Author: PavelㅤㅤㅤㅤEditor: FlameFeng
Japan is an extremely reactionary imperialist country that conducts economic colonialism abroad and colludes with U.S. monopoly capital to exploit and oppress its people internally. In the 1990s, the “bubble economy” burst, and Japan faced a severe economic crisis, entering a prolonged depression. In the early 21st century, Japan’s economy slightly recovered, only to fall into recession again in 2008. To shift the losses caused by the economic crisis, Japan’s monopoly bourgeoisie sought to expand exports of goods and capital abroad and used various means to reverse the rights gained by Japanese workers. Especially after Shinzo Abe took office, the reactionary government launched the so-called “Abenomics,” which includes: 1. “Aggressive monetary policy,” implementing large-scale quantitative easing, causing inflation and reducing real wages to plunder people’s wealth; 2. “Flexible fiscal policy,” expanding government expenditure and using state machinery to create orders for monopolies and facilitate them; 3. “Structural reform economic policy,” particularly labor system reforms—implementing “discretionary labor systems,” which, under the guise of reducing overtime to lighten workers’ burdens, actually pay wages based on contractual working hours rather than actual hours, and do not pay overtime. Under Abe’s rule, the lives of Japanese workers rapidly deteriorated. Later, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japanese bourgeoisie exploited the situation to hoard goods and raise prices, while the government continued to increase consumption taxes and escalate inflation policies to cover fiscal deficits. Under the pressures of unemployment and inflation, the lives of the Japanese people are in dire straits. To ease the escalating class contradictions, Japan’s monopoly bourgeoisie has vigorously supported the development of reactionary literature and art industries, including the anime industry, and has adopted “cultural nation-building” as a national policy. The previously mentioned anti-manga and animation series “Hetalia” was born in this context, as it very blatantly glorifies the fascist states and fascist regimes of the Axis Powers, quickly gaining popularity in Japan and spreading worldwide.
Hidekazu Yamamoto’s manga “Hetalia,” as a personification of nations, became widely popular and profitable, and was adapted into an anime in 2009. As of 2021, this reactionary series has released seven anime seasons, causing extremely harmful influence.
“Hetalia” is a work featuring personified nations as main characters, called “national consciousness entities,” which are “collective consciousness” of the people that erase class distinctions. In reality, this conceals the class essence of the state, avoiding the opposition between ruling and oppressed classes, instead tying the state representing the ruling class’s interests with the oppressed people, deceiving the people into believing “the home is the smallest country, and the country is millions of homes”[^3], shamelessly promoting the outdated “nation for all” theory that has long been bankrupt.
To eliminate class struggle within capitalist countries and maintain the ruling order of the bourgeois state, APH vigorously promotes the “nation for all” theory. A classic scene in the “Hetalia” anime depicts a police officer asking “France” why his appearance never changes. “France” compares himself to a ship, muttering like a madman: “The government is the mast, the people are the wind, and the era is the sea. As long as the mast stands, the wind blows, the ship will move forward,” and then “France” looks at the lives of the French people with “kind and gentle” eyes. Under this reactionary artistic technique, the anime creates a warm atmosphere, portraying “France” as pitiful and lonely, eternally youthful but only able to watch generation after generation of “dear citizens” grow old and die. In this disgusting, nauseating, shameless, and vulgar scene fabricated by the bourgeoisie, the “France” of the bourgeoisie becomes a “warm family” for the French people, and the brutal French bourgeois rulers who violently suppress revolutionary movements become the “parents” of the French people. In fact, “France is a country where, throughout history, class struggles have always reached more thorough conclusions than in other countries”[^4]. Since the Great Revolution of 1789, the French people have sacrificed greatly in every revolution for their liberation and the progress of history, fighting the most thorough battles against reactionary exploiters in French history. The relationship between the bourgeois “France” and the revolutionary people is not one of harmonious kinship, but one of deadly enemies forged in the revolutions of 1789, 1848, and 1871. Hidekazu Yamamoto’s attempt to make the French forget their bloody hatred with a silly manga and an absurd anime, making them forget their economic exploitation and political oppression by the bourgeoisie, is simply laughable—“Ants shaking a big tree, how ridiculous and overestimating oneself.”
To make his claims more confusing, Yamamoto added a “superior” setting based on the nation personification concept, where the personified state has its own independent will but must unconditionally obey the “superior.” The “superior” is essentially the ruling class of the country. Yamamoto separates the tool of class rule—state—from its ruling class owners, further concealing the class nature of the state, making it seem as if the state is “the collective will of the people” and “the interests of the people,” only acting badly under the coercion of the “superior.” This inevitably leads to reformism, as the state appears to be a “super-class” and “functional” organ, so that the proletariat seemingly does not need to overthrow the old bourgeois state machinery, abolish standing armies, bureaucracies, and other parasitic appendages, but only needs to take over and make it serve the people’s interests. In “Hetalia,” the personified state sometimes even conflicts with its “superior,” acting against its ruling class’s will. Yamamoto’s idealization of bourgeois states aims to cover up their violent nature as tools of bourgeois foreign invasion and internal repression. For example, in “Hetalia,” there is a scene set in the 16th century where Spain, in order to maintain good relations with “South Italy,” defies its “superior” and conflicts with the Ottoman Turks. In fact, there was no “deep friendship” between Spain and Italy; Spain, as a feudal state, never disobeyed the will of its ruling class. At that time, Italy was fragmented into feudal states, and Spain, which coveted Italian wealth, launched a decades-long invasion, controlling most of Italy and brutal colonial rule through governors; King Charles I of Spain even once slaughtered Rome, killing all residents regardless of age. This brutal historical fact shows that the state has always served the interests of the ruling class, and the exploitative state must serve the evil purpose of enslaving and oppressing the working people.
“Hetalia” vigorously defends the most reactionary form of bourgeois dictatorship—fascist dictatorship. The official name of “Hetalia” is Axis Powers Hetalia, literally “Axis Powers—Hetalia.” When the manga first appeared, it distorted World War II history, with fascist Italy as the protagonist, giving the three fascist countries—Germany, Italy, and Japan—“harmless” personified national images, shamelessly glorifying the Axis Powers. Fascist Italy is portrayed as a “temporarily misguided” sunny youth, Nazi Germany as a “serious, diligent, and rigorous” progressive youth, and fascist Japan as a “calm and serious” “otaku.”
In reality, Italy was the first country in the world to establish fascist dictatorship. After WWI, Italy experienced a deep economic and political crisis, with the working class rising to seize factories. Frightened by the revolutionary storm, the big bourgeoisie sought the most brutal rule to protect their interests. In 1922, Mussolini led over 40,000 fascist thugs in the “March on Rome,” easily seizing power with the cooperation of Italy’s big bourgeoisie. Mussolini immediately sent armed gangs to beat and kill active workers, suppress opposition parties led by the Communist Party, and even assassinate opposition parliamentarians opposing fascist rule. In 1926, a new economic crisis further fueled workers’ struggles, and Mussolini, representing the interests of the Italian bourgeoisie, used all possible fascist means: openly banning all illegal fascist newspapers, dissolving all parties and unions except the fascist party, and establishing “secret police” and special courts. Fascist Italy persecuted opposition members led by the Communist Party, imprisoning and torturing them; at this time, the leader of the Italian Communist Party, Gramsci, was arrested and imprisoned. In 1927, the fascist regime in Italy even declared strikes a criminal offense. To shift the economic crisis and enrich the big bourgeoisie, fascist Italy embarked on external invasion and expansion, invading Ethiopia before WWII, supporting Franco’s forces in the Spanish Civil War, and occupying Yugoslavia, Greece, France, and other countries during WWII, bringing great suffering to the peoples of those nations. Hidekazu Yamamoto, however, trivializes Italy’s brutal invasions, attempting to cover up its internal repression and external colonial aggression, effectively whitewashing fascism. The title “Hetalia” means “Italy,” a slang term used by Japanese right-wing netizens to mock fascist Italy’s poor performance in WWII, especially when it repeatedly lost battles.[^5]: The reason Italy repeatedly failed in WWII was due to the continuous struggle of the Italian working class, widespread anti-war sentiment among the laboring masses, and soldiers’ reluctance to fight for the bourgeoisie, leading to passive resistance. Yamamoto’s distortion, turning Italy’s heroic struggle against fascist aggression into a story of “weak and cowardly” Italians, exposes his fascist ideology—believing that Italian soldiers’ refusal to serve fascist government is weakness and cowardice, using Italy’s “weakness” to contrast with the strength of Nazi Germany and Japan, secretly transmitting Nazi “nationalism” and Japanese fascist “patriotism” through subtle means.
Using “harmless” personified images to replace the historical fascist regimes and “entertain” the brutal class oppression and wars is Yamamoto’s usual tactic, not only in glorifying fascist Italy but also in the entire Axis camp. Under Hitler’s rule, Nazi Germany implemented terror, with prisons everywhere, secret police infiltrating the country, and countless communists and Jews dying in concentration camps under fascist brutality; externally, it barbarously invaded European countries, subjugating most of Europe with brutal slavery and massacres. Fascist Japan, through reactionary laws like the “Peace Preservation Law” and “National Mobilization Law,” intensified fascist dictatorship internally, plundering people’s wealth, suppressing anti-war progressives and communists with special police, poisoning the people with reactionary nationalist ideas like “Yamato Spirit” and “Bushido,” and launching aggressive wars against China and Pacific countries, committing unprecedented war crimes. In the “Hetalia” series, the Axis Powers’ brutal wars are reduced to childish “nonsense” performances, with the Allied Anti-Fascist Alliance and Axis Powers’ wars pausing during Christmas for “truce,” with both sides putting down weapons and celebrating together. This is a gross distortion of history—an extremely childish and despicable act. On the other hand, Yamamoto makes these fascist states into cute cartoon characters, designing their personalities to be approachable and innocent, to facilitate secretly spreading fascist toxins. He exploits the weaknesses of petty-bourgeois obsession with anime and narrow-mindedness, disguising Nazi SS uniforms, Japanese naval uniforms, and other fascist symbols on these adorable, handsome personified nations, subtly indoctrinating fascist ideology.
“Fascism, which seizes power, is the most reactionary, most aggressive nationalist, and most imperialist terroristic dictatorship of the finance capitalists.”[^6]: Fascism is a derivative of imperialism, a special form of imperialism. Since “Hetalia” glorifies fascism, it inevitably also glorifies imperialism and colonialism. In the “Hetalia” series, there is a “brotherly” relationship set between the imperialist mother countries and their colonies, swapping oppression and being oppressed with “sibling” relations. After the opening of new routes, colonial plunder by Spain, France, Britain, and others ravaged North America. Originally, North America was the homeland of the Native Americans; when Europeans first arrived, they learned to cultivate crops like maize, tomatoes, and pumpkins, and mastered forest survival, hunting, fishing, and building dugout canoes. But once familiar with the environment, they gradually seized Native lands, burned their villages, and committed savage massacres. European colonizers carried out brutal slaughter everywhere, leaving bones piled high and blood flowing like rivers, even killing women and children. North America was also inhabited by poor farmers from Europe—Germany, Britain, Ireland, Scotland—forced to flee under feudal oppression[^7], and by black slaves trafficked through the evil triangular trade, forced to leave their homeland and suffer even worse conditions. The real developers of North America were the Native Americans, the European working masses, and African slaves, but colonial rule was firmly in the hands of the British bourgeoisie, and the vast majority of the people in the colonies lived like cattle and horses! Under heavy colonial oppression, North American people longed to escape the old system, took up arms against British colonizers, and finally achieved independence through the Revolutionary War.
However, in the “Hetalia” anime, this history of North American people fighting heroically for national liberation is distorted into a “brotherly quarrel” story. The British, who seized much of North American colonies during the Seven Years’ War, are portrayed as rescuing “America” from “France,” claiming “Britain” cares for “America” like a brother. The anime completely reverses facts: before the Revolutionary War, it depicts “America” recalling “Britain’s” care and love, showing “Britain” injuring his arm making dolls for “America,” and giving “America” expensive, beautiful clothes to make him look decent. In the end, “America” feels grateful for “Britain’s” care but still wants “independent life,” so he explains his difficulties to “Britain” and “reluctantly” launches an attack. Historically, in 1781, the Battle of Yorktown, the British army was decisively defeated, and the British surrendered to the American forces, establishing the victory of the Revolutionary War. This should have been a moment of pride and celebration for the American people, but the anime depicts a “family quarrel” atmosphere: during a heavy rain, “Britain” sheds tears over losing his “younger brother,” and despite “America’s” aggressive stance, he finally surrenders. The blood and sweat of the American people’s struggle for national liberation are turned into a “family dispute” and “brotherly separation,” which is utterly disgusting!
In the “Hetalia” anime, after “Seychelles” gained independence, “Britain” and “France” often provide her with “economic aid,” maintaining a “sibling” relationship. “Seychelles” even says: “It’s good as long as Britain and France are here!” Exporting capital becomes “economic aid,” colonial invasion becomes “selfless care,” and Yamamoto’s skill in using spring and autumn pen techniques surpasses even Confucius. In the “Hetalia” series, there are countless other examples of glorifying colonialism and wars of aggression. For instance, in the anime, “Japan” fights “China” and “Russia” to “protect” “China,” and in stage plays, “Japan” invades China simply to “move into China’s home,” becoming “family” with “China” and realizing “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.” In fact, Yamamoto’s methods of distorting facts are not original. In the 1960s, the Soviet revisionists proposed the so-called “Big Family of Socialism” theory to glorify Soviet colonial control over puppet states, and today, the Chinese revisionist group also loudly claims that China and the “Third World” countries are “close brothers,” falsely portraying China’s economic plunder of backward countries as “economic aid.” Yamamoto’s work is just a patchwork of old and new revisionist lies, repackaged under the guise of anime.
To glorify the robberies and reactionary nature of imperialist countries, Yamamoto employs eclectic methods in “Hetalia,” using bourgeois art techniques of “three-dimensional characters” to elevate bourgeois art. The bourgeoisie is an exploiting class that rose by oppressing and exploiting the proletariat, and their worldview is soaked in extreme egoism. They must promote their exploitative behavior by advocating “selfishness” and “survival of the fittest,” social Darwinism, and other reactionary ideas. Since their true nature is cunning and treacherous, they cannot directly portray themselves as “moral models,” so they shape themselves into “three-dimensional characters” that are both good and evil, deceiving the people and satisfying their own vanity.
“Britain,” as an old colonial robber in the West, was originally portrayed as a hooligan in “Hetalia.” In the character song—“Absolutely Unbeatable Gentleman of Britain”—Yamamoto shamelessly boasts of Britain’s colonial history, saying “the seven seas are my backyard,” “India and Hong Kong are my villas,” and openly showing his reactionary nature with phrases like “curry, Chinese food, all on the resort menu.” The series explicitly emphasizes Britain’s colonial history as a robber, but also falsely claims that “Britain’s nature is not bad,” “trusts friends sincerely,” and “likes to take care of others.” It confuses major crimes like colonial invasion and murder with smiling friendliness and petty favors, replacing contradiction with binary logic, blurring the essence of British bourgeoisie, and portraying the colonial robber as a kind-hearted old gentleman. It also falsifies facts, flattering the British bourgeoisie, claiming “Britain is kind-hearted and eager to help,” mixing incompatible elements without principle. How can a robber who robs homes and commits crimes everywhere be eager to help others? Yamamoto’s character design is meant to use ambiguous evaluations to replace clear dialectical materialism, erasing the class nature of “humanity,” and equating Britain’s brutal colonial invasion and greed with its “kindness” and “helpfulness,” thus ignoring the brutal exploitation and plunder by Britain.
“Hetalia” also propagates bourgeois pacifism to defend imperialist wars and oppose revolutionary wars. Many petty-bourgeois fans claim “Hetalia” is “anti-war” and promotes world peace. Indeed, in the ending theme of seasons 1–3, “Drawing a Round Earth,” the lyrics “Peace is so good,” “Peace is the most important,” seem to express a desire for “pursuit of peace.” However, as previously analyzed, “Hetalia” actually glorifies fascist dictatorship and imperialist invasion. The so-called “pursuit of peace” is merely a pretext to abolish class contradictions within capitalist countries and create a false scene of “harmonious life” under bourgeois rule. In reality, “Hetalia” promotes false peace to suppress the resistance of the working people, using personified “poor health” to symbolize revolutionary upheavals and class wars, and “marriage” to represent the oppression, annexation, and imperialism of nations[^8], and “cohabitation” to symbolize the unequal treaties forcing weaker countries into subordinate or puppet states[^9]. It is clear that Yamamoto’s intention is: wars caused by people’s revolutions are barbaric and purely destructive; whereas the imperialist relationships established through “peace” and “peace treaties” are “civilized” and serve to maintain world peace order. “Hetalia” advocates for “peace” under imperialist order but conceals the fact that monopolistic bourgeoisie secretly expands military buildup and exploits workers. It ignores the fact that “Hetalia” does not mention the invasions and atrocities committed by fascist states, and either distorts facts or avoids discussing the resistance wars of oppressed nations and classes, revealing that “Hetalia” does not oppose imperialist wars but only opposes just national liberation wars and people’s revolutionary wars! In short, the series’ distortion of facts has reached a level of madness, marking a milestone in imperialist art’s history of twisting reality.In order to better beautify imperialism and attract petty bourgeoisie fans to gain more commercial benefits, Hitoshi Yamaruya added elements of “romance” and “male same-sex love” in the plot of “Hetalia”; in terms of character design, he also added various “moe points” that appeal to the petty bourgeoisie[^10]:. Taking previous examples, in “Hetalia,” “Austria” and “Hungary” were once husband and wife (Austro-Hungarian Empire). Creating such romantic elements can, on one hand, beautify the image of personified nations, making them seem to “possess ordinary human emotions,” appear “flesh and blood,” thereby beautifying bourgeois nations. On the other hand, it also achieves the purpose of covering up the contradictions between oppressor and oppressed nations and between imperialist countries.
This dirty and despicable method indeed plays a significant role in enslaving women, spreading imperialist ideas, and further degrading petty bourgeois morality. Many petty bourgeois fans openly say that liking “Hetalia” means liking “shipping”[^11]:. The audience of “Hetalia” is mostly petty bourgeois women, who have been domesticated under a patriarchal society, believing that they can only survive through “love,” and seek personal happiness through pursuing “sweet” romances. This reflects the parasitic ideology cultivated by petty bourgeois women over long-term parasitic living, which involves detachment from labor, aversion to labor, and pursuit of low-level pleasures and eroticism. The idea of “shipping” is actually a form of bourgeois “aestheticism,” pursuing super-class “cuteness,” “beauty,” and “handsomeness,” which is a pursuit of the distorted aesthetic standards of the bourgeoisie, and the “white, slender, young” aesthetic of the secondary dimension. This ideological tendency can also lead to the growth of female erotic thoughts, making their spiritual world more impoverished. The desire to achieve personal happiness through love may be an illusion of “marrying a good husband who can take care of oneself,” to realize “reincarnation,” or to indulge in the dream of “mutual support and mutual assistance between spouses, living happily in a small family.” These unrealistic fantasies often lead women into the hell of capitalist marriage and family, turning them into family slaves, lifelong beasts of burden. The strengthening of “love supremacy” ideology among women further limits their horizons, binding them within the framework of becoming a good family slave, leaving them no room for reversal.
Moreover, in “Hetalia,” which uses romantic relationships to substitute for the relationship between oppressor and oppressed nations, petty bourgeoisie cannot see the true face of imperialist countries, cannot see the essence of national oppression and colonial invasion, and even become dogs that defend imperialist countries and their aggressive actions.
Chairman Mao said: “Literary and artistic criticism has two standards, one is political standard, and the other is artistic standard… In any class society, any class always prioritizes political standards over artistic standards.”[^12]: The “Hetalia” series is fundamentally reactionary and anti-people, counter-revolutionary from a political perspective. It does have certain artistic qualities, but its artistic value serves its reactionary political purpose of anti-people and counter-revolution. For all reactionary bourgeois artistic works that are politically reactionary, we must reject them outright. For reactionary artistic works like “Hetalia” that possess artistic qualities, which are widely circulated, we must be more vigilant and thoroughly criticize them. Art serves reality, and we must overcome the tendency to separate political struggle from artistic struggle, to cover up our old ideas and preferences, and to make a thorough break with bourgeois ideology!
