No, seriously. Just throw years of history classes right out the window, because Hetalia has nothing (barring comical stereotypes and costumes) to do with the World War I, II or anything else except in a very, very loose way. All the characters are literally countries given a human form, and most of it centers on Italy and how he came to be friends with Germany and Japan. They decided to form a “team” called Axis. (See where this is going, history buffs?) Germany is the macho, rough-but refined marshal character with an awkward soft side. Italy (the main state—he has his southern brother) is cowardly, wimpy, and does nothing but crave food; past in particular. And Japan is quiet, politely rude, and baffled by his Western friends and their strange mannerisms. Basically, it boils down to all the countries being generalized personifications of the actual peoples they represent. Even Japan isn’t spared from this, which is refreshing.
Obviously a good deal of the goings on focus around social politics and such from the World War II era, but the story begins before World War I when Germany first encounters Italy—and then can’t get rid of him even after releasing him as a prisoner. It sounds very strange that the sole plot of Hetalia Axis Powers follows historic events so loosely and still manages to not have much of a plot. The series is really more about international relationships and how all these different countries related to one another during those times. It’s surprisingly hilarious and honest in this endeavor. There is some stereotyping done here and there, but it’s done as such that it’s hilarious because it’s hard to refute the basis of truth behind the stereotype. Then there are the gags, such as how all the multitudes of the world’s various incarnations of Chinatown came to be. To give the short of the matter, Hetalia is a series comprised solely of history/social studies in-jokes.
To anyone who ever paid attention in school or history buffs, this show comes off being insanely hilarious. However, viewers not so in the know about social studies might be left slightly in the lurch. Due to the character designs being mostly handsome/pretty boys, though, the internet is full of fujoshi fodder, yaoi fanart and fanfics. This is something I can’t really understand because there is absolutely NOTHING in this series to draw shounen-ai nuances from (and I’m a pretty healthy fangirl about such things). I suppose if you took the characters entirely out of context it might work, but other than that. And that’s a good thing, honestly! It’s nice to watch an anime that, for a change, has absolutely no romantic tension involved. That’s something that makes Hetalia solely unique. It’s also unique in that it originated as a webcomic (which probably is the reason for the brief episode times), which was then turned into a manga and ultimately an anime.
And for those who might need a refresher on all the references tossed around and the subtitled notes that speed too quickly off the screen, each season has a disc of extras that has all those history notes for you to make things clearer. There are also many episode commentaries included. Funimation even put out a special edition that came with nifty Axis bandanas. The only way to watch this show is subtitled, because the English dub is too painful with all the rampant faked accents. This is also a very brief series overall, because, although each season is a full 26 episodes, the episodes are only 5 minutes long. That makes it a really easy and light series to throw in for an hour or so.
Overall, Hetalia Axis Powers is light-hearted despite the subject matter and an easily enjoyable watch. It’s unique and hilarious. If you have an anime fan in your life and they are also a history buff, this is the perfect series for them. For the casual fan, the characterization of the countries make for a fun romp in social attitudes. Even though the premise sounds odd and potentially boring, it is anything but that.