Short Synopsis: Italy allies itself with Germany…
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Excellent)
I really hope that this doesn’t turn out into one really big mistake, but for now: why not? I’m going to blog this series. I’ve been looking for something light to blog since Bonen no Xamdou is about to finish, and this one can nicely fill up its slot. And besides, I’m feeling rather politically incorrect right now and the alternatives aren’t looking that pretty either. I’ve been considering to blog Kemono no Souja Erin, but episode four confirmed something that I’ve been suspecting all along: it’s simply a WMT-wannabe. It wants to create a dramatic climax in every single episode, and instead of letting events flow naturally, it throws in some random angry dragon or sickness for every single episode. I’d much rather wait for the real thing that airs in April.
Apart from Master of Epic, Hetalia is going to be the only pure comedy I’ve blogged, but it could be a lot of fun as long as it remains to be funny. Anyway, about this episode, it pretty much played on the uselessness of Italy in the first world war (which they indeed lost miserably ^^;). Seeing as Italy forms part of the series’ logo, “Hetalia” sounds awfully similar to “Italia” (Italy in katakana) and the voice actor of Italy sings the ED (which is horrible, by the way, the only bad part of this series so far), we’re going to see Italy’s incompetence back very often.
The third main character of this series seems to be Japan, which is a bit strange, since in World War I, Germany and Italy had an alliance with Austria-Hungary, while Japan sided with the Western European countries…
“Hetalia” is, in fact, a combination of “hetare” and “Italy.” ^^;; I haven’t seen the anime yet (it’s so sad that I don’t have time even for such short episodes) but I love the manga and if the anime is anything like it then I’ll probably like it as well. I’ll probably watch all episodes when my country shows up (as a bonus, she’s going to be voiced by Neya Michiko, one of my favorite voice actresses).
Although on the eve of WWI Italy had an alliance with Germany, at the start of the war they decided to side with the Allies (because of territorial conflicts with Austria). The battles involving Italy against Austria and Germany were quite fierce.
It would have been good to provide some background on this anime, which seems quite random. I’m mildly aware that there is a genre of political anime (Obama-kun and Hillary-chan, for instance), but I wonder if they are subbed?
Well, after seeing this episode, I think it’s so random it will be difficult to blog. Good luck to you.
Also, I even saw Belgium in episode one, the Netherlands is really failing badly ^_^’
In all fairness, they were quite nasty with Japan itself, so I guess it’s ok
LOL! You haven’t posted impressios on episode one yet and now you posted episode 2 ahead xD haha!
I’m glad you’re blogging this series. I knew that most of the series that I love are also ones that you blog xD Yaaay!!!
about this episode, it pretty much played on the uselessness of Italy in the second world war
~ I think that episode was based on the first world war, not yet on the second ^^;
The third main character of this series seems to be Italy
~ I think Italy’s the leading character (hence, his name in the title), while Germany and Japan are his fellow main characters. That’s why it’s Axis Powers Hetalia xD Hehe
since in World War I, Germany and Italy had an alliance with Austria-Hungary, while Japan sided with the Western European countries…
~ I think they only showed a short part of WW1, to show how Germany and Italy met and became friends. When Japan shows up, it’s gonna be set in WW2. Most world war events in the manga were based on the second world war ^^;
Wow, I’m very surprised and happy that you chose to blog this! If you don’t mind, I could post here the author’s notes on the historical backgrounds behind each of the comic strips (or in this case, the episodes) for better understanding. (A lot of the jokes are much more funny once you know the actual history behind it)
Sapphire Pyro: Ah, talk about typos. 😛 I fixed them now, thanks.
Lika: Sure, go ahead. If it’s not too much trouble, it’ll be interesting to seethe author’s notes on the different kinds of comics.
In your monthly summary you gave this a low score. You even said that the producers got what they deserved because they are discriminating other countries. Well I watched the 2 episodes and didn’t see anything bad concerning the portrayal of other nations. It even had historical trivia. I’m glad you gave the series a chance.
panaghoy88: in case you haven’t read the comments of that post: I was basically being sarcastic, poking fun at everyone who got offended by this series and caused it to get cancelled. ^^;
The ending theme has a kinda weird cute thing going on, this episode wasn’t all that except for the rolling on the floor going “ene” was hilarious and the chibi was pretty charming too.
Instead of doing episodic reviews, why not write down your thoughts for each episode and then compile it together and review a bunch of episodes at once?
How come you’re going to blog his series, I thought you hated it , it received 1,5. Well, as for me I don’t think I’m going to watch it, even if it’s short, my first impressions were that it’s a really bad show, not that the comedy is’t good , it’s just that I don’t like this kind, so why go through the pain?! I’d rather watch smthg really good .
Denizen: Nice idea, I might do that if blogging each individual episode becomes too much.
Windy: actually, I used sarcasm in the January summary I posted, I actually really like this show. I can understand why one wouldn’t like it, but getting to the point of signing a petition to cancel it is really getting too much.
“Anyway, about this episode, it pretty much played on the uselessness of Italy in the first world war (which they indeed lost miserably ^^;)”
Actually Italy won the WWI, and then lost the WWII
kairos: okay, that’s the last time I’m going to quote Wikipedia for these entries. Thanks for those corrections.