In honor of July I decided to take advantage on making this months review on
Axis Powers Hetalia. Soon I will review
APH: World Series. Lets get on with the review, Hetalia is about country's being depicted as humans. In the series the main characters in APH are the Axis Powers making Hungary an additional appearances and The Allied Forces which also includes Canada from World War II makes another additional appearance.
Characters:
Axis Powers:
Italy is the primary protagonist and title character.He is sweet,energetic,and a young man. Italy is also the weakest character and always relies on Germany to help even though Italy is the grandson to the great and powerful Roman Empire or 'Grandpa Rome'. This Italy represents the North and shows his love for art,pasta,and pizza references to Italian culture. He has a brother that represents the southern half of Italy nicknamed Romano. Italy's childhood was spent with Austria,Hungary,and Holy Rome,which ruled at the time. His brother spent his childhood with their big brother Spain and is shown in the World Series. Italy's human name is Feliciano Vargas or Veneziano.
Germany is a hard working and a serious character but is also the primus inter pares among the Axis Powers. He takes responsibility for the training of Italy and Japan. His extreme devotion to his military lifestyle would make him the leader if not for constantly baby-sitting Italy. As the series goes on he and Italy form a close relationship. Germany did have an older brother that represents the East of Germany named Prussia and Germany representing the West. But his older brother is now a micro nation and his human name is Gilbert Beilschmidt and Germany's human name is Ludwig but there was no official last name for him and people assume that his last name is the same as his brothers.
Japan is a polite and hard working character but has problems with people being in his personal space even when people touch him or get to close to him. He is not use to the Western World and always has culture shock. He looks young but is claimed to be very old. He tries to adopt the cultures of other countries but ends up secretly shocked or awkwardly confused in the end. Japan is generally quiet and attitude of businesslike old man. Japan's human name is Kiku Honda
Allied Forces:
America is a well-meaning,headstrong 'hero type' of character. He is also the self-proclaimed leader of the Allied Forces, his catchphrase is "I'm the hero!",America's ideas on international situations are often absurd,and is usually oblivious to opinions. America has a friend named Tony,a grey alien who lives in his house. His ideas on inventions are grand but rarely go anywhere,he's mostly seen clutching a hamburger or eating while speaking which is most of the time. Despite this he also wields supernatural strength since he was very young. America was raised by England until he won his freedom. However, He is mostly portrayed as a rude,good-hearted,cheerful person that is always willing to help his friends and try to do the right thing. America's human name is Alfred F. Jones.
England is also known as the United Kingdom,UK, or Britain and is portrayed as an irritable young man,with bushy eyebrows. He was a former pirate,sharp-tongued gentleman,terrible at cooking anything,inability to hold his liquor,foul mouth, and ability to preform black magic. When he drinks to much he will see magical creatures that only he could see but others can't. France is England's long rival and has mixed feelings towards America. He has brothers such as Scotland,Northern Ireland,and Wales. England's other relation is Sealand,a micro nation whom England finds him to be an annoying brother due to his continued attempts to get other countries to recognize him as an independent country. England's human name is Arthur Kirkland.
France is a romantic,carefree character but in the series he is shown to have a long rivalry towards England . He frequently makes romantic and sexual passes at many characters, including England,and strips naked with his roses being the censor. France regards himself as the eldest brother among European nations and is referred to as such by some of them,though he calls Spain his elder brother in turn. However, he gets very upset when another nation refers to him as an 'old man' as he claims he's still young. France's human name is Francis Bonnefoy.
Russia is a large nation who appears to be sweet,but has the innocence and cruelty of a child deep down. He adores Vodka and sunflowers. He has a kind faces, but has mentally cracked from strain of his bloody history. Despite his brutalities towards others, he truly means well and wants to live with everyone in a warm place surrounded by sunflowers. The other nations are terrified of him, especially the Baltic Trio (Latvia,Lithuania,and Estonia). For unknown reasons Poland is not afraid of him. Russia has two sisters Belarus and Ukraine. Belarus is his youngest sister and terrifies him with the obsession over the idea of forcing to marrying him. Belarus's human name is Natalia Arvlovskaya. Ukraine is his oldest sister who is kind but is easily upset. Her human name is Katyusha Bragiskaya. Russia becomes gloomy and depressed when either of them is on his mind because his older sister left him to try to make friends in the European Union. He happily promises that "all will become one with Russia.". Another favorite phrase is "kolkolkolkolkol", used when he is angered. His human name is Ivan Braginski.
China is one of the oldest nations, depicted as nigh-immortal and over four thousand years old (which makes him the eldest brother among the East Asian nations). He is disturbed and distrustful of Russia, reflecting the Sino-Soviet Split that actually occurred after the war. China's favorite food is variety,often depicted with pandas,big fan of Hello Kitty, and tends to end his sentences with the suffix -aru , a Japanese stereotype of how Chinese people speak. However, he replaces it with suffix -ahen which means opium, when speaking to England, as a reference to the Opium Wars. After China's defeat in the Opium Wars, he became the cook of England and France. During the fight between Axis and Allies, China fights Germany and Japan with a wok (round cooking pan) and ladle, which became his weapon of choice that also serves the stereotype that China serves good food. China's boss is a green dragon with an intimidating appearance, but in reality he is quite relaxed and moderate as well as shown to be bullied by China in a comedic way. China's human name is Yao Wang (Wang Yao).
Overall Ranking:
The anime episodes are at least 5 or so minutes long which is great when you are busy. Even though it is stereotypical and comedic anime, I absolutely loved watching every single minute of this anime. I would rank this 5 stars for best voice actor choices, characters/countries and for the biggest fan base that I've seen by far. In fact, if you are familiar with Hetalia then you will love that October 20,2012 will be the official Hetalia Day. I will be sure to link you their official page for more. So if your a big fan come and join. Sadly I wont be attending this year because I'm in my brother's wedding so next year I will be sure to make it. I would also like to add on that the voice actor for Italy will be attending Sac-Anime (Winter) 2013 and I will for sure be filming his panel for you guys. Anyways I loved this anime and I highly recommend this to anyone who loves history. Please look forward to my future review of
APH: World Series.
As always don't forget the Pasta!:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/fI2N_7tR/01_-_Marukaite_Chikyuu.htm
Hetalia Day Page:
http://hetalia-day.com
My DevaintArt:
http://blackrocketshooter.deviantart.com
My Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GossipGlossipGirl?feature=mhee
My Cosplay Group:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSOSBrigadePro
My Tumblr:
http://sweetnessied.tumblr.com
