Canada

Matthew Williams (マシュー・ウィリアムズ, Masshuu Viriamuzu) is a character in the series Axis Powers Hetalia/Hetalia: Axis Powers. He represents the country Canada (カナダ,Kanada) and is the brother of Alfred F.Jones (America).

Appearance
His hair is wavy, and depicted at times as being two-toned: A lighter blond on top, with more of an orange (or darker blond) shade on the bottom and tips. He has violet eyes, though they have also been colored blue in some of the official art featuring him. At least one figurine depicts him with completely orange hair. The anime depicts him with the same dark blond hair as his brother, and slightly darker blue eyes. He also sports a curly ahoge off the top of his head.

Matthew wears a heavy tan winter coat and pants as his military uniform, though when he's dressed casual, he is usually shown wearing a hoodie (sometimes depicted with the Canadian flag emblem on it), and a pair of jeans. Like his brother, Matthew wears glasses, though he also sports a pair of goggles on his head at times (such as when wearing his uniform). The picture at the right depicts him in his younger days, presumably in his early teens.

Although often drawn as shorter in fanart, official art makes it clear that Matthew is either the same height/build as Alfred, or very close to it.

Personality And Interests
In contrast to Alfred, Matthew is shy, sensitive, and hates fighting. Despite this, he is often mistaken for his brother and has found himself in trouble for incidents that Alfred has caused. When he's not being mistaken for his brother, all the other nations seem to forget that he exists. He is also passive aggressive and was once able to make Alfred cry by arguing with him for over three hours and pointing out every single one of his faults.

He has a pet polar bear named Kumajirou, but even it forgets about him. In return, Matthew can't ever remember his bear's exact name.

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

The two brothers grew up separately as children, until Arthur eventually took Matthew on a trip to meet Alfred, who wound up becoming bored with him and forgetting him shortly into their first meeting.

In their adulthood, Alfred is the source of his constant troubles, due to the fact that people get their identities mixed up and he gets blamed for fights that Alfred started. However, during an argument, Matthew was able to reduce Alfred to tears when he went on a 3-hour rant about all of his flaws. Despite this, the two seem to have a healthy relationship, as their arguing and Alfred's frequent forgetting of him can merely come off as sibling rivalry.

Cuba
Main Article: Cuba

Cuba, as well as numerous other nations, initially mistook Matthew for Alfred and beat him up. Later, he apologized with a peace offering of ice cream. The two get along well, though Cuba still sometimes mistakes Matthew for his brother.

In The Anime


Matthew and Kumajirou appear briefly in Episode 19, at an Allied Forces meeting. But due to Matthew's "invisibility effect", the other Allies do not realize that he's there with them.

He makes an appearance after the credits of Episode 34, and turns up late for a G8 meeting in Episode 35, though none of the countries realize he's missing. After the credits, he is tormented by Cuba after being mistaken for Alfred.

In Episode 52, France correctly identifies him as he has "gorgeous silky hair" like France's.

In Episode 53, Matthew plays a game of catch with Alfred.

His design was slightly altered for the anime, with his eyes changed to blue and his hair drawn slightly shorter and straighter, as well as colored dark blond and missing its gradient effect. His casual hoodie, often assumed to be red (though colored light green in one official pic), is also colored teal.

He is voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi, who also voices Alfred in the anime. In an interview with PASH magazine, Konishi said that he played Matthew's voice as very quiet and "barely above a whisper", in contrast to the louder Alfred.

Trivia

 * His birthday, July 1st, corresponds to the national holiday of Canada Day, when Canada first became independent on July 1st, 1867. Although, full independence wasn't gained until August 1982.


 * There is no definite source for his first name, Matthew. Across Canada, 'Matthew' has been a greatly popular name for newborns in recent decades, often in the top three most frequently given first names. Coincidentally or not, the caravel sailed by John Cabot from Bristol to North America in 1497 was named Matthew. John Cabot and his crew are thought to have reached somewhere in Newfoundland (unusually, not a province of Canada until 1949). In fanworks, his name is occasionally spelled "Matthieu" or "Mathieu", acknowledging past and present French influence on Canada.


 * It is a source of debate as to whether Alfred or Matthew is the older of the two brothers. Hidekaz Himaruya has yet to confirm the age difference between the two. A common fanon assumption is that the two are twins, due to their similarities and the fact that Matthew is easily mistaken for Alfred (due to having the same face), though the two do not share the same day of birth. Some parts of the fandom assert that the nation's birthdays merely refer to their date of independence or unification, and that a "nation" may not have an official birthday in the same sense as humans, thus making the lack of a same birthday a non-issue. For example, both Matthew and Alfred existed as colonies for an undefined period of time, fought over between France and England. It's possible, according to some fans, that Canada and America were born before then and could thus be "twin nations", with their birthdays being mere formalities that appeared when each gained independence.


 * Despite Canada's timid nature, he is speculated to have a rather fierce nature in battle much similar to Finland. This idea is brought through the history of the War of 1812, and both World Wars, the first especially when Germany referred to Canadian soldiers as "Shock/Storm Troopers" (Australia was also referred to as "Shock/Storm Troopers" during the First World War).