Black Hetalia (fan video)

Black Hetalia is a fan video (or "MAD"), that uses animation from the anime series Black Lagoon, traced over and redrawn to feature the Hetalia characters. It uses the song "Broken Glass Syndrome" by Halifax, and in two instances, also uses sound from the Black Lagoon anime.

Summary

Prologue

Vietnam bids France farewell, hoping that they'll meet again someday in the same place with a picnic basket. France replies that it sounds wonderful.

Black Hetalia

The video opens with Hungary, asleep in her bed. She opens her eyes. Shots of the five Nordics flash by:

• Sweden, with the glare of his glasses shielding his eyes.

• Finland with guns.

• Norway taking a drink of beer.

• Denmark pulling the finger.

• Iceland surrounded by flames.

A close up of Prussia's eye is shown, as he fires a gun. The camera pans quickly down a hallway, with South Korea and North Korea standing at the end, and cuts to a shot of Lithuania, wielding two guns. Poland rides in on horseback and leaps off his horse, producing three throwing knives in his hand (which he proceeds to throw).

Belarus is shown with a knife, but as she dives down to attack, it appears to morph into a pair of spiked knuckles. Egypt and Latvia face off against each other in a gunfight, while Sealand is also shown to be wielding a gun (and grinning maniacally). Taiwan is shown next attacking with an umbrella, followed by a still shot of Australia and Austria, standing side by side. Switzerland sits in a dark corner, glaring.

The lineups of the Axis Powers and Allied Forces flash by next:

• On the Axis side (from left to right): Finland, Hungary, Austria, Japan, North and South Italy, and Germany.

• On the Allies side (L to R): Canada, America, UK, France, Russia, and China.

The next sequence is of Greece and Bulgaria, facing off in a gunfight. The female version of China darts through the air, holding a pair of cleavers. The next shot is of the two Koreas grinning evilly, followed by a shot of Netherlands and the male and female versions of Hungary (the three figures are all cloaked in shadow).

Germany breaks out a pair of guns, causing Cuba to drop his cigarette. Belgium appears next, with a clover-shaped tattoo on her face (in the Belgian flag colors) and sticking out her tongue. Seychelles leaps down from a high building.

Hong Kong and China fight a bunch of faceless goons, while China charges up to Japan, who fires off a gun. Russia appears next, with Austria and Prussia in the background. He grins evilly and swings out his pipe, as Turkey watches from afar. Lithuania is attacked first by Russia, who then beats a horrified Poland with the pipe (after crushing his hand beneath his boot), causing the screen to become filled with blood. Holy Roman Empire appears next, shown to be firing a large rifle.

Two pairs of green eyes are shown next, the latter pair clearly UK's. Switzerland leaps down to the ground, as a shot of guns follows. The female versions of Spain and Romano ("Romana") are shown, followed by America, who morphs into his female self and does a fast flip through the air. Thailand is shown next, cracking a whip.

The child version of America appears in a window, as UK runs and fires a gun. The adolescent version of America appears in the window next, as America fires a gun back at UK. The window is shown again, now empty, as the two attack each other.

Liechtenstein and her male self ("Rihikun") clasp their hands together as Estonia walks by, talking on a cellphone. The two Liechtensteins proceed to make out. Turkey faces off against some other men with a gun, while Taiwan ducks and rolls. A close up shot of America's face is next, as his glasses ("Texas") appear. A bullet rolls on the ground, and a cigarette is lit.

Chibitalia appears crying on a TV screen, as the female version of UK ("Igiko") continues to smoke. Tibet is shown kneeling in what appears to be a lake of blood, the next shot featuring the female versions of the Axis (Japan, North Italy, and Germany). A portrait of the House Of Habsburg follows that shot, with Austria depicted in the center of the "family":

• On the left side: Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria, Saxony, and Württemberg.

• On the right side: Slovakia holding Czech, Hungary, and Chibitalia.

The camera pans across a group of African nations next: Zimbabwe, Botswana, Ghana, and Uganda. Prussia charges forward and kneels as an explosion goes off.

Liechtenstein and Czech face off against each other with guns, Liechtenstein managing to to fire off a shot, though Slovakia pulls out a gun and also fires. Two female African nations appear, smiling and also wielding guns (which they proceed to fire). The Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus and Sealand are shown running off together.

The five Nordics arm themselves with weapons. Germania is shown next, with his face fading into that of his offspring's (Holy Roman Empire). A sepia-toned shot of North Italy follows, with Ancient Rome's face appearing the background. The shot switches to South Italy, and Rome's face briefly comes to the foreground, before both Italy brothers appear in front of it to hold hands. South Korea and Mongolia appear next, with sinister smiles.

The younger versions of Russia and his sisters are shown, as Russia's arm sweeps off his coat and covers the foreground. The adult Ukraine loads a gun, and the camera cuts to a portrait shot of Japan's six feudal territories (Owari, Kanazawa, Sendai, Aizu, Mito, and Osaka). Japan opens his eyes, and a newspaper article about the Allied Forces' invasion of Italy appears. North Italy is shown next, followed by a shot of a gun-toting Germany. A bullet fires, and the sequence cuts to France, who stares in horror as Jeanne D'Arc is burnt at the stake. UK and Russia grin.

Greece throws on his jacket and readies his guns. China does a flip, crashing through a window. He lands on a car and dents it, as the three Baltics get out their guns (with Estonia wielding two). Cuba is also shown loading his gun, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. A swordfight in front of stained glass is shown next.

Japan rushes into battle, firing a pair of guns. North Italy follows in Japan's lead with his own pair, as Canada falls to the ground holding another pair. He gets up and mouths something to someone offscreen. Kenya appears next, holding a cigar.

South Italy (dressed in blue) fires a gun at the female version of France, who shoots back at him with her own gun. An unknown female African nation circles Rome on a map, and stares at it intently. Hong Kong stands atop a structure holding a pair of guns, while Spain is shown smiling. Switzerland spots Liechtenstein sitting alone in an alleyway in the rain and offers his hand to her, which she grasps. A fiery ship-to-ship combat scene is shown next, as Pirate UK sinks Spain's armada.

Spain enters the ship to fight UK, and brings out his axe. UK apologizes and says that it's the end for Spain, and that it is a "real shame". He continues, saying that Spain will have to apologize for his mischief, and orders for him to kneel. Spain tries to get in a word, but UK repeats for him to "kneel" and shoots him through the leg. Spain falls and stares in shock at his bloodied leg, but tries to get a hit back at UK by throwing his axe (though it misses). Spain grits his teeth in pain as he "kneels". UK watches Spain writhe on the ground in his own blood, and buries his face in his hand. He looks up at the sky, upon where he sees various images:

• Female China, holding her cleavers.
• A teenage version of France.
• Austria vs. Prussia, during the "War Of Austrian Succession".
• Russia with a sinister smile.
• France watching Jeanne's execution.
• Liechtenstein taking Switzerland's hand.
• Spain lying on the ground injured.
• What appears to be Japan, burying his face in hand.
• Poland darting through the air.
• Belarus lifting her skirt to a horrified Russia.
• The child versions of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
• A teenage version of Hungary.
• Liechtenstein with her gun.
• Germany with his gun out.
• A teenage Switzerland, wearing a suit of armor.
• Japan staring contemplatively (and wearing his housekeeper outfit).
• The female version of Russia, smiling.

The sequence changes to show America, who spots Vietnam. Feathers float by in the sky, as Chibitalia sits in the grass, crying. The shadow of HRE appears in the grass. The younger version of Romano stands up, and is held by Spain. Shots of Germania, Rome, and France follow after.

America points out his gun and fires, as the video cuts to black and ends with his gunshot.

Trivia

• The scene with Russia beating up both Poland and Lithuania is a reference to the partitions of Poland, as is the shot preceding it with Russia, Austria, and Prussia in an alliance.

• The Czech and Slovakia characters in the MAD are based off of two of the potential designs that Hidekaz Himaruya drew for Czechoslovakia. The top two designs in the picture are used for the characters, with Slovakia being an older male and Czech being a young girl. As the actual Liechtenstein had poor relations with both countries (only recently starting relations with them in later 2009), both characters are depicted as her enemies.

• Though there has yet to be an actual North Korea character in canon (despite Himaruya once listing his ideas for one), it is popular for fan designs of one to be a "reverse" of South Korea, and have him/her wear red instead of blue. In the only visible shot of him in the video, he can be seen holding a sort of haegeum (Most likely a sohaegeum,) reflecting Himaruya's idea for North Korea to be a musician-type character.

• Australia and Austria being shown together reflects how the countries' names are often confused with one another. In Hetalia canon, Austria is shown to be very annoyed or depressed if his name gets mistaken as "Australia", as seen in some doodles and a Comic Diary strip. Australia's color scheme was not yet revealed at the time, which lead to him being given light blond hair and a gray uniform in the video (as opposed to brown hair and a tan uniform).

• Although Germany, Japan, and Italy mainly make up the Axis in the Hetalia series, Finland has been confirmed as another member. Historically, Hungary and Austria were also involved, hence their depiction in the Axis lineup.

• Canada was also one of the original historical members of the Allied Forces (and came before America and China), which explains his inclusion in the Allied lineup shot. He is also shown to be a sort of "sixth member" in the series, though his presence is unrecognized by the other five.

• In the Habsburg "family portrait", it is assumed that the other three Germanics are meant to be Bavaria, Saxony, and Württemberg, due to the colors of their clothing matching with the flags for them (though Württemberg became Baden-Württemberg and gained a black-and-yellow flag instead of black-and-red). The designs used are those of HRE's guards from the Chibitalia storyline. Saxony and Bavaria's appearances in the video differ slightly from their canon designs, where Bavaria has short hair and Saxony's hair is longer and more reminiscent of Germania's. This is due to the artist giving Saxony a blue uniform, thus identifying him as "Bavaria" instead, while one of the unnamed Germanics was put in green (thus giving them Saxony's colors).

• The four African nations that appear in the panning shot (Zimbabwe, Botswana, Ghana, and Uganda) all originated from Gakuen Hetalia. In the video, all but Zimbabwe are depicted as being male, while the common assumption in Western fandom is that Botswana and Ghana are female too (despite their genders not being confirmed). Uganda is thought of as either a bald male or a bald female by fans, and is still a subject of debate.

• Kenya also originated from Gakuen, and is one of the few African nations to have her gender confirmed. A character similar in appearance to her appeared in a concept art sheet for the Africa Class, though it is said that all the females in it were intended as models for the uniforms and not specifically the African nations themselves. Despite this, some believed that the short-haired nation in the crop top was meant to be a full design of Zimbabwe. The Africa Class model with the straw hat and the one with glasses also originated from these concept designs.

• The teenage versions of Hungary, France, and Switzerland are based off of designs that Himaruya drew as a "Children's Day" celebration on his blog. He also drew younger versions of Austria, America, Canada, UK, Spain, Liechtenstein, Greece, Japan, Poland, Lithuania and Russia.

• The genderbent versions of certain characters (The Axis, Allies, South Italy, Spain, Hungary, and Liechtenstein) also originated from sketches done by Himaruya. However, Hungary was also originally planned to be a male character and a crossdresser with a Nagoya accent, a concept that Himaruya decided to instead use for Poland (who was originally planned to be female).

• Tibet has only appeared in one canon strip to date (The Story Of China And Teensy Japan) and a sketch of the Asian Nations. It is believed that this is due to the fact that including him in any larger role would have to reference the real-world controversy involving Tibet and the People's Republic Of China. Presumably due to this, Tibet was written out of the anime adaptation of the episode and replaced with a talking panda.

• Mongolia appeared in the aforementioned group sketch as well, though he has yet to have an actual role in the series. He also briefly appeared in the footnotes to Teensy Japan, and is said to have bullied Hungary when they were children.

• Bulgaria has only appeared briefly in one strip in the published version of the manga, as part of the Axis. His appearance was adapted for Episode 27, where he was voiced by Go Inoue.
• TRNC (The Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus) has yet to appear in any actual strips, though he appeared in the first (independent) Hetalia drama CD and was featured in the trading card game. A Cyprus character was also featured in the drama CD, however, since Himaruya has not yet released a design for them, they are not featured in this video.
• Japan's feudal clans/territories have only appeared in the strip The World At War And The Fool Of Owari so far, though the Aizu and Mito characters did make earlier cameos in the strip Black Ships Have Come!. All six of the clans are loosely based off of characters from Himaruya's other webcomic, Advance! Kitakou Broadcasting Club and Barjona Bombers.
• The original ending of the Black Lagoon MAD, which depicts Gretel's death after being shot and an ending shot of Hansel and Gretel, was not referenced for this version. A scene with Balalaika taking place between the prologue and beginning of the "Broken Glass Syndrome" sequence was also excised.

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