Austria
| Austria オーストリア | |
|---|---|
| |
| Character Information | |
| Name |  Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich)
|
| Human Name | Roderich Edelstein (ローデリヒ・エーデルシュタイン, Rōderihi Eederushutain)[1] |
| Gender | Male |
| Birthday | October 26[2] |
| Hair Color | Brown |
| Eye Color | Violet |
| Height | 177 cm (5' 9.6")[3] |
| Debut Appearances | |
| Volume | Hetalia: Axis Powers Volume 1 |
| Strip | Chibitalia |
| Game | Osōji Prussia |
| Drama CD | Hetalia Drama CD: Prologue |
| Anime | Episode 02 (Young) Episode 06 (Adult) |
| Musical | ~Singin' in the World~ |
| Voice Actors | |
| Japanese | Akira Sasanuma, Aki Kanada (as a child), Otsu Kou (Flower of Iris) |
| English | Chuck Huber |
Austria (オーストリア, Osutoria) is a supporting character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers. Between 2007 and 2008, Himaruya gave out human names to some of the characters and he received the name, Roderich Edelstein (ローデリヒ・エーデルシュタイン, Rōderihi Eederushutain).[1]
Contents
Attributes
Appearance
Austria has violet eyes and somewhat wavy brown hair, with a wild strand that represents Mariazell. He doesn't smile often and "doesn't need to". He wears glasses, a long navy blue coat with a white jabot, and black pants (colored tan in some earlier artwork). He also has a mole on his face, which is "a similar thing to Italy's curl," likely acting as an erogenous zone for him.[4] Under his clothes, he appears to wear a corset and has stated that he's out of shape due to his indoor-centered lifestyle. He's also said to be rather delicate, and he seems to tire easily when doing any sort of physical activity that doesn't involve music or cooking.
When he was younger (as seen in Chibitalia), he wore a deep fuchsia jacket and purple pants. In the anime version of the storyline, his jacket was changed to blue and his pants were changed to black, to match the clothing he wears as an adult.
During The War of the Austrian Succession and The Seven Years' War, he's also seen wearing a white military uniform based on that worn by Austrian soldiers in the 18th Century, although the cover of Volume 5 shows him in a uniform similar to Prussia's.
More often than not, he's depicted as wearing suits that look outdated compared to the rest of the cast, with the jabot usually serving as the constant trait. There is even official artwork of him gardening in what appeared to be 18th Century casual-wear.
Personality and Interests
He is described as a well-spoken, young master type, who was initially aloof until he was saddled with too many burdens. He gives higher priority to his hobbies than his work, and is more optimistic, easygoing, and quiet in comparison to Germany who is more serious and work-oriented. His interests are art, music (the piano in particular), and cake. In the first drama CD, it is revealed he is not an outdoors person and is afraid of marine animals (such as crabs and starfish). It's been remarked that he keeps his home tidy, but not very orderly, and his underwear was scattered about his house in rather random places. He's also rather knowledgeable about underwear in general, something both Prussia and Germany acknowledged. He has no sense of direction and frequently gets lost; this is based on a joke Himaruya heard about an Austrian salesperson getting lost in his own storehouse. According to Austria, unlike Germany, he's not very good at taking the initiative when it comes to stating his opinion. His favorite way to settle a problem is through marriage. [5]
He seems to be camera shy, or at least in regards to events which are broadcast worldwide and his embarrassment was strong enough that he may have begun to sing. When Germany was going to take a picture, he immediately hid his face. He also remarked his inability to "skillfully put together a pose" as Germany was. In response to his being upset about the broadcasting of the event, Germany remarked that he hadn't read the invitation properly.
Austria is apparently out of shape, walks rather slow, and has a very indoor lifestyle which has caused this, all of which he admits to, though Hungary said that he was different when he was younger. Austria warned others to take care to avoid such a thing happening to them. Because he's out of shape, he tires quite easily.
He's very reliant on Germany, though he's trying to lessen his dependence. However it seems to stem from his long history of ordering Germany around.
Relationships
Germany
Main Article: Germany
Germany has described Austria as being something like an older brother to him; however, unlike with Prussia, he does not call him "big brother," so they likely aren't quite as close. Austria and Germany were allies in both World Wars and lived together during World War Two, much to Hungary and Italy's dismay, though Austria didn't mind it at all. He approves of and supports a lot of Germany's ideas, but he relies very heavily on him. It's said that, if Germany were to get even a little cold, Austria would catch a high fever and collapse, causing Germany to have little choice than to take good care of himself. His behavior often annoys Germany, especially since he blames him for things he'd done such as when he'd broken a cup. He also orders him around very often, much to Germany's chagrin; however it's been going on for so long that they and their neighbors all acknowledge it as "the usual" with them. Germany, however, feels that what he does goes beyond ordering. Austria has admitted that his reliance is a "terrifying thing." He has been trying to lessen his dependence, at least economically. Germany has admitted that Austria's fighting technique is "magnificent." He does seem to worry about how reliant he is, and has tried to teach him to be more self-sufficient, but gave up when Austria stubbornly tried to push himself past his(rather short) limit after exhausting himself with two minutes of sweeping.
Hungary
Main article: Hungary
The two still have a very close relationship, despite the dissolution of their alliance and marriage. The marriage was mostly a valuable war alliance, as the two promised that they would support each other in war. She's said to have saved him many times. As children, he was often beaten up and defeated by her when it came to wars, but when they got older, she was forced into becoming his servant while they were both under the rule of Holy Roman Empire. It seems she might still clean his house for him to this day due to his lack of self-sufficiency. Her working hard "behind the scenes" is shown here in that Austria claims his room cleans itself despite that Hungary is really the reason it gets clean.
Throughout the anime and manga, the two share many moments that suggest that they still have feelings for one another. For example, in the Buon San Valentino strips, Hungary is given a gift from an anonymous source, but when described the man has many of the same facial features that Austria has. She also seems to enjoy watching him play the piano. When Germany was sent to forcibly annex Austria, Hungary tried to stop him, asking him "to please consider his feelings." In the tenth Birz strip, she didn't want to go inside Germany's house to ensure he was okay(though she had been inside earlier, having been cleaning his room as Germany was out and could not do so himself) as her hair was rather disheveled.
Italy
Main Article: Italy
As a child, after Rome fell, Italy (Chibitalia) lived in Austria's house and spent the majority of his time there, acting as a maid due to becoming part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was raised there with Hungary's help. He believed Italy to be a girl until his voice broke sometime after he'd grown into a preteen, with Austria thinking he "had a feeling this would happen for some reason." It's assumed that, from then on, Austria bought him clothes of the proper gender and no longer made him wear maid's dresses. Because of Italy's behavior and being rather useless, Austria often pushed him around and punished him. Italy often asked if they would have pasta for dinner and the answer was always no. However, Italy was a glutton and went looking for pasta anyway. When Holy Roman Empire snuck him food Austria, believing he'd stolen it, locked him in a dark room as punishment.
During the Spanish-Austrian war, Italy had the opportunity to be reunited with his brother and live with Spain however he ran straight to Austria after being untied, despite that, according to Spain, he often complained about Austria's rule, seemingly because Spain scared him with his leering and dreaming of being with the Italy brother's all the time. He also was against Germany's annexation of Austria along with Hungary. Italy doesn't hold a grudge to Austria for his mistreatment as a child or from any wars they'd had, and is generally happy to see him, rushing to him and hugging him and rubbing their cheeks together.
Prussia
Main Article: Prussia
Prussia takes pleasure in annoying and humiliating him in whatever ways he can, and had fought against him in wars in the past, most notably seizing Silesia for himself in the War Of Austrian Succession.
On numerous occasions when he finds himself alone and crying, Prussia will mention that he is happy alone unlike a certain "stupid aristocrat". In the Christmas Strips, Prussia has to tell himself that he rather be alone than be with others "because clustering is for the weak. Yeah, like that stupid aristocr--". Prussia often talks about Austria in a negative tone. In the Maria Theresa arc of the anime, Prussia seems to be hell-bent on humiliating Austria, and shows, on multiple occasions throughout the episodes, a strong desire to see Austria beg for his mercy during the battles. He went so far as to hire a painter to paint Austria's face in defeat so that his failure would forever be a part of history.
In the present day while living with his brother, Prussia also freeloads off of Austria and has a habit of stalking him. Also, in Prussia's blog, it is implied that either Prussia and Austria are both living together in Germany's house, or that Austria associates with the brothers very often to sort out their messes.
Switzerland
Main Article: Switzerland
Switzerland was a former childhood friend of Austria's. In their youth, they were close, but Austria was weak and unable to fight as well as Switzerland expected him to, and had to be bailed out when he'd get beaten up in war.
They eventually grew apart, and Switzerland denies that the two of them ever used to be friends. Switzerland has never forgotten the time when they were friends, although Austria has.
Appearances
Anime
Austria made a very brief appearance during the Chibitalia segment in Episode 02 as one of four characters kicking Chibitalia in the air. In Episode 04, he gained control over and made Chibitalia his servant. Later on, he became the parental figure for Chibitalia and some other young countries, scolding them when they did things wrong but also inviting Chibitalia in to listen to his piano skills.
In Episode 06, we see an adult Austria for the first time.
Musical
Austria appeared in the musical Hetalia ~Singin' in the World~ and was portrayed by Takuya Kikuchi.[6]
Trivia
- The date given for his birthday, October 26th, is also the date of Austria's national holiday.[2] It celebrates Austria's Declaration of Neutrality, signed in 1955.
- Austria is the only character given an outright "birth year" (976) in his profile, though Korea originally had one as well (1919). The "birth year" corresponds with the year that the East Bavarian March (Babenburg Austria) was founded, which Austria grew from.
- June 8th, his and Hungary's wedding day, corresponds with the date of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise.
- In a character note, it says he spent some time in a wheelchair.
- Also in a character note, it says he wears glasses not because he has bad eyesight, but because he thinks he would look plain without them. It was also explained further that his glasses also represent his musical abilities.[7]
- It seems that Austria's natural hair is straight as seen in flashbacks of him as a child, a drawing by Himaruya of a few countries eating breakfast, and a Chibitalia strip in which he combs his hair to achieve his wavy-esque hairstyle.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Himaruya, Hidekaz (May 2007). "(cache) 【ジョルジュ長岡を心の底から愛でまくるサイト】 キタユメ。 【まゆ毛がステキ】". Archived from the original on November 22, 2007. http://megalodon.jp/2007-1122-0436-47/www.geocities.jp/himaruya/5gatu.htm. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Himaruya, Hidekaz (2008). ヘタリア Axis Powers [Hetalia: Axis Powers]. Gentosha. p. 106. ISBN 978-4-3448-1275-8.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (2021). ヘタリア☆Collezione [Hetalia☆Collezione]. Shueisha. p. 92. ISBN 978-4-0888-2870-1.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (June 26, 2008). "声優さん発表きましたね。". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-150.html. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
- ↑ Hidekaz, Himaruya (2013). Axis Powers ヘタリア 6 [Axis Powers Hetalia 6]. Gentosha. p. 94. ISBN 978-4-344-82867-4.
- ↑ "Hetalia ~Singin' in the World~ Stage Musical Unveils Cast". October 2, 2015. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-10-02/hetalia-~singin-in-the-world~-stage-musical-unveils-cast/.93665. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
- ↑ Hidekaz, Himaruya (November 6, 2014). "おまけ７ [Omake 7]". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-1578.html. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
