I was introduced to Hetalia by a friend, and I simply adored it the moment I saw it.  So I decided to do an anime highlight on it.  As an anime goes, it is very different from your typical anime: it doesn’t have twenty minute episodes (each episode is only 3-5 minutes long), it doesn’t follow the typical ways of storytelling, it’s semi educational, and entirely satirical.  Hetalia has many different incarnations like Hetalia Axis Powers, Hetalia World Series, the Manga, and the web comic as well as a stage play.

Essentially, this series’s characters represent, in a very satirical way, each nation who took part in World War II.  You have the three Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan):

And the five allied powers which were America, Britain, France, Russia and China:

As the series progresses, more and more characters (nations) are added to the story like Austria, Hungry, Sweden, and more. Now while they do mention some of the events that happen in World War II, they also mention past interactions/confrontations between the different countries in sarcastic and funny ways.  This is where the more educational use comes in because scattered throughout the witty sarcasm are some nuggets of historical truths.

And boy do they love exploring stereotypes and really putting them out there.  They show the good and bad side of every stereotype about each nation like how America likes to eat hamburgers and super chipper all the time, how the French hate Americans and are over sexualized, how Britain and France are always fighting as Russia sits back and laughs, how Japan likes making every thing miniaturized, how Italy loves to flirt with women and eat pasta and so on.  No one, not even Japan, is spared from the satire, and that is what makes it so funny.  See the  funny interaction between America and Canada:

and here is the allied planning session below:

It doesn’t solely focus on World War II.  There are episodes that are about the American revolution,  and there are episodes about the Holy Roman Empire as well as episodes about the oftentimes tense relationship between China and Japan.  There is truth to the stereotypes and interactions between the characters.

I found this show to be super quirky, funny, and very intelligent as being someone who has knowledge on the World War II era and history in general.  I liked how different the format is as in the episodes aren’t long, and they use characters representing countries to explain how countries historically and currently interact with each other.  Even if it is not fully historically accurate, it does have enough truth to get a younger generation interested and aware of historical events and international relations.

I will also say that I really liked the dubbed version of the anime (the American voice actors versus the japanese voice actors and subtitles), which is rare.

And Hetalia has garnered a very devote following.  Fans world wide stage meet ups for Hetalia  calling it “Hetalia Day” to fall on the United Nations Day (October 24th). ¹  Fans love to cosplay the different characters and nations, and there is a live stage play.

So if you want to watch something funny and quirky, check out Hetalia!

1.) Hetalia Day Website