A few months ago, thanks to TV Tropes, I discovered Hetalia, a webcomic that has been adapted into an anime and manga that can best be described as "a comic about anthropomorphic countries that, despite being immortal and centuries or millennia old, are still dumb and bad at everything."
The comic uses these country personifications to deliver humorous accounts of history as well as discussions of culture and international relations. Although it can be a bit...weird at times, it's usually a lighthearted comedy.
As part of our work on character analysis, I would like to talk about one of the characters in this comic: Prussia.
The defining character trait of Prussia is that he is a loud and passionate person who loves to talk about how awesome he is, shown most clearly in the 2009 April Fools blog, literally called "The Site of My Awesomeness:"
This contrasts him with the other Germanic nations like Germany and Austria, who are much more reserved and serious.
Or does it? Here we have our first contradiction. You see, Prussia isn't lazy or irresponsible like his attitude may lead you to believe. In fact, he only pretends to have a lackadaisical attitude, and is in reality quite a dedicated worker, as shown in the Industrial Revolution strips where he and Germany improve England's machines:
(Note: these comics are read right to left)
His Volume 3 description also says, "
But surprisingly, his true nature is the methodical, severe, serious older brother of Germany!" which is in complete contrast to how he actually behaves. (Source)But this disconnect between his apparent personality and true nature isn't the only interesting thing about him. Look at this strip from Halloween 2011:
He says "I really wanna make an appearance. One that'll burn the memory of my existence into their hearts." But why? Why would he care so much about being remembered in the modern day, when in this strip, which takes place "around 1700", he states that he doesn't care about appearances?
Well, the answer to that may be in the "Private Concert" comic. This comic starts off normally, with Prussia volunteering to play the flute for Germany:
Prussia then flashes back to a memory of the Holy Roman Empire, who points out another one of Prussia's contradictions: he's a person that loves war, something usually thought of as barbaric and unrefined, but yet plays music, something usually thought of as elegant and refined.
But the most noteworthy part of this whole comic comes at the end:
Germany believes that Prussia's dog bite will heal right away because of the accelerated healing abilities that all nations have. But then the dog thinks this to itself:
which implies that he's losing the rapid healing characteristic of all nations due to not being a country anymore, as both Prussia and East Germany do not exist as countries anymore. When asked if Prussia will disappear, the creator doesn't confirm or deny this:
This knowledge makes for some interesting
Alternative Character Interpretations: maybe his irreverent attitude and arrogance is just a façade for his fear of dying and being forgotten, and he keeps this fear a secret even from his own brother out of fear of ruining his "awesome" image. Quite dark for a comedy series.
Whether or not this hypothesis is true, one thing is for certain: the character of Prussia is much more complicated than he appears.
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