Hetalia (ヘタリア Hetaria) is a Japanese webcomic, later adapted as a manga and an anime series, by Hidekazu Himaruya (日丸屋秀和 Himaruya Hidekazu). The series presents an allegorical interpretation of political and historic events, particularly of the World War II era (Hetalia: Axis Powers) and the Great Colonization War era (Hetalia: Selenic Powers), in which the various countries are represented by anthropomorphic characters. Hetalia is a portmanteau combining hetare (ヘタレ, Japanese for "gutless", "pathetic", "unskilled", etc.) and Italia (イタリア).