An entire episode dedicated to guys raising adoptive younger siblings who grow up and want to have Special Relationships with them. And still no sign of Hetare 4 or Buon San Valentino. There's no justice in the world.

Awwww, it's Kidmerica again! Even though America Cleans Out the Storage is done, the gift keeps on giving!
Must resist urge to make joke about England's constant head-patting.

Can't resist! The head-pat is just too paedo. (Sadly, the anime removes the shot right after this, of France chuckling at the implications of the scene and England getting mad.)
They actually did a decent job drawing the English cooking in the anime- Himaruya was, um, not exactly perfect at drawing food. Or hands for that matter. Here, I can actually identify the various items on America's plate, although some of them might not be historically accurate. I'm also not entirely clear on why there is a slice of lemon in the chips. I've seen lots of things on chips, but never lemon bits.

Um, wha? If he's a newborn, how is he even able to talk and move around? Wouldn't a comment about how he's kind of young and thus hasn't been exposed to many foods be more appropriate?

Then we cut to Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The part about pyjamas seems to follow the original manga rather than the CD drama, which makes sense. (In the CD drama, Liechtenstein gets the package for Switzerland's present mixed up with the pyjamas she'd bought for herself, but lets him keep them because they look so good on him. In the manga and anime, the pyjamas were made just for him, pink frills and all.) I actually looked up "LGBT rights in Liechtenstein" to see if there was some symbolic significance to her making her male adoptive sibling a pink frilly dress, but couldn't find anything. I guess it's just a random joke.

I actually considered writing a tabletop game setting or something based on the early history of Österreich and Switzerland, but eventually gave up when I realised everyone would assume it was about the United States and Great Britain instead. History has an annoying tendency to resemble itself.

(The Geijutsuka Art Design Class 1, CLANNAD, and G Gundam 32 posts are coming eventually. And Happy Bastille Day to all.)

Feature: 07/15/09 | Posted By: Tally Solleni | 0 comments | Hetalia: Axis Powers