Ranked #264

Hetalia World Series

Hetalia World Series is the continuation of the wildly popular and beloved web comic (later adapted into a manga) drawn by Himaruya Hidekaz. Not much has changed, but with the introduction of some popular nation-tans (I'm looking at you Prussia), World Series is shaping up to be one of the most enjoyable installments of Hetalia yet.

The format of the show is the same as previous installments. The four and a half minute episodes are broken up into little vignettes, or short stories, with one or two comic strips used per punch line. These can vary from interaction between Germany and Prussia, to America and Japan playing video games. The Chibitalia subplot is still here, and still sickeningly sweet (in a good way), and is now joined with another bizarre subplot where the nations are now cats…yeah.
There technically is an overlying plot (WWII and other events in history acted out by the various personified countries), but this plot is pretty loose in its execution. Mostly you'll just have amusing interactions between the nations with the occasional interjection of history here and there. Just don't expect to pass any history tests with this anime. Hetalia is a fairly easy show to jump in to at any point due to the looseness of the story, however be warned that there are a large amount of characters that might be a little daunting to sort and recognize at first.

Said characters are by far one of the strongest points in Hetalia. First of all, there are a ton of them. America, England, Russia, Austria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Belgium, Estonia, and many more all are given the personification treatment and turned into caricatures of their home nations. For example, America is still a loudmouthed, hamburger loving, wannabe hero. France is still a lover of all things (and people) beautiful. Germany still loves beer. Just keep in mind that the nation-tans are CARICATURES which means they are exaggerated not realistic (so don’t get upset at how your home country is portrayed because it’s all in jest). Since there are so many characters, this leads to some being shown much more than others. Obviously the Allied and Axis Powers get most of the air time, but the supporting cast is still fantastic and WS is giving more screen time to characters like Austria, Hungary, Prussia, and the Nordics. But the case may be that your favorite character is rarely seen onscreen. The good news though, is that so many of the characters are great that you’ll most certainly find someone to love.

One of the most common complaints when most talk about this series, and Hetalia as a whole, is the short run time. This show runs five minutes with a short ending song. While this short run time of course leaves me wanting more as a fan, the format of this show just doesn’t lend itself to long run time. It is essentially a string of set up, leading up to a string of punch lines. If this went on for too long it would get tedious and most of the humor would be lost. We must remember that APH (the manga and the anime) is adapted from a web comic. Short and sweet is the perfect format for Hetalia. The jokes are funny, the characters are sweet, and it doesn’t get bogged down in run time or filler. So while it is a bummer to only get four and a half minutes of Hetalia at a time, it is at the very least justifiable, and probably for the best.

As for how World Series itself shapes up against the previous installments of Hetalia, I think it’s some of the best the anime has to offer. At this point if you’re still watching, the characters have grown on you and the introduction of those that were rarely or never seen in previous seasons such as Prussia, Finland, and Sweden (totally biased shout out to Sweden) add even more crazy fun to the mix.

Himaruya’s art has always been round and chibi-ish, and WS doesn’t really change at all from previous installment animation wise. It’s not incredibly bishi or sparkly, no one has eyes bigger than their faces. But it works. It’s cute. It’s fun to look at. The voice acting is also excellent at encapsulating the personality of the nations. Germany’s voice is suitable stern, Italy’s is suitable carefree, America’s is suitable in your face, ect.


All in all, World Series continues to contain hilarious jokes, amusing and adorable characters, and just a sprinkling of actual history. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for some quick and solid laughs. Pull up a chair, grab a bowl of pasta, and enjoy.
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A continuation to this fun and cool view on history, with the help of sexy bishonen and adorable Shota points to keep the story active and funny. It's pretty much the same as the first season, except there are many extra mini stories added and the introduction to many new Countries and plot developments.
If you enjoyed the first season, you will surely enjoy this second clever season~!