Hetalia (anime)
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| Hetalia | |
|---|---|
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| Cover of Funimation's 10th Anniversary box set release of the first six seasons in North America | |
| Axis Powers ヘタリア | |
| Genre | Comedy, History |
| Original net animation | |
| Directed by | Bob Shirohata |
| Music by | Frontier Works Akira Yoshikawa Conisch |
| Studio | Studio Deen |
| Original run | January 24, 2009 - March 5, 2010 |
| Episodes | 52 (List of episodes) |
| Original net animation | |
| Hetalia: World Series | |
| Directed by | Bob Shirohata |
| Music by | Frontier Works Akira Yoshikawa Conisch |
| Studio | Studio Deen |
| Original run | March 26, 2010 - March 11, 2011 |
| Episodes | 48 (List of episodes) |
| Anime Film | |
| Hetalia: Axis Powers: Paint it, White | |
| Directed by | Bob Shirohata |
| Studio | Studio Deen |
| Released | June 5, 2010 |
| Runtime | 77 minutes |
| Original net animation | |
| Hetalia: The Beautiful World | |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Watanabe |
| Music by | Kazuyuki Fudeyasu |
| Studio | Studio Deen |
| Original run | January 25 - June 21, 2013 |
| Episodes | 20 (List of episodes) |
| Original net animation | |
| Hetalia: The World Twinkle | |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Watanabe |
| Music by | Kazuyuki Fudeyasu |
| Studio | Studio Deen |
| Original run | July 3 - October 9, 2015 |
| Episodes | 15 (List of episodes) |
| Original net animation | |
| Hetalia: World☆Stars | |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Watanabe |
| Studio | Studio Deen |
| Original run | April 1 - June 17, 2021 |
| Episodes | 12 (List of episodes) |
| Original video animations | |
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| Related Media | |
| Tie-in media | Hetalia: Axis Powers Hetalia: Axis Powers (games) |
Hetalia (ヘタリア Hetaria) is the anime adaption of the webcomic and manga series of the same name by Hidekaz Himaruya. The series originally ran for two seasons of twenty-six episodes each under the original title Hetalia: Axis Powers (Axis Powers ヘタリア Akushisu Pawāzu Hetaria), before being renamed Hetalia: World Series (World Series ヘタリア) and running for an additional two seasons of twenty-four episodes each. After a nearly two year hiatus, the anime returned for a fifth season of twenty episodes under the name Hetalia: The Beautiful World (The Beautiful World ヘタリア) utilizing a new production staff and animation style. The new production staff and animation style returned for the sixth season in 2015, under the name Hetalia: The World Twinkle (The World Twinkle ヘタリア). In 2021, a seventh season adapting the Shueisha serialization was released under the new title Hetalia: World☆Stars (ヘタリア World☆Stars).
Like in the source material, early episodes of the series largely take place between the First and Second World Wars before branching out to other time periods and storylines. In the first four seasons most episodes would consist of multiple segments, many of which were portions of a story that would be adapted over several episodes. In the fifth season this structure is largely abandoned, with each episode centering on one general storyline.
As of November 24th, 2021, the series consists of 135 episodes as well as 13 OVAs and 2 compilation episodes. In 2010, a film adaption of the series entitled Hetalia: Axis Powers: Paint it, White received a theatrical release in Japan.
Contents
Cast and characters
- Main Article: List of Hetalia characters
The series consists of an ensemble cast and a large supporting cast, the majority of which are characters representing nations or territories. In most promotional materials, merchandising, and in-series material, the main characters of the series consist of the Axis Powers (Italy, Germany, and Japan) and Allied Forces (America, England/UK, France, Russia, and China) of World War II.
The series is known to have been dubbed in English and Tagalog, with a Cantonese dub of the film. However, the voice casts of the Tagalog and Cantonese dubs have never been officially released.
As a note, most extra characters in the Japanese version were not credited, usually being voiced by one of the actors who were credited for a main character in the episode or by another actor who was available during the recording sessions (usually voicing a character in the previous episode or one after). Characters that have made silent cameos in the series include Korea and Thailand. Additionally, while the character Monaco did not appear in the anime until the sixth season, the Nekotalia version of the character appeared in a fourth season episode voiced by Yuki Kaida in Japanese and Colleen Clinkenbeard in English.
FUNimation's dub also does not usually credit the actors for guest characters, save for some early extra credit sequences used on the DVD releases. This leads to some characters (such as Osaka) not having their dub actors known.
Production
Development and Licensing
Although originally planned for 26 episodes, it was announced on April 15th, 2009, that the series had been renewed for a second order of 26 episodes, bringing the episode count up to 52. The second season of Hetalia began airing on Animate.TV's mobile phone service on July 24th, 2009, with its webcast following three days later. A third season was later announced on December 10th, 2009, but was later rebranded with the title Hetalia: World Series. It premiered in March 2010. A second installment of World Series followed, before the original production team left. A later anime adaptation titled Hetalia: The Beautiful World would be released in January 2013, with a new production team behind it and revamped art direction.
Though FUNimation Entertainment reportedly had originally passed up the license for the anime in early 2009, the title "Hetalia: Axis Powers" later appeared on a poll of possible titles on their blog. On January 8th, 2010, FUNimation announced that they had licensed the first two seasons of the series.
Staff
- Studio DEEN
- Original Creator: Hidekaz Himaruya
- Director, Storyboarding: Bob Shirohata
- Storyboard Direction: Yoshinari Suzuki
- Producers: Mika Nomura, Akihiko Okada
- Planning: Takeshi Oikawa, Atsushi Iwazaki, Kimie Takahashi, Masaki Yasuda
- Animation Producer: Keiichi Matsuda
- Animation Production: Studio DEEN
- Character Design, Chief Animation Director: Masaaki Kannan
- Art Director: Maho Takahashi
- Backgrounds: Studio Tulip
- Color Settings: Takeshi Mochida
- Photography Director: Akira Shimozaki
- Editing: Masahiro Matsumura
- Series Composition, Sound Director: Takuya Hiramitsu
- Music Production: Frontier Works
- Music Producer: Akira Yoshikawa
- Additional Music: Conisch
- Sound Production: Satoshi Hirata, Hiroshi Nishijima, DAX International
- Sound Effects: Suwara Production
- Ending Animation: Shiitake Digital
- Theme Songs Lyrics/Music: Saki
- Theme Song Performance: Daisuke Namikawa (Marukaite Chikyuu and Hatafutte Parade)
- Distribution: Media Factory
- Series Production by: The Hetalia Production Committee
- Funimation
- Executive Producer: Gen Fukunaga
- Producers: Carly Hunter, Justin Cook
- Line Producer: Mike McFarland
- Head Writer: John Burgmeier
- Script Writers: Chuck Huber, Jamie Marchi
- ADR Director: Scott Sager
- ADR Engineer: Joseph Tompkins
- Assistant Producer: Michael Harcourt
- Production Assistants: Trenton Jons, Gino Palencia
- Talent Coordinator: Tara A. Williams
- Mixing Engineer: Adrian Cook
- Director, Video Post-Production: Brandon Tyler
- Digital Video Coordinator: Jeff Yale
- Senior Video Editors: Daniel Mancilla, Jeremy Jimenez
- Video Editors: Jessie Mancilla, Robert Bell, Josh Tyler, Ashley Rosse, Christopher Bryan
- Lead Video Editor: Sarah Mueller
- Video Engineer: Michael Rivas
- Post-Production Assistants: Casey Barteau, Niki Cooper, Aya Spann
- Brand Manager: Charlene Ingram
Broadcast
Episodes
Main Article: List of Hetalia: Axis Powers episodes
Both of the first two seasons span 26 episodes, with the first mostly adapting from Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 1, though some arcs and strips are sequenced out of order from their original placement. A few "Extra Stories" from the webcomic were also adapted into segments, as well as minor portions of chapters 2 and 3 from the webcomic's main storyline. The third and fourth seasons (treated as a new series by DEEN) marked a change in both the title and episode count, with each consisting of 24 episodes.
Most of the episodes had no titles when broadcast, unless they were shown in a next episode preview with a title listed, as was the case with the fifth and seventeenth episodes of season 1.
The anime is notable for the fact that its episodes are extremely short, with each running approximately 5 minutes in their broadcasts.
Controversy
Inclusion of South Korea character
The anime was originally slated to broadcast on Kids Station on January 24th, but the television airing was cancelled due to "various circumstances". It is believed that the South Korean protests of the series (and alleged death threats to the TV station) played a part in the cancellation. The protests arose when an online petition was created to ban the series, due to complaints that the South Korean character was an offensive stereotype. The South Korean government proceeded to declare the series a "national crime", though Kids Station responded that there was no Korean character in the series.
A preliminary character design of South Korea, however, was shown in the early promotional images for the series, suggesting that at one point, he was actually slated to be included. South Korea could also be seen in the first ending sequence, among the other characters on top of the world. But with the switch in ending themes, his character was immediately removed from the globe. South Korea also appears in an animation error in Episode 14, shown from behind in a supermarket line, suggesting that Studio DEEN had to do retakes on the episode to remove him and had forgotten to redo that specific shot.
English adaption
The English dub of the series has also experienced its fair share of controversy. As the creative team behind the dub felt it could not be easily marketed due to it already being controversial, it was decided to adapt the series to a TV-MA format and attempt to emulate the television show "South Park" with many instances of dark humor, increased ethnic stereotype jokes, jokes made about the Holocaust, and profanity and suggestive language. As the original Hetalia series already experienced controversy due to its title and sentiments that it overlooks the tragedies in WWII, as well as the situation with South Korea, reception towards the dub was very contested.
Although this practice was somewhat toned down in later seasons, the dub scripts still heavily differ from the original and various jokes and elements should not necessarily be considered canon for characters (such as Sealand claiming he has a tattoo of a transistor radio).
Film
- Main article: Hetalia: Axis Powers: Paint it, White
A theatrical adaptation of the series was announced on September 24th, 2009. The film remained shrouded in secrecy, though its full title was eventually revealed to be Hetalia - Axis Powers on the Silver Screen: Paint it, White. It was released on June 5th, 2010. It marks the first animated debut of Iceland.
A promotional single for the film was also released in conjunction with it, entitled Mein Gott!!. It is sung by Atsushi Kousaka, the voice actor for Prussia (who plays a minor part in the film, though used for advertisements and merchandise pertaining to it).
The original soundtrack to the film (Silver Screen Hetalia: Sound World) was released on June 9th. It also includes the theme song for the film (Wa! Wa!! World Ondo), sung by the voice actors of the Axis and Allies under the name World 8.
DVD releases
Related media
See also
External Links
| Works by Hidekaz Himaruya | ||
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| Manga | Published | Hetalia: Axis Powers · Chibisan Date · Taishō-Era Romance - Quit It, Demon!! · Hetalia: World☆Stars · Prime Minister Club |
| Webcomics | Advance! Kitakou Broadcasting Club · Advance! Kitakou Broadcasting Club Pure · Barjona Bombers · Bubutan · Hetalia: Axis Powers | |
| Fancomics | Hammerko's Room · Live A Live · Shimajirō · Gakkou de atta Kowai Hanashi | |
| Games | Barjona Bombers · Notosama · The Deserted House · Okinawa Heart (script) · Hetalia | |
| Anime | Hetalia | |
| Other Works | Collaborations | Scary Story That Happened at a Countryside High School · Aldnoah.Zero |
| Pilot Works | Inaka no Nono · MoeKan | |
