Malaysia (マレーシア, Marēshia) is a supporting character in the series Hetalia. He is the personification of Malaysia.
Appearance[]
Chibi Malaysia from 2021[1]
Malaysia has mauve-colored hair with slightly short mullet reaching his shoulder. His hair is spiky which resembles a tiger (ears), the national animal of Malaysia. His eyes color similar to sunset hue.
He wears a Royal Malay Regiment uniform with medals and Hibiscus flower on his chest. He is also shown having a fang tooth up-close.
Personality and Interests[]
Malaysia is described as a country of "Budi Bahasa Budaya Kita" which translates to "Courtesy is our culture". He also values harmony between people.
Malaysia is friendly, down-to-earth, respectful of his peers, whether he is confident in himself or not, is difficult to determine. Despite that, he takes honor and dignity seriously.
Malaysia is a fan of unusual foods, including sea cucumbers and horseshoe crabs.
Appearances[]
Manga[]
Malaysia first appears in Chapter 378 of Hetalia: World Stars where he is seen collecting sea cucumbers.
Three chapters later (Chapter 381), he finally arrives at the ASEAN meeting; however, he is so late that he had missed the whole thing. He shows off the massive sea cucumber that he had caught to use it for cooking, which turns out to be America's cheese.
After the ASEAN meeting, Malaysia along with Indonesia and Philippines hang out together.
Relationships[]
Singapore[]
Main article: Singapore
Malaysia is Singapore's self-proclaimed big brother, and the two of them lived in the same house. However, Singapore does not like to call Malaysia big brother and will try to avoid doing so.
Malaysia and Singapore get quite heated up over their water bill, and Singapore does not treat him that well as a result.
It has been years since Singapore last showed his smiles to Malaysia. In the end, however, Malaysia concludes that he is actually Singapore's one and only special person since Singapore acts cold only towards him.
Indonesia[]
Main article: Indonesia
Indonesia together with Malaysia and Philippines discusses Singapore's personality and behavior around other nations besides Malaysia. Malaysia complained about Singapore's cold attitude to the point he even threatened Malaysia. However, Indonesia disagree since it is hard to believe for Singapore to act in such a way because Singapore smiles a lot.
When Malaysia stated that he, himself, is someone special to Singapore with enthusiasms, Indonesia praises Malaysia's positivity and would want to learn from him.
Philippines[]
Main article: Philippines
Philippines is seen to be distracted while Malaysia is complaining about Singapore. At the end of chapter 382, Philippines said that he is happy for Malaysia despite not understanding what is currently happening.
Iceland[]
Main article: Iceland
Malaysia is initially jealous of Iceland, as seen in in World Stars Chapter 447, when it is revealed that Indonesia said that Malaysia was second to Iceland regarding favorites. In the same chapter, Iceland gets invited over to Philippines' place where some of the ASEAN countries have met up. Iceland struggles with conversation largely because he has not talked to many others outside of Europe and the Nordic Five, and he lives far away from others. Malaysia and Iceland then find a common subject when Malaysia serves Iceland 'bull p*nis soup' and Iceland talks about his Phallological museum.
Trivia[]
- America's voice actor Katsuyuki Konishi once stated, during Hetalia Seiyuu Event (2010) that if he had the chance to take another role, he'll go for Malaysia.
- A few years before the official Malaysia character was revealed, Hidekaz Himaruya had revealed a sketch of a person with the Malaysian flag and the caption "Malaysia is possibly the most requested Asian character. The person we're meeting has a seriously laid-back, strong-willed, simple, gentle, and kind personality." However, Himaruya had revealed that the sketch was not a design for Malaysia, but of a person he had met there. This caused confusion for a long time and a bit of confusion for the character fan community when the final design was released.
- Malaysia's drafts design was revealed by Himaruya on Twitter on May 31, 2021[1]. In one of his early drafts, Malaysia had similar hair to Singapore. His official design was updated in Hetalia Chapter 381 with some minor changes. From Malaysia's biodata, the phrase "Budi Bahasa Budaya Kita" references to one of Malaysia's culture of courtesy campaign, which was introduced in 2005.
- The flower at Malaysia's left chest is Hibiscus rosa-sinensis the national flower of Malaysia, called "bunga raya" (great flower).
- Malaysia's insistence in Singapore calling him big brother and Singapore's refusal to do so mirrors Norway's insistence on Iceland calling him 'big brother', though the latter refuses.
Notes[]