, and sometimes comes over as very arrogant. Despite his cynical, realistic view of the world, he is said to be a "quite a romanticist before he goes to sleep." When drunk, he suddenly becomes very nostalgic, and the next morning, he'll pretend that nothing has happened. Also, every year when the Fourth of July comes around, his condition collapses.

In a blog post, England is depicted as not being able to swim to illustrate how British characters can't swim in movies.

It has been mentioned that England has brothers, one representing Scotland, and the others presumably Wales and Northern Ireland, who hate him and used to drive him away with stones and arrows when he was a child, and even went as far as to mail him curses.

Allied Forces

 * America: When the young America was discovered by Finland, England and France fought for the right to be his older brother. England had wanted the title and claim so much that he had managed to sneak a quick meet with America and establish a small bond with him before America later chose to be with Britain. Since then, Britain took his role as America's guardian very seriously and did everything he could to care for the young nation while still having fun by scaring the young boy while dressed in Halloween costumes. However, their relationship became greatly strained when America sought his own independence and the two fought each other in the Revolution where Britain ultimately decided to give America his freedom as he did not wish to harm him. Though their relationship remained tense for several years afterwards, Britain still cared for America and looked out for him when he could. When intoxicated, Britain often makes references to being left heartbroken for centuries and it is heavily believed he means America no longer needing him. Their relationship seemed to recover over the next several decades although Britain still often criticizes America's choices as both his own country and the self-proclaimed leader of the Allied Forces.


 * France: Despite the fact that both are members of the Allied forces, England and France have a deep-rooted historical rivalry. While they often have petty disagreements, they appear to respect each other and are quick to team up if a third party enters their argument. France once tried to marry England to save his country, even though neither of them really wanted it. In strips focusing on England's childhood, he is often picked on by a pre-teen France. On one occasion, he scoffs at England for not growing out his hair, but when England's does let his hair grow, it turns into a mess; France teases him, saying he'll cut it into a "cool" style only to cut it back to its original style. In Crossing Through the Year 1000, the two younger countries are fooled into believing that the world will end soon, and England agrees to let France pretend to have conquered him, since it is only for a little while. They later reminisce about their childhood when Japan makes the same mistake. In the movie "Paint it White" they said "they have an undesirable relationship but indestructible and in their heart they get along very well".

The Axis

 * Japan: England gets along well with Japan. Since they both discovered they did not have many friends and were somewhat lonely, they formed a friendship with one another. Although admitting he didn't know Japan very well at first, Britain admires his polite nature and mature behavior. Britain also enjoys the hot springs in Japan's home but is puzzled as to why Japan is not able to see the various mystical spirits of his country.

Others

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


 * Seychelles: During their first meeting in the Gakuen Hetalia universe, England snaps a dog collar onto Seychelles and claims her as his colony. He uses her like a servant in the game, though they occasionally are able to get along. In one of Seychelles' appearances in the comic, she is shown to be angry at England.

Anime
England first appeared in Episode 01 where he disagreed with America's plan to stop global warming and later fighting with France before being stopped by Germany.

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

Name
The name Arthur is likely to be a reference to Sir Arthur Ignatius 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.

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

Character Songs
Marukaite Chikyuu (UK)

Hatafutte Parade (England)

Mawaru Chikyuu Rondo (England)

England's Evil Demon Summoning Song

Pub and GO!

Absolutely Invincible British Gentleman

Let's Enjoy Today

My Friend

Wa! Wa!! World Ondo (featured)

We Wish You A Merry Christmas (featured)

United Nations Star (featured)

Gallery
England Image Gallery

Trivia

 * 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 he would only be known as England to his brothers, while he would be known as UK to the others. However, the English dub refers to him as Britain. According to FUNimation, this was a request from the Japanese anime producers.


 * 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.


 * 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 England 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 a Shiba Inu.


 * 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.


 * His birthday could be referred to the 23rd of April, or St. George's Day.


 * Himaruya once stated that his 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 he 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).


 * According to a blog post (11/14/10), ironically, island nation and former pirate England, cannot swim (in reference to English people in movies,) although, historically, many pirates could not swim. Although, in the Gakuen Hetalia PSP game, he jumps into the water to save a drowning America. The original blogpost was a parody based on characters from English movies and there is nothing to suggest England cannot in fact swim, though the fandom seems to have adopted the idea misguidedly.


 * In a translated blog post (17 January 2015) of the official Himaruya blog, it is confirmed that his tattoo is located on his butt.