Kiku Honda

**Kiku Honda** is the younger brother of Yao Wang. He is the personification of Japan. Kiku is also part of the Axis Powers with Feliciano and Ludwig. He is a main character from the manga and anime, *Hetalia* and the *Tea Leaves* series.

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

He is a short, slim man with black hair, dark brown eyes, and is often depicted wearing a white naval uniform with black and gold accents. His first appearance in both the anime and the published manga shows him briefly wearing a more ornate version, with gold epaulets and frog clasps down in the front of the jacket. When he first appeared in the webcomic series, he wore a standard gray/black uniform until sometime after joining the Axis.

In some of Himaruya's official art, his hair is dark brown and his eyes are a lighter brown.

### Personality

A shy, quiet, and hard-working man, Kiku does not know very much about the outside world and needs time to adjust to other people. He is very curious and interested in learning things from other nations. His distinct island customs may seem mysterious to others, although he finds them perfectly normal. He tends to have the behavior of an "old man" and was a hikikomori for a long time (Kiku had spent about 250 years in isolation keeping only contact with Netherlands). Though he appears horrified at the idea of nudity or intimate contact, he has erotic woodcuts in his possession, which he tries to hide secretly between his non-erotic books. Japan also voiced his preference for 2D girls over 3D girls to Arthur, Heracles, and Francis in one strip, hinting that he has an otaku side. His otaku side is further shown when he decides to buy a Shonen Jump magazine in his preparations for the New Year.

Kiku seems to be fond of food in general, very similar to Yao's fondness, his country's food in particular, as evidenced by his annoyance of having his salted salmon taken off Ludwig's diet plan. He expressed dismay at the increase of the price of eggs due to a bad economy. He also had the urge to touch the Italy brothers' ahoges due to them reminding him of vegetables. It is said that cockroaches are one of the things that Kiku hates the most, to the extent where he could cry over them. Although he appears relatively calm most of the time, it is suggested that his anger would be the "scariest". However, it is shown that it is hard for him to get that angry, as he is mostly able to only summon an "unpleasant feeling".

He loves animals, especially cats, and owns a white dog called Pochi that resembles an Akita or Shiba Inu, both Japanese breeds. He also eventually gets a rabbit and a guinea pig. He tends to have a weakness for things that are soft and fluffy.

## Back Story

Kiku first appears in Episode 01 at the "Meeting Of The World", where he agrees with Alfred's ridiculous solution for global warming. He is also given an official cameo at the end of Episode 03 as a teaser before he is formally introduced in Episode 04.

In Episode 06, while stranded on an island, Kiku suggests to Ludwig that they call their team "Suujiku" (枢軸) (Axis); eine Achse in German, and un Asse in Italian.

Since the anime is based more off the published version of the manga than the original webcomic, Kiku does not wear his black uniform in his introduction, instead wearing the decorative version of his naval suit before he becomes part of the Axis Powers. He is also depicted in his WWII naval suit in instances where he originally wore other clothing in the equivalent manga strips.

## Storyline History

### Tea Leaves and Gold Pins

Kiku collapsed on March 11th, 2011 during a world meeting. The other countries rushed him to the hospital. Turns out, Kiku had a tumor and holes in his organs. Despite the doctors patching him up, he ran into another problem when he ended up with blood poisoning. As a result, he had to strange longer in the hospital. In a dream, he met Makoto as a blind and mute man chained down in place. After Kiku gets him something to drink, Makoto warns him to run as something is coming to kill to him. Kiku awakes trembling in sweat.

Later, Alfred visits Kiku and the Japanese man pretends to be okay. When Kiku finally comes home, Yao throws him a welcome home party. All is fine until he gets a call from the number 444-444-4444. When he answers, the caller says, "Akuma ga watashi o shutoku sa sete wa ikenai" or "Don't let the devil get me." Ever since then, Kiku falls into a downward spiral. He starts having dreams about the Tower and freaking out. His wife, Sena, doesn't even to understand what's going either. She tries to see what is wrong, Kiku pushes her so hard that she falls back against the wooden door. When he comes to his senses, he tells Sena about the phone call. She believes, but she's still mad about being pushed into the door. Towards the end of the season, he is seen in therapy.

### Tea Leaves and White Pearls

Kiku is seen in therapy talking about his problems. Sena is still trying to figure out what's wrong with him, but even he doesn't know the answer. Sena has taken to put up dolls around the house as if to keep something out from Kiku.

### Tea Leaves and Green Jade

Kiku is still breaking down and it's getting worse. He and Sena hallucinate the sight and smell of blood. Kiku is still seeing a therapist about the vision that he is seeing. During one session, he draws the fifteen-year-old blackened schoolgirl. His artwork makes his therapist freak out. Kiku even starts having nightmares about a carnival and an "angel" forced to perform in the shows.

### Tea Leaves and Red Silk

Kiku's therapist dies and he falls deeper down the spiral. He suffers another breakdown and starts giving clues to Sena about what's wrong with him. When she goes to research "angels" and "They are suffering in Gomorrah", her husband as a seizure and ends up in the hospital. During a dream, Kiku finds himself in between Hells. He meets the Woman in Red sitting on a pile of books. She reveals that suffering he is experiencing is because of the chaos forming in Ikebukuro. She tells him a little bit about herself and says that he and Ikebukuro are the centerpiece of something "glorious about to happen" before she kisses him on the lips.

Kiku is later seen talking to Ludwig and Feliciano about his dreams and the Woman in Red. They don't know what to make of this.

### Tea Leaves and Silver Rings

Kiku is still in dire straits with his encounter with the Woman in Red. He can't even sleep anymore. It only gets worse when Gilbert shows demanding him to tell him everything that he knows. The Japanese man breaks down as the Prussian man keeps pushing him for information. Kiku finally breaks down and tells him what the Woman in Red told him in his dream. Just when Gilbert was about to get more information out of him, Sena comes home and makes him leave. She then walked Kiku back into the house to put him to bed.

The Woman in Red visits him again. She showers him with unwanted affection and tells him that she and he will be closer together as the end draws near, but they will never be one. Kiku pleads with her to leave the others alone and let them live, but she says that it doesn't work that way. He knows that her poison will spread through his body like an inoperable cancer.

In the Halloween special, Kiku attends Ivan and Li Yi Yin's wedding with dread of what's to come.

In present day, Kiku lays in bed, muttering something to himself. Sena cares for him while keeping the other countries out. However, he tells her a message that even chills his wife to her core.

> "Chaos will reign. The three beggars… They will come and blood will fill the streets of Ikebukuro again."
>
>

Kiku then grabs Sena by the wrist and won't let go until his hand went limp. When Lin Yi comes to visit him, his breaks down get even worse. It didn't help that the Woman in Red showed up and started talking to him.

### Tea Leaves and Opal Necklaces

Kiku stands in his bathroom with a knife to his wrists. He can't kill himself now because the Woman in Red won't let him. She says that he is her "investment". The Japanese man also notices that Arthur has been acting nervous while he tries to get closer to him. Sena asks what Kiku is doing up. He says nothing and puts the knife away to go to bed.

Kiku begins to notice that he has black spots on his hands and feet. Sometimes, they itch and swell up. Even more, sometimes they have a bad smell to them. The Woman in Red comes to see him again. She won't let go of him and wants Sena to see her for herself. When his wife wakes up and walks up to the bathroom door, Kiku pleads with her to go back to bed. Despite all of this, Sena walks in and the Woman in Red introduces himself much to the Japanese man's horror.

Later, Kiku starts having back problems. They get so bad that he has to use a cane and can barely stand up. The pain is so bad that he can barely sleep either. The Woman in Red tells him that they are like a couple to be wed. After seeing a vision of him in his past life, Kiku now has kanji of blasphemy down his spine.

### Tea Leaves and Diamond Bracelets

Kiku is still being tormented by the Woman in Red and visions of his past life. He sees himself sinking into darkness. Sena won't let him go to work due to his fragile mental state. She leaves for the day one morning, leaving him along with the Woman in Red. He fears that if any country tries to come into contact with him, he will drag them into the darkness with him. When Sena comes home, he yells at her to stay away from him and that he is toxic. She doesn't understand what he is saying.

Kiku goes to his new therapist and doesn't talk. He can see the Woman in Red watching him in the corner. The therapist told him to take a break. Kiku disappeared to the bathroom. An hour later, the therapist looked for in the bathroom. Kiku is heard talking to the Woman in Red in the stall. When the therapist opened the door, he found Kiku alone. The man himself got off and left, wanting to call it a night.

Things get worse when he starts to see the ghosts of the women in his past life in his mind. The Woman in Red taunts him as well. It gets so bad that he can't leave his room and Sena ends up calling an ambulance to take him to the hospital.

### Tea Leaves and Sapphire Earrings

Kiku is still suffering in the hospital. He now his scratches on his back, blackness on his wrists and feet, and little nixes on his forehead. Visits from the Woman in Red and Hecate Mayfair only make it that much worse. He can now feel the nails itching towards his heart. He knows there is only one more Gate to the Apocalypse that is waiting to be opened. When the Woman in Red whispers her message to, Kiku is found by Sena to be shaking on the floor. Things are still getting worse for him and his wife. The whole family is worried now. Kiku hallucinates seeing the Woman in Red again. He can feel Arthur's pain and pleas with Feliciano not to sell his soul to Faust. Towards the end of the season, Kiku is really mentally broken and physically worn out.

### Tea Leaves and Purple Robes

Kiku's old therapy sessions ended up getting another one of his therapists killed by Toshiko. On the session tapes, he keeps talking about the seven seals. Kiku finally gets to go home. The Woman in Red gets inside his head and calms him down. He finally starts to trust her. Kiku ends up disappearing from the hospital. He is seen on surveillance. He ends up wandering in the streets. Kiku is so out of it that he can't feel the cuts on his bare feet. He knows that it is too late to save Im Yong. The Japanese man is starting to take comfort in the Woman in Red. It becomes clear that his sanity is dying away. The police manage to find Kiku and bring him back home. Towards the end of the season, he stares at the dust particles floating around in the air. At one point, he gets his sanity back. He seems to be acting normal. Kiku and Sena go to visit Yao and Ju. He tries to warn them that they need to be careful with their baby. Sadly, this clarity doesn't last long. Kiku later slips back into his misery.

### Tea Leaves and Black Lipstick

Kiku stares at a cursed mirror in fear. The Woman in Red pushes him to touch it. Once Kiku touches it, he ends up in a darker version of his world. He meets his darker counterpart. The counterpart wants to live in his world. Kiku breaks down in a panic. Back in reality, his wife tries to comfort him. The next morning, he tries to stop Sena from opening the front door, but it's too late. Kiku mutters to himself that Sena had "already let him in." Now, he and his wife have to deal with Kuro as he plans to take over Kiku's life.

### Tea Leaves and Pink Stockings

Kuro wants to take over Kiku's life and body. Kiku gets dragged into the dinner from hell. Everything about this place creeps him out. Still, the Japanese man can't leave.

### Tea Leaves and Crimson Nails

Kiku is trapped in a mirror. Kuro is living out his life. Kiku manages to reach out Alfred. He tries to tell him that everything isn't right.

## Relationships

### Sena Honda

*Main Article: Sena Honda*

Sena is Kiku's wife. She's tough-talking and pretty much bitchy. The other countries don't understand how or why Sena and Kiku are married. But, she does care and love Kiku. Since he has been becoming ill due to the Woman in Red's influence over him, Sena has been staying by his side to the best of her ability. Even risking her own health to help him. But it is hinted that she might be starting to understand his real problems.

### Woman in Red

*Main Article: Woman in Red*

Kiku first met the woman in red in his dreams while he was in between hells. Her very appearance frightens him. She tells Kiku and he and Ikebukuro are part of something glorious unfolding with her taking the lead before kissing him and him waking up. Now, she seems to be attracted to Kiku and says that they will get closer as the End of Days draws near.

### Ju Wang

*Main Article: Ju Wang*

Though Ju and Kiku are rather distant, she does care and is worried about the Japanese man for Yao's sake. In fact, she observes Kiku during the rehearsal dinner.

### Alfred F. Jones

*Main Article: Alfred F. Jones*

In Black Ships have Come, Alfred succeeds in getting Kiku to open up his borders, but does so in a way that Japan feels as if there was no choice. Apparently the relationship gets better, since in Kiku and the footsteps of Westernization, Alfred visits his house. He introduces "table turning" to Kiku, asking what he would like to question the table about. Kiku eventually ends up confiding that, while he is happy to be opening up his borders and meeting new people, he is fearful of not being able to get along with other countries. He then goes on to request that Alfred ask if he will be able to make new friends, and Alfred promptly makes the table shift once, exclaiming "That means the answer's yes!".

### Yao Wang

*Main Article: Yao Wang*

After being discovered by Yao as a small child, Kiku was raised by the older man, who taught him how to use kanji (which Kiku used to create the hiragana alphabet). One day, Kiku turned against Yao and attacked him with a katana, leaving a disfiguring scar on Yao's back. From this point, the two were enemies in war, and Yao despaired over how war had changed Kiku.

It can be inferred from a reference made about the Battle of Keichou that their relations were already starting to strain before the betrayal, combined with their differing views and Japan's vow to "become stronger". It is also to be noted that while Yao considered Kiku a younger brother, Japan himself denied there being such a connection when asked.

### Ludwig

*Main Article: Ludwig*

Kiku and Ludwig get along relatively well, and tend to be the only ones who adapt to the situation while joined together as the Axis Powers. Kiku had known Ludwig for some time (as depicted in the original strips), although Ludwig said he can never tell what Kiku has in mind.

### Feliciano Vargas

*Main Article: Feliciano Vargas*

The two became acquainted with each other as part of the Axis, though Italy had once had a dream where he met a younger Kiku.

Kiku is shown to often be unnerved by Italy's "shameless" and unusual behavior, even as going as far as to order him to "take responsibility" and marry him after having been hugged and kissed. Feliciano's erratic driving had also inspired him to invent safer cars. The two have been shown to have a mutual respect of each others' history and artwork, and seem to be friends.

### Gilbert Beilschmidt

*Main Article: Gilbert Beilschmidt*

While their only canonical meeting was in Prussia's Cleaning game, in which he helps him clean after Kiku misinterpreted his demands as enthusiasm, Himaruya has stated that their relationship is near inseparable, and that it was something he wanted to show in Prussia's April Fools blog, but did not get to. It is also notable, that Kiku calls him "Gilbert-kun", emphasizing this. Gilbert possibly goes to Japan's house very often, as he said that he "usually" has tea and manjuu when he goes. When they finished cleaning, to show his gratitude, Kiku gave him the cakes he had previously been asking for, however the work exhausted Gilbert, so he could "only" eat 34.

Also stated in the game, was Gilbert's enjoyment of reading manga (he had attempted to learn to draw his own, but he sneezed and abandoned the project), something he possibly got from befriending Kiku.

### Ivan Braginsky

*Main Article: Ivan Braginsky*

In the Lietuvis strips, Kiku is shown to abhor Ivan, his grudge stemming as far back as the Russo-Japanese War (although he defeated him, he wound up using up his life savings and became poor). After hearing of the alliance between Ivan and Ludwig, Kiku became distraught, claiming "That man is a monster created by fallout from nuclear tests! He tears down buildings! He breathes fire!". When Ludwig insists on continuing his relationship with Ivan, Kiku makes a resolution to dissolve himself and to become known as Minami-Centrair. This is loosely based off of an event that happened where the whole Japanese cabinet resigned due to the increasingly good relations between Ivan and Ludwig.

During Ivan's visit to Ludwig's house, Kiku made many attempts to get revenge:

* Put caltrops on his seat, but failed as Ivan noticed them and did not sit down.
* Hid in the ceiling and attempted to harpoon him, only to miss and for Ivan to shake him down, revealing his hiding place.
* Placed an object (possibly an explosive or needle) in an ohagi in hopes that Ivan would eat it, only for him to eat it and remain unaffected.

More Like Gamba Vs. Noroi shows that Ivan was able to curse Japan and make him fall ill from simply staring at him, an allusion to when Kiku was effected by the Great Kantou earthquake.

### Lovino Vargas

*Main Article: Lovino Vargas*

Though they have yet to meet in any of the actual strips, Himaruya has stated that they would both get along rather well and that Kiku would refer to the other as "Romano-kun" (after initially "-san").

## Trivia

* His birthday, February 11th, corresponds to the date of National Foundation Day in Japan, which celebrates the foundation of Japan in 660 BC by Emperor Jimmu.
* Though his exact age is unknown and Himaruya listed it as a "secret", some Japanese fans consider him to be approximately 2,670 years old.
* Although being younger than Yao, Kiku has expressed his old age on more than one occasion. In *Salted Salmon*, *Germany and I*, Kiku explains how he no longer enjoys his birthday, suffers from high blood pressure which causes him to wake up early and wander his neighborhood, and has hip pains.
* In one published strip it is shown he sees the world as an RPG, another hint at his otaku nature.
* According to Himaruya, Kiku would most likely have the blood type A (due to it being a common blood type in Japan).
* As Hetalia was originally planned as a one chapter story, Himaruya did not expect Kiku to become a popular character and drew him as a type of character he did not often utilize, with "soulless" eyes. He noted that if he had known the series would become bigger, the design would have been drastically different.
* Kiku's seiyuu also voices Superbi Squalo from *Katekyo Hitman Reborn!*. Incidentally, Squalo has the exact opposite personality of Kiku (loud, rude, impulsive, quick-tempered).

## Source

* Basic Information: http://hetalia.kitawiki.net/index.php?title=Japan