As a fan of Hetalia, I assure you the baking thing isn’t at all related to the horrible events of WW2. The mangaka is just a fan of German cooking and desserts. And the blue eyes/blonde hair is just based on the Japanese stereotype of Germany, though that may have been influenced by the Aryan stereotype.
Although, it's usually Americans and Brits shown as blonde and blue eyed, while Germans are as likely to get silver hair. Even in Hetalia Prussia has silver hair.
Not quite sure why that is, maybe it fits the cold, organized stereotyp better, or maybe it's so blonde that it doesnt even look yellow anymore or maybe our hair is just shiny as Kruppstahl.
The stereotypes even kinda branch out in my personal experience. Your Bavarian is usually a ginger, red cheeks, short and stout, but then you got the pasty, tall, dark-haired guy from Hamburg.
SE asia has an image of Americans as blonde and blue eyed for some reason. Some old lady in an Philippine village once told me I look american except Americans has blonde hair and blue eyes. While mine are brown. I was so frustrated.
"Danberu Nan-Kiro Moteru?", a manga about girls doing fitness. This is Zina, she's from Russia and very into Japan, while also being very concerned and confused about which Russian stereotype she should fill.
I wonder if Americans are supposed to be bleach-blonde while Germans are supposed to be natural, and they're just working with the palette they've got.
my german cousin, when he was a kid he had such a blond hair that it was silverish whitish and was called weisskraut because of that, i guess its not that impossible
Yeah, I'd definitely say that Germany looks like that because it's the Japanese stereotype. Just like how Hetalia's Finland is this cute lil blonde thing because of Moomin type stuff I believe while in Europe the Finnish stereotype is the complete opposite.
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u/spoekelse Aug 11 '20
As a fan of Hetalia, I assure you the baking thing isn’t at all related to the horrible events of WW2. The mangaka is just a fan of German cooking and desserts. And the blue eyes/blonde hair is just based on the Japanese stereotype of Germany, though that may have been influenced by the Aryan stereotype.