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X-I-L2048 — APH: Hello, Little One! ~ colored
Published: 2012-09-14 03:09:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 1708; Favourites: 103; Downloads: 12
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Description
My friend posted a lineart waaaaayyy back in February for others to color, and I finally decided to take her up on the offer.
T’was fun. ^w^ I got to try out some new grass brushes for the first time, and, as always, the hair was just too fun to shade. 8D APH © Himaruya Hidakez
Lineart © ~ScarletteDiscord
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Comments: 62
So cute! I like how you added the little details like the single blades of grass and the mud on America's gown skirt and feet. Very realistic. Love it!
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Thanks so much! ^-^ I'm glad you like it.
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NP I hardly get to see any brotherly England and America pics these days. They're usually all yaoi. It's rare to find brother fluff pictures of England and America, and even more rare to find those kind of pictures when they're older.
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IKR? And that goes for almost any platonic paring in this fandom from what I've found. (I say almost, because there are a couple broships that stay mostly broships even though some people ship them romantically, like AmeCan and PolHun.) For instance, I broship America and China hardcore because of reasons, but it is literally almost impossible to find pics of them just hanging out since almost no one draws them together anyway, and when they do it's usually to ship them. Ah, the downside of being in a fandom that predominately consists of yaoi fangirls.
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I don't know about China and America, but I broship China and Japan. It's not as cute as with England and America, but it has its bittersweet tones to it.
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lol - I know, it's a bit random, isn't it? I guess the reason I love the pairing so much is that a friend of mine and I have a futuristic crossover AU where America and China are the only original nations left after humanity migrated to another star system after using Earth up, so the two have had a lot of time to bond over the centuries and have become very close as a result (so much so that they've become essentially one political entity in two bodies because of the way this universe's culture developed and evolved). It's admittedly not even close to canon, but their dynamic turned out to be heartwarming and adorable and so very bittersweet, and I've found that I can't get enough of it. X3 And I do like Japan and China (and all the East Asians) together, too, moreso when Japan is younger.
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Actually, I don't believe the relationship of China and America is really that random, because they do have a bonding moment in Hetalia and history with them. I only said "I don't know about China and America," because even history wise, there's not really anything interesting about America's relationship with China. I mean, personally, I find America relationship with Japan more interesting. I mean those two did pretty nasty things to each other, their relationship building over... well... over those times they've teased or mocked each other only to find more good in each other. Like when America came in his black ships and Japan tried to shoo America away, he happen to find America's seek of adventure admirable. When America tried to con Japan with an Ouija Board, he learned that Japan has fears of fitting in with the Westerners. It makes their relationship relatable, because we have made friends with someone we didn't like or loathed at first sight, then began liking that person the more we got to know him/her. Not only that, but those type of friendships tend to last longer too.
With China and America, their friendship seems to go back and forth. It's too much in the middle. Not that it's not relatable, but China and America, relationship wise, would be that friend you don't like, but don't hate either. Basically, it would be that friend you tolerate. To America, China is like one of those, "okay, I'll invite you to my sleepover or my birthday party, but I'm not going to go to a movie or McDonalds with you." A lukewarm friendship.
Now, China and Japan has an interesting relationship. It's very similar to England's and America's without the rivalry. It's the kind where one second, they seem to be doing fine, next thing you know, they hate each other, than the next day they love each other. It's one of those relationships that's like a roller coaster and you don't know which part of the track their relationship is at or when it's going to change. Though, they do seem to be alot more alike and understand each other better than anyone else (which is probably why they tolerate each other so well). It's also baffling that their relationship with America is so different too. With China, it's more lukewarm, while with Japan, there's more something going on. Though, at the same time, they both seem to have grown their close CLOSE relationship with one particular country in a similar fashion. China and Russia did start out as enemies, but then the more they got to know each other, the more they seem to like each other (hell, China is still communist after Russia gave that up!). Now, that I think about it, Japan's and Russia's relationship is lukewarm too. Really, the only difference between China and Japan is that they're taking Westernization ideas from two different countries. China's getting his bad ideas from Russia, and Japan is getting his bad ideas from us Americans.
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Oh no, I totally get that from a historical standpoint, America/Japan is more of a viable possibility for broship in terms of actual closeness (though I personally broship South Korea with America more than I do Japan - though I do like AmePan - simply because I like how America and SK's personalities go together better). Not that there isn't friendliness or cordiality on America and China's part, but I totally agree that they're not THAT close, and there are many other countries that they're better friends with. It's more that because their relationship had more time to develop and grow during the AU I mentioned, they became much closer than they currently are today, and their personalities also happen to bounce off each other very well. That's why I personally like it so much. It's not that I'm saying it's a more likely or viable broship than the ones you mentioned, just that I have a particular affinity for it because of the way events transpired in an alternate timeline. That's all.
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Ah, I see.
There's not really much Hetalia shows of America and South Korea. The only time the two ever are seen together is when South Korea goes about how he disagrees with Japan on everything, then reluctantly agrees with America, who asks "do I know you?" I see their relationship being more like South Korea is America's fanboy after America helped him win the Korean War.
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Yeah, I know. I don't stick to the canon 100% in a lot of things, and that goes for South Korea and America's relationship, too. South Korea is one of the top countries in the world that constantly has a generally positive view of America, and there's been consistent good economic and political relations between them. So even though they don't interact much in canon, I think that they'd hang out a lot anyway, like, say, Poland and Hungary probably would. Poland's always portrayed as hanging around Lithuania in canon, but historically, the relationship between Hungary and Poland has been much smoother and closer than the one between Lithuania and Poland. They even have songs and a holiday commemorating their long friendship. Not that I'm saying Poland and Liet aren't friends, because I do think they are, but not "OH YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND LET ME HANG OUT WITH YOU ALL THE TIME" like they're commonly portrayed in fanon. There was some BAD blood between them over the years, particularly before, during, and after WWII.
But you're welcome to ship whatever you want. 
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Personally, I don't even think Lithuania and Poland are really "friends" in cannon. If anything, they act more like neighbors. I don't know the relationship with Poland and Hungry though. I would guess it's very good. Hetalia was based off of web comics from a blog, so I don't really expect that all of the relationships would be portrayed, especially since the relationships depended on how much Hidekazu knew or learned. From what I've learned, it seemed that he had gotten his information about each country from touring those countries. I'm actually dead serious about that.
More than the anime, you actually do learn more about each of the countries by reading the blogs with the web comics than the comics itself. You also learn little bits about each character. Like did you know that it's cannon that, while England's cooking is generally terrible, he makes really great deserts like pastries, chocolate truffles, and scones (when they're not burned). It also explains why America craves hamburgers so much. Before hamburgers, he craved meat in general like beef, steak and chicken. It does hint that in the comics, but it doesn't really get into the history of why America loves hamburgers. Apparently, America used to move around alot, so he preferred meals that would be easy to transport and made into meals.
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Yup. I think the fans can sometimes do a lot more to flesh out the countries and their relationships with each other than Himaruya has time to do, and if they want to tweak or change a few things to better fit in with "historical" canon rather than the actual canon, no one can really fault them for it, since history is a rather subjective thing anyway. Everything from crack to very dark and serious is theoretically completely acceptable for this type of series, since the characters and situations are so versatile and can be interpreted in so many different ways. ^-^
Hey, that's cool! 8D I didn't know that England was good at making desserts, but it does make sense that there're SOME things he can actually cook (a friend of mine head-canons that he can actually make really good Indian food).
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I agree. I mean if we were to get technical of what is cannon and what is not, it really depends on how much Himaruya has learned through his tours of the other countries. However you interpret, I always try to follow the golden rule. Himaruya stated that he focuses on keeping the characters in character than historical accuracy (something Family Guy and Spongebob seriously need to take notes on with their new episodes). Even in the anime, I did notice a few things that were censored, but compared to the censoring in Yugioh, I never really felt the few censors in Hetalia were unnecessary. In fact, pretty much every single one of them WERE necessary. Like replacing Italy giving Holy Rome his underwear with giving him his push broom was very clever and ten times better than the original. The only censor I ever found "unnecessary" was taking out South Korea, but I didn't complain about that either, because... I can see why the Koreans found him offensive. (I did think South Korea wanting to squeeze Japan's man boobs was going a bit too far. Not to mention I never found him funny at all. For the most part, everytime he was around, he was annoying as hell. There were a few comic stripts with him I found funny, but they were the ones when Japan wasn't or hardly around or part of the subject. Not that I hate South Korea, but I find him degrading at times)
It's hinted that England might be good at cooking beef too, though he was taught by France (that was pretty obvious). The reason England's food usually tastes bad is because England has a tendency of burning the food he cooks. This isn't always the case though. You know, maybe for the plantonians, England should've just stuck to making pastries.
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I think that many of the changes made for the anime were good ones, too. Though APH has evolved considerably since Himaruya started drawing it, so there’re bound to be some changes in characterization and tone as the years go by. Just compare some of the characters now to what they started as. Himaruya’s even deleted some strips from the official archive, presumably because he doesn’t think they fit into the canon well anymore. So I think that the “canon” as it is is a very fluid and evolving thing, and since APH is so silly anyway, there’s a lot of leeway to interpret things the way you want to.
On the subject of Korea, in my opinion, I think they overreacted. I mean, they’re going to look at a few pieces of fanart (NOT official art, if you'll notice, fanart), take the character and the show completely out of context, and then declare a dinky, silly little webcomic that is made for LAUGHS a “national crime”? Sheesh, seems like someone has some self-esteem issues to me. Get over yourselves and get a life, South Korea, seriously; you are bigger than a parody comic on the internet. >_> And personally, I never really found SK all that offensive, especially given how some other nations are portrayed. Himaruya takes jibes at every nation on Earth, even his home country, so it’d only make sense that he’d poke some fun at South Korea, too. I know a lot of APH fans of South Korean descent actually really like the character, and don't find him that offensive at all. I’ll let this little exchange (slightly edited for grammar, length and coherency) I found on TV Tropes explain things:
"I just had to bring it up. I am a fan of Hetalia in general, but it still kind of bugs me that Korea and Japan's antagonistic relationship seems awfully one-sided, at least so far as I've seen. There's lots of Korea claiming to hate Japan, groping him, messing around with his flag, stealing his chickens (?!), and being generally obnoxious (though to be fair he does have less-obnoxious portrayals like, ironically enough, the "We're making an anime!" series), but I haven't yet seen a strip where Japan does anything in kind (at least to Korea). I'm not demanding oodles of colonization horror stories here, but could we have a hint that Korea's "hatred," such as it is, didn't come from nowhere? If such hints do turn up in the untranslated strips, please correct me with extreme prejudice.
Well, I have an opinion about this. I don't know anything about the untranslated strips so I don't know if such hints exist, but the thing is, I think an oppressed group making fun of/getting back at the oppressors fits more into a comedy. People already know about the origin of this divide between the two groups, so (at least to me) Korea doesn't look like a jerk. I'm trying to make a comparison between this and comedy movies centered around race relations in America that I know.
I think you made an excellent point there. Actually, it might be best for Himaruya not to do a strip about Japan bullying Korea since it might just add fuel to the fire. But IIRC, Japan does find him at least very annoying. And despite Korea playing the obnoxious younger brother to the tee, it doesn't make him the bad one. Heck, that one strip when he builds those binoculars, you ended up feeling bad for Korea and not China.
Hmm, true - the knowledge of that particular slice of history should be more pervasive in the region where it actually happened, possibly to the extent where it doesn't "need" to be explained (and I expect a bunch of people would be even less happy if it had a scene along the lines of Korea cleaning Japan's house in a maid outfit a la Chibitalia). But from where I'm standing, it's kind of bothersome that it appears to show some of the retaliation against Japan's actions toward Korea without mentioning the actions themselves. So I, personally, kind of wish for a strip for Korea like the one where Japan goes after China with a sword - a strip that I don't think refers to something like Nanjing (because, among other things, Japan "bullying" China would have been old, old news by 1937) but still indicates Japan's aggression and inclines one to sympathize with China. But in any case, if I thought that Himaruya was actually putting forth some kind of inverted revisionist history with land-grabby Korea and hapless victim Japan, I'd have dropped the series like a hot potato, but unfortunately I can see where it's possible for other people to read it that way. "
So yeah. I think it’s a case of the Koreans being just a bit too sensitive along with a couple jokes that were not in the best taste on Himaruya’s part. But I think there was bound to be backlash from the censors anyway, given the nature of the series. Some people just can't grasp the concept of satire through parody, it seems.
In addition, whole “groping” thing is actually one of South Korea’s known stereotypes (as is his constant assertion that he invented everything). It’s not something that Himaruya decided to just “throw in” just for the heck of it. I’ve done quite a bit of research on it, and Koreans have very different perceptions of the concept of personal space then we in the West do. It’s not unheard of at all for someone to be groped when they go to South Korea, especially if they look foreign and you have physical features that Koreans don't have. And anyone is liable to grope you; people of the opposite sex, people of the same sex, old women, children, it runs the gamut. Like I said, they’re a lot more physically demonstrative and have less respect for personal boundaries than most as a whole (they’ll even grope family members, particularly the old ladies. Because of health reasons I think it is, dunno, it’s... weird, let's leave it at that), and while I’m sure sometimes it’s sexual, it certainly isn’t always. So, since it was pretty easy joke material no matter how you interpret it, Himaruya apparently decided to take that stereotype and run with it.
And I would say that if you don’t like something about a character’s actions in canon anyway, change it, tone it down, or come up with an alternate explanation for it. Me personally, I have the explanation for South Korea’s behavior being more of a “Pay attention to me and give me validation, dammit!” kind of thing than anything else. Plus, he’s naturally very playful, mischievous, and touchy-feely anyway, so he would be more physical than both China or Japan are comfortable with (and if Japan freaked out over Italy just giving him a friendly hug, it’d only stand to reason that he’d interpret SK’s actions the same way). I think that SK also is a bit of a troll that way, and he doesn’t much care if people take it wrong. XD Plus, I tone his behavior down considerably in my own head-canon. He can be grabby and overly affectionate, yes, but it’s still meant platonically and he's not doing it every 5 minutes, either (not that he really does it in canon that often either, though). And given what I know of South Korean culture and its relationship with other countries, plus the character's general personality, I’m actually very fond of the guy. No, I don’t think he’s that “funny” either, per se, but I do like his cheerfulness, optimism, energy, and creativity, and I wish Himaruya would use him a bit more and give him some development and interactions beyond Japan and China (though he did have a little scene with Taiwan in Hetaween 2011 where he asked her to dress up as the heroine in a drama while he was the hero... which basically amounted to him asking her to be his love interest X3 *sorta ships it*). But whatevs, that what we have fanfiction for. 83
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I agree. Like France killing Holy Rome is no longer cannon. I think that was to give the Germany = Holy Rome a huge possibility.
Really? So the groping part is a stereotype for Koreans? Huh. I suppose that makes sense. When I said the "groping" thing was going too far, I meant that it looked more disturbing than funny. Granted, Hetalia is huge for the innuendo jokes, but some of those jokes are a little more cringing than funny (don't get me wrong, it's not as cringe-worthy as the new Spongebob episodes). Like I did think Italy giving Holy Rome his underwear was also a bit much. What makes an innuendo joke work is when you focus on making your audience laugh than grossing them out. It works better when the audience isn't literally seeing the disgust. For instance, when you see one country getting hurt by another, you just see a pyramid of bumps, not the gross bruises, puss, blood or bone. When Italy gets all hugging and stuff, I can laugh, because Italy is not doing anything harmful. What South Korea does, on the other hand, can be considered harmful, especially if Japan is female.
On the plus side, he does seem to be getting better at the innuendo jokes and there was one South Korea groping joke that actually worked better.
As I said, the only censoring I found unnecessary was South Korea, but as I stated, it didn't really bother me that badly. Not that South Korea isn't a good character, but he wasn't a great character to begin with either. He was under the lines of "good character." It would be like if Yugioh GX had taken out Bastion, DBZ took out Yamcha, or something. It's not that they're bad characters, they were good characters, but they didn't really do much to begin with.
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Eyup. It's a apparently a "thing." And I agree; I've never been a fan of innuendo jokes in the first place, so when I see them (not just in APH, but in anything), I kind of just roll my eyes, skip it, and keep reading/watching. And I wouldn't term his behavior "harmful," exactly. Annoying and unnecessary? Sure. But I don't think he means anything bad by it. And I think part of the "humor" is that Japan ISN'T female, so it's "funny." Not that I'm saying I like it, or anything, but I think that was the reasoning behind the joke. I honestly don't think Hima would have turned it into a running joke if Japan was a girl.
But yeah, I'm miffed that South Korea hasn't been used more. He has a LOT of potential, and I love him for that, but I do think that a lot of the other characters are more realized and better fleshed out than he is (Same with Australia and New Zealand and Thailand and a few other characters I could name).
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Don't forget Vietnam. There was someone, who complained about Seychelles being too bland in the games, which I do kinda agree. Though, in the manga, she has more personality. I honestly don't like the official dating game where you play as Seychelles. For one, I don't feel it's a dating game as much as it's "licking England's, France's or no one's ass game." It feels like a Pokemon game without the Pokemon battles. Almost every single character is almost OOC. Though, what really turns me off is the fact Seychelles does absolutely positively www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHL1iS… (skip to 0:30). Like really, when you think about it, there's really nothing that you do in the Gakuen game. You might make a choice here and there, but you still have to wait a long time before that happens. The game focuses more on story than gameplay, which is a really sucky balance. I know it's storydriven, but even storydriven stories have more to do.
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Bah, I never thought about the Gakuen game much, BTH. To me, it was always something silly that Hima did on the side, and wasn't ever really "canon" in the first place. But yeah, i think that because there's so few of them to begin with, the girls end up getting the shaft a lot when it comes to character development. :/
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Well, it isn't that the females in Hetalia get shafted, because there is major character development in each of them. You have Hungary, who started as a mini warrior, who thought she was a boy, and developed as a strong female character. What I love about Hungary is that she's not the typical tough gal. Usually, the tough gals try to define that girls don't have to be girly and purposely try to be as all tough as possible. With Hungary, she does the opposite. By nature she is a very strong fighter, and tomboyish, but tries to be girly to support Austria and make him happy. To me, Hungary is a perfect role model of what every girl should be. There is nothing wrong with being girly, and there are tomboys that enjoy being girly more than acting all boyish. Another good female character is Litchinstine. She's actually one of the only characters I can relate to. Alot of the times I do have to rely on my parents and older siblings to help me, because I'm not able to myself. I do try to learn, but depend more on them than my peers do with their own parents or siblings. And, you know what? There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with depending on someone to do things for you, if you are not capable of doing it yourself, whether it's driving a car, pushing your wheelchair, heal you to health, etc. What makes Litchinstine really amazing is the fact that she doesn't try to do things she's not capable at, she does what she is capable at. Even a female character that has to have everything handed to her can be a good character. Belarus and Ukraine are very good female characters too. There's not that many female characters, but I conclude it to be, because the gender of a country depends mainly on how the country acts as a whole. A country that supports another country without being a colony is usually female.
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Okay, this response is way, way overdue, and I do apologize for the wait.
When I said the girls get shafted, I didn’t mean to imply that they weren’t good characters. On the contrary, I like them all quite a bit. I just meant that there are very few of them to begin with, and that they don’t get near as much screen time as their male counterparts. Therefore, they don’t get much chance to be as developed as the characters we see more, who are all dudes. I do agree that characters like Hungary and Liechtenstein are pretty well developed, and Belarus has, surprisingly, become a much deeper character over the years beyond her initial “LET’S GET MARRIED, BROTHER” yandere shtick. Unfortunately, Himaruya didn’t do her any favors with that early characterization, and now it’s pretty much the only thing she’s known for unless people bother to do a little more research. And now that it’s become crystal clear in supplemental material that she legit wants to “do the do” with Russia, you can’t even interpret it any differently now. Which pisses me off, as I really, really do not like incest and much preferred the interpretation that she was just under the impression that marriage is what you do when you love someone, and no one ever bothered to disillusion her that marriage only falls under a certain type of love. But NOPE, Hima had to go Joss that. 
So yeah, when I said that, all I meant was that compared to the guys, the girls of APH get relatively very little attention, and certainly not as much character development, though that’s not to imply they don’t ever receive any. But out of all the dozens of nation characters, only a grand total of about 13 are confirmed female; how many of those characters consistently have significant roles in any of the strips or show up on even a semi-regular basis? When have we seen Madagascar get any screen time? Wy? Vietnam? Mama Greece or Egypt? When was the last time we saw Seychelles, Monaco, or Taiwan? And granted, that happens to a lot of secondary characters, too, but given how many more guy characters there are then girls, it’s far more likely a guy will get the spotlight if Hima decides to feature someone. (It’s a little pet peeve of mine that there are so few girls in the series, can you tell? X’D Dunno, half the human population is female; statistically speaking, you would think there would be more female nations, particularly ones that AREN'T delegated to background extra #4 roles. But that’s just me.)
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The incest in Hetalia with Balerus and Russia is a reference to incest being allowed in Russia and Belarus... yeah. It's weird, but it can be fan interpreted in many different ways. At the very least, you can tell that Belarus isn't sane. I even found out that there was a comic where America was making relations with Belarus and she wouldn't leave him alone and kept stalking him. There was also a time when Belarus went out with Lithuania and kept bending his fingers in weird areas just because. Belarus is in love with her brother, but she's also psychotic, and you can't really make sense out of someone that's psychotic. Yes, maybe she wants to do the deed with her brother, but again, she's psychotic.
Ah, I see. I have been wondering about why there are more guys than girls, which I did conclude that maybe it has alot to do with the countries being dependent or independent, but then the new issues of Hetalia World Stars came out and I realized that every country was once human and there's a way for a human to become a country. One way is if a country that's disappearing chooses someone (like a relative) to take his/her place. The elder country would give out his/her culture to the small country to take over and be kinda like the upgraded version of the old culture before the old culture disappears. Examples are Italy and Romano, Egypt, Greece, France, Germany and Prussia and England. They were all raised by a relative, usually mother, father, grandfather, etc. who were a country. Those countries probably had multiple wives or husbands, one of their own kin was chosen as an infant to be the new country after the ancient country disappeared, so their culture would be forever remembered. This is also why these countries do have the history of their ancient culture, being that this was the culture of their relative. Because of this, sometimes those ancient countries will appear once in a blue moon, since their culture is still somewhat alive.
Now, this would be a great explaination for there being more boys. Back in the ancient times, first born sons always gained the inheritance. They were usually the dominant leaders. Women especially favored strong men, and being that Britannia, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece were women, whose culture favored this trend, they most likely favored strong men. So, men being favored during the ancient times would be the reason for why the UK brothers, France, Germany, Prussia, Egypt, Greece and Italy brothers are men.
Another way of becoming a country is if a group of humans declared themselves independent from their mother country. This was shown when Sealand and his friends were visiting other micro countries. Many of these countries decided to become countries, and one Nikko Nikko became human again, when the culture was dying. Men normally hold strong leadership, especially in Europe. There's rarely places where women are dominant. How Lichinstine became a country is mainly through her brother probably giving some of his culture after she was found (in other words, when Switzerland found LIchinstine, she was still human and became a country afterwards. Women are strong and dominant in Vietnam, so it makes sense why she's a girl. France favors women, so that's why Seychelles is a girl. When Tiawan was found, it was around the time China was having a civil war, which is when women there were starting to gain some rights. Ancient Egypt gave women more rights than many countries of the time. Ancient Greece had Athans and Sparta, which gained women more rights, and even made them strong too (if you didn't realize that after watching 300 XD). But yeah, if the countries started as humans, it's mainly because men were highly favored or showed more leadership in the said time period of their time, especially around Europe.
Though, another thing to point out is that Himaruya might not be good with female characters. I have actually suspected that he might be gay, since he is very good with creating homosexual characters or characters that are kinda in the closet, but makes his only cannon straight couple have bland chemistry. My guess is that he might not have the experience with female characters, or at least isn't friends with that many women. With stories, authors tend to base almost everything off of experience, which is shown. A story can also show who the author is. Like with Yugioh, I can tell that Kazuki Takahashi is kind of a perv, straight, very shy around women though, loves comic books and games, and is a child at heart. So, it could be that Himaruya might not be good with women characters, but at the very least, he is trying. He might just be better with creating male characters, which is fine.
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(This is soooo late, gomen. 
Yeah, Belarus does seem to become a bit... obsessive with anyone she's highly dependent upon. I wonder if she was the same way with Poland/Lithuania when she was part of their empire. 
Well, that certainly is an interesting theory, but I don't know if I buy that all nations were once humans. It's still very vague in canon (never does it say that all nations were once human, and Hima's constantly developing his own headcanon as well, so we don't know what he will and will not end up changing as the series goes on), and Nikko Nikko is the only country - and not really full-fledged country at that, but a micronation - to be confirmed as starting out as a human and then reverting back to one, and he was in his teens when he became one, too. Japan was also completely and utterly flabbergasted that he was able to pull either of those feats off, too, so it's obviously something that at the very least does not usually happen, and at most was something only Nikko Nikko was able to do. Personally, I think it was the latter, most likely because the population of his micronation was so very tiny that there was not enough latent "belief energy" - as it were - to formulate a whole separate representative entity for his micronation, so it was transferred to him instead (I headcanon that he was actually the only citizen of the micronation, since there is absolutely NO information on the internet from what I was able to find about the Nikko Nikko Republic). It might happen to a couple particularly small micronations too, but larger nations and other micronations... I think they do start out as nationkind. Japan and America are two good examples of this; they started out as knowing exactly who and what they were, but demonstrated a lot of naiveté about how actual humans worked (i.e. America with Davie). Hima also confirmed in a recent strip that the Italies were indeed “born” as babies.
I do know that Liechtenstein started out as a nation, too; she was around far, far earlier than when Switzerland found her. It's canon that she lived with Austria before he couldn't take care of her anymore after losing WWI because she was his protectorate, and before that, she lived with Germany before declaring independence. She was part of the German Confederation, so she is much older than most people give her credit for. She might even be older than Germany, actually (if you headcanon that he and HRE aren’t the same person, which I kinda do, personally; they might share the same body, [MIGHT, mind you] but I think they are fundamentally different people and characters. That’s just me tho). There's probably just a big familial resemblance between her and Swiss because they both have a great deal of German blood.
As for why most of the nations are dudes… I dunno, if males were more prized in cultures like Egypt or ancient Britain, that doesn’t account for their personifications being female. That also doesn’t really explain why Hungary, for instance, is female (she even believed she was male for years, as males clearly had more autonomy in her culture, and her guardian didn’t want her to feel stifled or be unable to defend herself), as well as Belarus or Ukraine or Belgium. I’d personally go with your latter theory, that Hima’s a bit less confident writing females, so he just doesn’t do it as much. But since he’s been doing APH for almost 8 years, he’s had a lot of practice honing his skills, but all the characters were created already, so he’s just had to stick with them. Maybe he’d mix up the gender ratio differently if he had to do it over again and make some characters that are currently male female or vice versa, who knows?
But anyways, this is all conjecture anyway. It's fun to speculate, but at the end of the day, I doubt Hima's going to confirm a whole lot about how nations work or how they come into being. That's what makes it so interesting to think about in the first place. 
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I actually read that comic and it does confirm that every country was once human and they can change back, but it depends on the population and how heavily influenced it is in the culture. Like it mentioned that it's harder for bigger nations to revert to human, showing a chibi of America. It does explain the human names of the countries and could bring up more headcannons like the possibility of England once being King Arthur and America possibly being a viking child at one point. It also would explain why many of the countries that are born are never born as infants. I mean non of them ever started as newborn infants. They always started as little kids about 5 at the youngest.
The same comic with the micro countries visiting other micro countries also went into how a country is usually born. Usually, someone has to be established as the new country. Like Prussia established all the fighting countries to merge into one country, thus Germany. Though, funny thing is, Germany is one of the few that didn't start out as a chibi, being that he was already in his teenage years when he started. It's even more interesting, because this disproves the Germany = Holy Rome headcannon, but also might prove it. Basically, instead of Holy Rome developing amnesia and becoming Germany, it's possible that Holy Rome was part of the crowd of feuding countries. He probably was chosen to be the established Germany. Holy Rome then died and became Germany. This both establishes that Germany is, in fact, not Holy Rome, but has the body of Holy Rome, being why they look so much alike. The reason for Germany possibly having memories of Holy Rome is because he is made up of a plathera of countries, about 20, so he has many different histories, backstories and so on. This is a theory, but it doesn't have as many holes as the original Germany = Holy Rome theory where he has amnesia.
Yeah, though at the same time, he does reveal a bit. Though, what's cool is that the more he reveals how nations work the more theories start popping up.
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Oh my god this is so cute!!! And I agree with *kamillyanna on the non UsUk thing!
You did a wonderful job! I love the innocence the picture instantly gives off with all the colors you used and everything's just, argh, love it! <3
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Thank you so much! I'm very glad you liked it.
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FINALLY AN AMAZINGLY ADORABLE PICTURE OF ALFRED AND ARTHUR TOGETHER THATS NOT IN A USUK GROUP *DIES*
i love this so much ;w; so cute!
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AAKDJSHJDSDSHR thank you! 
Aww, I'm very glad you like my coloring! Thanks again for the comment and the fave!
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You are most welcome! I just think you did a great job on coloring! And FFFFFF platonic US and UK FTW!
<3
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OMERGERD!!! ITS LITTLE AMERICA AND ENGLAND!!!!
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Wow! This is great! You did a magnificent job with everything from the proportions to coloring to the grass! I love this~
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Ah, I see now that you didn't do the line art, sorry 'bout that. xD; /embarrassed.
But the coloring is beautiful ;u; so beautiful.
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lol - That's quite alright.
Thank you so much!
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Oh my gosh you did it!!!! I was beginning to think no one would even attempt it, lol! And it look gorgeous 
I love it ALL! ALL OF IT! The grass, the clouds, America's little bit of a suntan there...all my feels, girl
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I'm so glad you like it, hon! Yes, I finally dragged this up and decided to color it, just for the fun of coloring something I didn't have to draw and ink for once, lol. 
*collects your feels and puts them in Feels Donation Bucket*
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Yeah, as much as we'd like to think his clothes would stay all nice and pristine, he's gonna be your typical little boy and just ruin it XD And England would be all to happy to get him a new one because adorableness
Don't know if I'll put up any other line-arts soon but if this is the response I get I'd be more than happy to
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lol - Even Empire England is cannot resist the charms of baby blues, it seems.
Well, you saw how long it took me to get around to this. So I don't know if you want another prospectively six-month-long wait.
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Lol XD
Nothing at the moment, and it was an experimental thing anyway, but that's not to say I couldn't do more just for the sake of doing it
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Well, whatever you wanna do.
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