Belgium
| Belgium ベルギー | |
|---|---|
| |
| Character Information | |
| Name |  Kingdom Of Belgium (Koninkrijk België / Royaume de Belgique)
|
| Gender | Female |
| Hair Color | Blonde Brown (Anime: The Beautiful World) |
| Eye Color | Green |
| Height | 163 cm (5' 4.17")[1] |
| Debut Appearances | |
| Volume | Hetalia: Axis Powers Volume 1 (cameo) Volume 3 (formal debut) |
| Strip | Opening of the Meeting at the Center of the World (cameo) Netherlands and Japan’s Isolation (debut) |
| Drama CD | Hetalia Drama CD Interval Vol. 2: Boss CD |
| Anime | Episode 01 (cameo) Episode 94 (formal debut) |
| Voice Actors | |
| Japanese | Eriko Nakamura |
| English | Amanda Doskocil (S4-6) Sarah Wiedenheft (S7) |
Belgium (ベルギー, Berugī) is a supporting character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers. She is the younger sister of the Netherlands[2] and older sister of Luxembourg.[3]
Contents
Attributes
Appearance
Belgium is a tall woman who has short, slightly curly, "pretty," blonde hair, held back with a ribbon[2] (alternatively green or red, but also sometimes seen as being black) and green, almond-shaped[4] eyes. Her lips are often curled in the shape of a cat's mouth. Belgium is a very busty woman[5] whose features are said to stand out, however she dresses simply and her clothes aren't very conspicuous.[6]
In her profile sketch by Hidekaz Himaruya, she is shown wearing a military uniform[7] like most of the other characters, but it has varied in appearances in the various illustrations that exist of it: In an early-full body picture, she was shown to wear gloves, her boots were high-heeled with visible laces, and her tie had an elaborate black design. In a super-deformed character sketch, her boots were simplified (with the heels and laces removed), and her tie was changed to a neckbow. However, in a later chibi design, the neckbow was changed back to a tie (with a somewhat different design than before) and her pants became breeches. The uniform's color remained unknown for some time as well, until an illustration in Comic Birz revealed it to be khaki. Himaruya has recently (since volume 4) depicted her in a somewhat different uniform, consisting of black breeches and suspenders worn over a khaki military shirt.
In the "Meeting Of The World" segment of both the published manga and anime, she wears an aqua dress and lavender bolero (with a matching lavender headband).[8]
In earlier-drawn sketches, Belgium was shown in a traditional European dress and wore a slightly different headband (with longer ribbon tails). Though her official hair color is blonde, several chibi headshots depicted her with a shade of brown hair.[9] As a result, a fan asked for confirmation of her hair color, to which Himaruya referred to the color chart.[10]
In a Christmas 2011 strip it was shown that, as a child, Belgium wore her bow on the back of her head and a long-sleeved dress with frilled collar and a ribbon tie on it.[11]
Personality and Interests
Belgium is Netherlands' and Luxembourg's sister,[2] though it's said that they often push her around. She's cheerful and mature, but she doesn't stand out much due to the people around her.[2] She, herself, admitted that the stronger countries surrounding her make her look plain, but she tries her best nonetheless.[12]
Earlier notes describe her as a tsukkomi ("straight man") type. According to the character chart, she speaks in a Shiga dialect.[4] Volume 3 stated that she was cheerful and good-natured, but a bit nosy. However, when angered, she's scary.[13] The profile page cited her as "a diligent, kind, meddlesome and friendly older sister!" She also "loves gourmet and tasty snacks!"[6] Her home is famous for its waffles, and her gourmet tastes may be part of the reason that she finds foreign waffles to taste unpleasant.[12] Another thing her house was noted to be famous for was the Manneken Pis.[14]
For Halloween Belgium dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. She used it as an opportunity to briefly advertise a real-life Belgian horror game, The Path, based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood.[15] It was said that, as a child, she was even better at business than her brother,[11] so it's possible she's simply retained some of those business skills.
During the Christmas invasion of the Parallel nations, Belgium ran into one of the shadows at her house. Ignoring or not noticing the strange aura that they seem to radiate, she instead felt concern that he was naked in the middle of the winter, worried something horrible must have happened to him. Even though he was about to attack her, she showed him compassion and showed her sisterly traits in removing and giving him her scarf, startling him out of attacking her. She said that, even though his heart may have been cold because of whatever happened, he had to warm his body. She said that he could keep the scarf as a Christmas present and told him to go home, warm up, and get some rest, before taking her leave.[16]
A picture of Belgium had been requested on Christmas as the requester was a saxophone player and wanted a picture of the country who created them. Belgium complied, however she said that she had been holding a saxophone but it had been very frustrating, so she couldn't hold it for the picture.[17]
Relationships
Luxembourg
Main article: Luxembourg
Luxembourg is Belgium's younger brother.[3] In an old note, it was stated that he, along with Netherlands, often pushes her around. He refers to her as "Big sis", which subsequent blog post states he uses as a term of endearment for her.[18] During the Halloween 2011 event, Belgium was sad that he couldn't come to America's Halloween party with them because he had too much work to do and his boss wouldn't allow him to go until it was done. However, she, Spain, Romano, and Netherlands took a picture of themselves and sent it to him, saying that he had to come and dress up with them next time, which he agreed to do.[19] His promise was kept, and he made his debut in the Halloween 2013 event, where he charges at her in a costume, proud that he had scared her, but causing Belgium to faint.[20] On a character relationship chart, Luxembourg states that Belgium always takes good care of him and she sees him as a "reliable little brother."[21]
During the Christmas 2011 event, due to a request for Luxembourg's scrapped design to speak, Belgium had a nightmare about him, causing her to mumble in her sleep that she didn't know who he was and that he wasn't the Luxembourg she knew. Overhearing her, he became concerned and asked if she was alright.[22]
Netherlands
Main article: Netherlands
Belgium is Netherlands' younger sister, however its said that they don't resemble one another much.[23] When both were under the control of Spain, Netherlands fought to become independent and went to war with his sister, as she remained with Spain.[2] He later attempted to reconcile with her to form the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. However, they'd been separated for 200 years and their differences were too great, with Netherlands working mainly on trade and being protestant, leaning towards England, and Belgium being very agricultural and Catholic, influenced by France. As a result, Belgium declared her independence 15 years later.[23]
In Volume 4, Belgium said that her brother was handsome and tall, and that she thought he was cool. However, his stinginess with money was the only thing she saw as a flaw in his personality. When Netherlands bought herring from Lithuania and Poland, he used cheap salt to pickle it and sell it at a higher price. Both then and when he sold his own weapons to Spain, whom he was fighting against, after saying "money makes the world go round" Belgium was seen around the corner, crying, telling him not to be mean. According to Belgium, Netherlands reads romantic poems. When they saw Santa, she asked if he thought he would be willing to visit them. He said that he didn't mind asking and promised to bring her Santa. Some time later he gave her a sheet of paper that said "I'll bring you a real Santa today." She was excited that he kept his promise, however both she and Romano were startled when he showed up, dressed as a reindeer, carrying Spain dressed as Santa(the joke being that the Netherlands' and Belgium's Santa comes from Spain.) Though she had been happily telling Romano that her brother wasn't such a miser because he was going to do that for her, it said at the bottom of the page that he had invested 0 euros in it.[12]
Netherlands' rabbit, in a conversation with Pochi-kun, said that, before Netherlands left for Japan, he'd had a fight with Belgium. As a result, he felt lonely, and thus was being a busybody, likely to keep his mind off of it.[23]
Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, and Romano dressed as a group for Halloween, following the theme of Little Red Riding Hood.[15] When Netherlands began to attack Spain for not working hard enough(in response to his comment about Luxembourg being a very busy person,) she was somewhat saddened.[19]
During Christmas, a comic of Belgium and Netherlands as children was requested. Netherlands immediately made an agitated face before the video started. Belgium visited Netherlands who was, at the time, without an influential leader or much of a wealth difference among his people, in contrast to Belgium who was richer than he was. She invited him over and, when he came, she told him to take it easy. He was startled and impressed by her luxurious lifestyle, gaping throughout the trip, especially when they were eating, presented with something he considered a high class meal. She then expressed concern at that he wasn't eating. A shot of them both as adults had Belgium worrying that she was at fault for her brother's stinginess, however Netherlands insisted that he'd always been that way.[11]
South Italy (Romano)
Main article: South Italy
As a child, South Italy had a crush on the older Belgium. She found him cute and, as he showed off his ability to ask for a kiss in Spanish while tugging on her dress, she offered to give him a kiss on the cheek. He became flustered, stumbled over his words, and said he was actually fine, to which Belgium said he was quite innocent and apologized for teasing, offering sweets as compensation.[13] She was depicted as serving young Romano when he was demanding food from Spain in his diary, seeming to find his demandingness amusing. In Boss CD, when they make churros, Romano says that he will get 80% of them, while Spain and Belgium get 10% each. He also gets incredibly flustered and tongue-tied when Belgium praises him for his hard work, even getting flustered to the point of meekness and admitting he hadn't worked much at all. Young Romano would refer to her by name and also said nyarome, possibly a cute version of yamero, Japanese for "you bastard" and other such things, something Romano calls everyone. However, he was said to have been taught by men, hence why he was using such a rude term. However, she wasn't bothered and found him cute nonetheless.[24]
In modern times, they seem to have a good relationship, and she still finds him cute in the present.[15] She happily shared with him that Netherlands kept his promise to bring her Santa, though they were both shocked that he simply brought her Spain.[12]
Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, and Romano dressed as a group for Halloween, following the theme of Little Red Riding Hood.[15]
Spain
Main article: Spain
Belgium and Spain seem to get along well, in contrast to his and Netherlands' relationship. While she was his territory, she lived as a maid at his house. It was noted that Spain built museums and art galleries in countries it controlled, and Spain and Belgium were shown holding and admiring canvases. Furthermore, when Spain put a large portion of his money into getting Romano nice clothes, she worried over him, saying that he had to do something about his own clothes, as well, which had become tattered.[25] In the Boss CD, Spain helps Belgium with laundry and with Romano. They enjoyed friendly meals together, as well, including the churros that he and Romano made together. When her brother left to become independent, she not only stayed with Spain, but ended up having to fight her brother.[2]
When she asked her brother to bring her Santa, he brought her Spain (as the Dutch and Belgian Santa is Spanish) instead.[12]
Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, and Romano dressed as a group for Halloween, following the theme of Little Red Riding Hood.[15]
Appearances
Manga
Despite an early appearance at the World Meeting during volume 1, Belgium was not formally introduced to the published manga until volume 3. Prior to this, she appeared rarely in strips and sketches on Himaruya's blog.
Drama CD
To date, Belgium has only appeared in one drama CD: Hetalia Drama CD Interval Vol. 2: Boss CD.
Anime
Belgium is shown in a brief non-speaking cameo in the "Meeting Of The World" segment of Episode 01. In this appearance she has a broader face shape with smaller eyes, longer hair and more detailed hair with a light purple hair band, and a light purple blouse. Belgium also appeared in a special unaired episode The Diary of the Awesome Me, Part 2, where she had a non-speaking cameo when Hungary explains the history of Belgium's cat festival.
Belgium made her first speaking appearance in Episode 94 (adapting elements from the published version of Boss Spain and Chibiromano), talking to chibi Romano, Spain, and briefly to Netherlands. Her face shape is more angular and her eyes appear larger with green ribbons styling her hair. Throughout the episode she has a "3" shaped mouth mimicking a cat, an expression that she bore briefly in the original strip.
In The Beautiful World, her anime design is updated her hair color is changed to the dirty blond/light brown color that it appears as in some of Himaruya's later illustrations. While her Spanish Empire-era dress was colored aqua in World Series, it appears purple in her appearances in this season. She appears with hair decals similar to her previous anime designs and appears in several different outfits despite her handful of appearances. She had a quick cameo in "Romano's Diary" and made her full speaking debut in "At Netherlands'".
In one segment of "At Netherlands'" she appears as the younger version of herself, where she is shown wearing a large red ribbon and a beige dress.
Trivia
- In notes included in the special booklet for Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 3, Himaruya revealed that he initially drew a Belgium without any facial features in order to imagine what her look and personality would be. He later decided on a friendly-type of girl. She also originally had no ribbon, though Himaruya noted that the design would have been innovative as it is rare for his female characters to lack hair accessories.
- In an annotation in Netherlands and Japan’s Isolation, it is stated that Belgium was a farming nation during the time the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was established and began to industrialize in 1798.
- Belgium's Cat Festival is a festival only celebrated in Ypres, its official name is Kattenstoet (Dutch for Cat Parade) and originates from the cloth trade. When Monks created the Belgian coast to gain more land, the new land was infertile and salty, only grass would grow and afterwards farmers and villagers would keep sheep on these lands to fertilize them. The large amount of wool was then woven into cloth which made the County of Flanders really prosperous. The Flemish cities built cloth halls to stock and trade the cloth, but they faced one problem- there were mice. These little creatures were attracted to the warmth of the cloth and also liked the taste of it. To solve this problem, the city put many, many cats in the Hall to protect the cloth, and when summer ended, trade came to a stop and there was hardly anyone who actually wanted to keep all the animals alive, nor was there were any means to. Since farmers had to kill almost all their cattle (which were taking up space), and there was still no food for them, the solution was to kill the cats. They also wanted to celebrate the good trading year so they decided to combine both of them. The feast would be about cats and in the end, all the cats would be thrown from the tower of the Belfry. In 1817 they made an ethical adaptation: they stopped throwing living cats down.
- In a 2010 blog post, Himaruya had stated fan suggested options for her name, including Laura, Emma, Anri, and Manon. No possible surname was given.[26]
References
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (2021). ヘタリア☆Collezione [Hetalia☆Collezione]. Shueisha. p. 98. ISBN 978-4-0888-2870-1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Himaruya, Hidekaz (2007). "キタユメ。クリスマス予告編 [Kitayume. Christmas Preview]". http://www.geocities.jp/himaruya/chrismas_bonsai.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Himaruya, Hidekaz (January 3, 2012). "お知らせ２ [Notification 2]". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-1368.html. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Himaruya, Hidekaz (April 16, 2009). "見分け表途中経過 [Character Distinction]". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-534.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (May 27, 2008). "幸せ人間 [Happy People]". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-57.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Himaruya, Hidekaz (2010). Axis Powers ヘタリア 3 [Axis Powers Hetalia 3]. Gentosha. p. 20. ISBN 978-4-3448-1938-2.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. "簡易キャラ紹介 [Simple Character Introduction]". http://www.geocities.jp/himaruya/char.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (2008). Axis Powers ヘタリア [Axis Powers Hetalia]. Gentosha. p. 3. ISBN 978-4-3448-1275-8.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (July 11, 2010). "輸入と輸出 [Imports And Exports]". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-838.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (November 22, 2011). "ガリガリ". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-1318.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Himaruya, Hidekaz (December 28-29, 2011). "クリスマス2012 [Christmas 2012]". http://www.geocities.jp/himaruya/2011_12_6.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Himaruya, Hidekaz (2011). Axis Powers ヘタリア 4 [Axis Powers Hetalia 4]. Gentosha. p. 34-37. ISBN 978-4-3448-2233-7.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Himaruya, Hidekaz (2010). Axis Powers ヘタリア 3 [Axis Powers Hetalia 3]. Gentosha. p. 60-61. ISBN 978-4-3448-1938-2.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (September 5, 2009). "ただいま！ [I'm back!]". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-652.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Himaruya, Hidekaz (November 2, 2011). "ハロウィーン 2ページ目 [Halloween Page 2]". http://www.geocities.jp/himaruya/hall20112.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (December 29, 2010). "キタユメ。クリスマス2011 [Kitayume. Christmas 2011]". http://www.geocities.jp/himaruya/xmas20117.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (December 31, 2009). "ベルギーさん [Miss Belgium]". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-716.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (January 3, 2012). "お知らせ２". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-1368.html. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Himaruya, Hidekaz (November 6, 2011). "ハロウィーン 5ページ目 [Halloween Page 4]". http://www.geocities.jp/himaruya/hall20115.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (November 5, 2014). "おまけ４". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-1575.html. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (November 19, 2014). "ようやくまとめた！！". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-1604.html. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (January 2, 2012). "クリスマス2012 [Christmas 2012]". http://www.geocities.jp/himaruya/2011_12_10.html.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Himaruya, Hidekaz (May 13, 2010). "オランダさんと鎖国ニッポン [Netherlands And Isolationist Japan]". http://www.geocities.co.jp/himaruya/skk.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (May 27, 2011). "キター！！ [It's Here~!!]". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-1169.html. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (2011). Axis Powers ヘタリア 4 [Axis Powers Hetalia 4]. Gentosha. p. 42-45. ISBN 978-4-3448-2233-7.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz (November 26, 2011). "「Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs」でのイギリスいじりは異常". http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-946.html. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
