Changes: Netherlands

Revision as of 22:22, 23 December 2010

Netherlands (Holland) オランダ

Name:	Kingdom of the Netherlands (Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
Human Name:	N/A
Alternative Spelling(s):	N/A
Age:	Unknown
Gender:	Male
Birthday:	Unknown
Hair Color:	Blond (early color chart, FIFA 2010 chibi banner), Light Brown
Eye Color:	Green (early color chart, FIFA 2010 banner), Amber (World Cup sketch), Blue (uniform sketch)
Height:	Unknown
First Appearance (volume):	Volume 3 (formal debut)
First Appearance (strip):	The Battle for America (silhouette), Netherlands and Japan’s Isolation (formal debut)
First Appearance (anime):	Episode 39: The Battle For America (Silhouette)
Japanese VA:	Hiroki Yasumoto (Silhouette form, episode 39)
English VA:	N/A

The Netherlands (オランダ, Oranda; also known as Holland), is a minor character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers. He represents the country of the Netherlands (of which Holland is a region, see Trivia for explanation of the naming problem). He is the older brother of Belgium and Luxembourg.

Appearance

The Netherlands has somewhat short, spiky pale brown (or blond) hair with sideburns, and eyes that have varied between being amber, green, or blue in different colored artwork. He is shown to be quite muscular and about the same height as Denmark, and has a small vertical scar on his forehead. He also wears a long, blue and white striped scarf, shown in his formal debut in the series as well as a uniform sketch.

Personality and Interests

The Netherlands is said to be a strong strategist and world-dominating type of man who likes really young women (aka Lolita Complex, or lolicon) and thinks nothing of using some types of shady drugs.

In Volume 3 (p. 20) of the manga the character profile says that he is "The solemn, neat freak, downer, Hokuriku-dialect speaking, scheming older brother. (Hokuriku is the region west of Tokyo on the Japan Sea side of Japan.) Of course he goes Dutch. Of course his kitchen and garden maintenence is flawless. By the way, he loves bunnies! The raw materials for his cooking come from Germany!".
Also on a different page (p.61) it is stated that he also is "a neurotic, solemn, free older brother" who "hates tied things and messy gardens".'

As mentioned in Christmas Rampage 2007, he once fought with Turkey over the title of "The Tulip Country".

The notes in Rampage also revealed that he has another sibling, Luxembourg.

The Netherlands is depicted as a smoking a marijuana blunt in one sketch, further reflecting the infamy of marijuana and other drugs in Amsterdam. In his formal debut in the series, he is shown constantly smoking from a pipe.

In the Battle For America strip, he is mentioned to have beat up both Sweden and Finland after they built a villa (New Sweden) in the "new world". Finland proceeds to worry about what would happen if the Netherlands found the baby America.

The Netherlands also owns a pet rabbit, whose name is not yet known.

Relationships

Belgium

Main article: Belgium

The Netherlands and Belgium are said to have had difficult relations, stemming from when they were both under Spain's control. When the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg left to become independent and fought against Spain in the Dutch Revolt and the Eighty Years' War. Both Belgium and Luxembourg where captured back by spain in 1685 and in the end had to fight against their brother.

He later tried to reconcile with Belgium so they could both form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but due to their irreconcilable differences (the Netherlands being better with trade and influenced by the Protestant British versus Belgium being better with farming and influenced by the Catholic French), it did not work out and Belgium declared her independence.

It is said that she is often pushed around by both the Netherlands and their other sibling Luxembourg.

Japan

Main article: Japan

Though the Netherlands acted aggressive towards most others, he refrained from acting this way towards Japan to convince him to open trade with foreigners, due to having had a companionship with him for years before.

Also, in the Netherlands and Isolationist!Japan comic, it is shown that the Netherlands is visibly bothered by the fact that Japan signed a peace treaty with America.

Spain

Main article: Spain

The Netherlands does not get along well with Spain at all, to where it is said that he likes to punch him. He eventually left to become independent, but found that he had to fight against his sister and brother as well (who had been captured back by Spain).

In the Anime

SilhouetteNetherlands — Netherlands as a monstrous silhouette, his first appearance within the anime

The silhouette version of the Netherlands briefly appeared in Episode 39: The Battle For America, where he was drawn slightly more "monster-like" than how he appeared in the manga strip. He is voiced by Hiroki Yasumoto in this cameo. He also makes a shilouetted appearance in Episode 64, on a war relations list.

Trivia

Though notes on the Netherlands were given as early as 2007, his actual appearance remained shrouded in mystery until Hidekaz Himaruya drew an illustration to commemorate Group E in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Before the illustration, all that was known of his appearance was that he had blond hair and green eyes (though he appeared with somewhat different colors in the FIFA group shot). His silhouetted form also briefly appeared in both The Battle For America and an illustration in the webcomic version of The War Of Austrian Succession.
Due to both the Netherlands and Holland being referred to as Oranda in Japanese, his name is commonly translated as "Holland" rather than "Netherlands" (which would be the more technically-correct term as Holland only refers to two of its provinces). However, both names are sometimes mistakenly used interchangeably for the entire Netherlands, similar to the tendency to refer to the United Kingdom as "England". It should be noted that sometimes the Dutch people refer to their own country as Holland.
It was believed by some fans that the scar on Netherlands' forehead was either a result of the Dutch Revolt or from one of the historical floods such as the Great Storm of 1703 or the North Sea Flood of 1953. But as the Netherlands appears as a teenager with the scar in the 1500s (in volume 3), these theories have been rendered moot and it remains unknown as to how he received it. Another possibility would be the flood of 1421, which killed 10,000 people.
An early answer to a question in 2007 described the Netherlands as a tsundere type of character who loves to fight, and that was xenophobic. However, it remains to be seen if the latter is part of his characterization or if he is still a tsundere type.
In Volume 3 both character profiles of Belgium and the Netherlands say that they are older sisters and brothers, not depicting who of them is older. However this could imply that their sibling Luxembourg is younger then them.
In a recent blog post, Himaruya has mentioned fan suggested options for his human name, including Tim, Govert, Abel, and Mogens.

@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 ''Main article: [[Belgium]]''
-The Netherlands and Belgium are said to have had difficult relations, stemming from when they were both under [[Spain]]'s control. When the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg left to become independent and fought against Spain in the [[wikipedia:Dutch Revolt|Dutch Revolt]] and the [[wikipedia:Eighty Years' War|Eighty Years' War]]. But both Belgium and Luxembourg where captured back by spain in 1685 and in the end had to fight against their brother.
+The Netherlands and Belgium are said to have had difficult relations, stemming from when they were both under [[Spain]]'s control. When the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg left to become independent and fought against Spain in the [[wikipedia:Dutch Revolt|Dutch Revolt]] and the [[wikipedia:Eighty Years' War|Eighty Years' War]]. Both Belgium and Luxembourg where captured back by spain in 1685 and in the end had to fight against their brother.
 He later tried to reconcile with Belgium so they could both form the ''Kingdom of the Netherlands'', but due to their irreconcilable differences (the Netherlands being better with trade and influenced by the Protestant [[England|British]] versus Belgium being better with farming and influenced by the Catholic [[France|French]]), it did not work out and Belgium declared her independence.