Axis Powers Hetalia
Ranked #1,253 in Entertainment, #14,999 overall
Guilty Pleasure Is Guilty
It looks innocuously cute, but Axis Powers Hetalia (or Hetalia for short) sparks an Internet controversy that accumulates in a near diplomatic scandal between South Korea and Japan, which I would not go into details here. The flame war caught my attention, and being the curious trouble-seeker that I am, I could not resist seeing what the deal is. And the result is here.
What Is The Deal, Indeed
For a quick introduction, Axis Powers Hetalia is a webcomic by a Japanese student studying in the States with pen name Himaruya Hidekaz. It seems to be mostly a personal and self-entertaining thingy, however, it gathers a strong following enough to have audio dramas and an anime based on it. "Hetalia" is a portmanteau of "hetare" (Japanese for "useless") and Italia. And despite having "Axis Powers" in the title, the comic is all over the place: it is about any periods in rather anachronistic order. In other words, anything that catches the author's fancy. As a fan puts it, Hetalia is like the sketches of a bored student in History or Social Studies class which vaguely resemble (emphasis on vaguely!) what is taught. The characters are the personifications of many countries (including those that cease to exist) completed with national stereotypes, and the author puts them in situations that mildly parodize historical events or international relations. The disproportionate number of male characters makes the comic a goldmine for slash fics, and the author does not seem to mind. He even adds fuel to the fire himself, gallons of fuel (but the bastard does not confirm anything, sneaky guy.). Occupational Habit
As I said, I looked into Hetalia because of all the ruckfus surrounding it. And I must say I was disappointed, mostly because of the material itself. From the flame war, I was expecting the kind of scathing statements along the line of South Park. But no. It shies away from being outright controversial. Apart from providing the basis for the meme "I want to see your country make out with my country" (or less charitably "the countries in fascist uniforms having gay sex with each other". I'm straying there again, aren't I?), the strips themselves focus on the side of historical and cultural trivia and other silly details. And being cute, yes, can't forget that.
Well, under certain interpretations, this very characteristic is sinister because it turns something so important like history and national identity into a joke. Or because it shies away from controversial topics or portray war in a "cute" way (thus possibly making it a creepy whitewashing of history). But then, as I see it, it's a matter of opinion rather than a detail spelled out in the text from the author himself (in general, if you list all the points of contention between fan and non-fan, as well as the fans themselves, it will take all day). The point I want to say is that there seems to be few reasons to the thing to be popular in the first place. The contents of the comic strips are rather normal. Anthropomorphism of countries is not a new idea. Finally, it starts out and still is primarily a webcomic, which means the chance of someone noticing it in the first place was pretty slim. Yet, the idea works and Hetalia becomes a force to reckon with (to give you a clue of Hetalia's success, the webcomics are collected into manga volumes and adapted into anime). This aspect of Hetalia is its main attraction to me.
In this lens, I will present my humble hypothesis for Hetalia success by running through its notable features. This is no college paper, I do it first and foremost to amuse myself. Hope you too will be entertained.
Well, under certain interpretations, this very characteristic is sinister because it turns something so important like history and national identity into a joke. Or because it shies away from controversial topics or portray war in a "cute" way (thus possibly making it a creepy whitewashing of history). But then, as I see it, it's a matter of opinion rather than a detail spelled out in the text from the author himself (in general, if you list all the points of contention between fan and non-fan, as well as the fans themselves, it will take all day). The point I want to say is that there seems to be few reasons to the thing to be popular in the first place. The contents of the comic strips are rather normal. Anthropomorphism of countries is not a new idea. Finally, it starts out and still is primarily a webcomic, which means the chance of someone noticing it in the first place was pretty slim. Yet, the idea works and Hetalia becomes a force to reckon with (to give you a clue of Hetalia's success, the webcomics are collected into manga volumes and adapted into anime). This aspect of Hetalia is its main attraction to me.
In this lens, I will present my humble hypothesis for Hetalia success by running through its notable features. This is no college paper, I do it first and foremost to amuse myself. Hope you too will be entertained.
Point 1: It's Personal
Power of the Internet
Scratch what I said earlier about the disadvantage being a webcomic. From his den here on the Internet, Himaruya Hidekaz (the mastermind behind all this) sends out to the world the latest updates of the comics, his different doodles or crafts, or sometimes just a few words on how are things going for him (and Himaruya has a huge plus point: different from many Japanese creators, he can speak English quite well and apparently some Chinese [scroll down to the bottom of the page, the English part is there] so he can interact with international fans directly). These stuffs quickly get to the big hub of Hetalia fans on LiveJournal before it diffuses further. The greatest barrier is language, but that is nothing in this Internet age when someone can quickly share their work. And in the opposite direction, fans send greetings, requests, all kinds of things back to the author. Himaruya is also noticeable in that although the update schedule of his comics is somewhat spurious, he is highly responsive to fans' drawing requests and small "fanservice" like the picture below.
(And it must be said since it is a distinctive feature of the fandom) he organizes "live broadcast" (with webcomics!) for events such as April Fools' Day. In the same vein of theme art, also have a look at his drawings for Halloweens 2010.
The personal aspect also comes from the comics's premise, controversial as it is. If you can already tolerate reading it, chances are that you would cheer when your country appears. And I bet you would have one thing or two to talk about your land to your fellow fans on the web, especially about the obscure details. To give the Himaruya some credits, he does look up how certain words are spelled in foreign languages, and when he makes mistakes, more things for fans to talk about. One instance is the Christmas picture below, the line is Lithuanian by the way.
Lastly, a gift from Himaruya for the fans on the occasion of Children's Day in Japan that I really like: The characters in the traditional or historical costumes of their respective countries. The order is (roughly) West to East, North to South.
England and France
(And it must be said since it is a distinctive feature of the fandom) he organizes "live broadcast" (with webcomics!) for events such as April Fools' Day. In the same vein of theme art, also have a look at his drawings for Halloweens 2010.
The personal aspect also comes from the comics's premise, controversial as it is. If you can already tolerate reading it, chances are that you would cheer when your country appears. And I bet you would have one thing or two to talk about your land to your fellow fans on the web, especially about the obscure details. To give the Himaruya some credits, he does look up how certain words are spelled in foreign languages, and when he makes mistakes, more things for fans to talk about. One instance is the Christmas picture below, the line is Lithuanian by the way.
Lastly, a gift from Himaruya for the fans on the occasion of Children's Day in Japan that I really like: The characters in the traditional or historical costumes of their respective countries. The order is (roughly) West to East, North to South.
England and France
Austria and Hungary
Spain and Greece
Poland and Lithuania
Russia and Japan
Following the above tradition of sort, for the animated adaptation, the studio remixes the ending song "Marukaite Chikyuu" (Rotating Earth) into multiple versions to reflect the countries (in their interpretation of course) featured in the series. Though they do not go as far as doing in different languages (that would be awesome, but the fans kind of take care of that), the music arrangement and the lyrics are adjusted to the characters.
Next comes World Cup 2010!
Group E (you see, Japan is in that group)
Other
Other
As for what is personal to Himaruya himself, lately he has drawn a bunch of anthropomorphism of Japanese prefectures, Hetalia-style
In [Western] alphabetic order (Quite useful as memory aid if you happen to be interested in Japan. Otherwise treat them as eyecandies, like I do). You can find the full set here
Fukuoka
Fukuoka
Point 2: It Is Cute.
Yes, it's shallow as that. But this Himaruya guy has a gift for causing diabetes for people (I think the guy's real forte lies in visual rather than content. His art has improved a lot since the earliest comics). You are the better judge for yourself in this issue than I.
Point 3: Laughing at others and at oneself
Someone who has been abroad will be able to tell that stereotype can be annoying sometimes. People will come to you and ask if you do this or that because you come from this or that country. Sometimes they won't even ask, they just assume you are that way. You will be tired of having to say "Not everyone is the same" over and over again. But then you realize that you yourself expect the people in that country to behave according to a specific script which is the stereotype in your head. How did I deal with that? Making fun of the stereotypes, of course! And never mind the accuracy of those stereotypes. The most absurd ones are the ones that are most likely to survive.
OK, OK, that last sentence is probably out of line. The point is, I am forgiving of Himaruya because I can see that he is or has been a foreigner in a strange country just like me, bonus point for being an Asian in a Western land. I myself have made or suffered from a lot of cultural faux pas (not the intentionally suicidal type though) and I can see the humour in that, offensive or not.
EDIT: A strip by Himaruya on experiences of studying abroad and living with people from different countries in New York. The story about communal fridge is spot on.
OK, OK, that last sentence is probably out of line. The point is, I am forgiving of Himaruya because I can see that he is or has been a foreigner in a strange country just like me, bonus point for being an Asian in a Western land. I myself have made or suffered from a lot of cultural faux pas (not the intentionally suicidal type though) and I can see the humour in that, offensive or not.
EDIT: A strip by Himaruya on experiences of studying abroad and living with people from different countries in New York. The story about communal fridge is spot on.
Point 4: Very Loose Canon
Fan creations always outnumber the official one for obvious reasons. For Hetalia, the effect is double because canon is practically History (and Social Studies). There is no way Himaruya can cover everything himself, and he cannot claim that his interpretation is better than those of others. Thus there is an implicit agreement that if one can find justifications for one's creation then it's fine, no argument about what is "canon" and what is not. The public domain premise also helps.
Well, you can say that the possibility is always there and people don't need Hetalia to do that (indeed there are works that have similar basis as Hetalia before, just with different characterization and representation). Probably it is a matter of chance.
Here are some interesting fanworks.
A fanart for Norway's Independence Day May 17th
From the creator himself (Somewhat NSFW)
Well, you can say that the possibility is always there and people don't need Hetalia to do that (indeed there are works that have similar basis as Hetalia before, just with different characterization and representation). Probably it is a matter of chance.
Here are some interesting fanworks.
A fanart for Norway's Independence Day May 17th
From the creator himself (Somewhat NSFW)
curated content from YouTube
Side note: Slash
Another factor for the popularity is the homo-eroticism among the cast and you know where this leads to. Hetalia is infamous for being fangirl fodders. But as seen above, there are very good fanworks inspired by it.
Some of my favourite Hetalia fanfics
The bookbinder
The fifth Alice of human sacrifice
Some of my favourite Hetalia fanfics
The bookbinder
The fifth Alice of human sacrifice
Judge It Yourself
Ok, I have babbled enough.
- Original comics
- Where all the ruckfus starts. It's in Japanese though, even if the author has been to college in America.
- Translation
- English translation of the comics.
- Streaming of the animated series
- The strips are adapted into a series of short episodes (5 minutes each). The animated series has been licensed and dubbed by FUNimation.
- Afghanistan
- For comparison's sake, this is a webcomic with the same idea as Hetalia (personifications of countries in the world) but with a different focus: the Central Asia region after the 9/11 incident. It's awesome in my opinion but unfortunately less famous than Hetalia. Unlike Hetalia, it is quite direct in the matter of opinion, and more informational/educational. Also rather anti-American.
- Scandinavia and the World
- The Western counterpart of Hetalia. As the title indicates, the main characters are the anthropomorphisms of Scandinavian countries. Arguably focus more on stereotypes and humor than Hetalia.
- Scholarly Article
- A Korean scholar studies the case of Hetalia and the controversy around it. The article is in Korean, although the abstract is in English.
- News on the Korean protest
- To have a taste of how serious the controversy was.
- Another comment on the issue
- Not everything is fun and game.
Hetalia in published form
"Paint It White"
Yes, they are making a movie out of it
I'm curious how this will turn out. The title (it's really "Axis Powers Hetalia - Paint It White" or something to that extent) is true to the Hetalia tradition of the whiplash between cute and dark humour. It will be released in June 2010.
curated content from YouTube
*Hold my breath*
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PlotJailbird
Feb 2, 2012 @ 6:43 am | delete
- When it came to my first interpretations of hetalia, it was rather 'meh'. Nowadawys I'm quite the addict, but at first it took me a while to realise the full problem with hetalia, and that is that the fans are an amazing support group, they are a blessing and a curse.
I really hate all the crack pairings, in fact, I just want the fans to forget the possible romance side to Hetalia and the ove dodecahedrons and just enjoy the comedy, but nooo...
With fans it's either slash, or dark!Hetalia. There seems to be a small middle ground of people just trying to get a laugh out of an entire series based on the joke of countries turned people, but I repeat, it's small.
Not for the faint hearted or easily offended, but a hilarious series that, no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to ignore. A great series with no driven plot, but that just makes it brilliant in my opinion.
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Heta-Dicted
Jan 31, 2012 @ 8:19 pm | delete
- When I first heard about Hetalia, I figured it would be boring and darker, thinking it was going to put me to sleep with boring facts, but then my curiosity got to me and I finally watched it. Best decision of my life. It's cute and funny and makes history fun to learn. It's like that Muzzy language thing, where it tricks kids into learning languages with cute cartoons (and Dora, Kai-Lan and so on), but for history and adults. I found myself correcting a book that didn't have the country Liechtenstein in it, only a small, nameless plot of land right between Switzerland and Austria.
What I love the most though, is that I can't help but laugh at myself with some of the stereotypes being true about me. I used to hate them because they were stupid, but after watching Hetalia, I realized just how much they apply to me. I admittedly can't go a week without a cheeseburger and tend to eat more than I need to and also I take control and praise myself without much reason some times (can you guess my country?).
If your like me and not into yaoi, crack-pairings that have almost nothing to do with the show or how people over-think it and say it was meant solely to promote world peace (which is kind of does by showing just how silly some fights and wars can be, but that's more a bonus, than anything else), then just ignore 87% of the fanbase and enjoy. It's worth it.
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Erin
Jan 2, 2012 @ 5:11 pm | delete
- Me and my boyfriend saw one hetalia episode, and we were like *WTF is this?* the plot was so loose that I couldn't even bother to finish watching the episode o.o
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:)
Dec 8, 2011 @ 2:00 pm | delete
- I used to be a hater of Hetalia. An very dedicated hater for no reason at all! I thought it was was incredibly offensive and probably inaccurate everywhere. But when I actually sat down to watch/read it... I was completely addicted and smitten within 4hours! It is not what I expected at all, and it has taught me never to judge a book by its cover xD
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yukiwindstar101
Nov 7, 2011 @ 7:55 pm | delete
- This is a very good Squidoo. I myself am a fan of Hetalia . . . a very LARGE fan. Heh heh heh. Anyway I really like this one.
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