✤ OOC; characterization adjustment
Please note that all posts prior to this one were written before Netherlands' official canon was established.
Himaruya has finally released some strips featuring the Netherlands, so! This calls for some adjustment to my characterization. You don't have to read this, but if you're a canonmate/someone with close CR, please do. I will be making some subtle- but important- changes in how I play Netherlands, mostly regarding his personality. In getting feedback from others, it seems that I've largely been doing it right so far- I just have some minor tweaking to do!
First of all, HOLY FUCK I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY ehjdfhgdf. I've always been enthusiastic about the idea of incorporating new canon into my headcanon, and this is just. YESSS.
Here is Himaruya's original entry! And for preservation's sake, the scanlated strips themselves and the text with them, shamelessly ganked from the Hetalia comm:
■Netherlands and Isolationist!Japan■
Netherland came!
In 1852, Netherlands who have been watching the other countries' movements came to warn Japan about USA coming after him.
■A Slap for the Dark Spirit■
I'm melting!
[Japan and Netherlands]
Japan used to have exchange with England, Spain, and Portugal too, but after the isolation, the one who he kept in touch with was Netherlands.
(By the way, because Spain and Portugal felt like they could be dangerous, they got kicked out)
Despite being in isolation, Japan always managed to get fast information about Europe from the Holland Scripture (阿蘭陀風説書) Netherlands always brought with him every time which summarized the happenings in Europe and its surroundings.
And the three-layered cape was a usual type of coat of the time. Totally cool.
[Surrounded Japan]
In the beginning of 19th century, European and American ships began to sail around Japan's surroundings!
Before USA, there were other countries who tried to break Japan's isolation. Among them, "that country" became rather pitiful, but we'll discuss about that later.
■Pet chat■
[Netherlands and Belgium]
In 1815, Netherlands wanted to make the United Kingdom of Netherlands with his long estranged sister Belgium.
Because of the long 200 years of separation, the attempt at uniting Netherlands (who mainly worked with trade, leaning towards England who was Protestant) with Belgium (who was mainly agricultural, and strongly influenced by France who was Catholic) didn't work well, ending up with Belgium declaring her independence in 1830.
ALRIGHT. So! That's what we've got. I find all of this really interesting and just... hrghfghn exciting. A few things that I'm really happy to see confirmed:
-He is a smoker (pretty heavy?), and has been smoking even all the way back in 1852, and probably much earlier than that.
-DEM TULIPS. A-aaah bringing tulips to Japan ;333;
-GOING DUTCH LMFAO. Yes, you canonly cheap bastard, you. I knew it.
-HE HAS A PET RABBIT. This is amazing. I always thought he might have had a few, but for this to be canon is awesome.
-His rabbit knows why he's upset! This... is adorable and a little sad. Basically he shows up at Japan's being like 'yo, America is coming' when at the same time he's thinking BAWWW MY SISTER BAWWW.
-And speaking of that, oh god I'm so glad I managed to pin that part in my headcanon. Interpreting Dutch/Belgian history as him having some sort of complex for Belgium was pretty obvious, at least to me.
Keeping in mind that the strips are set in the isolation period and that his attitude is, as said by his bunny (hee hee he has a bunny), tempered and strange due to him being insecure and unhappy with what has happened with his sister, not a whole lot can really be 100% determined of his canon personality from this, but enough to make some changes.
Basically, there are three main areas where I will be making adjustments.
TSUNTSUNTSUN;
One of the first things Himaruya ever established about Netherlands was that he is a tsundere. I have played really heavily on this, and it's pretty much dictated his personality for me so far. It appears to be more or less confirmed by these strips, what with him owning a bunny that he is implied to confide in and bringing tulips for Japan. He gives off an aura of intimidation, and, at the same time, distance, as if he'd keep his real thoughts to himself, which is how a tsundere works. I have already been playing him as pretty emotionally distant, so this shouldn't be hard at all. He'll just be slightly more tsun and less easily pushed towards dere.
SUPER COOL GUY;
No, not that kind of cool, THOOOOUGH I guess he is kind of that too. Cool as in hard to shake/unflappable. This appears to be the biggest change I need to make; I'd already been working on making him more serious, but in these strips there is a definite distance to Netherlands' attitude- he is intimidating, but he doesn't have to try to be. He just is. He knows what he wants, and he states it directly. He doesn't have to try at all hard to be let into Japan's house. So, it appears that I need to make him slightly more serious/straightfaced. And blunt! He's already pretty blunt, but needs even more bluntness huff huff.
DIALECT;
This will be the other more noticeable change. In the original text, it is said that he speaks with a Kansai dialect- not heavy, but just enough to make him sound rough (thuggish? He's been described as a punk by Finland, so this would make sense). I won't be changing too much in his pattern of speech- I'm just going to be slightly increasing my usage of contractions (for example- s'what instead of it's what) and dropping the 'g' off of some words ending in -ing.
...And his sister complex. His sister complex. I was already planning on essaying on this; now it's definitely happening hrghrhrghgdbddkldfsk;l'.
SO YEAH THERE YOU GO.
I must ask for some patience while I make my adjustments huff huff ;u; It'll probably take a week or two for me to be comfortable with it, so any hiccups/awkwardness in between, I thoroughly apologize for! In the end, he'll be pretty much the same, and all his CR will remain intact and just the way it was before. But I will now be finally, finally playing within the boundaries of some actual hard canon, which will really help me tighten up his voice. God I am so happy about this YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW.
I've actually been working on an information post for him, so all of this and more will be included in that. It should be done sometime... soonish. I don't work very quickly on information pages since I tend to get very specific and even more OCD than usual yes I swear that is possible.
And, lastly, if you have any suggestions/concrit for how I can reconcile the new canon with my characterization, please share it with me here. I'm always open for the interpretations of others on certain characters that I play- hearing about things from a completely different perspective is a huge help. Aside from that, if you just wanna be like, MEKKY WHAT IS UP WITH THIS POST YOU ARE OCD, you can do that, too. lmfaodsnjfhdkjg;;;;; ;u;
Himaruya has finally released some strips featuring the Netherlands, so! This calls for some adjustment to my characterization. You don't have to read this, but if you're a canonmate/someone with close CR, please do. I will be making some subtle- but important- changes in how I play Netherlands, mostly regarding his personality. In getting feedback from others, it seems that I've largely been doing it right so far- I just have some minor tweaking to do!
First of all, HOLY FUCK I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY ehjdfhgdf. I've always been enthusiastic about the idea of incorporating new canon into my headcanon, and this is just. YESSS.
Here is Himaruya's original entry! And for preservation's sake, the scanlated strips themselves and the text with them, shamelessly ganked from the Hetalia comm:
■Netherlands and Isolationist!Japan■
Netherland came!
In 1852, Netherlands who have been watching the other countries' movements came to warn Japan about USA coming after him.
■A Slap for the Dark Spirit■
I'm melting!
[Japan and Netherlands]
Japan used to have exchange with England, Spain, and Portugal too, but after the isolation, the one who he kept in touch with was Netherlands.
(By the way, because Spain and Portugal felt like they could be dangerous, they got kicked out)
Despite being in isolation, Japan always managed to get fast information about Europe from the Holland Scripture (阿蘭陀風説書) Netherlands always brought with him every time which summarized the happenings in Europe and its surroundings.
And the three-layered cape was a usual type of coat of the time. Totally cool.
[Surrounded Japan]
In the beginning of 19th century, European and American ships began to sail around Japan's surroundings!
Before USA, there were other countries who tried to break Japan's isolation. Among them, "that country" became rather pitiful, but we'll discuss about that later.
■Pet chat■
[Netherlands and Belgium]
In 1815, Netherlands wanted to make the United Kingdom of Netherlands with his long estranged sister Belgium.
Because of the long 200 years of separation, the attempt at uniting Netherlands (who mainly worked with trade, leaning towards England who was Protestant) with Belgium (who was mainly agricultural, and strongly influenced by France who was Catholic) didn't work well, ending up with Belgium declaring her independence in 1830.
ALRIGHT. So! That's what we've got. I find all of this really interesting and just... hrghfghn exciting. A few things that I'm really happy to see confirmed:
-He is a smoker (pretty heavy?), and has been smoking even all the way back in 1852, and probably much earlier than that.
-DEM TULIPS. A-aaah bringing tulips to Japan ;333;
-GOING DUTCH LMFAO. Yes, you canonly cheap bastard, you. I knew it.
-HE HAS A PET RABBIT. This is amazing. I always thought he might have had a few, but for this to be canon is awesome.
-His rabbit knows why he's upset! This... is adorable and a little sad. Basically he shows up at Japan's being like 'yo, America is coming' when at the same time he's thinking BAWWW MY SISTER BAWWW.
-And speaking of that, oh god I'm so glad I managed to pin that part in my headcanon. Interpreting Dutch/Belgian history as him having some sort of complex for Belgium was pretty obvious, at least to me.
Keeping in mind that the strips are set in the isolation period and that his attitude is, as said by his bunny (hee hee he has a bunny), tempered and strange due to him being insecure and unhappy with what has happened with his sister, not a whole lot can really be 100% determined of his canon personality from this, but enough to make some changes.
Basically, there are three main areas where I will be making adjustments.
TSUNTSUNTSUN;
One of the first things Himaruya ever established about Netherlands was that he is a tsundere. I have played really heavily on this, and it's pretty much dictated his personality for me so far. It appears to be more or less confirmed by these strips, what with him owning a bunny that he is implied to confide in and bringing tulips for Japan. He gives off an aura of intimidation, and, at the same time, distance, as if he'd keep his real thoughts to himself, which is how a tsundere works. I have already been playing him as pretty emotionally distant, so this shouldn't be hard at all. He'll just be slightly more tsun and less easily pushed towards dere.
SUPER COOL GUY;
No, not that kind of cool, THOOOOUGH I guess he is kind of that too. Cool as in hard to shake/unflappable. This appears to be the biggest change I need to make; I'd already been working on making him more serious, but in these strips there is a definite distance to Netherlands' attitude- he is intimidating, but he doesn't have to try to be. He just is. He knows what he wants, and he states it directly. He doesn't have to try at all hard to be let into Japan's house. So, it appears that I need to make him slightly more serious/straightfaced. And blunt! He's already pretty blunt, but needs even more bluntness huff huff.
DIALECT;
This will be the other more noticeable change. In the original text, it is said that he speaks with a Kansai dialect- not heavy, but just enough to make him sound rough (thuggish? He's been described as a punk by Finland, so this would make sense). I won't be changing too much in his pattern of speech- I'm just going to be slightly increasing my usage of contractions (for example- s'what instead of it's what) and dropping the 'g' off of some words ending in -ing.
...And his sister complex. His sister complex. I was already planning on essaying on this; now it's definitely happening hrghrhrghgdbddkldfsk;l'.
SO YEAH THERE YOU GO.
I must ask for some patience while I make my adjustments huff huff ;u; It'll probably take a week or two for me to be comfortable with it, so any hiccups/awkwardness in between, I thoroughly apologize for! In the end, he'll be pretty much the same, and all his CR will remain intact and just the way it was before. But I will now be finally, finally playing within the boundaries of some actual hard canon, which will really help me tighten up his voice. God I am so happy about this YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW.
I've actually been working on an information post for him, so all of this and more will be included in that. It should be done sometime... soonish. I don't work very quickly on information pages since I tend to get very specific and even more OCD than usual yes I swear that is possible.
And, lastly, if you have any suggestions/concrit for how I can reconcile the new canon with my characterization, please share it with me here. I'm always open for the interpretations of others on certain characters that I play- hearing about things from a completely different perspective is a huge help. Aside from that, if you just wanna be like, MEKKY WHAT IS UP WITH THIS POST YOU ARE OCD, you can do that, too. lmfaodsnjfhdkjg;;;;; ;u;