#10yrsofhetalia

[kiwiartdesu]

Happy 10 years of Hetalia!! I’m very happy that this fandom has lasted so long and it’s changed so much (in a good way), even if this fandom dies it will always have a speial place in my heart <3

[dreaming-baka]

10 Years of Hetalia

I can’t remember what my first Hetalia fanart was (I’m pretty sure it was just a scribble in one of my school notebooks), but this one was always iconic for me. I used to use this as my dp on the Hetalia LJ community all the time. I procrastinated in good ol’ fashion and I couldn’t post this before I left for my Poland trip, so now I’m late for the event.

Nevertheless, I quickly remade this fanart to show I did kinda improve uhhh. Not the best example xD (dat panda) I wasn’t planning on a TLDR post BUT WHY NOT.

My first encounter with Hetalia was from someone I’ve been following for a long time on DA (they are from Poland~). They drew fanart, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it. For the actual event that triggered me to look into Hetalia, I don’t remember LOL. That’s like the important part pfft

Hetalia was the first fandom I’ve ever really participated in. At that point, I’ve been in the weeb stage, watched lots of anime, and started to go into manga. I did participate in the Final Fantasy 7 fandom abit, but it wasn’t anything like Hetalia (as I would realize later on).

I’m glad that Hetalia was my first fandom (and still the only one atm). The LJ community was unlike any other fandoms, according to many members who have been in many fandoms. They said that there was little to no drama there, and everyone was super nice- part of it might’ve been due to the nature of Hetalia. Yes it was about WWII, but it also promoted cultures and attracted people who wanted to learn more about others.

That all changed when the anime came out and it started to become even more popular. Many old fans were scared away by the new ones. There were probably many reasons, but one of the main ones was most likely the shipping. Back then most, if not all, of the fans were more centered around history.

I fell out of Hetalia for awhile too, but it was for a different reason, and it actually started with Hetalia itself. For the first time I joined an RP group on DA, with the setting based on Gakuen Hetalia. The only reason I joined. And because of my great experience there, I really got into RPing. That was one of my best groups, and I like to think Hetalia had something to do with it.

Many people I know have already moved on and lost interest in Hetalia, and tbh I’m not sure why I haven’t either. I think I just enjoyed my experience way too much to leave it, even with all the issues it currently has in the fandom. I’m pretty sentimental *sniff* I don’t know if I can put into words how Hetalia affected me, but for one thing, I’ve made many friends that I still talk to today.

Like I said I was on a trip to Poland recently, for an event called World Youth Day. Like the name says, it’s an event that invites youth all over the world, and naturally there will be flags everywhere xD My travel group depended on me to recognize flags and what country they were from, and they were impressed that I knew so many. As someone from North America, I can safely say our awareness of flags is sometimes really limited because our continent only has three and we don’t travel as freely as some other places (such as the EU). SO IF I LEARNED ANYTHING FROM HETALIA, it’s the flags. Of course I learned about history too--

Hetalia has been a great way to get people to learn more about history and culture. Granted, many people don’t do their own research and spread misinformation around, but if you really want to learn you can always connect with someone who has knowledge in certain areas. Hetalia has been a great medium in doing that.

Personally,  I learned about many different countries I haven’t heard of, learned from people all over the world, connected with others that share the same culture as myself, became more aware of situations in other countries, even seen cultural differences in shipping LOL, just to name a few.

Hima-papa couldn’t have imagined that his amusement of the Italy army during WWII would turn into something so big. It’s been great to see him grow alongside the fandom. His awareness of history and culture has definitely changed from the time he started the webcomic. I think one of his greatest joys is to see his characters being kept alive in the fandom he bought together. :)

I’m not sure how long I’ll still be interested in Hetalia, but no matter what happens, it will always have a special place in my heart.

[naueth]

Happy Ten! ;v;

[applesauce78gerita]

Just finished this today! It's of my top 4 characters in Hetalia, drawn for the 10 year anniversary. Thank you Himaruya!

[deenzola]

7.6.2016

Happy 10th anniversary for Hetalia! Congratulation on Himaruya-san for made and continuing Hetalia ’til now. I’m really glad for the born of Hetalia, I see the world in different view now www, I learn from Hetalia that the world is beautiful, and I still have hope that the people in this world can love, accept, and respect to each other even with people that have different aspects.

Once again, Happy 10th anniversary, and thank you Himaruya-san!

Fan from Indonesia

[asterlizard]

10 years of Hetalia

I could write an essay about how important Hetalia is to me and how it positively affected my life, but I’ll keep things short and sweet for the public:

I first discovered Hetalia in March 2009 by the then latest character songs by the Italy bros. Curious, I skim-read what Hetalia was, and by some strange misunderstanding, I thought the series was an international cooking show anime (the album cover didn’t help). Although I was interested, I didn’t pursue it until later that year.

I rediscovered Hetalia while I was going through a painful depression. From this rediscovery I found out the actual plot of the series (as a lover of geography and travel, I was ecstatic over the idea of personified countries) and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I liked the humour, and it included facts and knowledge, which made learning fun. It was my ideal kind of series.

Throughout the next couple of years, I made Hetalia friends through the internet, local events, and conventions. Although I lost contact with most of them (and can only hope that they are okay), I’m still in contact with a couple of them, one of which I consider to be one of my closest friends after 5 ongoing years. Some of my fondest memories are interactions with these friends.

Discovering this series also made me more interested in history, especially the events that textbooks don’t talk about. I’m currently part of a translation group, which helps bring the official web comics and blog posts to English. A lot of research for these translations involved learning about obscure and amusing facts of history or culture, and it’s fun to get to translate and eventually share these to the English-speaking audience. This translating practice also helped broaden my ideas of what I want to pursue for a potential career.

Even when I’m not reading Hetalia, the series has affected the way I think. History is important, and there are serious things in life that need to be acknowledged as such. But that doesn’t mean that we have to take everything seriously; fun is also important. It seems that the truest Hetalia fans understand this, and demonstrate the most respect, open minds, and love for the world and its cultures, and that’s the kind of group I would rather be part of.

Thank you Himaruya, for making my life brighter, keeping my curiosity alive, and for bringing important people into my life.

★  10周年おめでとうございます！  ★

[captainjellyart]

***IRONICALLY, THIS VIDEO IS BLOCKED IN MANY COUNTRIES BECAUSE OF THE SONGS I CHOSE TO USE. THESE SONGS ARE VERY VERY SPECIAL TO ME, AND I WILL NOT REPLACE THEM. SO, HOPEFULLY EVERYONE CAN USE THIS VIMEO LINK BELOW TO WATCH IT. THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING!!***

[[ Vimeo Link (X) ]]

❤PATREON❤ ❤GOFUNDME❤

(tumblr reblog posts:) **MAIN ART **DETAIL SHOTS

Thank you. ♡

[toueiko]

Hetalia 10th Year Anniversary! 06/07/16

This series is a blast and I’m looking forward for more, thank you!