Hidekaz Himaruya's Production Notes On Prussia[]
A fellow fan and I did some digging yesterday from the hidden/"lost" pictures and links that Japanese fans listed, along with finding our own discoveries (rearranging the filenames of a few files, for instance, to find more pics). One hidden page on Kitayume is a "production notes" page with some trivia on a few characters, and there's a wealth of info on Prussia, which another fan managed to translate for us.
The "East Germany" fandom theory just got quite the evidence going for it:
- "After WWII, while he was under Russia's control and dreaming of Italy's warm sunshine, he was stuck with doing unprofitable jobs."
^Hidekaz Himaruya, on the fate of Prussia, post-WWII.
It could also play into a smaller theory that he becomes "Kaliningrad Oblast" (since it used to be Konigsberg). But I remember Himaruya also stated in a blogpost that he sees Gilbert as being lonely in the present day due to being more of an "enclave" than a true nation, and that in the present day he freeloads off of his brother by living with him.
So to me, all this would suggest that Gilbert does in fact become East Germany as his next "evolution", even if it's not historically accurate (as detractors of the theory often bring up to debunk it). And then after the Berlin Wall falls, he somehow hangs around as his own entity and isn't absorbed/wiped out of existence, likely due to the fact that East and West still have sort of a divide in them. Kind of like the northern and southern halves of Italy, come to think of it.
Other tidbits on the creation of the Prussia character:
- "Personality-wise, he loves to fight and often says things that will start quarrels."
- "Since birth, he has been wielding his sword for the survival of that person, so he is very strong."
- "He has gone on a rampage in Hungary and Poland before, so his relationships with these two are rather rocky."
- "Also, his manners are quite terrible. (Prussian troops are quite known for their bad behaviour.)"
- "He is supposed to be around Austria's age, maybe just a little older, but he doesn't look like it."
- "He loves Friedrich II a lot. Even after his death, whenever something or someone brings up the history of Friedrich II, he'll be depressed."
"[Miscellaneous] Initially, his hair style had not been fixed, his head was covered with his hat, and he was a pitiful character who has to endure being forced to go through tough times. Initially, the plan was to draw him acting his age, but he gradually became more childish. A discarded character design has him with long hair and a face like Poland's."
All this is from: http://www.geocities.jp/himaruya/matome_heta.html. Hopefully the rest of the notes will be translated! Ceras SanMarina 17:57, 18 June 2009 (UTC)
Hello! I think you're pretty right with this theory. There is some kind of East-West-divide in these days. (I'm from Germany, so I have to know that ^^) So, like Romano, he seems to be a part of a nation whose people are mentally divided. Elena-Fan (talk) 19:17, July 1, 2015 (UTC)