Romano's inferiority complex
I have seen couple people say that Romano was never overlooked in favour of Veneziano, was never compared to him and that all these insecurities are based on nothing and that he came up with them by himself out of thin air, or that they aren't even a big deal to begin with. Now with all respect I can't agree with this, and as a Romano fan I need to defend him and also point out what Himaruya has actually written in the series.
Romano was left behind when Grandpa Rome left and took Veneziano with him. Like that is something that happened, and we never see Rome interact with Chibimano. Rome spend most of his time rearing Veneziano and as it says Veneziano lived for a while ONLY with his grandpa.
We also see this scene echoed in Romano's mind, where Grandpa is happy with Veneziano, and Romano is clearly thinking of this with a sad expression, feeling left out.
Romano crying onto his pillow and Romano crying at the pond weren't in the anime, but he was clearly upset in the anime as well and the narrator also points out he felt deep loneliness. But I think it does disservice to Romano's character to dismiss his pain as just him being delusional. Why would he feel this sad if he was never neglected? And we already have proof he was left behind, it was literally said! And I have seen old Japanese doujinshi that also explore Romano's hurt over being left behind by his grandpa.
People usually use the scenes of Romano crying happy tears when he sees his grandpa as older as proof that he wasn't overlooked, but that is not that good of an argument in my opinion, because kids don't stop loving their parents even if their siblings are favoured. And just because Grandpa loves Romano too, doesn't change the fact he was focusing on Veneziano more. Not caring at all and overlooking are not the same thing. So people can't call me delusional for having this view because I actually have the content on my side.
Austria gave Romano to Spain because he saw him as a burden while keeping Veneziano, enough said. Romano also acknowledged he is terrible at cleaning, (which later was found to be partly because of him having spastic movements due to chorea) and not useful at all. So aside from emotional/psychological pain, he was also experiencing physical pain.
Now I know Spain and Romano's relationship changes a lot after Spain starts to understand Romano, but he did originally tried to trade Romano for Veneziano. And he did comment on how he wishes Romano was nice and obedient like Veneziano.
So to say that Romano feeling lonely and thinking he doesn't bother to even try anything anymore since he can't beat Veneziano in anything, is just his own delusions, doesn't reflect the manga we see before this scene happens. When you think for a moment how things folded from Romano's perspective, it makes perfect sense why he'd come to this conclusion.
Ignoring the origins of Romano's insecurities and inferiority complex also does disservice to Romano and Spain's relationship. Because Spain was the first person that prioritized Romano over his brother. Yes, at first he didn't understand Romano, and wanted to trade him for Veneziano, but after he learned to appreciate Romano for who he is rather than compare him to Veneziano, the two grew closer and Spain came to view Romano as special while he doesn't view Veneziano like this at all. Whenever Romano is distressed or feels scared, Spain is the person that comes to his mind. Because the care he provided made Romano feel safe.
Where does it say Romano was imagining things? Romano also does care for his brother, but their relationship is complex because of Romano's resentment over his brother being prioritized.
When Spain was spoiling him he was also confused and didn't really know how to react to it properly.
His insecurities also did not entirely disappear even when he's older. There are multiple scenes where he experiences what he sees as a failure or mistake and literally has a meltdown where he shakes and cries, thinking his brother could do a better job. He feels miserable about it.
Oh and about Romano looking like grandpa Rome;
As one can see, even though Himaruya has occassional inconsistencies to his style, whenever he puts a lot of effort, he gives Romano very specific eye shape. It's not as rounded and open as it is for cheerful characters like Rome, Spain and Italy Veneziano. It's a type also rather common for tsundere characters. It is closer to other tsundere characters like England and Iceland.
Here you can see the differences between Veneziano, Romano and Seborga. As you can see, Veneziano shares Rome's more bright, cheerful style (despite both brothers being less masculine than their grandpa).
So no, Romano is also not delusional about not looking like Rome as much as his brother.
Thank you for reading, I might write about other characters too.
