Customer Reviews

Hetalia: Axis Powers - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been following the manga and anime since the series debuted in Japan. My biggest fear for the dubbing of "Hetalia" was that it would be stripped of everything not PC (which is literally the entire show). However, in the English version, the jokes are more offensive and the innuendo more rampant. The Japanese version skirted around any Nazi references, but the English version throws one in no more than a 2 minutes into the first episode. Couple that with America referring to Russia as "cannon fodder" and you've got yourself a winner of a show. If you're easily offended then this is obviously not the series for you, though I appreciate the culture clash and parodying of stereotypes. Of course, I also laugh at dead baby jokes.

Fans of the series might complain about the dialogue changes, which, from what I've seen, capture the spirit of the situation but contain altered jokes. Some of the voices are taking me a while to get used to, but overall I think the dubbing was well done. If I hadn't watched the Japanese version, I probably wouldn't think twice about judging the English voices. It's simply hard not to compare when you're used to something else.

I am impressed by the script changes and actually like the English dialogue more than the original. I'm basing my opinion on the few short clips FUNimation has put on YouTube, but I have high hopes for the rest of the series.

An Obligatory Disclaimer:

I'll begin with an overly lengthy disclaimer: this show was NOT intended for those that are easily offended or upset by stereotyping, historical inaccuracies, or the trivialization of major historic events (also, homophobics beware: this show is laden with innuendo). Now, let me just say, to all the people that fall into these aforementioned categories but purchased the show anyway and now are complaining vehemently about it via review, this show is exactly what it makes itself out to be: a CARTOON. If you were looking for something serious, then good god what were you doing browsing through animated TV shows? Would you go to Spongebob for life lessons? No. Likewise, if you're looking for an accurate portrayal of historic events, go buy a historical reenactment. It's not rocket science.

That said, I'm going to attempt to answer some basic questions you might have as someone that is considering purchasing Hetalia: Axis Powers.

1.) I watched the Japanese version with English subs. What's new?

Aside from the fact that you can now listen to the English dub, the dialogue seems to have been edited rather severely while still maintaining the basic personalities of the characters. The English voice actors have also attempted to take on the accents of their respective countries, some more successfully than others. Happily, this version contains both language tracks, so if you get fed up with the English dub you can always switch back to the Japanese track.

2.) I'm new to Hetalia. It sounds interesting, but how do I know if it's for me?

Short answer? Google it. Just type in something along the lines of, "hetalia english dub episode 1." Watch the first episode, posted by Funimation, and you should get the gist of the show fairly quickly. Google the English sub version for an interesting comparison.

3.) What age group is Hetalia targeting?

Time for an annoyingly vague answer. While this show is not particularly serious, it is also not intended for 5 year olds. Sexual innuendo is very definitely present, and my best guess for a show rating would be something like PG13, though I can't say for certain. (Though, in actuality, if you were to show this series to a 5 year old the innuendo would probably go right over his/her head. It's not always particularly overt.)

4.) Do I have to be a history buff to enjoy/understand this?

Definitely not. Though I personally love history, this show is largely character driven with only a very light dusting of plot (ie. historic events).

5.) I'm studying WW1/WW2 in history, will this help me?

While it may help you to differentiate between the different countries, it probably won't give you an accurate understanding of what transpired during the World Wars. That said, if you find history dull, this will almost certainly make it more interesting for you, and thus help you memorize various historical events and the motivations behind them.

My View:

This is a wonderful show, that in my mind promotes cultural understanding by not pointing the finger of blame at any one country for any of the bloody events of the past, instead choosing to simply make each country lovable in its own quirky way. In my opinion, we need more shows like Hetalia that force us to step back and not take ourselves so seriously for five minutes. In summary, this is easily one of my favorite shows and is in fact one of the only animes I'll watch. It's definitely worth checking out. Five stars.

This anime is fantasic. The dialogue was changed a little bit from the original, however, I think it fits better for the english audience. The english voice actors did an amazing job with the accents. This is definietly one of my favorite animes and I dare you not to get hooked after the first 5 episodes.

Have you ever found history one of those subjects that you just never really caught on to? Are you a long time lover of history with a huge wealth of knowledge about other countries and their struggles and triumphs? Do you have a sense of humor? THIS IS FOR YOU.

I myself was never one to listen very well in history classes. My thoughts were what's in the past is in the past. Why bother learning every single detail if I'll never use the information in my lifetime? My grades were decent and I only bothered to learn the most essential parts of history. How could it possibly become something I could pay attention to? I tried to find a way. I definitely found it.

Hetalia is a five minute long episode series. In each season there are 26 episodes, and yes, there are 26 in this dvd set. the running time is just about 2 1/2 hours. It started as a web series in japan. It follows the lives of the major countries of the world and what they've been through in the past, as well as touching upon the little quirks of the people and places in each one. In Hetalia, the characters are each of the countries in a human form. Battles and struggles take place with the appropriate countries literally slapping or yelling at each other in hilarious ways, and along with the quirky adult humor the show succeeds in not only capturing your attention in a way a normal high school classroom never could, but also keeps it and easily puts more info in your head that you never knew you would from an anime!

The show stays out of the touchiest subjects in the japanese casted version. They don't mention events such as the holocaust and the gruesome aspects of war. The English cast is brilliant and has pretty much a version all their own. I love the original voices, but in this show, I think the english cast gived the original quite a run for their money! They stay true to the original, and made some script changes to appeal to an american audience. They include some of our own stereotypes of the countries instead of the japanese stereotypes. I'm completely content with the changes and think of it as getting two shows in one! The amount of effort put into this series is outstanding.

NO. This show is NOT FOR KIDS. There are swears and it's filled with older humor. The show isn't censored. If you are easily offended by stereotypes and certain parts of history, do not watch this. If you aren't easily offended, this anime is a must have in your collection! the more you watch it, the more jokes you get. It will have you laughing for hours and you will want to look up every fact you come across in this well researched series.

This is my review after going through half the DVD

-PROS ----

First off, this is an amazing dub! Most of the voices are very good, and the accents add a nice, unique touch. I especially like the voices of Austria, Japan, Germany, Spain, both Italys, and Chibi-Italy. The dialogue has changed to make things more offensive/funnier, which I love. I can confidently say I prefer the English dub's jokes to the original. For those who do not like that, they still include the Japanese voices along with the unedited English subs.

The dialogue has changed drastically in the English dub, partially because there are some not-so-obvious cultural reference jokes that Americans won't get. For instance, Italy hugs Japan, and in the English version, it's because it's an invasion of personal space. But in the Japanese version, Japan tells Italy it's his "first time" and that he hopes Italy takes responsibility for it. I'm not Japanese, so I didn't catch the joke here. There isn't enough time to add a cultural footnote for people to read either. After some googling, I found out that if you hug/kiss a Japanese person back then, that means you're proposing marriage.

Funimation tries really hard to make Hetalia funnier and more culture-friendly for Americans, and I think they succeeded without butchering the anime. They made some parts more offensive and added on to the gay jokes.

The extra disc includes more explanations on the history behind Hetalia. This is invaluable to me, since I couldn't stand history (before I discovered this, anyway).

- CONS ----

However, sometimes the accents make the characters hard to understand, and this DVD does NOT include the English subtitles for the English track. It only has the English subtitles for the Japanese track. So if you try to watch the English dub with the subtitles, you'll realize the subtitles do not match up with what the characters are saying (since they were meant for the Japanese dub, not the English one). Sometimes I can't catch what Italy is saying because he speaks so fast and with an accent (like when he was in the tomato box)--don't get me wrong, he sounds great, but sometimes he speaks too fast. In the Japanese subtitled version, I have to pause when he starts begging for his life, because he speaks too fast and the subtitles go by too fast. But I can't do that in the English version because they didn't include separate subtitles for the English dub.

Fortunately, I can still understand everybody about 85% of the time, so it's not too bad. But for those of you who have a hard time understanding people with accents, the English dub might not be for you -- in that case, you may want to stick with the Japanese subs.

As mentioned above, most of the voices are good. I don't really like China's voice b/c it doesn't sound like a Chinese accent or even a fake Chinese accent. It sounds more like somebody doing a random accent. This could just be me though, since I'm Chinese and have been hearing the fobby accent for quite a while. I mean, why couldn't China have sounded as cool as Japan? China's voice does get better in the later episodes though.

England doesn't have a British accent, but he does sound like Stewey from Family Guy, so it's cool.

----OVERALL

Overall, I think it's a great dub. The English dub is so much funnier and includes more historical references.

Hetalia Axis Powers is well-drawn, fun, funny, and mildly educational, but there's just not enough actual substance to the plot or characters to make it a truly moving or memorable series. It honestly doesn't offer a lot of rewatch value.

Some people may find its' national stereotypes and its' lighthearted nature about a dark subject offense. To those of you curious about the series, I say that you have to be willing to laugh at EVERYONE including yourself before you watch. This series can be crude at times but realize that it is making fun of the world and the way we think of and envision ourselves to be. For that, Hetalia makes a good point. Everybody on the show has good and bad qualities.

Given its' episode length of barely five or six minutes, the price for one season alone at the current time seems a little high. I'm not sure exactly the quality of the extras attached to the DVD set, but I think it would be a much more reasonable price if seasons one and two were boxed together.

Fun, but definitely a rental first, and then purchase for truly hardcore fans of the series.

I was extremely excited to get the Hetalia: Axis Powers DVD's. Much to my surprise, and happiness, they came with a pink banner with Cibi Axis Power Characters all over it. I didn't know that, I'm not sure that was in the description, but I was happy to get it with the DVD's. It also seems like you can get a blue banner with the Allies if you purchase the second season. Hetalia is an awesome anime that many people enjoy and I recommend it to all anime lovers everywhere! The only thing you have to get past is the ridicules accents that Funimation did, kind of hard to understand in the first episode. You get used to it, though, don't worry ^.-

Combine the wacky history of the old the old Warner Bros cartoon "Histeria!" with the Japanese "Moe" aesthetic, and there you have "Hetalia." Creator Hidekazu Himaruya got the idea for the comic when he was studying abroad in New York, and stumbled on a web page full of ethnic jokes. He thought that might make a good basis for a comic, but instead of being spiteful with the ethnic stereotypes Hidekazu went "moe." Each country gets their own little costume and country personification, with some adventures and little bits of random history thrown in.

"Hetalia" (meaning "Useless Italy," being a portmanteau between the word for "useless" ("hetare") and "Italy" ("Italia.")) originated as a webcomic, before being bound as a manga, and now finally makes the leap to animation. True to its webcomic origins, "Hetalia" doesn't have an ongoing plot but is more of a series of gags each about five minutes long and that constitutes and episode. This means you get twenty-six episodes on this DVD set, but don't be fooled into thinking that is some kind of bargin. Most of the gags here are taken directly from the comic, so if you have read them manga then be prepared to see the same jokes and skits animated.

I gave the manga a rating of "Good, but not Great" and that is pretty much how I feel about the anime as well. What works in the manga works here. What doesn't work in the manga still doesn't work here. This is funny, light humor with an ethnic/historical twist, and is good to watch for fun but doesn't have much going for it beyond that.

One of the things that annoyed me about this DVD set is that even though each episode is roughly five minutes long, you still get the whole intro and outro theme songs. Keep the remote at hand because unless you are truly dedicated you will probably be skipping the theme songs ever five minutes.

Another thing that you will need your remote for is the pause button. Just like the manga, "Hetalia" the anime throws up little explanatory factoids every now and then to explain the historical humor, but these blip on and off pretty fast. Its like Pop-up Video but without the screen time. This was much more effective in the manga when your eyes weren't racing to keep up with the pace of the anime.

I think the less you know about history the more you will love "Hetalia." If you already know most of the ins and outs of WWII, then just shut off your brain and enjoy the show, otherwise the errors will drive you mad. If you don't even know what "Axis Powers" means and the words "Tripartite Pact" leave you scratching your head, then this might inspire you to looks some things up and learn more about one of the most important events in human history. You know...in a cute, chibi style.

World history tends to be kind of... dry. If you don't have much imagination, it just ends up being a big mass of dates and battles.

Too bad they don't show "Hetalia: Axis Powers - The Complete First Season" in schools, because it actually manages to present world history (particularly that of the World Wars) in a manner that is fun, quirky and downright bizarre ("I agree wis America." "ENOUGH or I'll beat you with my peace prize!"). And yes, most of the countries are represented by pretty young men.

Germany is searching through the woods for the descendent of the great Roman Empire... only to stumble across a naive, blubbering Italy hiding inside a tomato crate. He captures Italy, but is chagrined when Italy attaches himself like a limpet because "I get fed and nobody picks on me." They join forces with the very formal Japan, and the Axis Powers are born.

However, another alliance has appeared: the Allied Forces, made up of America, China, Russa, England and France. And as World Wars I/II rage, both sides must grapple with a cursed chair, England's bad cooking, supermarket lines, marriage proposals, being stranded on a deserted island, wok attacks, and cuckoo clocks... when they're not fighting one another.

Oh, and we get fun flashbacks to "Chibitalia's" childhood, when he was stalked by the Holy Roman Empire (uuuhh... baby Germany in a hat?), dragged into Austria's household, and ate churros.

"Hetalia Axis Powers - The Complete First Season" is one of those animes you shouldn't watch if you're easily offended. EVERYBODY in this show is a national stereotype who acts in a stereotypical way (ex: America is a bit arrogant and endearingly over-the-top, Japan is overly formal and can't pronounce Ls and Rs, Italy is obsessed with pasta, etc).

And it's all in good fun -- the stuff that goes on is based on real historical events, but filtered through a satirical anime/reality-show lens. The dialogue is gutsplittingly funny, peaking with Italy's song about Germany ("Even though I'm your prisoner, you give me food/and it doesn't suck like English food!"), and there's goofy slapstick and cultural references aplenty.

But there are also some more somber moments, such as America reminiscing about the War for Independence and his painful rift with England, or China thinking of how he found and raised Japan. And while all the characters are national stereotypes, the writers succeed in making each one endearing and likable... well, except maybe Russia. He's just creepy.

"Hetalia: Axis Powers - The Complete First Season" is very short (each episode is about five minutes long), but world history here has never been so cracktastic.

Oaky, I've watched the dub on Comcast OnDemand now (even though I bought the DVD... whatever.) :) It rocks! I really don't have much to say that isn't repeating what the other 5 Star reviewers said. :D They changed the script a bit for the dub, but it's still awesome (but not as awesome as Prussia! XD)