"2DAniCritic" Review:

Hetalia - Season 1 and 2

Review Score: 1.79 / 5.00        

It is hard to be a fan of anime without at least coming across the Hetalia franchise. To put it simply, it is a spoof online comic that turned into a series of animated shorts, wherein every character represents every country of the world, as the argue and laugh and fight and act out different parts of history. There is stern Germany, there is stoic Japan, there is scary Russia, there is proper England, there is flamboyant France, there is loud America, there is quiet twin brother Canada, and so on, the main character arguably being Italy, a dim-witted man who surrenders in every fight and only thinks about pasta.

The novelty of this comedy is that most countries are personified, which in itself is slightly offensive but still brings a good laugh. It also comes across as a good history lesson, although as it stands I wouldn't recommend this as a alternative to a textbook for your history class. Another novelty is that almost all of the characters are men, and with their funny accents and colorful clothing come across as a little bit gay. Maybe more than just a little bit... some of the story arcs actually revolve around secret loves, kisses and occasionally waking up in the same bed (purely as friends for body warmth of course, nothing actually happened, we assume). As such, the audience it targets can't help but "squee" whenever the characters come on screen.

If this doesn't sound like the best thing ever, then the novelty quickly wears thin. With each episode only lasting about 5 minutes, perhaps it is better taken in small doses. But for the most part, genuine laughs are limited and grow more sparse as it continues, there is not real story or development to latch onto, and the limited animation and cutesy character designs grow tiresome. Even the English cast's hammed-up dub of the series does little to improve it.

There isn't much to say about the show. At many seasons now, it might be worth a watch just to see what all the fuss is about, but only the target audience will get anything out of it.