Хеталия: Россия (PART 2)

Hello again everyone, Taylor Takoushian and Katherine Fanning here with PART 2 of the blogs about the character of Russia from the webcomic-turned-animated show Axis Powers Hetalia by Hidekaz Himaruya!

If you don't know what we're talking about, click here to view our previous blog post about Russia himself, which should explain everything really.

Anyhoo, on to this blog's topic. which will be Part One of Russia's Relationships~!

Two other characters that Russia commonly interacts with are his two 'sisters', who are the personified nations of Ukraine and Belarus.

 
Cuties, aren't they?

Lets start off with Russia's older sister, Ukraine~!

Ukraine is depicted as having short blonde hair (which she keeps held back with a blue or green headband and clips), blue eyes, and wears a long-sleeved white blouse and blue overalls. Her most notable physical feature, however, is her large breast size, representing Ukraine's status as a major agricultural nation ("large tracts of land").  She can also be seen carrying a pitchfork at times. 

Ukraine is the oldest of the three siblings and is constantly getting dragged into some sort of mess. She is described by her brother as being very warm-hearted and motherly, having taken care of him and Belarus when they were little. He also notes that she's a bit of a cry-baby, yet with a big heart. She apparently has chest and back pains due to her assets. She was the one who gave Russia his scarf, which he continues to wear today.
Unlike Russia and Belarus, Hetalia's author Himaruya Hidekaz has not yet chosen a definitive human name for Ukraine. (However, the fans tend to call her Yekaterina or Katyusha.)

Now for Russia's younger sister, Belarus~!

Belarus is portrayed with long, blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She wears a long navy blue dress, a white hairbow (shown in one illustration to be on a headband), a white waist apron, and black shoes with black thigh-highs. Russia has also stated that she is "a very pretty girl" while Lithuania stated that she can be "strong yet cute"


Belarus is most highly noted as prettymuch the only character able to instill fear in Russia himself, who is normally the one everyone else is wary of. She is also shown to carry around a knife at points, most notably in the "Meeting Of The World" comic strip where she's holding it to a traumatized Latvia's back as her brother scares him.
Despite her cute appearance, Belarus is an intimidating, harsh young woman who has a deep infatuation with her older brother Russia, to the point where she wants to get married to him. 
[I just want to add a quick note here for anyone who is perturbed by this: Please keep in mind that this is NOT incest. Remember that these characters are the embodiments of COUNTRIES, so are technically not 'related' as normal humans are.]

However, he doesn't feel the same way, and feels disturbed by her very presence. Her love for him is as obsessive as it is unrequited, though much to Russia's dismay; the latter does not deter her. She is shown to stalk after him, as well as stick by his side to intimidate those who she feels might stand in their way. Her human name is Natalia Arlovskaya. (though there are alternative spellings at the moment)

Below is concept art of their military outfits.

 And here we have posted the episode of the anime where Russia introduces his two sisters to us and tells us about them. Its only 5 minutes long so go ahead and watch it~! [this is the original version of the episode which originally aired in Japan, so the voices are in Japanese. BUT ITS GOT ENGLISH SUBTITLES SO ITS ALL GOOD ;D]

We hope you've enjoyed our latest installment of the Хеталия Россия blog series, and be sure to tune in next time for more about our Russian friend~!

Хеталия: Россия

Now we [Taylor Takoushian & Katherine Fanning] know probably none of you in this class watch anime, but thankfully one exists that we can relate to this class: Hetalia: Axis Powers. Originally a webmanga/webcomic by artist/author Hidekaz Himaruya, this anime recently became ridiculously popular, starring the personified countries of the world playing out their cultural stereotypes and histories with satirical humor.

 

And of course, there is glorious Russia.

 Glorious, downright adorable Russia.

You just wanna hug him, don't you?

Believe it or not, Russia is portrayed as a very split character! He is introduced as sweet, soft-spoken, and filled with positive intentions, but it is rapidly shown that due to the strain of his bloody history, he has partially snapped. Russia frequently exhibits an intimidating aura. Russia is completely aware of his volatile personality, and generally has all of the innocence and cruelty of a small child.

Russia's character design depicts him with a slightly prominent nose, beige-blonde hair, blue-ish eyes and has him rather tall, about 182cm, and he is usually clad in a standard beige, winter trenchcoat adorned with a military medal, a scarf given to him by the character Ukraine (his "big sister" whom he misses dearly), and is seen holding sunflowers, vodka, and/or a faucet pipe. Sunflowers, because Russia hates the cold and longs to live in a sunny place filled with such flowers, vodka for obvious reasons, and the faucet pipe...... well, who knows.

In the profiles of the published manga, he is described as a large young man who is seemingly bighearted and innocent, but is in reality childishly cruel. He comes off as intimidating without even saying a word, his gentle smile and disposition only intensifying the aura of dread which seems to constantly hang over him. He is often described as gentle and naive, and not malicious, but insane. Though he is capable of being incredibly cruel-minded, Russia himself is unaware of it.

Russia hates the cold mostly because every year he is attacked by General Winter. However, General Winter is his most powerful ally in the face of war.

His given human name is Ivan Braginski, or Иван Брагинский, and in fan-works the diminutive "Vanya"/"Ваня" is sometimes used.

Himaruya, the author/artist, has also created various female versions of the characters, Ivan included. as you can see below.

Isnt she a cutie? The female version of Russia does not have an official given name at the current time.

 Below, there's a video clip from the English-dubbed version of the show, here we get to see BOTH SIDES OF RUSSIA. (and a really freaked out France) 

|

|

|

|

|

V

 

We hope you enjoyed this little expose on Hetalia's Russia.

Stay tuned for more blogs about him, his sisters, and his foreign relations with the other Nation people~!

До свидания~!

Extreme Schooling? 3 American Kids in Russia

Here is a very interesting article about a New York Times writer's children's experiences being placed in an all-Russian school for 4 years, and having no prior knowledge of Russian language.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/my-familys-experiment-in-extreme-schooling.html?_r=2

I highly suggest reading the whole article, its pretty intriguing. :)


~Taylor Takoushian
Тейлор Такушиан

Excerpt from my analysis of Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin"

Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, composed in 1877-78, was a unique composition during Tchaikovsky’s time. It dared to deviate from Pushkin’s famous “Onegin,” and the style was far from the bel canto operas with which the contemporary performers were familiar. The opera was composed in roughly eight months, during a turbulent time in Tchaikovsky’s mental and physical health. The simplicity of the subject matter, lack of on-stage drama, and use of music to convey common human emotions were all distinct choices to which Tchaikovsky personally related. Tchaikovsky himself called his work “lyrical scenes in three acts” rather than an opera and said:

“Those for whom the first requirement in an opera is theatrical action will not like it. Only those who look to opera for the musical recreation of feelings remote from the tragic and the theatrical, ordinary, simple, human feelings – they (I hope) will find satisfaction in my opera.”

The idea of Eugene Onegin began, interestingly enough, with Bizet’s Carmen. Tchaikovsky had just seen a production of the opera in Paris in 1877 and became inspired to write an opera “dealing with real human beings, not lay-figures.” The idea of using the text of Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” was suggested to Tchaikovsky by the singer Lavroskaya, and although the notion seemed absurd at first, Tchaikovsky eventually fell in love with the idea. The scene that struck Tchaikovsky the most was Tatyana’s Letter Scene, in which she stays up all night declaring her innocent and deeply felt love to Onegin.

“Another! No, there could never be another

To whom I’d give my love!

My life is bound to yours for ever;

This is decreed by heaven above.

Now my existence has a meaning,

Your noble soul for which I sigh.

I know that God above has sent you

To guard and love me till I die!"

It was highly ambitious of Tchaikovsky to even attempt to set such a well-known and beloved poem as Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin,” which Tchaikovsky himself was very aware. Many sources have said that Tchaikovsky was probably not the best composer to set Pushkin’s story, as Tchaikovsky’s sentimentalities differed so much from Pushkin’s own ideas of romanticism. Tchaikovsky chose to ignore Pushkin’s use of irony and biting criticisms, instead taking the characters of the story and humanizing them in a way that displays their virtues as well as their flaws. A way Tchaikovsky removed Pushkin’s irony was by removing the “omniscient first-person narrator…(that created) ironic distance in the poem.” Tchaikovsky collaborated with the librettist Shilovsky to create a libretto that at times was true to Pushkin’s lines, but also was greatly tinted by Tchaikovsky’s own personal attitudes and desires for the characters and story line. Many times the text follows Pushkin’s up to a point of sarcasm or capriciousness in the narrator’s tone, and then simply leaves out that section. Instead of relying on a narrator that would slow down and distance the opera from audience members, Tchaikovsky uses his music as “background…to paint the background of the novel,” acting as “both narrator and translator.”

There are many different ways that Pushkin’s “Onegin” could have been interpreted. The ironic, criticizing overtones that are throughout the poem are so obvious that they could not be overlooked, therefore Tchaikovsky’s version is a clear departure from Pushkin’s original satirical intent. Tchaikovsky’s sympathetic nature clearly comes out in his Onegin by his portrayal, without deriding undertones, of simple, rustic human life. In the composer’s own words:

“(I) tried to express in music as sincerely and truthfully as I could, that which was in the text. Such truth and sincerity come not from the work of the intellect, but spring from inner feeling. To give this feeling life and warmth I have always tried to choose stories in which the characters are real, living mean whose feelings are like my own.”

---

Sources used:

Berlin, Isaiah. "Tchaikovsky, Pushkin and Onegin." The Musical Times 121 no. 1645 (1980).

Teachout, Terry. "A Quiet Place." Opera News 61 no. 15 (1997).

Wiley, Roland John. "Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il′yich." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/51766 (accessed April 7, 2011).

Abraham, Gerald. On Russian Music. (Freeport: Books for Libraries Press, 1939).

Opera Guide Series. Eugene Onegin. ed. John Calder (London: John Calder (Publishers) Ltd. 1988).

Schmidgall, Gary. Literature as Opera. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977).

ну, погоду!

ну, погоду! is a cartoon about the ongoing pursuit of a kind hare, by a bullying wolf. This cartoon seems to be the Russian equivalent of Tom & Jerry. The wolf is always destroying public property, smoking, or cursing while the hare is an upholding citizen who helps out the less fortunate. The first series of this cartoon was published in January 1969. There are a total of 20 episodes. E[isodes 1 to 16 were filmed from 1969-1986. Episodes 17 & 18 were filmed in 1993. The last two episodes were filmed in 2005.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBfCgY35yWg