Hetalia Axis Powers

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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Adaptation:	Hetalia Axis Powers
Side story:	Hetalia Axis Powers Movie: Paint it, White, Hetalia Axis Powers Fan Disc, Hetalia World★Stars
Sequel:	Hetalia World Series

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Characters & Voice Actors

United Kingdom

Main

Sugiyama, Noriaki
Japanese

North Italy

Main

Namikawa, Daisuke
Japanese

Russia

Main

Takato, Yasuhiro
Japanese

America

Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki
Japanese

Germany

Main

Yasumoto, Hiroki
Japanese

Japan

Main

Takahashi, Hiroki
Japanese

France

Main

Onosaka, Masaya
Japanese

China

Main

Kaida, Yuki
Japanese

Prussia

Supporting

Kousaka, Atsushi
Japanese

South Italy

Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Matsuda, Keiichi

Producer

Shirahata, Bob

Director

Marchi, Jamie

Script

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Opening Theme

"Hetalia no Ooinaru Sekai (ヘタリアの大いなる世界) (Hetalia, World's Greatest)" by Conisch (コーニッシュ)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Marukaite Chikyuu (Italy version)" by Daisuke Namikawa
	2: "Marukaite Chikyuu (Germany version)" by Hiroki Yasumoto (eps 27)
	3: "Marukaite Chikyuu (Japan version)" by Hiroki Takahashi (eps 30)
	4: "Marukaite Chikyuu (Russia version)" by Yasuhiro Takato (eps 43)
	5: "Marukaite Chikyuu (United Kingdom version)" by Noriaki Sugiyama (eps 46)
	6: "Marukaite Chikyuu (France version)" by Masaya Onosaka (eps 47)
	7: "Marukaite Chikyuu (America version)" by Katsuyuki Konishi (eps 49)

Reviews

Jan 3, 2024

keflorey

Recommended

Now, since Hetalia is about personified countries and contains a couple of stereotypes, perhaps it's not for everyone, but that doesn't automatically mean it's bad!

1. Characters: (almost) Every character in this is a country represented by a human, and it's what you'd expect. But they're really likeable and their individual quirks are too silly not to end up loving. Plus, some of the comedy moments are really funny and well executed. It's very easy to end up with a favorite character or two. 9/10

2. Art & Animation: Hidekaz Himaruya's art style can be a bit unappealing the very first time one watches this, but you ...

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Nov 9, 2023

thejonion

Mixed Feelings

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 flubs ... its 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.

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Sep 24, 2021

Bosnom

Not Recommended

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 something ...

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Poll: Axis Powers Hetalia Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) sniW - Jan 25, 2009	163 replies	by _Einzbern_ »» Feb 4, 10:14 AM
Poll: Hetalia Axis Powers Episode 47 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Gucia - Dec 13, 2009	55 replies	by remmii »» Sep 4, 2023 3:35 AM
Poll: Hetalia Axis Powers Episode 21 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Haruka-SD - Jun 15, 2009	64 replies	by remmii »» Aug 26, 2023 3:43 AM
Poll: Hetalia Axis Powers Episode 48 Discussion tsubasalover - Dec 20, 2009	40 replies	by Squidamii »» Jul 29, 2023 7:38 PM
Poll: Hetalia Axis Powers Episode 52 Discussion ( 1 2 ) tsubasalover - Mar 7, 2010	53 replies	by 1Konochi »» May 30, 2023 1:35 PM

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Hetalia Axis Powers

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Hetalia Axis Powers

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Information

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Synopsis

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Episode Videos

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