Taiwan/Sandbox
| Taiwan 台湾 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Character Information | |
| Name |  Taiwan (Zhōnghuá Mínguó) (中華民國)
|
| Gender | Female |
| Birthday | October 25[1] |
| Hair Color | Brown |
| Eye Color | Brown Black (ID chart) |
| Height | 150 cm (4'11 ft est)[2] |
| Debut Appearances | |
| Volume | Hetalia: Axis Powers Volume 2 (profiled) Volume 4 (formal debut) |
| Strip | Asian Scribbles or Something (sketches) 2010 Christmas Event |
| Drama CD | Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol. 8 - China |
| Anime | Our Failure |
| Voice Actors | |
| Japanese | Yuki Kaida |
| English | Clarine Harp |
Taiwan (台湾 Taiwan) is a supporting character in the series Hetalia.
Contents
Attributes
Appearance
Taiwan is a teenage girl who wears a peach (or bright pink)-colored qipao with gold trim, long, flowing sleeves and a long white skirt. Her hair is long and brown, with a wild curly strand sticking out on the right side of her head. She wears pink flowers in her hair, and a chibi sketch of her by Himaruya revealed that she has a flower-shaped birthmark (or tattoo) on her left thigh.
In one earlier sketch, her qipao was drawn slightly different, and she had her hair tied into a side ponytail with some of her flowers. Another early design showed another variation on her qipao and the flowers.
Personality and Interests
Taiwan is described as a strong-willed, fashionable young woman, but she is also said to have become more of a nervous type in recent times, unable to stop worrying. Most of the time she is very positive and cheerful and enjoys Japan's "kawaii" culture very much. She is also a great cook.
Her role in the drama track for the eighth Hetalia character CD predates any manga or anime appearance (as with Hong Kong, who appeared in Hetalia Fantasia). There, she's portrayed as a rather smart-mouthed girl with a somewhat quick temper and a cheerful disposition.
Relationships
China
Main Article: China
She addresses him as "teacher" in the drama CD but calls him a "bastard" in an earlier sketch. An early illustration showed that she cannot stand China, and prefers Japan, ordering China to leave him alone. In the drama CD, she treats him in a slightly more friendly manner but still has very low patience towards his quirks.
Japan
Main Article: Japan
Much to China's dismay, Taiwan expresses a preference for Japan, going as far as to confront China about his treatment of Japan. In the strip Ilha Formosa ~Beautiful Island~, Japan is shown hanging out with Taiwan and discussing Taiwanese fortune-telling, and during the Halloween 2011 event, she is excited to show Japan her costume.
Vietnam
Main Article: Vietnam
In volume 4, Taiwan calls Vietnam a "cutie" and requests to have a picture taken with Vietnam. The photo studio retouches the photograph so that their eyes are larger, which Vietnam finds baffling and, in contrast, Taiwan finds cute.
Appearances
Manga
Despite being profiled in volume 2 of the published manga and later making an appearance in volume 3 on the Hetalia world map, the majority of Taiwan's appearances have been on Himaruya's blog and website. She has her first lines in the 2010 Christmas event, responding to Sealand that she didn't have the sign. She also appeared in the 2011 April Fool's event, being interested in the photo she got from France and Spain. She appears in Volume 4's "Ilha Formosa ~Beautiful Island~" chapter, where her formal debut is made. In the Halloween 2011 event, she dresses up as Silverlight from Microsoft Taiwan.
Drama CD
She has her debut in the mini-drama "Asian and Western Festivals" in China's character CD. She met China and Shinatty in the park, made fun of China, and later helped fix China's arm (however, that caused China a lot of pain). She referred to China as her "teacher" in the drama, and seemed to not care about China's bossiness, and thought of him as a "grandpa".
Anime
Taiwan debuts in episode 11 of Hetalia: The Beautiful World. On April Fools Day, she is sent a supposedly embarrassing picture of herself, but remarks that it is funny.
Trivia
- Before he settled on her present look, Hidekaz Himaruya drafted various designs for the character, as he revealed in an illustration on his blog. Rejected concepts included: A more "mature" design for a female version, Taiwan as a young boy and as a young girl, a short-haired variation of the female design, and Taiwan as both a younger and an older man.
- Her birthday corresponds with the date of October 25th, 1945, when the Japanese military surrendered control of Taiwan.[1] In the Chinese printing of the second volume of Hetalia, her birthday was left out and the phrase "A part of China" was added to her profile.
- Taiwan apparently was to have a role in Gakuen Hetalia as she appeared in concept art for the game. However, the game is incomplete, so her prominence in it cannot be gauged.
- Like Hong Kong, she makes her speaking debut in a drama track (Asian and Western Festivals in China's character CD). She is voiced by Yuki Kaida, who also voices China.
- In a 2010 blog post, Himaruya listed possible names for Taiwan to be Lin Yi-Ling (林乙玲) or Hsiao-Mei / Xiao-Mei (曉梅)*.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Himaruya, Hidekaz (2008). ヘタリア Axis Powers 2 [Hetalia: Axis Powers 2]. Gentosha. p. 21. ISBN 978-4-3448-1514-8.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. "Height chart from around 2008. (Deleted from Himaruya's blog)". http://i.imgur.com/hoUTq.gif. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (November 26, 2010). "「Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs」でのイギリスいじりは異常" (in Japanese). http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-946.html. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
- 曉梅 (Hsiao-Mei or Xiao-Mei) is a given name suggested by Himaruya, he did not suggest a family name to go with this name.
