#atticus rambles

to state it simply, i’ve always felt as though liking hetalia invalidates other areas of my personality. this ties into greater schemes associated with the fact that people can’t enjoy themselves without facing some sort of unnecessary criticism. not all criticism is unnecessary, but i’m referring to a situation such as walking up to someone and saying, “that show you watch is awful.” not the best example, but i’m hoping it got the point across. the world shouldn’t work that way, but things along those lines are said, solely with intent to harm, about the very television show that has saved a person’s life.

i feel that since i’ve watched hetalia, and people know that i have watched it, my love for history, philosophy, mythology- it’s all automatically invalid. people might say things such as, “you don’t like history, you just like anime/manga/whatever.” that’s odd, considering i remember one day, i had to be about seven, when the teacher pulled out a large book about ancient greece. i fell in love. i would talk to my friends about geography, history, mythology, you name it. i couldn’t get enough.

then hetalia came along. i could talk for the rest of my life trying to cover the offensive/incorrect/all around not good scenes in hetalia. the fandom isn’t the only thing that is problematic. i watched hetalia, because i was looking for something lighthearted, and it was labeled as “a comedy.” plus, i’d heard about it before. now, quick note, i’m picky with my shows. i can only watch one thing at a time, and i linger around that one thing until something pushes me away. i’m hoping i’m not “pushed away” from hetalia, but i also can’t speak for the future.

hetalia wasn’t at all what i expected, but i kept watching. some of the jokes, and points made were harmless, and could give a good laugh. i loved the concept as well. of course, the execution is not what i would have expected if someone told me, “i’m gonna write about personified countries,” but it did fulfill it’s intended purpose. like i said, the concept was nice, the execution had so much potential, but that isn’t why i stuck around. i found characters that i liked that weren’t based on who they personified, (note, at first i felt obliged to like slovakia due to family, but then got into his character) what they did historically, or anything along those lines.

i wouldn’t have stuck around if it weren’t for the characters. i still love history, and i still am learning languages not simply because i liked hetalia. that being said, one thing i am grateful for is insight into lithuania. when it came to history, i loved picking apart events involving various revolutions, and the church. (note- i am not christian, but i do believe everyone is entitled to their own religion. regardless, nobody can truthfully state that “this group of people (in reference to any group ever) never did anything wrong.”)

i liked tolys’ character, but i think both his personality, and my personal favourites of historical events greatly influenced that relation i feel. here’s where i’m going to make a very important point. i have family in scotland, i’m celtic. i liked looking at their struggles throughout history in relation to treatment by other peoples. i liked looking at their religion throughout history as well. when i realized that there was far more than a history teacher told me behind eastern european history, i jumped at the opportunity. i realized that those groups that only got one mention in school had everything i was looking for.