This may be a slightly shorter than usual Hetalia post I’m afraid. Sometimes it’s just difficult to find anything to say about an episode.
Right, so this episode focused around America and Japan and what they do once Christmas is over. Japan went shopping and America lamented the cold weather. That was about it…what the hell am I supposed to talk about then!?! There wasn’t a single funny moment in the entire episode. There wasn’t a single piece of historical parody either. I personally was watching out to see if any reference to Pearl Harbour was made since it’s America and Japan but nothing whatsoever appeared. God only knows why the alien was there either. When I stick on an episode of Hetalia my face automatically prepares itself to start laughing. When the screen turns black at the end of the episode, I can see my reflection in the laptop screen and usually there’s a big stupid grin plastered across it but this time round there was only a disappointed frown.
So far I haven’t even hit 200 words and yet in the past few episodes I’ve been hitting 1000. So what the hell shall I talk about for the rest of this post? Ah I know, what anime Hetalia fangirls should be looking forward to next season. I always get really excited when a new season comes around. All those new anime that could potentially be the next bit thing, all those new opening songs I’ve yet to listen to and all those people who said the upcoming season would be shit being made eat their own words. Asides from the obvious Darker than Black sequel, you should keep your eyes on Kobato. It’s a CLAMP X Madhouse production and those are always worth keeping an eye on. Assuming most people watching Hetalia are girls (am I the only guy who watches this anime?) then there’s also the hit shojo manga series, Kimi ni Todoke, being adapted by Production IG. Finally, there’s that anime that everyone automatically associates with Hetalia for admittedly legitimate reasons: Miracle Train. Now I was very dismissive of it in my season preview but the director is the same guy who directed Honey and Clover and Nodame Cantabile. Which is really, really odd but sometimes one name will make you check out anything they do.
Something else to talk about……..ah I know! That awesome MAD that was supplied by heyheyho in the last episode. It’s a cross between Hetalia and Black Lagoon (which if you haven’t seen, you sorely need to educate yourself by watching this kickass anime). I don’t know what the song itself is since it’s most definitely not the opening song but by god the guy who made it had a lot of time on hands. It included loads of characters who rarely show up even in the manga, forget the tv series.
So yeah, what an absolutely shitty episode. Japan yet again proves he’s not funny but it’s not like America did much to shower himself in fangirls either. I hope Hetlia returns to form in the next episode.
blindability
Brian
Poro
jGLZA
Loba
TeamZer0
thaivuN
Bokutachi no BLOG 
Well America already has a bazillion fangirls, so it’s not like he has to do anything.
The manga’s author went to an art school in New York so it was more about his experience with the weather in that it may look nice outside but it’d still be really cold.
Also there was a strip in the manga about the alien landing in Roswell, New Mexico. America became friends with the alien and he now lives at his house.
It’s a reference on contrast on the country weathers… USA apparently has pretty harsh conditions compared to Japan, as the author spent quite some time in the former, and the attitudes of Japanese and Americans in those seasons reflect this.
As for the alien. His name is Tony. Showed up in Roswell. Lived with America ever since.
The aliens name is Tony, he has a very foul mouth and hates the English, his catchphrase being “Fucking–” or “FUCKING LIMEY!!” XD
That was a dissapoint…I think I was frowning the whole time…. >.< The only think I liked about it was seeing Tony in an episode for once…..
Well I got the whole ‘colder and more miserable winters in America’ bit, but to stretch out for the entire episode on a joke that wasn’t even funny in the first place was too much. As for Tony, way to go Deen for alienating your audience. FFS, don’t fucking assume that everyone who’s watching this is a manga maniac. would it have hurt to stuck in a little explanation for Tony before randomly tossing him in? Stupid f******** ***** ***** ***** ***** morons
Yeah, you get my point
Ugh, I hope the movie isn’t layed out like this…. -__-‘
Yes, you’re right- for those of us who have seen Tony in the manga know all about him and he was probably a welcome presence among us fangirls/boys. But for those who have only be watching the anime….well, yeah. America could have least tossed in a line like- “Now the lightbulb’s broken! Aren’t you scared, Tony?” Or some other shit like that….
Completely unrelated to your review but… I figured I’d comfort you by telling you that I personally know at least seven male Hetalia viewers in person. You’re not alone.
Yeah, i was wondering, too, why they didn’t introduce tony first. But i lol’d when Tony said a line. XD
Well, it was a fun episode, although not really that funny. But i was smiling the whole time at America for being too energetic (and not having anything to channel out that energy), and at Japan for being a busybody during the holidays xD. Such a busy person/country Japan is. xD
I lol’d at America’s “Comedy movie” line though. xD
Oh, might as well add that i have influenced 3 male friends to watch Hetalia and they like it. The other one’s a History fan, so he got interested. The other one likes Chibitalia. @__@
Oh, and if you want to know about Tony, you can read this strip: http://aph.starry-sky.com/lim.html
:3
@Humanity_Cat
To be honest, this episode is a rare blip in this season of Hetalia. I think there’s only been two poor episodes out of the last 10 (guess what, they both contained Japan)
@Siri
I can’t get any of my friends to watch anime, let alone watch Hetalia. They all like other activities. Like consuming alcohol.
@blissfullynaive
Actually I also grinned at the ‘comedy movie’ line seeing as what they’d just announced. As for your friend who likes Chibitalia, you should disown him. NAOW!!!
Too bad they never show the funny sides of Japan in the anime…
Like his awesome Loser!Japan side.
When he sudenly snaps and claims how he only likes it in 2D!(If ya know what I mean)
2D will rule the world! “TAKE IT! IT WON’T DAMAGE YOUR BODY THAT WAY, but your heart, a little…”
…Or something like that.
Or his weat daydreams about Switzerland only being a country of cheese, frolicking with Switzerland in a Heidi dress, goats and Yodel songs in the background.
Or his compulsion to take photos to everything.
I have to agree, Japan has quite a number of funny strips in the webcomic. xDD
And yes, that strip about his image of Switzerland! He was thinking Switzerland’s someone who would wear a Heidi-like dress (playing with goats and mountains and all). xD
The strip where he didn’t know how to cook/use pasta was funny too. (He tried planting them .__.’)
@chibitalia friend/topic: But you know, now that i think about it, Chibitalia is sooo darn cute, i can’t hate that segment now. (_ _)m)
Yeah I don’t hate Chibitalia.
But it was getting really annoying in the anime.
They dragged it for SO LONG.
But I though it was great in the manga, they should have made it in just one episode or something like that.
Also, hey have someone already listened to the new France charac. songs? WIN
The ending of the Paris song makes me want to pull my hair and roll in the floor, but in a good way.
Hmm.. I have to agree, the anime did drag the whole thing waaaay to loooong.
Considering the show is just for 5 minutes, people would really want the good stuff to pour in quickly. And slowing the pace will make it dull. OTL
I re-read the whole Chibitalia comic a while ago (in fact, i’m re-reading almost all of the webcomic, for some strange reason) and i find it really, really cute. Especially the ones after the Chibitalia comic (the extra ones: Christmas, bathing in the river, cat festival, etc). I dunno.. It’s really, really cute. m(_ _)m Ah~ Chibitalia. No wonder Spain wanted you sooo much. xD If only they compiled it into one episode or two. 😦
Hey, what if the movie’s like.. a better compilation of the series? Or liek a compilation + better animation or sth + longer/more scenes? Haha.. Wouldn’t that be weird? If it turns out like that, i don’t know what to think. But i think i’d love it, still, just because it’s Hetalia. >___<. And it's really way past my bedtime, so i guess i'll check that tomorrow. But thanks for the tip though! 😀 Thanks, thanks~!
(Ah, i've typed sth long again. OTL Gomen.)
@__@ I re-read my last post and i noticed that it’s cut. Perhaps i typed sth too long. So it got cut.
But anyway, if i may continue.. (after “just because it’s Hetalia. >____<).
Ah! It got cut again! D: !!!
If this gets cut, i promise this will be the last follow up reply. OTL (pls stop making mistakes, bliss).
Eh?! So France’s character songs our already out? I haven’t checked my lj for any Hetalia updates and i usually forget about dates (so it’s out now?), and it’s waaaay past my bedtime, so i guess i’ll check it out tomorrow. But thanks for the tip though. Thanks~ thanks~ ^^/
(Ahh~ I hope this works. For some strange reason, the part where i talk about France’s character song gets cut x__x).
Japan has been pretty funny on occasion. It’s just that he has a greater percentage of poor episodes than any other character, bar maybe China.
Please, lets not bring up Chibitalia. You’ll start me on another rant. My older posts are full of those rants. It was mildly cute for an episode or two but started getting really frustrating once it dragged on.
I really wouldn’t like to see a re-hash of the series. If you ever download the dvd rips (or buy the anime if it ever gets liscenced) then you’ll see that the animation quality is higher than that of these crappy web-rips. I’d like the movie to be entirely new content but I’m not sure how they’ll make it work. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
@blissfullynaive
I think that if you use lots of type things then it messes with the code and cuts off your comment. I know that’s the case on some other sites.
Yes, Japan’s not funny in the anime… He has some pretty funny stripes in the webcomic, but it was a fail when they brought him over to the anime. -_-‘
I didn’t think it was that bad. Not rolling on the floor funny like most episodes, but still pretty good.
Being a Northeasterner (American) I could definitely relate to the weather and the attitude we take during winter and early spring. And I liked the contrast about how Japan and America have different attitudes about winter, very true at least with NE Americans.
One more male Hetalia fan chiming in. I love history, I love anime, how could I not be a fan? I even cosplayed as America at the last local anime con I went to. Hmmm, not sure one should admit to cosplaying, maybe I’m just that far gone…
@ExecutiveOtaku: As someone who have tried a couple of cosplays, i think that’s great! 😀
Especially that you’re male. I dunno.. i have high regards to males who cosplay. Prolly that’s just a perspective from a cosplayer.
@Scamp: Well, i really don’t know when the series will end, so i was a bit worried if they might ran out of strips to animate for the movie (although i think that’s kind of impossible, considering they will plan this project really good, hopefully). In the end, i just want the movie to not suck. u__u
On another note, France is really funny.
@ExecutiveOtaku
For some reason I’d always assummed you were a girl…
@blissfullynaive
I think France is quite possibly the most under-rated character in the series. He doesn’t do a huge amount but pretty much everything he does do is hilarious. When this series comes to an end I’ve got some ideas for some general Hetalia posts, one of them being a list of my favorite characters in the series.
@Scamp
It’s like I’m not being acknowledged as a man! I’m in despair! The internet getting the wrong impression of me has left me in despair!
I guess I’ll have to start making ecchi comments about every female character and blogging Queen’s Blade to demonstrate my male-ness to the internet. Heh, I have a friend who called me “cold” because I don’t make comments to my friends about every attractive girl I see, lol. I generally keep such thoughts to myself so as to not seem uncouth. Could you possibly guess why I like Fumie?
@ExecutiveOtaku
I think it’s because you commented on a Hetalia post. My brain automatically makes the assumption that anyone other than myself who watches Hetalia = Girl. The reason why I make a fair few ecchi comments in Sora no Manimani is, after blogging Hetalia for so long, I felt the need to assert my manliness a bit more.
And we all know why you like Fumie. hur hur hur (perverted laugh)
~blissfullynaive
The series is 26 episodes long. 🙂 I’d hope to see the Halloween stripe animated, but with Studio Deen we’d be lucky to see it by January….hurrhurr.
I think America’s Birthday/Fourth of July stripe would be funny…but I don’t know how “age appropriate” Deen’s going for…but the extra small condoms is one of my favorite jokes between Russia and America, lol.
~ExecutiveOtaku
Haha, be happy you cosplay! Not many males do that, I’ve only seen like two…so stand proud and tall! XD Of course this comes from someone who’s never cosplayed before…buttttt…….
I think Japan is often funny in his reactions to others, or his reactions to whatever’s happening – kind of like how Germany is. Japan’s personality is reticent (read: repressed), so it’s hard to have him be funny in an extroverted way like America is most of the time. That said – this WAS a weirdly unfunny episode and yes, I also would have liked some intro as regards Tony the alien… Maybe this was a little throwaway episode for the home crowd (Japanese fans), as it mostly featured their quiet little guy, Japan. 😉
Eh, Japan’s not that bad… I mean one of my fave comics has him, England and the Harry Potter spoiler shirt.
@Jan Suzukawa
I touched upon the idea before that Japans jokes are more subtle because the anime is originally geared towards a Japanese audience. So while Japanese jokes hit home for Japanese viewers, international viewers don’t find his jokes quite as funny. He certainly can be funny though. My personal favorite Japan strip was in the Xmas episode where he said Xmas has been turned into a comercial affair with a thought bubble of him saying ‘Ganbarre, we will sell as much as we can’
I think you’re right about the Japanese jokes working well for the home audience (while the rest of us scratch our heads). I think my favorite Japan strip so far is the one where Germany is changing the Axis Powers’ diets, and Japan looks quite desperate at the idea of giving up his salted mackerel…
Scampy, I’ll tell you something that will make you smile: Next episode… G-R Nonagression pact
i lol’d at Japan where he thanked Santa!Finland for the Christmas gift he gave him, even though he isn’t a Christian and all. xDDD
Oh, right! That Harry Potter strip! That was funny as well. xDDD
Now that i think about it, Japan has quite a lot of funny strips (although not that many compared to the others). I think Deen’s not really showing the character well.