In a tumultuous era of World Wars and general uncertainty for the future, Germany did not expect that his only constant allies would be North Italy and Japan. Despite being a descendant of the once-powerful Ancient Rome, North Italy is weak, useless, and overly in love with pasta. In contrast, Japan is reliable and pragmatic, but has strange obsessions that would bewilder anyone. Believing he drew the short end of the straw, Germany must think of a way to make this unlikely alliance work.
To rub salt into the wound, the chaotic Allied Forces arrive, determined to stop the Axis Powers in their tracks. While they all share a common goal, none of the Allies can set aside their centuries of differences to fight as a cohesive front. As conflicts continue, these personified nations act out the events of World Wars I and II in a comedic and entertaining manner.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
FlyingHigh13
When I first heard of this series, it was from my anime-obsessed friend, who had recently turned me over to anime and manga. Now, this was at three in the morning, mind you, and I didn't feel like reading the manga, so I searched for the anime. Upon finding the first episode, I had to pause it every few seconds to read what they were saying, because it was going by so fast. After a minute or two, I decided, 'Screw this, I'm going to sleep'. About a month later, I decided that I would really try to watch the anime. Once I got pastthe first rapid-fire scene, I found it to be extremely enjoyable. Having a lot of time on my hands, I ended up watching thirty episodes in one day. The 26th episode is by far my favorite. (More than one of my family members/friends have received threats from Busby's Chair.) Though it can be found offensive and stereotypical, what many people will not admit is that they thought those exact same things about most of the countries represented here. They just never voiced their opinions, while Hetalia has really gone out there and said what everyone else was thinking. For that, it has earned my utmost respect as a viewer.
Story- 6
The story is really not there. It has almost no plot, and what little plot there is has been spread so thin it's barely visible. I get that its about World Wars one and two, but that becomes blurred, mostly due to the fact that Hetalia tends to jump around, and focus on many different points in history at random times. Somehow, it makes this work. So, I give it a six.
Art- 7
I find the art of the Hetalia anime to be very cutesyd-up, to the point where even some of the most intimidating countries make you want to go 'Awwww!'. It definitely isn't the best animation I've ever seen, but it was good considering it was adapted from webcomics that were little more than sketches themselves. I'm sure all watchers of Hetalia remember the small, pastel-colored, patterned frames they put around some of the scenes. While distracting at times, I believe they are there to separate whatever scene is going on in that frame from the regular storyline of that episode. I find that helpful and creative. Another part of the art that I love is the Chibitalia segments. I found myself 'awww!'ing every few seconds over the adorable little toddler. So, all in all, the art is not the best it could be, but it is enough to make even the most angsty teenager smile.
Sound- 8
The beginning 'theme' is much more suited for a moment in 'Star Trek' than a satirical history anime. But, I will put up with it, mostly because I forget about it until it's blasting in my ears. The ending theme, however, is a completely different story. Almost immediatly after finishing my first Hetalia session, I found myself rushing to download it onto my Ipod, along with all the other versions for characters such as Japan, Prussia, England, Austria, and France. The only grievance I have is that I didn't get any warning before Germany started shouting in my ear at the end of episode 27. Other than that, the background music was acceptable for the scenes. Overall, an eight seems sufficient.
Character- 8
The characters are extremely stereotypical. Germany is a muscley, blond-haired, blue-eyed stick-in-the-mud, Italy is a pasta-loving, airheaded weakling, France practically molests everyone he sees, and has red roses appearing out from behind him at random instances. France and England hate each other, Germany has to bail Italy out every other second, and America is a hamburger-loving hard-head with a hero complex. But, what can you expect from personified countries? The only way to give them a personality is to magnify the things their residents are most known for. This can result in some hurt feelings, but I find it fun to laugh at myself sometimes, and I'm sure many other people do too. Stereotypes aside, I think that Hetalia did an amazing job giving chunks of land the ability to converse, joke around, and even have relationships. While on that subject, I'm sure most Hetalia watchers are aware of the male character's gay tendencies. This really only serves to draw in mostly girls, but it is drawing in viewers, and most of the yaoi/shonen-ai aspects are cleverly hidden so that only fangirls will be able to spot them. Overall, I think that an eight is in perfect order here.
Enjoyment- 9
I think this is the perfect anime to watch if your brain just needs a break from thinking. It takes almost no effort to watch, unlike a lot of the more twisty-turney suspenseful animes out right now. Or, if you're feeling a bit sad, and want some cheering up, this is good for a laugh or two. Mostly I just watch it because I get bored very easily, and it is extremely entertaining. Thus, I give it a nine.
Overall- 9
All in all, this is a great anime. Despite the lack of plot, It still manages to be hilarious, idiotic, and clever all at the same time. A lot of work must have gone into putting the manga and the anime together, and I appreciate hard work. Especially when it comes in the form of twenty or thirty bishounens.
I hope my review helped you to make the right choice on this anime!
MoWriter
I jumped into Hetalia Axis Powers with high hopes. Online friends and real life friends gave the series such high praise. They swore that Hetalia was one of the best anime they'd seen. At appearance, Hetalia looked as good as they said, with a great set of beginning episodes. As the series progressed, however, I began to feel that Hetalia was just an over-hyped series that didn't deserve the credit that it was getting. At first, I loved the story. With every country represented by a single character going through the events of World Wars I and II, what wasn't to like? The beginning of theseries brought up the relationships between the countries very well, and stuck with the important, historical points of the two wars. As the series progressed, however, the story began to steer away from the wars and go towards what could have happened between countries if the countries were just one person. I thought the relationships took over the series and made the story lose traction.
With the character heavy series, at least I could watch them progress through the series. The characters, however, showed very, very weird interpretations of the countries. Even with foreign countries, I felt that the characters were just falsely advertising their countries with stupid quarks to make the characters "better" for the series. A great example, I think, is England, with his ability to see mythological creatures. As funny as that made going to Japan's house, the idea was still stupid. Another example is America's giant fear of horror movies. As funny as that was at times, I felt the idea was still stupid. And what was with the alien that was with America? I feel like I was the only one that didn't get that.
As far as the sound goes, I felt that the theme song got extremely annoying very quickly, even with different countries sang the song. Often, I skipped over them, or just turned off the episode when the song began. With no real fluctuation with the music, the sound lacked in the series and made Hetalia even more bland.
The one thing that I did enjoy in the series was the art. I liked how the countries were animated, but sometimes, the art got a little weird. I felt that the flags to show the countries were very distracting. The text for the country name would've just been appropriate. Still, the animation was cute, especially during Chibitalia, and I often got really engrossed in the art.
At a series, Hetalia could have been much better. I wished the show was better constructed, story wise, and the characters weren't quite as dumb. I believe that it's over-hyped, but there were some good moments. I would recommend Hetalia to anyone looking for a funny, short episode series, but I won't be watching the series again.
literaturenerd
The idea of creating a story with characters representing countries or aspects of a single country has been done many times in literature. Midnight's Children with India and Pakistan as Saleem and Shiva. The Tin Drum with Oscar Matzerath representing the German people during the Nazi period from 1933-1945. 100 Years of Solitude, where almost every facet of Colombian history and culture has a character devoted to it. Where does Hetalia fall when matched up against the aforementioned 3 novels. Well...nicht so gut. Hetalia relies on very simplistic stereotypes and slapstick humor that isn't really that funny. You won't actually learn anything about history fromwatching Hetalia either. According to Hetalia, WW2 was about the saintly Germans and Japanese fighting the moronic Americans and evil Russians, all while protecting the unbelievably stupid Italians. Amazingly this isn't actually the most extreme example of far right Japanese nationalism and historic revisionism in anime. That dubious honor belongs to Code Geass. Why is Hetalia so darn popular among anime fans where I live? The answer is Yaoi and Yaoi fanfics. That's pretty much it.
ThatCrazyElitist
Have you ever imagined how this world would be if every country was a person? Neither have I. And this is exactly what Hetalia is about, that and jokes about pasta. We watch our hero Italy struggle to..... well what, I really have no idea what the characters in this story try to achieve. And wait, did I say 'story'? What story actually, is there a story in Hetalia? This anime has no story, the characters are stereotypes of countries, the art is pretty bad and the music is 'certainly interesting'..... And guess what? I actually liked this show. Though, the fandom is kind ofcreepy, please stop shipping countries.
~Story~ 0/10
Well, there is no story to begin with. Our main characters are Italy, Germany and Japan and most of the time they are 'fighting' in World War II, though our main character Italy isn't really fighting, he's just fooling around and interacting with the other countries. And that's it! Though it's quite interesting to see history this way, this anime could have been a lot better if it had a damn story. Also, sometimes it's just pure stupidity, the only way to watch and enjoy this anime is by putting of your brain. So that's exactly what I did and in that case every episode turns into 5 minutes of randomness, gay undertones and sometimes an interesting take on world history, but most of the time it's just jokes and randomness.
[CONCLUSION]
There is no story, only randomness. Because of this I can't give this anime points for the story.
~Art~ 4/10
The art is pretty bad, especially during the chibitalia parts. There is not much to say about it, it's not special or extremely ugly. It's just that it looked cheap and that the characters designs during the chibitalia parts were supposed to be cute, but it ended up looking really weird.
[CONCLUSION]
The art is bad. The anime looked cheap and the animation during the chibitalia parts was just creepy.
~Music~ 6/10
After watching this anime, I woke up at 3:00 or so and the very first thing that came to my mind was: 'Marukaite Chikyuu'. If you watch this show, please skip the ending song, because it will haunt you, it's so catchy and silly. And I promise you, if you give this song the chance to sneak into your brain you will regret it forever!
The Japanese voice acting is okay, but the English voice acting is one of the best things I've ever heard. Every country has it's own accent, this is really hilarious. One big problem, our main characters are an Italian, a German and a Japanese guy and their accents may be funny at first but after a while you're done with them.
[CONCLUSION]
The English dub is better than the original one, yes it's possible! Also the ending song is so catchy that it's not even funny anymore.
~Characters~ 5/10
Shallow, stupid stereotypes, that represent a country.... well, at least the characters are interesting. You have Italy, a weak coward who's stalking his friend Germany, the ultimate tsundere and there is Japan, a guy who seems to have no emotions and is totally done with his European allies. The are the Allies, England, who is superstitious and a horrible cook, America, who believes that his country is the centre of the world and eats way to many hamburgers, Russia, who is creepy, very creepy and China who hits people with his wok pan and builds Chinatowns everywhere and France, a pervert.
This is the main cast, ladies and gentleman, we have to deal with these retards every episode! And if you think those guys are weird enough already, just wait until you meet Belarus, Sealand, South Italy and last but not least Prussia.
[CONCLUSION]
Weirdest cast ever created, some stereotypes are on point, but some others are just racist or random. And no, I don't ship these countries, they are countries, how can this fandom ship countries?! Well, at least the cast is not boring.....
~Enjoyment~ 10/10
Yes, I enjoyed myself while watching this and it changed history lessons into pure comedy. It's stupid, random and there were yaoi-undertones for no good reason, but this anime is a perfect example of 'just put of your brain and enjoy the show'. This anime will not learn you a lot of things about history, but it will changes your view on history forever, but I'm not sure if it changes in a good way....
[CONCLUSION]
The enjoyment level is over 9000! It's not a good show, actually it's a bad show, but that doesn't mean that this Hetalia isn't hilarious. It's so dumb and stupid that it made me laugh out loud about the pure stupidity and randomness of the anime. Also the fandom is one of the worst I've ever encountered, they ship every character in crazy yaoi ships, it's actually really sad.
Should you watch this anime? If you want to keep your brain functioning in the right way, no. If you want to have mindless fun and you have a few hours to waste, yes.
KirbyCoded
Hetalia was a phenomenon. It cannot be overstated how popular it was during the tail end of the 2000s up through the mid 2010s. Cosplayers online and at conventions, roleplayers, fan content on Livejournal, DeviantArt, YouTube—it was practically inescapable. You couldn’t move five feet without bumping into some friend group’s cosplay photoshoot or an AMV. If you’re watching Hetalia as of the time of writing this review, it’s a safe assumption that you’re either nostalgic, a general internet or fandom enthusiast, or fourteen. And if you’re fourteen, I implore you to please seek out better gag anime such as Lucky Star, Azumanga Daiou, Way ofthe Househusband, or, if you’re well versed enough in anime tropes, Saiki K.
That being said, I will not sugarcoat this. Hetalia is… not great, to say the least. This isn’t a hot take by any means; you’re far more likely to find people saying Hetalia is bad than people who say it’s a masterpiece modernly. But the reason *why* they say it’s bad is, almost always, the sin of being kind of cringe and popular with young girls. You’ve seen it with Twilight, you’ve seen it with Divergent, and, of course, you’ve seen it with Hetalia. Instead of an actual deconstruction of the issues present, people gravitate towards simply dismissing a piece of media as “cringe.” But Hetalia is far worse than cringe—it was outright harmful to its primarily teenage audience. Hetalia personifies countries and uses them to retell historical events as if they were interpersonal drama, which is a perfectly fine concept on the surface, but pull back the layers and you’ll find a myriad of problems that hint at a creator with some very concerning political views.
To start with what was the primary draw for a lot of its original fanbase, the characters—in a vacuum—are fine for the most part. They’re all based around stereotypes of different countries, with some standard anime fare thrown in for good measure. A good example would be England’s British stuffiness being mixed with the standard tsundere archetype, or Italy being a great cook and artist while also being a ditzy genki boy. There’s an odd glorification of the United States that’s especially prevalent in the jarringly serious segments on the American Revolution, but is mostly mitigated with WWII era to modern America being portrayed as a stupid, obnoxiously friendly attention whore gloryhound. Though, the word “characters” is misleading. They don’t really work as characters, given they’re more representations of the citizens of the countries they’re personifying than actual people, they work much better as vessels for jokes. The most notable part of the characters, at least in the dub, isn’t their personalities or the stereotypes they embody—it’s their voice acting.
While I can’t speak for the Japanese cast (and really, why would you watch a comedy subbed anyway?), the English cast is star studded. Hetalia bolstered the careers of nearly every actor involved due to how popular it was at the time, but they’re all talented in their own right and were mostly getting plenty of work prior anyway. Todd Haberkorn, J. Michael Tatum, Patrick Seitz, Eric Vale, Maxey Whitehead, and Cherami Leigh are just a small fraction of the cast members with impressive resumes. Jerry Jewell even used the exact same voice here as Russia as he would for Victor in Yuri!!! On Ice just a couple years later. If you’re planning to watch it in spite of this review, go ahead and see whose voice you recognize.
In any other show, I would be frothing at the mouth and excitedly pointing out every actor I recognized, looking characters up and seeing what else they were a part of. In Hetalia, I’m just disappointed they weren’t playing characters in a better show. Though, despite some of the material they were given to work with, the voice acting was absolutely not one of Hetalia’s many, many issues—though they really shouldn’t have hired white people to voice the Asian countries.
Based on that list of voice actors being nearly entirely men (and one of the two women being best known for playing a young boy in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) you can probably guess that Hetalia does not have a lot of female characters—and yes, we will get back to the obvious effects of a cast of almost exclusively pretty anime boys later. It would honestly be less insulting if there were no women in the cast at all instead of just very, very few. Even if you don’t want to acknowledge this as an issue of misogyny for whatever reason, it’s still a problem because it severely limits the character designs. Giving France or Russia estrogen wouldn’t have made Hetalia a better show, but it would have at least added a little more distinction between the million different blond men. I never want to see another blond anime boy in my life.
The misogyny is blatant, but it pales in comparison to the racism. While eventually more South Asian countries were designed, Hetalia, to this day, has exactly three African countries if you don’t count ancient Egypt. And one was likely just picked as a leftover to serve as the player character in the PSP game. To put that into perspective, there are over fifty African countries in the real world, and there were just as many in 2009 when the anime was released. South America has even less, with only two. That’s not even going into the lack of Mexico or presence of any Native American nations despite having multiple episodes showing the colonization of the Americas. I could tell you exactly why they did this, but you’re not gonna like the explanation. And again, this is a modern issue (how Hetalia is still around is beyond me), this isn’t just because the show is from 2009 and the webcomic is even older.
Speaking of, while Hetalia does manage to have some funny gags, some of it is… dated, to say the least. Ignoring any outright offensive or harmful content, some gags are very randomz rawr XD, for lack of better terminology—the type of thing teenagers with “roar means I love you in dinosaur” shirts and a MySpace page would laugh at. While this isn’t necessarily a drawback if you’re nostalgic for that era, and comedy is always subjective, it’s just… really not funny. This is especially true for the movie which forgoes the historical comedy entirely to focus on that sort of humor.
That being said, it’s not all bad. Aside from some of the characters being genuinely fun (whether by virtue of the actual writing or just because they happened to get a charismatic and funny voice actor), Hetalia’s biggest upside is being legitimately funny at times. Episodes are only around five minutes each, and the characters talk fairly quickly, so gags are rapid-fire. For every actively awful joke about how fat America is despite him being designed as the world’s most fuckable twink, they take another five chances to throw something genuinely good at you. And it works. Just about every episode has at least one gag that at least got a snort out of me, if not actual laughter, and everyone I’ve talked to about it has said something similar.
Now, Hetalia could have been an alright (if dated and racist) gag comedy focused around portraying world history as family drama if it weren’t for the elephant in the room: the titular Axis Powers. Yes, *those* Axis Powers. Hetalia jumps around the timeline a bit, but the main focus is World War II.
The Allies are portrayed as incompetent and unable to work together at best, and outright villainous at worst—with a gag about France spreading “rumors” about Germany, and the dub taking it a step further and explicitly saying that those “rumors” were about Germany killing Jews. It’s ambiguous exactly what those rumors were in the original Japanese, so it’s nowhere near as bad there (which is the case for just about every mention of Jews in the dub), but that doesn’t mean it’s off the hook. The lax view of Nazi war crimes present in any language you watch it in is what bred an environment that allowed those jokes to be written in the first place. To say it louder for the people in the back, that’s Holocaust denial! Hetalia is a show that perpetuates Holocaust denial. Suddenly, the stories of cosplayers doing Nazi salutes make a whole lot more sense.
Italy’s war crimes were downplayed at best and outright erased at worst. Italy, as stated earlier, is portrayed as a lazy ditz, and his first instinct is always to give up. So, to put it simply, he’s harmless! Mussolini who? Japan doesn’t have it much better, and may be even more egregious once you remember that *this is a show from Japan,* portraying the Axis (that, remember, Japan was a part of) as a quirky trio of friends. Yes, trio—other members of the Axis, such as Romania and Hungary, are never implicated. I have no doubt the original mangaka knew about them due to how much research some gags would’ve required, which means this is yet another case of historical revision. Hetalia seems to love doing that.
Speaking of, while Hetalia tries to take a “nobody is safe, we make fun of everyone!” approach to its comedy, it’s obviously scared to make fun of its home country. While it does make jokes around Japan, they’re all about rudeness masked by politeness, excessive apologizing, and emotional unavailability, and they’re told in a fairly kind way. Contrast with how scathing some of the other countries get it (like jokes about China keeping his citizens poor, or France sexually harassing the rest of the cast) and it becomes clear how much Hetalia doesn’t want to target Japan despite how easy it would be to make a joke about something like Japan’s work culture, suicide rates, or criminal justice system.
Now, the portrayals of Japan and Italy are concerning, but by far the worst one is Germany. The very first scene of the anime has Germany shutting all those other obnoxious countries up and getting the world meeting back on track, and he’s portrayed as exactly the same during WWII. Because if there’s one thing the world was missing, it was the Nazis portrayed as one of the most serious and level-headed members of an ensemble cast! It wouldn’t exactly be good if they completely skipped over Germany’s war crimes, but what makes it even worse is that they don’t. While kept to only a couple lines, there’s multiple times where Nazi crimes or eugenics get referenced, like when he asks Italy if he “wants [him] to gas [him],” or when Italy lists him being “whiter than anyone” as a compliment.
The historical revisionism and Holocaust denial is even more concerning when you remember that there is a legitimate, genuinely educational side of Hetalia. It could never be a primary source of history of course, but you could seriously learn some things by paying attention and maybe looking it up later—which is bad considering *the primary audience was teenagers,* who aren’t exactly known for being able to pick out misinformation from what they consider to be trustworthy sources. While you obviously can’t pin all the blame on Hetalia for that— especially since it wasn’t created with the intention of having an audience of kids—it would be wrong to say it has no responsibility in separating its misinformation from its actual historical fact, and it’s not okay to spread misinformation just because you think your audience is full of adults who may be able to tell the difference. You should always be cautious of the information you’re giving and the messages you’re spreading, regardless of who you’re catering to. It’s hard to focus on a good joke when two minutes later, Italy and Germany have a gag about just how much they love eugenics.
Nazi apologism is a lot to take in, so let’s take a breather and talk about something I alluded to earlier: the effects of a cast composed almost entirely of pretty anime boys. Now, if it were just fujoshis fighting over which blond men should kiss, that would be notable in a paper on fandom history, but not a review of the actual show. That is to say, Hetalia has queer content. This is not a case of fandom doing what fandom does best and shipping their favorite hot guys together—it’s not even queercoding. Hetalia has actual gay representation. Italy is just… canonically bisexual. Not teased at, not ambiguous bisexuality, not bi lighting and hint-hint wink-winking the audience. He flirts with women and gets an actual, on-screen kiss with a man. There is not a single twist in media that will ever recreate the shock of learning that Hetalia has actual queer content and the fujoshis were not lying or exaggerating. I’m still stunned. Hetalia is written by a man, by the way. The manga is seinen. This isn’t yaoi. This is gay content by a man for other men. Contrary to what the majority of the other negative reviews say, this is actually one of the better parts of Hetalia, if only for making it more entertaining.
Fun fact! In the webcomic, they talk about gay marriage! Not in a ”getting married for political reasons” way like the anime, the actual human rights issue of gay marriage. I could not make this up if I tried.
Overall, I cannot in good faith recommend Hetalia to anyone besides maybe people who are very into fandom or internet history, and even that has more to do with its impact than the actual content. Hetalia has some good elements, whether that be some fun characters or the occasional funny joke, but a couple good bites of an apple can’t fix a rotten core, and a couple fun elements don’t change the fact that Hetalia contains historical revisionism and portrays the Axis Powers as the good guys more often than not.
Don’t watch it, it’s really not worth it. You have far better options for both historical shows and gag comedies now, so take advantage of them.
sen_mcgrath
If you just got out of a holocaust musem, you might want to skip this one. However, if you are in the mood for a screwball comedy about adorable nations poking fun at some of the darkest parts of our past, then I highly reccomend it. This ONA follows little to no plot, but rather presents a series of skits and shorts like a variety show. Some of these take place during the WWII era, some take place in the present, some during the American Revolution or Austrian Succession ect. While the show is primarily a comedy, it sometimes deviates fromthis to present some drama that tugs at fangirl's heartstrings. Some moments are actually really touching or depressing, but then goes right back into screwball comedy.
The cast mainly follows the main Axis Powers: Japan, Italy and Germany, as well as the main Allied Powers: England, Russia, China, France and America. Characters are not really developed, but rather take on various cultural stereotypes and cliches. For example Italy is a lighthearted coward, Germany is strict and aggressive, America is loud, obnoxious and likes hamburgers. However it is not so much the characters themselves that draws me in so much as their interaction. The whole idea seems to be one of 'let's take these two polar opposites, put them in a jar, shake it and see what happens!' With over thirty personified countries in the cast and counting, the result is often hilarious to watch.
The animation, meant for five minute weekly episodes loaded to phones and other hand held devices, is not grade-A. France even jokingly notes that America's doodles are worse than the show's animation. It is choppy but filled with cute and brightly coloured pop art, which makes for an appealing mix despite the obvious cheapness. Clips are recycled or looped, but this is usually done for humourous effect and is even joked about within the series, effectively lampshading it. The music is often lighthearted and bouncy, typical of Japanese kawaii culture, but can also be deep and brooding depending on the events depicted.
The comedy itself is mostly based on stereotypes, culture clash, and bizarre events in history. For example there are many sketches with Japan and America being confused by each other's cultures, France tries to get into almost every character's pants, and Russia jumps out of a plane (based on stories of a group of Russian Paratroopers, who jumped out of a plane without parachutes believing the snow would cushion their fall.) In the English dub, a lot more of this is placed on shock value, with often offensive and insensitive oneliners. This is lampshaded in the commentaries where it is revealed that the VAs actually have competed with one another to see who could be the most offensive or crude and not have their lines cut. That said, the humour style can be equated to South Park, but with chibis.
That said though, some sketches can be very, very, very offensive, such as Polands involvement in the Second World War. I am not Polish, or of Polish decent, but I know the history, and found it appauling that a joke had been made about Germany's invasion of Poland in such a callouse way. Other events, such as the bombing of Hiroshima, Pearl Harbour, and the Holocaust are not mentioned in the series, possibly out of respect for the victims. This series is not for the sensitive, easily offended, or World War II veterans. (As funny as Hetalia is, some things are no laughing matter)
Hetalia is not a self contained history lesson. You will not learn all there is to know about history from Hetalia. It can however be a springboard to get the average anime fan interested in history and culture, turning that dusty old history textbook into fanfiction fuel. I personally enjoyed the series for this aspect, able to combine love of history with love of anime, spawning a fandom that both the deep thinking and crazy fans can enjoy. I watched this series to analyze war memory in Japan while the girl next to me could squeal over the cute chibis. The series, while shoddily animated and filled with crude humour on the surface has many layers and leaves a lot to be analyzed.
baskervwatson
It's probably a good thing that these episodes are five minutes long, because that's about all one could take of this without there being a plot. I thought that many of the episodes were amusing, but the fact that there is so much commotion going on at any one point in such a short amount of time made me struggle to keep up. Talk about speed-reading. I think that as something to amuse purely because the characters are bishounen and hyper, it does it's job. But that's about it. There isn't anything especially witty and if this is trying to be a satire, it has failedincredibly on many levels, least of all historical accuracy. But then again, I'm probably taking it far too seriously and expecting too much.
Guess I should pop some speed with the rest of the tweens if I really want to enjoy watching this.
CharlesBarkley
Oh, man. Never in my life have I seen such a large neckbeard gathering. I was going to watch it since I heard a lot of praise about it. The fanbase is even more terrible than this anime. The concept sounds unique. Nations are represented with a single character, going through historical events such as WWI and WWII. The art is good enough, I suppose. However, everything else just makes me want to vomit. You know those anime that are just there for shipping and yaoi and other stuff like that? Yeah, this is one of those. Except Hetalia takes it to the extreme. Thisanime's sense of humor comes from people loudly yelling "baka" a lot and terrible punchlines. They don't even do the stereotypes correctly. Honestly, how could you mess that up? The soundtrack is so terrible I want to cut my ears off. The ending is one of the worst I have ever heard. The rhythm is just so off and cringe inducing. Also, random does not equal funny. That's a twelve year-old's concept of humor. This anime thinks being random makes it enjoyable and funny, but it doesn't. It just makes it a bunch of irrelevant nonsense. Overall, this is a terrible anime. Save yourself the trouble of watching it.
otaku_tonma
When I first started Hetalia I was obsessed with Bleach. I mean obsessed, I even had dreams about the series. But that changed. When I first heard about Hetalia I laughed at it. The idea seemed completely stupid. I read a few reviews and laughed. People said it was confusing and the art was rubbish. That put me off. A week later I was ill and bored. I wanted to watch some anime, but was completely up to date with everything. I decided I'd give Hetalia: Axis Powers a shot. By the end of the evening, I felt so much better. I watched about12 episodes and simply loved it! The ending theme (Marukiate Chikyuu) was great, the characters all really good and the jokes had be rolling around. For the first episode or two the plot was confusing, then I realised, there sort of wasn't one. I mean there was the Axis and we all know how they fared during the war (certainly a lot better after this show!). After that I found each of the plots twisted together very easy to understand. The thig wasn't perfect! Chibitalia was cute, but after about 3 episodes it was boring.
There is only so much cuteness I can take.
Suprisingly I started taking a bigger interest in History and Geography, and Hetalia sort of helped me by secretly giving my brain the odd fact. It even read the scanlations as my obsession grew. I've pre-ordered the English one. The art is admittedly, terrible. Every character looks different every time he re-draws them.
Storyline - There sort of isn't one. Well there is but it isn't complex at all. So I'd have to say 3, although when I rate it I'll give it higher as it's enjoyable.
Art - I don't get this, who judges anime on the art! Seriously, hardcore raters here. Anyway, the art is actually not very good, so 3 again.
Character - I adore the stereotypical characters! The way they clash makes me laugh so much! I'd say a 8.5.
Enjoyment - 10. Straight away. The highlight of my week was finishing my jobs to watch Hetalia. It is hilariously funny too! defiantly 10.
Overall, this series is a defiant 10. I would recommend this to everyone who doesn't mind a bit of the gay-factor. I think the storyline may be pretty bad, but I don't think the story lie is the point to this series. I don't think there is a point to be honest.
But seriously, if you haven't already, watch this. If you don't like it, there must be something wrong with you.
inkmouse
This is definitely a funny series. It incorporates all those stereotypes we know and joke about, and also informs about some they used to have in war time (as in what the Italians would say when they were at gunpoint in war). However, if it's good satire on accurate history, you won't find it here. Each episode is only five minutes long, so you already know it'll be rushed. Simple things like the way the relationships between different countries are presented aren't really true. Yes, France and England hate each other, but then there's the enactment of the American Revolution that, like I've said before, istotally inaccurate.
Yes, I know, it's a cartoon, but I love history and I can't help pointing out little details when it comes to all those little flashbacks and also presentation of certain aspects of their personalities. Still, if you need a quick history lesson with dates and funny characters, don't expect a great grade, but it can certainly make the subject more interesting if you're one of those people that history is simply a hard pill to swallow.
Rawr018371
I started watching Hetalia, mainly because my friends were talking about it, and I felt the need to find out what in the world they were so happy about. After watching Hetalia, I couldn't stop re-watching the episodes or re-enacting the voices (dub version) because of how great the anime is. Falling under the 'Comedy' genre, it is by far my favorite to help cheer me up when I'm down. If you are offended easily by your race or religion, I do not recommend this anime to you. Some swearing is included throughout Hetalia (it's very rare to hear if you were wondering). Besides enjoying itand laughing at scenes from the show from time to time, it actually helps you in Social Studies/History class in school. Knowing about the wars, and all the events that have happened in history is WAY MORE fascinating to learn about through non-stop funny and entertaining episodes. Although, Hetalia doesn't cover most of history's events, it covers most of the 'well-known' ones. Though, a weird fact is, Hetalia has also helped me in English class at school. Since Hetalia is about countries turned into 'stereotypical' representational people, and since we have to write TONS of essays at school, this anime has made my imagination grow and expand so much. Its given me ideas on what types of people I should include in my story, and the types of plots/settings I should add.
What is the most interesting part? To me, it's the characters and their voices (dub). All the characters basically are 'stereotypical' representations of whatever country they are, which is pretty funny to me since I don't really care if people make fun of 'my country'. Even though they don't include some common countries (Vietnam/Mexico/Philippines/Korea (was removed from anime only)/ etc.), most of the countries are there to see and enjoy.
Ever since I started watching it, my friends and I have been being a little 'stereotypical' than usual and we've been drawing pictures on each country's birthday, writing funny fan fictions, and comparing heights with each character (yeah, we go on the Hetalia wiki and try to see who we're the same height as. Its weird, I know, but its fun! Hehehe~)
If you're interested in learning as well as having a good laugh, Hetalia is straight-out recommended; I have encouraged many of my friends and relatives to watch it and they've all loved it: it is very enjoyable in my opinion.
tomorulez
I hardly ever laugh out loud when watching anime, but that all changed when I saw an episode of Hetalia: Axis Powers, a webcomic turned anime by Hidekaz Himaruya. The first episode opens up in a UN-like setting, where we are introduced to the characters. The characters of Hetalia are the personifications of countries. The characters live up the their countrie's stereotypes, and act out parts of history filled with gags, laughs, and pasta. Story. 8 The storyline of Hetalia is very original, and it's obvious a lot of research was put into creating this series. But if you are looking fora deep plot filled with twists, this is not the anime for you. Each episode is sort of like a series of comedic skits, and even though North Italy is suposed to be the main character, many episoded revolve around a new character, teaching us their background story, so there isn't a definite good-guy or bad-guy.
Art. 7
Even though the artwork isn't the best I've ever seen, it fits the series by not being too detailed and realistic. The characters are not drawn like clones where they all have the same body type and head. This series if FILLED with chibis, and when I say filled, I mean chibis are everywhere, and they're really well-drawn too.
Sound. 8.
I think the voice acting is really well done (let's hope the dub can do that too), and I personaly love the background music. The music in the background can range from classical, to marching music, and the ending theme is catchy, and they make new versions of that song sung by different characters (the lyrics are modified to match the culture of that character). The voice actors obviously put a lot of effort into bringing their character to life.
Character 10.
I think the characters of Hetalia were a masterpiece. Each character is funny, unique, and they make me want to keep on watching. Unlike most anime I've seen, there really aren't any characters that I hate. The characters are enjoyable, and put the icing on the cake.
Etc. These are extra catagories that I add when reviewing.
How the series portrays women. 8.
It kind of irks me that Hetalia has a lack of female characters, but (almost) all the female characters are strong and true to themselves. You don't see any of the girls giving panty-shots, or whoring themself out. Occasionaly there's a character that is dependent on a male character, but that's usually history based, but I came to a conclusion on why Hetalia has a lack of female characters; The characters will kick everyone's asses >:)
Fanservice. 7.
I'm not a fanservice type of person, but fortunatelly, the fanservice in Hetalia is purely done for comedy reasons. I was suprised when I found out that Hetalia was created by a man, because almost all of the fanservice deals with the mostly male cast. Now don't get me wrong, it's not a yaoi anime, but there are some characters that can make one think that *cough*France*cough*
Overall, I give Hetalia an 8/10, but a warning, DO NOT WATCH THIS SHOW IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED OR CAN'T TAKE A JOKE!!!
That is all :).
thejonion
Hetalia is a bit like Wikipedia. There's lots of fun rabbit holes to go down, and plenty of cool information, but if you start believing without verifying and stop checking citations, you end up with a head full of rubbish. Also, you should probably make sure you're reading it in your native language. Hetalia: Axis Powers is a short anime adapted from a (mostly) 4-koma comedy manga. It is worth noting that 4-koma comedy manga are notably lacking from many historical textbooks - thus, I'm going to treat Hetalia as a comedy rather than as an educational or historical series, and given how frequently it flubsits history, I think you should too.
The biggest reason I say this is to get you to look at Hetalia as fiction (which it is), spinning jokes based on history and culture, as opposed to a funny anime retelling of the history books. But the next biggest reason is the language. The Japanese dub places its emphasis on character interactions, the type of interactions we get all the time from anime characters that aren't countries. This builds chemistry (read: yaoi ships) with its cast, but it takes the appeal of the premise off the plate. The English dub on the other hand is much more aggressive in making jokes, especially ones that specifically reference culture or historical events. And where the Japanese voice cast takes little to no liberty with accents, Funimation goes all out. It's hit or miss, but it lends Hetalia a desperately needed facelift; it's way easier to read which character is Italy and which is Spain when they're not both Japanese guys! As a result, there is a lot more stereotype humor in the English than in the Japanese. To me, it never stoops to demean anyone, mostly stays tasteful and always operates in good faith. I know not everyone will feel this way.
Hetalia: Axis Powers' biggest flaw is its story structure. This season is preoccupied with three things: the main story (WWII), Chibitalia, and spamming historical/cultural jokes. (And it's all out of main story and Chibitalia.) But even within the main story and Chibitalia it jumps around quite a lot, throwing chronology to the wind and killing the momentum of each. Most jokes are disconnected from both their own story and their episode, lending the whole series a rather anthological feel. I think this is what makes the Japanese dub so hard for me to watch: its humor is rooted in its characters, but you're rarely given more than a minute or two at a time to spend with a character before moving onto the next joke. The English dub on the other hand relies more on its performances than its characters, and packs so many jokes in that it doesn't matter if you don't get attached to the characters (and considering a lot of them are war criminals, you really shouldn't!).
If you're looking for an anime sporting a thoughtful, researched comedic treatment of world history, you should keep looking. (and hit me up if you find one!) If you're looking for 100 Years of Solitude? Yeah, uh, this ain't it. But if you have a basic understanding of world history and just want some dumb shit to laugh at that you won't have completely forgotten in three years? Hetalia can do that. A bunch of jokes don't land, and trying to follow the story is like trying to put shredded documents back together. But Funimation get to a few jokes in the dub that I would never see from any other anime. That alone to me is worth the four-hour cost of admission.
LuxuriousHeart
There is nothing worse than wasted potential... This is the most disappointing anime I've ever watched. Not kidding, this was a great idea, but the execution was so bad! Good The great thing is the idea of the story. The idea of countries being personified and represented by humans is so unique and refreshing. I've rarely seen it done in any media, and I think it's the only one in anime. It could have gone in many directions. It could have been an amazing educational and fun thing that would've merged well together. It could have been a hilarious satire of ourmodern day world. It could have gone in other directions that I can't even think of. They instead chose THIS for the direction to go in. I literally can not. I still rate it a 4 because it's a great plot bunny. I just wish someone else would have had it.
I guess the art is okay. The art itself is cute and there's nothing unpleasant about it. However, the characters look like the same people with different hair and eye color. I understand why America and Canada look similar since they're brothers in this anime and we're neighboring countries (so we look similar to Canadians). Though English should not look like Japan, with the exception of hair and eye color. South Korea looks so similar to Romano that it's not even funny at this point. Seychelles, an African country, looks similar to Taiwan, an Asian country. This is just sad at this point. Now the art itself doesn't look bad, but they look so similar that I had to rate it a 4.
Bad
The sound itself is not memorable at all. It's a 1. Not only that, but I remember thinking that the music sounded unpleasant; I'm going off of my gut feeling of what I remember thinking at the time since I don't even remember what it sounds like. I think of the actual movie and hear some rock beat, but I remember not liking it.
The characters suck. They are basically stereotypes of the countries. Take Italy for example. He's a coward, obsessed with pasta, and acts gay. A good thing would be to give him more depth. Nope! He's as shallow as they come, but he's not the only one. All of the characters are one dimensional. They try to give them depth by going into their history, but it falls flat. Like going back into America's past did nothing for his character, and it didn't even explain it. There was an episode basically going into America's past while he was cleaning. It showed his time with England from when he was "discovered" to the Revolutionary War. You would think those events would have a huge impact on him, right? Wrong. He's still as shallow as ever and nothing really changed. He acts the same way right after and the episode after that. Nothing changed!
Still on characters... None of them even seem like countries. This was the wrong anime for them. They seem like characters from a comedy, school, and harem anime. Like you have the shy one, Japan. You have the serious strong one, Germany. You have the romantic one, France. You have the tsundere, England. You have the lovable idiot, Italy. You have the arrogant rich guy, America. You have the yandere Russia. and more... It doesn't even seem like an anime about countries. I personally think they should have made an anime about a girl attending a school with people from different countries. That's essentially this anime, minus the girl.
Then you have the obvious problems with the characters. It's about countries, yet it's missing the global south. The countries with people of color are white washed. An African country, Seychelles looks white. Turkey and Egypt are extremely pale. Cuba is the best representation and that's tragic.
In general, I rate the characters a 1.
Enjoyment was bad, a 1. I've read some great fanfiction of this anime, and it's the best thing to happen to this anime. I've read stories about historical events, I've read romantic stories, scary stories, and even a mystery. The stories were good, but it's still bad. How can you let fanfiction stories outshine you? I don't even mean like a few good stories, I mean the majority of them!
Not only that, but awkward time period. WW2 is not the best time to make a comedy anime about. That was a bad time period. A genocide happened, millions died, people starved, people were fighting. Not only that, but they shine a positive light on Germany and Japan. I get that people who made the anime live in Japan, but talk about an atrocity. I don't want to go into why this is wrong because I shouldn't have to explain why making an anime about a genocide that puts the main perpetrators in a positive light is bad. It's like making a comedy about slavery, with attractive characters, that puts the slave masters and the south in a positive light.
Elfsire
I decided to watch this anime after seeing cosplays for it at the mcm Expo in October last year. I started watching without consulting any reviews and I must say my cat face exposed itself on many occasions. >(0_0)< * poor artistic impression Now Hetalia's only down side is the five minute episodes, I was laughing so much during this anime I found it hard to breath at times. However it was hard to stay focused because the episodes ended quickly and I had to load the next one up. Characters were on the mark, no one can fault cute little Italy. He portrays thenew country very well and upon meeting him and right up to the end I loved him.
Russia provides the darker humor and is great, he is a good balance next to the little air headed Italy. I often wonder what a big dinner party with all of these characters would be like. I suspect Italy would be crying depending on who had cooked.
This anime appealed to me because it has historical references and my historian side really meshed. This is a very cute method of telling history and the endless jokes are priceless. It was a welcome relief to me as I had just watched Fruits basket, The light hearted plot and characters provided a lifter.
The art work is adorable with Catalia and chibi used in both series.
For Vic fans there is a appearance from him as Greece, so the anime has that added bonus.
I would recommend this anime to anyone who wants a good laugh or has a tiny historical interest. Its the perfect cheer up remedy.
LoneObserver
The title "Hetalia" reveals itself the nature of this anime, the combination of "hetare", "useless" on a free translation, and "Italia" is, itself, a cynical reference to the poor outcomes of the italian army on many conflicts on the course of history. So, if you have special bonds to any country, be prepared, watching this anime may be a trial by fire. The main reason for that is the historically based storyline and the socially accepted esthereotypes that make the characters be who they are. But, first, I should explain who are these characters and why the history is so relevant for this anime, after all, someof you readers may not have heard much of it before.
Hetalia is an anime based on the events occured on WW1 and WW2, mainly. This is valid for the "Axis Powers" season as well as for "World Series" and probably any others that may continue to come on the future. The characters of this anime are none other than countries, for instance: Italia is a kind, foolish young man, that easily surrenders at the sight of battle and puts pasta ahead of any thought, while Germany is a serious, compromised man, that is compromised to his duties and his allies.
The events occuring on the anime are based on actual facts in the most part, and picture in human feelings how countries have related one with another on the dark times of war, or what people from all countries involved think one of the other. One may find the esthereotypization of the characters to be offending, but all pictured still is, for the most part, the truth.
For the technical review now, I shall start with the art. Himaruya's webcomics were for the most part more of scribbles than an actual manga, but the anime is impeccable on the art. The characters are completely congruent to the countries the symbolize, since their appearance portraits the greater part of the people from them.
The music of the anime is also an interesting point, since the ending themes are, at times, sung by specific countries. When it happens, the lyrics are also adjusted to fit the personality of that country. An ending sung by England sounds completely different from one sung by Russia, since these countries are both quite different one of the another.
The jokes involved on the anime may be a bit difficult to understand, since they are based on historic events that one may not have the knowledge necessary to find it funny. But for the most part, the anime either explains, or don't gives much focus to it, and ends up being funny nonethless.
A word of advice, though. As a middle school student, I should warn that, if you watch this anime too much, you might never return to see the world the same way, for instance: If you hear about the "Einschluss", the process of anexation of Austria and Germany during pre-WW2, you may end up seeing the characters on your mind and laughing at the potential hilarious scene resulting from it. That's not a bad thing, and helps to study actually, but I thought you should know beforehand.
You will need to excuse me, but I can't give this anime less than a 10. I find it highly enjoyable and can't help myself but appraising this as one of the greatest anime I have ever seen. Every episode has but 5 minutes of lenght, so you can't possibly have an excuse for not watching.
I hope my review didn't strike as far too long, but there was much to be said on the matter and I feel that I should talk more about it. Also, this is but my second on this website. I hope it was useful and that you enjoy your anime. Domo arigatou gozaimashita.
Bosnom
Hetalia was my favorite anime for a good portion of middle school. I've seen every episode multiple times over, and watched the whole movie for a birthday party with friends, so I am more than capable of saying that this anime is absolute dog shit. It has great entertainment value on an ironic and nostalgic level for me, but when it comes down to actual content it's..... bad. Zero plot, little to no character development, awful pacing etc. Not good. Though, the voice acting is enjoyable, and the theme song is debilitatingly catchy. On an unironic level it's a bad show, BUT, if you're looking for somethingthat'll really send you back to your cringey problematic middle school past, this hits the spot.
Mythhead
Hetalia is a series that focuses on anthropomorphic portrayal of a well known stereotype for each individual nation. Now, representing the countries of the world under a type of persona isn’t new premise at all. For example, animals are commonly used to represent countries. A famous case could include the United Kingdom and the bulldog. The phrase “British Bulldog spirit” represents the nation’s resilience during the World Wars. The national symbolism gained significance through Winston Churchill, whose person-hood was often akin to the symbolism of a British bulldog. This pertains to the main series because symbolism can often represent as stereotypes, good or bad. Thefandom itself should be well known at this point, mostly because often leads to the series itself usually being dismissed based on the fandom being teen-aged. Going in, I wasn’t expecting much, (even with the fandom out of the picture) so perhaps some of the negative judgments are a bit unfair. Anyway, a lot of the flaws are negligible, so mind the tone (and the incoherentness, if that’s a word).
Hetalia mainly appeals to the fujoshi audience, which hinders the quality of the other aspects of this series. Very little of Hetalia Axis Powers focuses on a cohesive retelling of historical events. To put it bluntly, there is practically little to no education value in this series. This isn’t to say that the series isn’t entirely composed of gag humor. Rather, when the series offers some occasional info pertaining to historical events, but it does so in a manner that seemingly wants the viewer deliberately skip over it. For example, when the series notes at historical events that are generally out of the World War II scope, it usually only gets shown through Hungary’s monologues with the addition of a text wall. At one point the dub even suggested pausing to read what’s on screen. Therefore, it wouldn’t seem to generate much interest to encourage people to do their own research on any of the topics. At best, it lays down the basic information.
Japan’s downfall in World War II was way different than Germany’s, this leads to the portrayal of World War II (even parodies of it) to be quite different from the West’s. They’re not complete opposites, but their view on how they performed in World War II is different enough to be noticeable. Germany took the approach of apologizing profusely after the war ended. To quote the phrase, “actions speak louder than words,” the nation implemented a few slogans and laws to counteract any glorification directed towards their performance in the war. This includes criminalizing public support for Nazism and banning their citizens for wearing Nazi memorabilia. The cultural shock from the post war takes humility on a more personal level with the Germans. To be an edgelord, even more so than the shock and humiliation after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. After two sets of reparations Germany to rose one again to become one of the powerhouses of modern Europe. On the other hand, Japan took the route of seemingly forgetting its imperial past. The nation seems to make no effort to taking responsibility for their actions in the war, much to the dismay of their neighbors next door. Hey, at least we have Hetalia.
There’s no real story to speak of. Again, it’s main focus is to be a comedy, which is a genre that typically lacks a storyline. Instead, it’s more so skits that are loosely connected with each other. Each episode is five minutes long, meaning that there’s not a lot to squeeze in to each episode. As a result, several episodes pick up from the last episode and continues in a largely incoherent manner. The sequence of events are non linear, and despite the heavy emphasis on World War II, historical events can go as far back as the age of enlightenment. After the albeit few and far in between historical references, it goes straight back to the other appeals of this series. Most notably, upholding the homoerotic relationships between the characters is the utmost priority of Hetalia. By popular demand, it pays off, as the fandom speaks for itself.
The characters are all stereotypes, but that’s practically the entire point of the series. They exist more so to be personified and express their run of the mill gags rather than be actual human beings. The characters nearly all being male emphasizes this, as they are more concepts in this instance than people applicable to the real world. Perhaps this could apply to the women of the series as well, mainly because their presence is felt to give their admiration towards one of the male characters. With the previous considerations in mind about Japan’s perception about the Axis Powers, the series tends to glamorize their less positive traits. This is especially applicable to Italy, whose main trait is being a “cute” and being a cowardly dork. Italy’s persona seems to have switched with France, with how France is largely stereotyped as always surrendering. From Japan’s point of view, their early surrender could come off as cowardly, so it makes sense. Japan is depicted to be largely similar with how the West views them, particularly regarding their tendency to be excessively polite. The only competent member of the major Axis Powers is Germany, who is a tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed nation with a bit of a serious streak. There are also dozens of characters, so to just list a few: America is an obnoxious glutton, France is a posh boy, England has a superiority complex, China is strict, and Russia is a gentle giant. The rest are just background characters with a gag that is even more exemplified than the main cast.
The comedy mainly focuses on the nation’s stereotypes or exaggerated portrayals of the war. The comedy is pretty hit or miss. A lot of it feels a bit forced at times, which is mostly due to some of the gags. Each character having one gag isn’t bad perse, it just has to be funny in the first place. Cromartie High School is a series that follows a similar structure of having one gag per character. The main difference between that series and this season is that Cromartie’s gags are more subtle. The comedy is better when it’s politically incorrect, which is hilarious because it’s more unexpected. Mix politically incorrect humor with World War II, and it becomes apparent where the humor goes from there. It’s not that clever with its messaging, and at most it’s a half-assed quip here and there. Besides that, a good chunk of the comedy involves the characters’ personas clashing with each other. Unless you got back from a Holocaust memorial museum or something, the comedy should remain pretty light hearted.
The art does a good job at making the characters “cute,” I guess, but the rest of the audiovisual department is pretty lacking. The animation of the series isn’t that good, it looks like it was sacrificed to make the characters look cuter. The series does a good job at appealing to this aspect and to its fujoshi audience. The character designs aren’t super distinguishable from each other, but removing the flags from them and subsequently assigning them back shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. Also, a lot of scenes get reused, which comes off as lazy on the series’ part. For example, there’s this one beach scene where the Axis Powers are surrounded by the Allies that had to have been reused at least five times. Plus, this only includes the scenes that are practically the same thing. The beach setting itself for some reason appears in a dozen episodes. I believe it hints to Normandy in some way, but for some reason the places of the characters seemed to have switched. Instead of the Allied powers being on the beaches, they are instead on a cliff surrounding Axis powers from below. The dubbing is great and characterizes the nation personas well. Admittedly, I used to think that the theme of Hetalia was annoying, but after a while, it kind of grew on me. The variety of the endings definitely helped with that.
Hetalia was about as good, or as decent as I expected it to be. Though, it really depends on what you're looking for. If you’re looking for something historical, then look elsewhere because Hetalia only goes so far as picturing countries as characters. On the other hand, if you’re just looking an offensive but still light hearted comedy involving pretty male characters, then I recommend it. The absence of a story and character arcs reinforces the less serious nature of the series. The subjective nature of comedy relies on the previous premise, so there shouldn’t be any issue in that regard. While the art isn’t that special, it works for what it’s worth. Hetalia is nothing more than my initial perception of it.
mrzkitty
wow... just.. WOW!! this anime blew my mind!!! it was amazing!! i loved everything!!!! ok lets start with the story.. again AMAZING! the whole concept of this anime is to teach world history in a new, fun, and quirky way.. that goal is definitely achieved.. i learned things in world history that my teacher never covered including myths and etc and since it teaches in this hilarious way its easy to remember everything you learned too. now onto the art: in my opinion the art was magnificent i loved how cute everyone was in their chibi forms!! and i loved how each individual counties characterform matched their countries persona's like how canada looked almost exactly like america because the countries dont really have much cultural differences.
sound: good no problems
character: here's the thing about the characters each character represents a country and that countries persona because this is the case some people find this anime very stereotypical so if your one of those people who take jokes seriously and get offended easily this anime is not for you i repeat NOT FOR YOU!!
enjoyment: i really enjoyed this anime im pretty sure you'll feel the same way after watching it!
OVERALL: 10/10
