At first it didn't fully grab my attention. For the first couple of episodes it was quite confusing and all over the place, leaving me baffled. However, right after episode five, I just started laughing. I couldn't stop. It was just so...so 'random' that it was hilarious. And I mean that in a good way.
Let's first run over what Hetalia: Axis Powers is about. Hetalia is about countries that have been personified into people, and pokes fun at the many events throughout history.
And that's it. That's what Hetalia is about. Might seem plot-less, but it's not meant to be an elaborate anime filled with plot-twists and surprises. It's there to make you laugh. And it does a very good job of that. But I'm not going to say it's not unique. Indeed, someone had a great imagination to actually think up the idea of personified countries. It is a very unique and wonderful idea, one I'm sure not many people have had.
Now, in my opinion there are two types of people who've seen Hetalia - people who love it, or at least enjoy it; and people who hate it and call it a raciest joke for an anime. I'm, personally, apart of the people who obsess over it. And I'll say this about Hetalia - it taught me history and geography. Yes, it makes a huge joke of it, but it did teach me and inspire me to research history. Nowadays I know even more than my family about the countries of the world, all because I watched Hetalia. Hetalia is pretty factual, too, so kudos to that.
In my opinion Hetalia is one of those rare animes where the dub is better than the sub. Honestly, the dub is just hilarious. Two seconds into the first episode it throws a World War Two joke in your face and a bunch of other references and cracks. The dub is also a lot more 'offensive' and does what the sub cannot - gives the characters' accents. That just adds to the laughs, even if the accents aren't always correct. Hetalia is set mostly during WW2, so you can also expect a lot of WW2 jokes that can be considered offensive.
Funimation rated Hetalia TV-MA, yet I do not agree with that rating. Yes, there is a lot of swearing, and it does have a lot of ethnic humor that can be considered offensive; however a more appropriate rating would be TV-14 or even PG-13. (I apologize; I'm not familiar with American ratings. Over here in NZ it's rated M for Sexual References and Offensive Language. That's a good rating, in my opinion. Hetalia is definitely not meant for kids, but teens do watch it; it boosts their grades. ;D
Hetalia plays on stereotypes and satire for a lot of the laughs. For example: America is obnoxious, annoying and loves his fast-food; England is a gentleman but can't cook if his life depended on it; France is a pervert; Italy is a pasta-loving fool; Japan and China have hilarious accents...and so on and so forth. Normally I hate stereotypes, but it's done purposefully and works for this anime, so I didn't mind it.
The scenes and jokes actually flowed really well together too. It didn't seem rushed, and it worked well for the anime. So that's another bonus for the writers and the directors.
Randomly off the subject, but Poland is my favorite character. He's just so awesome, with his valley girl accent. But back to the review. xD
Overall, Hetalia's episodes are five minutes long so you won't be wasting precious moments of your life if you go and check it out. But give it a few episodes first. It can take a while to actually become understandable and truly hilarious, so if you haven't at least chuckled by episode five then you'll know whether Hetalia will be for you or not. And seriously, if you're failing in History, watch Hetalia. It should at least inspire you to research the subject.
Now a lot of people ask me if Hetalia is raciest or not. In my opinion it's really how you look at the series. If you take history very seriously then Hetalia may offend you; however if you're looking for something comedic that will entertain you and hopefully boost your grades then go check it out.
You may just end up liking it.
~Sparrow
