This Anime is So Fun!
Jul. 19th, 2010 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
epik_noodlesI learned about an interesting anime from ACen this year.
There was this must see short online series called "Hetelia: Axis Powers." I saw plenty of cosplayers this year, but Jason and I weren't familiar with the series. Jason asked, "what's with the fascist outfits?" Well, Hetelia is about WWII, so the characters are in military uniforms. In this anime, each of the characters are personified forms of the nations they represent. I started watching today!
Japan is on the left. Italy is in the center, and Germany is on the right.
Besides the amount of fanservice in this anime, I mostly watch it for the humor and cuteness. To my surprise, it was a very educational anime. The anime explained the relation between the nations and things that happened in the past. It is fun, but it doesn't change the fact that this anime is somewhat racist and stereotypical. Unintended offensiveness, I'm sure. But, most of the assumptions claimed in the anime are based on true facts from the countries' pasts.
In this series, Italy (often called 'Italia') is the main character. Back then, Italy was split in two, north and south. So Italy is portrayed as a pair of twin brothers. Veneciano representing northern Italy and his twin brother Romano representing southern Italy. Veneciano (who is pictured above) is the true main character. He has a scary obsession with pasta, but he's very kind to everyone and all the other nations. Italia is the only nation that didn't really want to fight anyone. It's interesting, every time the allied forces shows up, Italia quickly pulls out his white surrender flag and waves it around to avoid fighting. Although, he angers Germany whenever he does that.
So, lets go back to the beginning of WWII. Basically, Germany bumped into Italy and kidnaps him so they can form an alliance. Germany is very surprised that Italy shows no resistance after allowing Germany to conquer him. Germany asks confusingly, "Hey, Italia... don't you want to retaliate or escape or something?" Italy replies, "Hmm? Why??? You feed me yummy bratwurst and you protect me from scary enemies... Let's be friends!" After that... Italy develops a co-dependency complex and is constantly being rescued by Germany. America and England constantly bully and attack Italy because he was considered the weakest (mean assumption) amongst the axis powers. Germany rescues Italy a lot in this anime. At one point, they made a reference I understood. Germany, Italy and Japan are preparing for war. Italy gets super excited and shows everyone that he made surrender flags for all of them, Germany gets annoyed and tells Italy to come up with something more practical. Later on, Italy comes back and announces that he made more surrender flags. Germany yells, "HEY! That was no different from before! You got anything else?!" Italy replies, "but... all I have *pulls out suitcase* is Niccolo Machiavelli *Machiavelli pops out of suitcase*" Germany says, "sadly we can't use him." I know that reference! Machiavelli was a famous Italian writer a long time ago, he wrote a lot of controversial stuff. One of his books was about military strategies, which ironically, when an Italian general used the book's advice for battle, he failed miserably and lost every battle.
This anime is so good, I can't stop watching it!
Each episode does not exceed over 5 minutes and it's really cute! Even the ending song is adorable, this is just the ending video, it's very short, english translation below:
Yeah... I'll write about Gameworks tomorrow, I'm tired.
There was this must see short online series called "Hetelia: Axis Powers." I saw plenty of cosplayers this year, but Jason and I weren't familiar with the series. Jason asked, "what's with the fascist outfits?" Well, Hetelia is about WWII, so the characters are in military uniforms. In this anime, each of the characters are personified forms of the nations they represent. I started watching today!
Japan is on the left. Italy is in the center, and Germany is on the right.
Besides the amount of fanservice in this anime, I mostly watch it for the humor and cuteness. To my surprise, it was a very educational anime. The anime explained the relation between the nations and things that happened in the past. It is fun, but it doesn't change the fact that this anime is somewhat racist and stereotypical. Unintended offensiveness, I'm sure. But, most of the assumptions claimed in the anime are based on true facts from the countries' pasts.
In this series, Italy (often called 'Italia') is the main character. Back then, Italy was split in two, north and south. So Italy is portrayed as a pair of twin brothers. Veneciano representing northern Italy and his twin brother Romano representing southern Italy. Veneciano (who is pictured above) is the true main character. He has a scary obsession with pasta, but he's very kind to everyone and all the other nations. Italia is the only nation that didn't really want to fight anyone. It's interesting, every time the allied forces shows up, Italia quickly pulls out his white surrender flag and waves it around to avoid fighting. Although, he angers Germany whenever he does that.
So, lets go back to the beginning of WWII. Basically, Germany bumped into Italy and kidnaps him so they can form an alliance. Germany is very surprised that Italy shows no resistance after allowing Germany to conquer him. Germany asks confusingly, "Hey, Italia... don't you want to retaliate or escape or something?" Italy replies, "Hmm? Why??? You feed me yummy bratwurst and you protect me from scary enemies... Let's be friends!" After that... Italy develops a co-dependency complex and is constantly being rescued by Germany. America and England constantly bully and attack Italy because he was considered the weakest (mean assumption) amongst the axis powers. Germany rescues Italy a lot in this anime. At one point, they made a reference I understood. Germany, Italy and Japan are preparing for war. Italy gets super excited and shows everyone that he made surrender flags for all of them, Germany gets annoyed and tells Italy to come up with something more practical. Later on, Italy comes back and announces that he made more surrender flags. Germany yells, "HEY! That was no different from before! You got anything else?!" Italy replies, "but... all I have *pulls out suitcase* is Niccolo Machiavelli *Machiavelli pops out of suitcase*" Germany says, "sadly we can't use him." I know that reference! Machiavelli was a famous Italian writer a long time ago, he wrote a lot of controversial stuff. One of his books was about military strategies, which ironically, when an Italian general used the book's advice for battle, he failed miserably and lost every battle.
This anime is so good, I can't stop watching it!
Each episode does not exceed over 5 minutes and it's really cute! Even the ending song is adorable, this is just the ending video, it's very short, english translation below:
Hey hey papa, give me wine!
Hey hey mama, hey hey mama!
I can't forget that taste
of the bolognese I ate before!
Draw a circle, there's Earth!
Draw a circle, there's Earth!
Draw a circle, there's Earth!
I'm Hetelia!
Ah, a fabulous world...
That can be seen with the stroke of a paintbrush.
Let's have a toast with our boots!
Hetelia!!!
Hey hey mama, hey hey mama!
I can't forget that taste
of the bolognese I ate before!
Draw a circle, there's Earth!
Draw a circle, there's Earth!
Draw a circle, there's Earth!
I'm Hetelia!
Ah, a fabulous world...
That can be seen with the stroke of a paintbrush.
Let's have a toast with our boots!
Hetelia!!!
Yeah... I'll write about Gameworks tomorrow, I'm tired.
