World Building Entry #2
Excerpt from Wikipedia on Bibiddōsen: Russia's Family, 2021
*******
Bibiddōsen: Russia's Family (Japanese: ビビッドーセン Russia's Family, Bibiddōsen: Roshia no kazoku) is a Japanese webcomic, later adapted as a manga and an anime series, by Hidekaz Himaruya. The series' main presentation is as an often over-the-top allegory of political and historic events as well as more general cultural comparisons. Characters are personifications of countries, special or autonomous regions such as Hong Kong or New Moscow and micronations with little reference to other national personifications. Both positive and negative cultural stereotypes form part of each character's personality.
The series character roster is large and far from complete, but the main cast is primarily the constituent countries of the Greater Russian Empire, their immediate Asian neighbors - Namely Japan, along with China, Vietnam, and the Siamese Empire, and the Western Hemisphere and nations of Europe such as the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Spain, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, and Sweden.
While the series doesn't have an official main character, the most common audience surrogate for the reader is the Russian Kingdom of Chōsen or Korea (Русское Королевство Хосен - Russkoye Korolevstvo Khosen), a lighthearted, compassionate, and ambitious inventor who tries to maintain his ties with the wider world while also attempting to maintain loving relations with his "surrogate family" (the customary analogy to represent the Russian Empire and the Eurasian Covenant in this universe.)
Bibiddōsen (ビビッドーセン) is a portmanteau combining Bibiddo (ビビッド, Japanese for "energetic" or "passionate" in a cute or endearing way) and "Chōsen" (チョーセン, Chosen, official Japanese term for "Korea").
The main storyline's events occur during the Great War, but the vast majority of the comics take place during other historical events, modern holidays, or at no specific time whatsoever. The series often uses satire and light-hearted comedy to reinterpret well-known events as well as less common historical and cultural trivia. Historical, political, economic, and military interaction between countries is generally represented in Bibiddōsen as social interactions and humorous misunderstandings between the characters.
Himaruya originally created Bibiddōsen as a webcomic, and so far ten tankōbon have been published by Gentosha Comics, the first on March 28, 2008, the second on December 10, 2008, the third on May 20, 2010, the fourth on June 30, 2011, and the fifth on July 31, 2012. English translations of the first six volumes have been published by Tokyopop in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada while Russian translations have been published by Orient Bounty House. The latest printed volumes published so far have topped The New York Times manga best seller list. As of May 2015 the English-language version of the manga was published by Tokyopop via Right Stuf Inc. The series was later adapted into drama CDs, and an ongoing anime series created by Studio Deen has also begun streaming the first four seasons online. As of January 8, 2013, the anime series' international distribution is being handled by Zabawna Piłka.
Characters [edit]
-------
Main article: List of Bibiddōsen: Russia's Family characters
So far, over 90 countries and territories have been depicted. There have also been historical figures depicted, such as (but not limited to) Maria Theresa, Tsar Alexander III and his son Nicholas II, Roman emperors, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, George Washington, Leonardo da Vinci and Jeanne d'Arc. There are also personifications of other figures, like General Winter, the Kamikaze Storms, Ukraine's talking tractor, Michael the sentient winged hussar suit, and every country's Mr. Newspaper.
Almost all the following countries of the manga are divided up between international blocs both historical and modern, but the series generally focus on Russia, the comedic antics of his extended family, and the reactions of the other nations to said antics, in particular Japan and China.
Greater Russian Empire [edit]
The Greater Russian Empire group of characters consists primarily of Russia and the members of his extensive family, but with special attention given to Chōsen or Korea, who is the defacto protagonist of the series.
In summary, the core family consists of Russia as the dutiful head of the household, Korea who is Russia's apprentice and chief inventor, Ukraine is Russia's older sister and the main source of maternal warmth within the family, Belarus is Russia's younger sister and short-tempered chief bodyguard, Father Varangia is the three sibling's main paternal figure and acts as a source of fatherly wisdom during times of crisis, and Mother Byzantium is the trio's comedic overbearing parental figure who constantly demands luxury items and nags her surrogate children for attention while inebriated on wine.
Other members of the family include Finland who is in charge of naval affairs, Poland who manages trade with the rest of Europe but also plots Russia's downfall as a hobby, Tsargrad who has the unenviable role of being Mother Byzantium's hapless secretary, the Caucasian trio of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia who tend the terraced gardens of the family's retreat in the mountains, the Baltic trio of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania who usually have their own adventures at Finland's expense, Kazakhstan who's the regional manager of Central Asia, the elderly Father Mongolia who's in charge of parties and throat singing but has an annoying habit of summoning horses everywhere he goes, East Turkestan who tends the family's camels and lives in a giant sand castle, and the stern Manchuria who manages eastern trade and tries to keep Korea out of trouble with his wacky hijinks.
Recently two new characters, New Moscow and Namibia, were also introduced after readers from Russian Africa complained about their lack of representation in the series roster. They were introduced along with Katanga and Nigeria in 2014 during the Mansa Musa Long Lost Treasure arc.
Chōsen (チョーセン Chosen), has short black hair, with a flyaway curl on the right side of his head. The curl is often drawn with silly faces in the middle, to represent his "Korean spirit". He dresses in a white and navy blue hanbok with long oversized sleeves, though it appears to be a mixture of styles from different eras of Korea, and his jeogori seems to be in two pieces rather than one.
Energetic and easy going, Chōsen is the youthful heart of the Eurasian family despite his actual age making him significantly older than Russia. This uncanniness is explained away as Korea's enthusiasm making him appear more childish than his age would suggest. Chōsen's main role in the series is to be the eyes for the audience for the zany world and its many characters. Korea's secondary role is to invent fantastical devices which usually land him in trouble. During his private adventures, he usually drags the dour Manchuria and reluctant Japan along for the ride and usually said shenanigans also involve his prominent cranky neighbor China who views the Eurasian family with suspicion.
He often uses phrases like, "Da-ze!" or "Uri nara mansae!", which means roughly "Hooray for our land!". When speaking to elders, however, he adopts more formal and polite speech. His hobbies include pranking Japan, annoying China, internet browsing, gaming, eating snacks, inventing actually useful technology for the economy of his home and for his Eurasian family, and acting as Russia's assistant in his own schemes. His favorite food is kimchi and Soju. His weapon of choice is his trusty Hwandudaedo blade. In the anime series, he is voiced by Mashiro Taga in Japanese and June Foster in English. In 2008, he received the official name Im Yong Soo.
Russia (ロシア Roshia), is the tallest of all the nations, and has a thick muscular body. He has wavy silver hair, golden eyes, a large nose, and wears a thick winter coat and a byzantine silk scarf. Russia has a seemingly kind demeanor, but also possesses a keen intellect and will not hesitate to brutally retaliate against any perceived threat to his beloved family. Russia is usually portrayed as a sly, patient man who is willing to wait long periods of time before striking with calculated force to achieve his desired goals which are usually portrayed in a humorous light in the series - as when Russia pretended to be a statue in Britain's home for five days before scaring a passing sheep so it would urinate on the carpet and force Britain to clean the mess.
As the head of the Eurasian Family, Russia tries the best he can to be a good leader and example for the rest of his siblings and extended family, but his well meaning goals usually result in irritation from the recipients of his heavy handed affection. During particularly difficult challenges, Father Varangia will usually make an appearance to dispense needed wisdom to Russia before leaving for another wild pub crawl with Mother Byzantium in the Balkans. Regardless of the mixed results of his initiatives, Russia still commands the respect and loyalty of his family and friends despite his various eccentricities.
Russia holds a "subtle" rivalry with the Western nations, especially Britain, but gets along well with the United States and the Latin America family. His primary target of resentment is General Winter, because despite using the cold to his advantage in war, he is also attacked by him every year. While romance is handled comedically in the series as the author wishes to avoid focusing on it, most readers assume that Russia's main love interest is the Ethiopian empire; portrayed as a African warrior princess and who Russia affectionately refers to as his "Jewel of the Horn." Russia is often drawn carrying a Byzantine Paramerion as his weapon of choice. Russia's favorite dishes are pelmeni and vodka. In the anime series, he is voiced by Yasuhiro Izumo in Japanese and Larry Ford in English. In 2008, he received the official name Ivan Braginsky.
Etc.
*******
OOC: This is my take of how the franchise Hetalia: Axis Powers would look like in this universe. Since I have no idea how Italy will develop in the future, I decided to have Korea take his place as the main protagonist. Weirdly enough, I'm not actually that much of a fan of Hetalia, but since it has such a premiant position in the "national personification genre", I decided to give it a fake wikipedia entry lol. I have some more notes on how things could progress in this weird series, but I decided to focus on the main points here.
I made a bunch of assumptions when making this article that could be proven false later. The "Eurasian Covenant" is supposed to be the hypothetical official name for the Russo-sphere in the modern day. It sounded cooler to me then something more standard like the Eurasian Union.