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jalajappa · 2 years

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An unnecessarily long analysis of "India" from the superhit anime series Hetalia

This character is introduced to being a part of the elephant admirer's club along with Thailand in an alternate universe episode where the characters are reimagined as high schoolers. I like to assume this is a nod to the elephant Indira that was given to Japan when Nehru was the PM. Otherwise, it could be just another stereotypical "joke" about how both India and Thailand revere elephants

The next time you see India is in an episode about different countries writing horror movies. So obviously you'll have a scene from a Bollywood movie.

So this is the picture where we can see how India is portrayed in this series. (in the previous scene it was just some squiggle). But this is where you get his actual physical appearance

Like how they whitewashed him (a hint of him being a Bollywood actor). He also has lighter hair and eyes than the average Indian(that's quite interesting to note). So all in all your typical Bollywood actor. The film follows the plot where India has to fight against a phantom that kills people in a temple. He faces it and then the phantom surrenders with a dance number with background dancers coming from literally nowhere

The other countries get quite impressed with this plot twist by Japan saying:

Just another proof that the writer didn't watch a single Indian horror film.

But he later went out to watch an Indian film, this can be seen in a Halloween episode where India along with Prussia dress as Salman Khan from Veer, particularly in the song Mehrbaniya. The funniest part is how they show a shehenai in the comics while in the mv you see it’s a western band or something playing western instruments like bagpipes. This stupid show made me to see a Salman Khan film, I wont forgive the show for this sin. They could’ve referred a better Bollywood film.

I couldn't find the anime clip, but he is more dark-skinned compared to his initial appearance, this is from the comics(colored by a fan)

(yes they are shipped after one dance scene)

These are pictures from the anime btw. (i found this later)

So after the comic finishes, we get to know that India and Prussia met on Twitter. So he speaks in a Kyushu dialect(Hakata dialect). I don't know what's the implication of this tbh. I'm thinking this is how the author tries to distinguish his way of speaking from other countries.

This is however not the last Bollywood dance scene that we might get, there is another scene from a Halloween comic strip.

The guy who says India has energy is England we will come to that guy in a while. All I have to say is that I can't relate to this stereotype, but I've seen people in schools and colleges dancing at stuff like Baila. I think there is some truth to this stereotype

Let's take a break from Bollywood. There is a dream Lithuania gets where India claims that it is a stronger ally to Russia than China. This was an interesting point the series mentioned. I've never seen people talk about Indo-Russian relationships in non-Indian media

This is the strip. So he calls India Yindu( 印度, That's how they call India in Mandarin. It means broken/crescent moon). This is different from the Japanese word インド(Indo) which is India in Japanese.

I'm delving into this too much, but Indo Russian relationship was huge during the Nehruvian era and it has remained since then. I seem to notice the pattern where India has some similarities with Nehru, along with wearing the Nehru coat in the horror film with a lot of roses.

Ok back to Bollywood, the author makes a note about rain being used in happy scenes in some Indian films, but it is usually used as a thing that represents sadness in English media(forget England's dress). IDK what film this happens in. I can only think of the Aashiq2 scene with rain.

this is where I thought of the contrast between English and Indian art in this picture. A song about the sun coming in English is written in contrast to a Hindi poem about a couple rejoicing in the rain.

I couldn't find it but there is a picture in that same strip about how people in different countries watch films in India's part you have the Indian audience dancing(i didn't know it was a thing until I asked someone)

There is another cameo of him with China cooking for England. This is a nod to the several Indian and Chinese restaurants in Britain and how the food served in these restaurants is relatively better than English "food". (English food being bad is a recurring joke btw)

it's also funny to note how America couldn't differentiate the cuisine of England, China, or India.

Since we don't have like a proper scene with India from the manga we can only gather from the bits of scenes he's put in. So before he comes in the show in the comics, he is written in England's notebook as one of the incompetent allies. This will be later proven wrong in the other scenes with both of them. He is mentioned in passing in one of England's songs where he(England) boasts about having "holiday houses" in India and Hong Kong. This could be a reference to the east India company and how these countries were holiday spots back in the 19th and 20th century

this is a scene where we can see the both of them together. for context: England faced a huge economical loss from the American war of independence. This is where India provides "tea"(one of the many commodities England has taken from India)

Addressing people with honorifics in Japanese culture is a huge thing. So calling him England-Ji makes sense. Also, India is under Britain so calling him -Ji makes sense. But then if you think of actual history…

England discovered the Assamese growing tea and didn't want to depend on china for it. So there is some merit to this scene. but again, the author might've given the wrong context. In 1776(when the war happened) the British didn't have that strong of power over India(still in the east India company phase).

This is about England "reviving" from this provision of goods from India. This particular scene also reaffirms this whole stereotype of India being a healing country too.

Later you get scenes about how he is in England's "house", just a sweet way to say that he is colonized. (yes there is another picture of him with an elephant)

This is another example:

There is another mention of India in the comics where it seems like Portugal has lots a bit of India and the Netherlands has him now (this is the only mention of the other European powers India was under). Also its a bit weird that Portugal thinks he has completely lost India when he had Goa way up to the 60s

I've already mentioned this before, but India is shipped with England and it is iffy at the least and downright evil at most. It's weird because most of the ships in this show are weird if you think of its historical context

Then there is this brief Introduction of India in the comics where they talk about him being good at mathematics (maybe a ref to Aryabhata) and arguing (Idk who this is a reference to). It says he has a princely aura. This is another fetishized way of portraying the royal kingdoms in India. Also, I like the fact that the author claims that he has his thoughts which do not allow people to argue with him. Reminds me of all the Indian news channels on TV.

in this, he seems to wear the rudraksha beads even though the show doesn't mention personified countries to be religious identities. But thank god the author gave him a better complexion

Interesting to note the fact he and raj have the same hairstyle

In his first appearance, he's dressed like a politician too lol

What’s with these rose garlands??

This is one beautiful picture that looks like it romanticizes the two centuries of colonial oppression by making them out to be friendly.

The author calls him the gender swap of a hyperactive character called Hungary-> "Mr. India is a character that is as well made as Mr. Hungary, and it's

quite an unexpected character, so I'm going to add a little more character. Indian people are very interesting!"

For context: the author was in New York for a while, so he has interacted with Indians. There is a comic he wrote about a Japanese student in NY who had an Indian character.

The author has also mentioned how it is easy for him to imbibe the behavior of Indians along with Italians. This feels a bit sus. The author seems to treat Indians as specimens tbh.

Also, he should stop saying namaste. The word has lost its meaning for me. And that tilak looks like a pimple at this point lol.

As you likely pointed out he is the embodiment of the privileged sect of Indian society. With his tilak, his behaviour, and his "respect" for England (to prove that he is on the level of Britain)

then again, this is just like how America is a blond-haired blue-eyed guy. (External perception people outside have of the USA). In India, this can be replaced by a Savarna man.

While this character feels like a caricature (in a show about caricatures). India is a pretty cool character for someone who barely gets proper "screen time". However, when we question what exactly is India and what aspect of India he is about. His image gets heavily questionable. I think it's better to assume that this guy is born from the outsider's perspective of India rather than the internal politics of India. Like the name he has which is not a word in any Indian language. Just like how America is born from the European dream of conquering that land in the western hemisphere.

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