Hetalia is racist and favors Japan

hmmm... I'm surprised no one has brought up all of the distortions of Korean culture and history in Hetalia. If people are saying they learn so much from Hetalia then I fear for Korea's reputation. I've talked to MANY Japanese people who are racist towards Korean's and this manga portrays that racism very thoroughly. Which makes it difficult for me to believe the author doesn't hate Koreans himself. He also obviously knows nothing of Koreans. in the manga he gets Korea's independance day wrong. it's August 15th in real life, in the manga Korea wears the Japanese flag, burns it and shreds it though in real life this is a felony in Korea. And in real life the Japanese have distorted history books, not Koreans. I don't care if people like Hetalia, but please don't blame Korea for protesting aganst it, and try to make petitions forcing it into a country that isn't even yours. alot of times I see Hetalia fans talk bad about Twilight (and rightly so) but the things they say are hypocritical. Korea can't hate hetalia because how it portrays their families, race, culture, and country. but they can hate Twilight for the way portray vampires? and alot of them ignore the fact that it's making fun of events that were incredibly painful towards Koreans who are still living today. and try to downplay their suffering by saying it happened along time ago as if they themelves were raped by 25 men a day, who were destroying their country and killing their families none-the-less. and say stuff like "none of the other countries complained about it." which is a red herring seeing as the other countries are not Korea, and aren't portrayed as harshly and biased. if I punch someone in the face and they don't care does that mean you're obliged to not care if I punch you in the face? Also they say the fact that this manga exsists means Japan is getting over the event. well of course, especially considering they haven't yet apoligized and even "deny" ever committing war crimes towards Korea, by they way they have "somewhat" apologized to China which destroys the whole, "China doesn't care, why should they." arguement. and the "everything originates in Korea" stuff is a result of issues that happened during Japan's anexation of Korea. during WW2 Japan stole art from Korea, and they have it in Tokyo museums right now claiming that it is really Japan's art and say Korea wants all the cultures to themselves. it also portrays the Han Bok incorrectly, and they make fun of Kimchi alot in that manga but people would rather eat Kimchi than sushi and by sushi I mean raw Goat. not fish, you'll sometimes see sushi in Japan and a raw goat counts as sushi. Also, when Korea grabs Japan's breasts they represent Dokdo islands which everyone knows for sure belong to Korea but Japan is trying to claim that Dokdo belongs to them and the manga reverses it implying it really belongs to Japan and Korea is trying to claim it. everyone says that Hetalia is just a stupid manga of jokes no one should take seriously. if that is so, than the author should not have chosen a time or subject that WAS and IS "serious." it's like a cartoon making fun of the rape and murder of your family and distorting the events that happened. It pains me to see that so many people think that the material from the perspective of a racist person is "cute"

Lulubell wrote:

I stand up and I'm clapping!
This post, your post, it's amaizing and it's true! I'm very sorry for Korean people.
And I'm wondered how the author always favors Japan, he wanted to hide it,
making "Italy" the main character. Now as we see, he is using Italy too.

Japanese did a lot of horrendous things against Korea as well as against China. I think
you have heard about the "Rape of Nanking",

It is a short paragraph about it:

"After the destruction of the POWs, the soldiers (Japanese soldiers) turned their attention to the women of Nanking and an outright animalistic hunt ensued. Old women over the age of 70 as well as little girls under the age of 8 were dragged off to be sexually abused. More than 20,000 females (with some estimates as high as 80,000) were gang-raped by Japanese soldiers, then stabbed to death with bayonets or shot so they could never bear witness."

Those kind of events MUST NOT BE TAKEN for making fun of them!!

Thanks for you comment !!!

PS: I hate Twilight!

yes I have heard of the rape on nanking, I do alot of research on Asian histories through sources that are NOT related to Hetalicrap. I've heard Japanese say that the Chinese are lying. they say the Chinese say that so and so number of Chinese were raped and killed. but the Japanese claim it was a smaller number (still a massive number) that they raped and killed. it's ridiculous, they acknowlege the fact they killed and raped Chinese, but Chinese are in the wrong because it's more than the number of people the Japnanese claimed they killed. since when was there a quota of how many people they can rape and kill? they're in the right if they don't kill over a certain amount of Chinese? that's ridiculous. and you're right about Hidekaz using Italy. I mean why Italy? seriously. to give him an excuse to ridicule the nations. it annoys me to no end. anyway thank you very much for your reply. I am glad there are people like you I can talk to that can't stand Hetalicrap as well.

Thank you =D Because we need many people like you here in the forum!!!

Lulubell wrote:

Thank you =D Because we need many people like you here in the forum!!!

^-^ thank you. I definately hope this forum become very prosperous. and I will do what I can to help support it.

The problem lies in the fact that the majority of Japanese war criminals were not persecuted, because General MacArthur and the American occupying army wanted to enlist their help in "opposing communism in Asia", as well as trying to gain access to the stashes of hidden loot they had plundered from all over Asia. The execution of Hideki Tojo was merely to satisfy a vengeance-hungry American public, for Tojo, while certainly privy to war crimes, did not have nearly as much influence on the performance of war crimes as the Imperial Family did, including such figures as Emperor Hirohito's brother Prince Chichibu and, new evidence suggests, Hirohito himself. The royal family's dictatorial power remained, for the supposedly constitutional government put in place was merely a farcical facade. For this reason, Japan never underwent anything resembling the German "de-nazification", so that it never really admitted to or felt guilty about its war crimes as a nation. From 1955 to 2007 their politics were dominated by the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party (an ironic name) which has only begrudgingly even offered an apology for past atrocities. For the most part, exluding some notable, minority examples, Japanese war crimes are ignored by the Japanese people because they have covered up and denied for so long. As for their views on Hitler and Nazism, not only did the Japanese alliance with Germany hardly impact them negatively, but Hitler's holocaust and its atrocities happened so remote from Japan that it has not impacted their consciousness (similar to the Western world's by-and-large apathy to Darfur and, when it happened, Rwanda.) For this reason, the ideological conflicts of World War Two in the West are largely omitted from Japanese school history books (though people such as Osamu Tezuka, in his graphic novel Adolf, analysed them beautifully). Most Japanese view Hitler as nothing more than a charismatic politician and great military leader. It does not help that many vocal Japanese nationalists admire Nazism because they view themselves to be the dominate race in Asia as the Nazis viewed themselves in Europe. Given that this attitude is very common in Japan, it is no wonder that history's nastier bits do not come up often in most of their popular culture. If you want an anime that shows the Third Reich for what it was (albeit exaggerated) watch Hellsing Ultimate. And at least the manga Gyo acknowledges the horrors perpetrated by Unit 731.

Wow I actually found someone who actually cares for Koreans. I myself get hate mails and whatever you guys can get cause I'm Korean and don't like Hetalia. yet some people can't seem to understand why Koreans would be insulted. I don't know if they are dense or just plain stupid. Good to know that someone noticed other just us Koreans.

although i'm not a fan of censorship, i don't have a problem with korea banning it due to the shit they faced from japan. i can't stand it when the creator makes fun of dark moments in history, and downplays them.

Mmm, I honestly don't think Hetalia favors Japan all that much.

I really blame the fan if anything. They are the ones that downplays everything, really. At least Himaruya is actually trying to learn from his mistakes and about other cultures.


...I honestly don't like how Korea was portrayed either in the series.

Mayuri wrote:

Mmm, I honestly don't think Hetalia favors Japan all that much.

I really blame the fan if anything. They are the ones that downplays everything, really. At least Himaruya is actually trying to learn from his mistakes and about other cultures.


...I honestly don't like how Korea was portrayed either in the series.

I say it favors Japan because if you look at the two cultures and their history, it's a one sided story from Japan's view only, not only from Japan's view but people in Japan who hate and slander Koreans. while the manga does in fact glorify Japan. I know people may try to point out what they may think to be flaws in Japan's character but even what they see as flaws in Japan, if you were to go to Japan, in their culture they see these traits as good things.

Join this site: http://whatswrongwithaph.forumotion.com/

birdistheworld wrote:

GaGaalinG wrote:

Mayuri wrote:

Mmm, I honestly don't think Hetalia favors Japan all that much.

I really blame the fan if anything. They are the ones that downplays everything, really. At least Himaruya is actually trying to learn from his mistakes and about other cultures.


...I honestly don't like how Korea was portrayed either in the series.

I say it favors Japan because if you look at the two cultures and their history, it's a one sided story from Japan's view only, not only from Japan's view but people in Japan who hate and slander Koreans. while the manga does in fact glorify Japan. I know people may try to point out what they may think to be flaws in Japan's character but even what they see as flaws in Japan, if you were to go to Japan, in their culture they see these traits as good things.

I agree. In Hetalia, Japan is shown as the nicest, most innocent country ever with no flaws whatsoever (well, maybe a few, but not as much as other countries). But in WW2 Japan not only invaded China and Russia, but also tortured and raped their people, as well as destroying their government and setting up their own. There was also Pearl Harbor, which was neglected in the series... And yes, I know about Hiroshima, but America is kind of shown as dumb, so he isn't perfect in the series, unlike Japan.

i'm not trying to defend hetalia but japan was potrayed as snobbish,anti-social and arrogant. i'm just trying to say that all the chracters had some negative traits to them, but yes korea had more negative traits than japan though in the series

crossover wrote:

birdistheworld wrote:

GaGaalinG wrote:

Mayuri wrote:

Mmm, I honestly don't think Hetalia favors Japan all that much.

I really blame the fan if anything. They are the ones that downplays everything, really. At least Himaruya is actually trying to learn from his mistakes and about other cultures.


...I honestly don't like how Korea was portrayed either in the series.

I say it favors Japan because if you look at the two cultures and their history, it's a one sided story from Japan's view only, not only from Japan's view but people in Japan who hate and slander Koreans. while the manga does in fact glorify Japan. I know people may try to point out what they may think to be flaws in Japan's character but even what they see as flaws in Japan, if you were to go to Japan, in their culture they see these traits as good things.

I agree. In Hetalia, Japan is shown as the nicest, most innocent country ever with no flaws whatsoever (well, maybe a few, but not as much as other countries). But in WW2 Japan not only invaded China and Russia, but also tortured and raped their people, as well as destroying their government and setting up their own. There was also Pearl Harbor, which was neglected in the series... And yes, I know about Hiroshima, but America is kind of shown as dumb, so he isn't perfect in the series, unlike Japan.

i'm not trying to defend hetalia but japan was potrayed as snobbish,anti-social and arrogant. i'm just trying to say that all the chracters had some negative traits to them, but yes korea had more negative traits than japan though in the series

please list some examples of snobbish, anti social and arrogant. I see a lot of people describe is shyness as anti social. his misunderstanding of other countries cultures as snobbish. and getting annoyed at every other country being unbearably annoying to be arrogant.

ok i see you point that he being isolated doesn't automatically make him snobbish, but how's japan shy?
also i forgot to mention that he's two-faced jerk. i think he's two-faced because of the fact he attacked china for no good reason in the anime.

crossover wrote:

ok i see you point that he being isolated doesn't automatically make him snobbish, but how's japan shy?
also i forgot to mention that he's two-faced jerk. i think he's two-faced because of the fact he attacked china for no good reason in the anime.

he's shy cuz he so quiet and doesn't interact with the other countries much the way they interact with each other. another result of being isolated. anyway the reason he attacked China in the manga was an actual historical reference to how they committed genocide in China such as the rape of Nanking. but the thing is there was never any such reference to Korea and the things Japan did to them.

GaGaalinG wrote:

crossover wrote:

ok i see you point that he being isolated doesn't automatically make him snobbish, but how's japan shy?
also i forgot to mention that he's two-faced jerk. i think he's two-faced because of the fact he attacked china for no good reason in the anime.

he's shy cuz he so quiet and doesn't interact with the other countries much the way they interact with each other. another result of being isolated. anyway the reason he attacked China in the manga was an actual historical reference to how they committed genocide in China such as the rape of Nanking. but the thing is there was never any such reference to Korea and the things Japan did to them.

well, that still shows that japan is two-faced, and i wonder if korea didn't force the creator of hetalia to remove s. korea from the comics, maybe he would've made some reference to atrocities the japanese committed towards the koreans.i'm just saying that since i just learned that japan attacking china refers to the rape of nanking

crossover wrote:

GaGaalinG wrote:

crossover wrote:

ok i see you point that he being isolated doesn't automatically make him snobbish, but how's japan shy?
also i forgot to mention that he's two-faced jerk. i think he's two-faced because of the fact he attacked china for no good reason in the anime.

he's shy cuz he so quiet and doesn't interact with the other countries much the way they interact with each other. another result of being isolated. anyway the reason he attacked China in the manga was an actual historical reference to how they committed genocide in China such as the rape of Nanking. but the thing is there was never any such reference to Korea and the things Japan did to them.

well, that still shows that japan is two-faced, and i wonder if korea didn't force the creator of hetalia to remove s. korea from the comics, maybe he would've made some reference to atrocities the japanese committed towards the koreans.i'm just saying that since i just learned that japan attacking china refers to the rape of nanking

no Korea didn't force the author to remove it. he removed it after Koreans were offended by it and decided not to air hetalia in Korea. anyway someone who is two faced is a traitor, or dishonest or a hypocrite. you have to explain how Japan betrayed China, lied to China, or did something that he himself condemns. otherwise you're using the term two faced in an inaccurate manner, and thus creating an ad hominem attack called a straw man fallacy. aggressive yes. but each country is aggressive in one way or another in hetalia... I mean look at Russia, and until you can point out why attacking China the way Japan did in the manga in a way that it is wrong even in Japanese culture. it can't be viewed as a flaw or negative portrayal of Japan. anyway no he wouldn't have put in the atrocities Japan did to South Korea because he already had is chance. but he pulled a tactic called a "bait and switch" basically the dialog and plot for a chapter in hetalia was leading up to a massacre that Japan did to Korea back when Korea was the Choson Dynasty. but when we saw the light of hope he turns it all around makes it so that Korea was the one in the wrong and was the one really bullying Japan and distorting the history and etc. and that was incredibly offensive as if he were directly mocking the Koreans. he gives a bit of confirmation to China about Nanking and gives China a better portrayal than Korea. then he goes and pulls a "bait and switch" to rub it in Korea's face.

Korea asked him to show their country as more respectable and in a better light instead of using his cruel portrayal of them. but he went and ditched the character all together. if he had any good intentions whatsoever he would have made the portrayal of Korea better but he left it as it was and abandoned it so he wouldn't have to show them a little more respect.

i didn't know that he choose to remove korea himself. however though, i wonder if he were to decide to potray korea a little more positively, some might have still been upset anyway.

also switching topics a little bit, but i would find france not so offensive if spain and japan were potrayed also as rapists too(or nazi germany for that matter)

crossover wrote:

i didn't know that he choose to remove korea himself. however though, i wonder if he were to decide to potray korea a little more positively, some might have still been upset anyway.

also switching topics a little bit, but i would find france not so offensive if spain and japan were potrayed also as rapists too(or nazi germany for that matter)

Koreans wouldn't find it offensive if he didn't use the racist portrayals of Korea, the only reason Koreans were offended was cause he was portrayed in a racist way. if he wasn't portrayed in a racist way there wouldn't be any problems.

ok, thanks for giving me more info on this, i realize that when i was looking up this contraversy, some the stuff i found regarding this was wrong.

crossover wrote:

ok, thanks for giving me more info on this, i realize that when i was looking up this contraversy, some the stuff i found regarding this was wrong.

dun worry I know how you feel... it took 2 years to learn everything I did about the situation, 2 years of researching all of this @_@ pretty intense.