Ranked #883

Hetalia Axis Powers Movie: Paint it, White

I will start off by saying that I am a HUGE Hetalia fan. When I first heard about the then upcoming movie last year, I was ecstatic. I remember riding in the car on June 5th, saying to my dad, "Omigosh! The Hetalia movie was released in Japan today!" After that, I patiently awaited the release of the DVD in Japan, that way, someone out there could sub it possibly. Yesterday I finally found it subbed in English, and I watched it this afternoon...

Instead of the usual historic WWII setting common in Hetalia, this whole movie took place in present day. Everything starts out when aliens called the "Pict" who are boring, white, blob-thingies that somehow resemble people without faces invade earth and steal the color from everything. It's up to our protagonists to save the planet...! Yeah...kind of lame sounding and cheesy, I know. I thought as much while I was watching the thing. The idea, more or less, is to make you laugh and cry tears of joy possibly because of its slapstick sort of humor. On the other hand, I saw it a bit differently. Sure, I laughed along with everything, but as you watch Italy and co. struggle to decide what to do to save their precious planet, it really makes you think. The boys all yell at each other and fight and disagree over who does this, who does that, and yaddah yaddah, but doesn't that resemble the relationships between actual countries today? Isn't this country at war with that country, and that country's telling this country what to do, etc.? And then in the end, Italy and co. work together, care about each other, etc. and save the day. Why can't this happen in the real world? Why can't all countries get along and not point nuclear weapons at each other or fight each other, etc.? Will it really take an alien invasion (or something else on a more realistic scale like a major natural disaster/famine/etc.) to get peoples of all different nationalities and races to come together to help each other? Only time will tell. However, I will say that I'm not 100% sure whether it was the director's intention to make things seem that way...that was just my impression of everything.

As for the characters, they're what make the show. Just think; every stereotype you've ever imagined blended into a bunch of bishounen. There you go; those are our Hetalia boys (plus the few girl characters that there are, too). Ever hear of them Polack jokes? What about the fact that Americans are supposedly hero-loving idiots? Maybe the fact that the Chinese love pandas? The Swiss are gunslingers? Yup, those are among the several stereotypes that make up the characters. Even though many of the characters' personalities, appearances, and relationships with another may seem racist to a random stranger, trust me, it all works out. Even if maybe you don't appreciate the way that one character is depicted, I guarantee that you'll laugh your head off at another. That's just one of the things that makes Hetalia such a unique and fun series. Our main characters this time around, as usual, were Italy, Japan, Germany, France, America (US), Russia, China, and England (UK). Not to mention the few other characters that made short cameo appearances, such as Hungary, Poland, Prussia, Liechtenstein, etc., and Iceland who made his debut at the beginning and end of the movie (which I personally found pretty pointless, but oh, well).

I personally like the art better in the manga and the official illustrations drawn by Hidekaz Himaruya himself, but the way that StudioDEEN incorporates it isn't too shabby. There's lots and lots of bright colors that give you the ":D" kind of vibe without overdoing it. The backgrounds are excellent in most cases, and the character designs are fun. The design for the "Pict" were quite strange...but I suppose in a world with super fun colors and rainbows of happiness, the "blah" look works for an enemy that steals the colors of the world (as I mentioned above, the Pict were basically boring, white, blob-thingies that somehow resemble people without faces). I guess there's really not much else to say here.

For the sound, first; the seiyuus. You have a few really renowned and popular seiyuus participating in Hetalia; Rie Kugimiya, Katsuyuki Konishi, Romi Paku, and Hiroki Yasumoto just to name a few. Each seiyuu, I think, incorporates their character excellently and adds to their unique, fun, and interesting personalities. As for music, Ginmaku Hetalia Axis Powers: Paint it, White gets an A+ from me. There's vivid background music that adds to the comedic, and occasionally dramatic events that occur. A very, very cute ending theme about Bon dancing also makes up a good part of the score.

Overall, this movie was pretty good. I expected a lot more out of it, and was a tad disappointed in the end, but all and all, I liked it a lot more than I hated it. Hetalia is supposed to be a series that you're suppose to laugh at mainly and have a good time with, so don't expect a super-duper story that will blow your mind because it was so awesome/dramatic/sad/whatever else you want to throw in there. I was feeling pretty lousy and sick all day today, and I even stayed home from school. But after watching this, my spirits were raised a whole lot. So if you're down in the dumps, bored, or just not feeling well, why not check out Ginmaku Hetalia Axis Powers: Paint it, White, and have fun with it. read more

Axis Powers Hetalia (or Hetalia: Axis Powers, if you prefer) has much to be proud of for itself. Starting off as a webcomic in 2006, it has since spawned a manga, a Drama CD series, an anime series, and now a theatrical film.

The movie makes several departures from the main series, most notably having a storyline as opposed to simple sketches, although a few appear in the beginning to ease the viewers into the movie. This new approach brings a few interesting twists to the Hetalia mold, but unfortunately, the movie tries too hard to stay true to its roots, giving very little new experiences to fans in regards to characters and humor.

Aside from knowing that Hetalia is about making cultural stereotypes of several countries into characters representing their respective homes, some of the basic quirks of each "nation-tan," and the fact that it's a comedy, there's not much need for prior knowledge to understand this movie. Being a fan might make you appreciate it more, however.

Story (no spoilers): (5)
The Hetalia movie stylistically deviates from its sketch-comedy roots in the anime for a plot-driven story, and this decision brings a few ups and downs. For one, seeing the characters outside of sketches and finally into a full fledged adventure can be quite a thrill for long time fans. Now, here's where the issues start, and there's (unfortunately) a few of them.

The plot of "Ginmaku Hetalia Axis Powers: Paint it, White" is a fairly typical alien invasion story, complete with faceless invaders, UFOs, and extraterrestials speaking perfect Japanese. Trying to balance plot and humor, the movie never gives the viewers a sense that the characters are ever in any real danger, and the resolution to the entire movie was rather anti-climactic with very little catharsis in the end.

Humor in the movie also took a hit. The focus on plot means that the edutainment aspect of Hetalia loses out to situational comedy, relying on the established character gags to make funny reactions when the time comes. The unfortunate part is that the movie never makes an effort to be funny without the established character gags. Virtually no jokes or gags in the movie haven't been done already in the anime (Canada's invisibility, China's numerous Chinatowns, so on and so forth), even though the setup in the movie is completely different. More on this in the characters section right up ahead.

Characters: (5)
What made the Hetalia series so successful has undoubtedly been its large, quirky cast of characters. Embodiments of cultural stereotypes made for hilarious interactions, especially in the skits. Staying true to the stereotypes, the movie doesn't spend much time developing each character, and that becomes a problem. The characters, completely driven by established quirks, become ridiculously predictable. While this isn't a problem in sketch comedy, watching the same character gags over and over for a full hour becomes a chore. Be prepared to watch the entire movie with England and France constantly beating each other up, even in the most crucial moments, America laughing for 60 straight minutes, Japan struggling to (and failing) to ever raise his voice, Italy running away from everything, Germany yelling at everyone, and so on.

The movie focuses almost entirely on the main players of World War II (Russia, China, America, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan) with very little appearances from anyone else aside from small cameos, which was a little disappointing. Iceland is the only new character introduced to the anime here, though he eventually made an appearance in Hetalia: World Series anime as well, so he's probably already well known to anime audiences in the West.

Art and Animation: (8)
Okay, since the last two sections have been a bit critical, let's look at some of the more positive aspects of the movie, shall we? The art-style remains virtually unchanged from the anime series aside from new costumes for the main characters, which means that for the most part, it's pretty good. The animation takes a step up for for the movie incarnation, though it's not particularly noticeable outside of the more fast paced scenes.

Sound: (7)
The voice-acting cast is the same as from the anime, and they still do an excellent job of portraying the personality of each character to a tee. The music takes on a more theatrical, epic sound for the movie as opposed to the usual happy-go-lucky pieces that are used in the anime (though they're still there in the light-hearted parts, don't worry). Whilst the music isn't very memorable, they do a good job of setting the mood, which is the most important part anyhow. With that said, the theme songs "WA! Wa!! World Ondo" by the 8 main seiyuus and "Mein Gott" are songs that will stick in your head for a while.

Enjoyment: (6)
Even with the promise of a plot, the Hetalia movie doesn’t do much to distinct itself from the series it spawned from, and gets repetitive quickly. While this may come as a disappointment for those who sought to see some completely new Hetalia materials, as I did, fans that are a-okay with a little more of the same of what they love will probably find the movie enjoyable. Chances are, that’s most of the fanbase.
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