Eight Things I Love About Hetalia
Axis Powers Hetalia
8. History as Crack
Let’s just say I never giggled so much in history classes before getting into this show. On one hand, it worries me that as a serious historian I’m slashing Russia and the USA when I read books about the Cold War, but hey. It certainly makes even the driest of textsbooks a little more entertaining.
7. The Voices
These are the Japanese ones. But… they just seem to work with the character so well. I especially love Russia’s, because it can be adorable and little kid-ish, but sometimes it seems like it can hold real emotion. Not often, but sometimes. England sounds just rough enough around the edges, and America is enough of a spaz, and Japan is just quiet enough, Greece is lazy enough… they just all seem to work for me. And that’s rare. And I adore it.
6. The Character Songs
“Absolutely Invincible British Gentleman?” How could I not totally love this? Plus, I just love Russia’s songs. And Germany. It’s like most of the songs are crack, crack, crack, Germany: ANGST. Powerful soul rendering ANGST. And then with one of Russia’s, it starts out kinda cute and soft, and my friend was like, “Oh hey, is this Chibitalia’s song?” and then SATAN DESCENDED. So, no, it wasn’t Chibitalia. It was Russia. But that contrast in just the song, the kinda hopeful, sunny, sunflowery part, and then the pain and suffering that he goes through as a country. Every time he says “goodbye” in Russian in that song, I almost tear up. Then the crack songs are great too. :D
5. The Uniforms.
Boooooots. They make cosplay fun.
4. The Character Designs
These are different from the uniforms. I think, that considering you’re making generalizations about populations of people, the author did a good job, for the most part, of making characters interesting, different, and somewhat like that country might be. He fudges some of history, and some of it just doesn’t make sense, but each character is different enough from the other countries, and interesting enough, that as a fiction series, I’m willing to give him a ton of slack. Plus, I like a lot of the characters, even though we don’t see a lot of them.
3. The artwork
The original comic. The anime’s art has never… truly appealed to me. But the chibis are adorable, and it’s usually sketchy enough to look interesting and unique.
2. Prussia
In some ways, I don’t know why I like Prussia (Unless it’s that whole arrogant characters thing coming to bite me in the ass again). Partly, it’s because I looked at this character and went, “Who the hell is Prussia?” Which led to a ton of research, and some interesting conversations (My friends ended up dubbing me Prussia, and some of them can’t remember my real name all of the time. Not, like old friends, but people I meet in class or whatever and turn out to be Hetalia fans. It’s what some of them call me in public, since my name is fairly common). But whatever the case, somehow he ended up on my list of awesome characters.
1. The Fandom
This is a very love/hate sort of relationship. Hetalia seems to be one of those fandoms where either it’s amazing and beautiful beyond belief… or it’s terrible and worse than something an 11 year old thought up in a fit of Mary-Sue-ish glee. But when this fandom is amazing, it is truly something to behold. Thoughtful, historical, and wonderful. It gives me faith in writers and in history.
Next Week: Star Trek The Original Series
8. History as Crack
Let’s just say I never giggled so much in history classes before getting into this show. On one hand, it worries me that as a serious historian I’m slashing Russia and the USA when I read books about the Cold War, but hey. It certainly makes even the driest of textsbooks a little more entertaining.
7. The Voices
These are the Japanese ones. But… they just seem to work with the character so well. I especially love Russia’s, because it can be adorable and little kid-ish, but sometimes it seems like it can hold real emotion. Not often, but sometimes. England sounds just rough enough around the edges, and America is enough of a spaz, and Japan is just quiet enough, Greece is lazy enough… they just all seem to work for me. And that’s rare. And I adore it.
6. The Character Songs
“Absolutely Invincible British Gentleman?” How could I not totally love this? Plus, I just love Russia’s songs. And Germany. It’s like most of the songs are crack, crack, crack, Germany: ANGST. Powerful soul rendering ANGST. And then with one of Russia’s, it starts out kinda cute and soft, and my friend was like, “Oh hey, is this Chibitalia’s song?” and then SATAN DESCENDED. So, no, it wasn’t Chibitalia. It was Russia. But that contrast in just the song, the kinda hopeful, sunny, sunflowery part, and then the pain and suffering that he goes through as a country. Every time he says “goodbye” in Russian in that song, I almost tear up. Then the crack songs are great too. :D
5. The Uniforms.
Boooooots. They make cosplay fun.
4. The Character Designs
These are different from the uniforms. I think, that considering you’re making generalizations about populations of people, the author did a good job, for the most part, of making characters interesting, different, and somewhat like that country might be. He fudges some of history, and some of it just doesn’t make sense, but each character is different enough from the other countries, and interesting enough, that as a fiction series, I’m willing to give him a ton of slack. Plus, I like a lot of the characters, even though we don’t see a lot of them.
3. The artwork
The original comic. The anime’s art has never… truly appealed to me. But the chibis are adorable, and it’s usually sketchy enough to look interesting and unique.
2. Prussia
In some ways, I don’t know why I like Prussia (Unless it’s that whole arrogant characters thing coming to bite me in the ass again). Partly, it’s because I looked at this character and went, “Who the hell is Prussia?” Which led to a ton of research, and some interesting conversations (My friends ended up dubbing me Prussia, and some of them can’t remember my real name all of the time. Not, like old friends, but people I meet in class or whatever and turn out to be Hetalia fans. It’s what some of them call me in public, since my name is fairly common). But whatever the case, somehow he ended up on my list of awesome characters.
1. The Fandom
This is a very love/hate sort of relationship. Hetalia seems to be one of those fandoms where either it’s amazing and beautiful beyond belief… or it’s terrible and worse than something an 11 year old thought up in a fit of Mary-Sue-ish glee. But when this fandom is amazing, it is truly something to behold. Thoughtful, historical, and wonderful. It gives me faith in writers and in history.
Next Week: Star Trek The Original Series