I watched this latest episode of Hetalia on Youtube. I thought I had long since moved on from watching anime there but the site I direct download my anime from seems to forget that the latest episode of Hetalia airs quite often. I would be using BitTorrent but the University blocks file-sharing. I could scour the internet for loopholes in this but I’m afraid that if I do find one the secret police will come crashing through my window, although I’m sure my insurance should cover the window at least. If this was any other anime other than Hetalia I would be extremely annoyed but Hetalia is a webcast anyway. Guess what folks? The youtube stream is exactly the same quality of the download! I might try taking screenshots from youtube next time to see if the quality changes much.
Enough of my streaming exploits, onto this particular amazing instalment of Hetalia.
This episode of Hetalia was about one of my absolute favourite topics in history in the world: Propaganda! God, I’m such a history geek…I didn’t actually expect Hetalia to start covering this at all so I was delighted when I copped on as to what the topic of this episode was. The first part was the ‘paint Mount Fuji red’ campaign the Americans had to demoralise the Japanese people. Yet again, this is Japanese history that I’m afraid I only know a very tiny amount about (I tried Wikipedia but all I found out was that the forest at the base was a thrillseekers and suicides). I knew it existed and I knew it wasn’t very effective. The Japanese were widely patriotic nutters during WWII. Heard of Kamikaze pilots? Remember the fact that it took 2 atomic bombs to get them to surrender? Because one city reduced to rubble wasn’t enough. Yeah, I’m not being very politically correct here but it’s OK, this is Hetalia we are talking about!
Hurrah for political correctness!
The second chunk of the episode was penis jokes. However these aren’t just your average penis jokes, oh god no! These, like everything in Hetalia, are founded in historical accuracy. Nothing Hetalia has told us thus far hasn’t been grounded in fact so why are we stop believing them when they are referring to genitalia? That would be hypocrisy. So let’s trust the Hetalia author’s wide knowledge of international penile variances and conclude that Americans truly do have much smaller penises (the plural of penis…penii?) than the Russians.
(In case you were wondering, the Irish are somewhere in between the Americans and the Russians)
However my favourite part of the episode by an absolute mile was the depiction of the reverse propaganda with England and France in a version that could only possibly be thought up by Hetalia. That entire 2 minute scene was one of those glorious moments that Hetalia can occasionally produce that leaves me gasping for breath. The image of France and England dressed up in Men in Black costumes, spreading rumours that Germany does all these awful things (probably sexual, knowing France). Then France’s reaction to the idea of being mean to Italy (proving yet again that France is probably the unsung hero of this anime) and Germany being all moe yet again. Oh god, I laughed until I couldn’t breath. And there was me thinking the return of chibitalia had signaled a dip in form in Hetalia. Oh what a fool I was.
You can forget that propaganda is not just totalitarian regimes and that good old democracy’s engage in it too. So to finish up, and forgive me for being a history geek yet again, but let me post a youtube video of some American propaganda in 1946 that they showed to American soldiers before they went into Germany (if you’re impatient you can skip to 1:40 and watch til you get bored in order to get the point of the movie). Why am I posting this you ask? Because we all love political correctness here don’t we!
blindability
Brian
Poro
jGLZA
Loba
TeamZer0
thaivuN
Bokutachi no BLOG 
There are quite a few strip about propaganda, actually.
But if they put them together I suposse it will look kinda random, and people will bitch about it.
It’s because France proclaims himself to be everyone’s nii-chan!
Even if China and probably Russia are older than him, lol.
Especially with N. Italy, so he couldn’t talk bad about him.
…I love France’s ghey crying. 😀
And the AIDS thing isn’t supossed to be there. lololol
I still wish they animate propaganda posters instead… but oh well. XD
As for painting Mt. Fuji red:
http://www.strategypage.com/cic/reader.asp?target=CIC32
The AIDS thing is just translation license. France did not said that line at all.
OH FRANCE, YOU WOULD DEFFNITLY KNOW HOW FAST AIDS SPREADS
Ohmygoshi, when I saw that they were doing one of my favoritest stripes in the webcomic (how to reduce your enemy’s willpower America-style) I nearly shouted *uck Yeah! outloud with my parents i n the next room, lol.
The Russian condoms one is like an altimefavorite for me! XD Look! I’m so giddy that my writing style is seriously sucking right now!
I’ll post something more….better later….^^; )
Of course in the genitalia joke its wasnt that Russian genitalia was any bigger than american (since when is that decided by nationality?), it was a demoralizing move against the soviets that backfired.
Okay, I think I’ve calmed down enough… ^ ^;
So in response to lol, this was actually based on a WWII even I believe….give me a second, I think there’s a link posted on the stripe…
Yes, yes…Japan’s joke was actually based on a ‘secret’ event during the Pacific War, which most of you probably know was during WWII. (This was included the Pearl Harbor attack if you need a referance) I guess the Americans came up with this fantastic plan to paint Mt. Fuji (which was a symbol for Japan in a way) entirely red….but it backfired when they realized how much fricken paint it would take to accomplish said goal.
Now for Russia’s, I’m not exactly sure if this was a real event…the translator’s note at the end of the stripe suggests it was a legend, but I have no idea…this is what it says:
‘During the Cold War, America gave out XL-sized condoms to Russia
so that the citizens would lose their confidence.
I love the legend of Russia’s returned goods being too small.
T/N3: …They gave out “XL” sized ones with the premise that Russia’d think their
wankers were inferior to America’s… Totally backfired though~ HAHA lolwhut?
T/N4: legend = story. mehh.’
So I’m not too sure. 😉 It still remains one of my favorite Hetalia stripes….bwahaha. So let’s just say that it shows how infurrior (sp) America’s sex life is compared to Russia’s. ;P I wonder what size Prussia would need…. *waggles eyebrows*
And like Heyheyho mentioned, France is everyone’s nii-chan. ^ ^
Even if the AIDs joke was a mistranslation, it was still pretty damn funny. XD
Hey, Feliciano opened his eyes! O_O For a moment, I thought he woke up and opened his eyes and looked happy because… HE’D REMEMBERED HIS DREAM ABOUT BEING CHIBITALIA IN BED WITH HRE! But… I guess he was just happy because he’d opened his eyes for a change. It doesn’t take much to make Feliciano happy. 😉
As to the condom joke… I will, repeat, I WILL learn the metric system… someday soon.
And YouTube can surprise you with quality pixilage sometimes.
And where the hell is China, anyway? There are supposed to be five Allies! We haven’t seen China in ages!
It was weird seeing Italy’s opened eyes, but it’s cute nonetheless. xDD
And lol@France. Hahaha.. i love every Hetalia part he had. xDD
He prolly feels sorry for Italy. xDD ❤
I really didn't know much about propaganda during WWII, so i'm glad i learned some of it from Hetalia.. xD
Uwaaah~ i wonder what the next episode is.
@heyheyho
I don’t think Deen have ever really cared about people bitching about their product, especially seeing as what they’ve done with it thus far.
As for AIDS…was that even said in the anime or is that fansubbers being stupid?
@anon
Are you the same guy who comments every other week? If so can you pick a more original name so I can tell you apart from other random anons
@luffyluffy
HURRAH FOR ALL CAPS
@Humanity_Cat
That sounds exactly like the sort of thing the Hetalia author would do. Read a random bit of information, think it’s funny and make a strip out of it. It actually kinda confirms what kind of person I thought the Hetalia author was. Typical of Deen to leave out the all important authors notes. I think I’m gonna start reading the manga strips now, at the very least just to get a feel for them.
@Jan Suzukawa
Well when it comes to penis lengths I guess a lot of people still use the imperial system. It’s kinda hard to picture 25cm off the top of my head…
@blissfullynaive
Well then I’m glad Hetalia is teaching you something…in it’s own weird way
I found this pretty funny as well! I remember reading the comic strips- my favourite by far were France and England. And really, political correctnes… Hetalia is a nice break from that, if only for five minutes.
Well if you still haven’t checked up on how long 25cm is, I do know around the size in INCHES that is as I’m a little familiar with centimeters….stupid America has to use the stupid measurement system… -__-++
Ahem, but anyways, 25cm is roughly equal to 10in. ;)See why I asked?
~Jan Suzukawa
I know!!! Where is my Jao?!?!?!
~Blissfullynaive
It took me a moment to figure out what was different at the beginning of the episode I’m ashamed to say…than I’m like OMFG FELICIANO OPENED BOTH HIS EYES!!!!!! o.O
~Scamp
Ohmygoshi, Scamp is actually going to start reading the actual manga?!?!??!! I thought this day would never come!
(continued from last post…sorry, I forgot to add this in and since it doesn’t have an edit button… -__- )
If you actually going to start reading the webcomic I suggest this site:
http://www.aph.starry-sky.com
You can still go to the LiveJournal scandelations, but if you’re not a member of the community you can’t get access to some of the stripes….but both sites are pretty much laid out in the same way.
hey Scamp, remember that Christmas episode with Finland?
http://nicosound.anyap.info/sound/sm8718089
Your wish has been granted~
@Scamp:
Thaaaaaat’s exactly our Himaruya for ya!
OMGAWD NO WAI you will read the manga?
Awesome! (I don’t even know why i’m so happy about this…!)
@luffyluffy
WHAT. WAS. THAT.
WHAT.
I swear, I don’t read the hetalia community for just ONE DAY and…
That was Ludwig SINGING CHRISTMAS CAROLS
@Scamp: Yay! Read the webcomic! 😀 It’s more fun and informative than the anime. Although i love the anime because of the voices.. ❤
@Humanity Cat: I use that site too! It's nicely arranged~! And it's the same as those posted in LJ since the admin and the members of that site are LJers too. So yeah, i recommend that too. xDD
@Luffyluffy: I haven't been updating and checking the Hetalia comm in LJ, so thank you sooo much for that link!!!!!!!! You know, i had to pause it because i couldn't type properly. I was spazzing and stuff hahahaha. Hurrah for Christmas Hetalia songs hahaha xDDD (now i know what to play on Christmas parties).
I love the Hetalia comm in LJ sooo much.. ❤
(and i love this place too hahaha)
@blogger
I think that’s probably why I enjoy blogging Hetalia. It’s fantastic to get away from political correctness.
@Humanity_Cat
10 inches eh…that’s pretty darn big you crazy Russians.
Ah, I’ve heard of that site. Guess it’s time to stop reading Yotsuba and get down to reading Hetalia. God, I’m never going to get back to watching Gintama am I?
@heyheyho
Ah I knew his name…it is a he right? I’ve always felt, even with the bishies, that ths was written by a man.
@blissfullynaive
LJ appears to be a far more fangirly type of place compared to, say, Animenano is. LJ is more community based, nano is personalities who are all vying for attetion. And I’m part of that’community’ but with the remarkable popularity of my Hetalia posts I’ve seen myself actually quoted on Livejournal community as well as Gaia Online. It’s been an interesting view into a different part of anime fandom
@luffyluffy
I think I’ll save that song for when Christmas comes around. It’s not that far away now 🙂
The LJ Hetalia comm is really nice. The people share updates and stuff, and they translate and do lots of things for the Hetalia fans. It’s really nice. I mean, they really share and they’re friendly. So i like it there so much. :3
Oh, Animenano. I’ve heard of it, but i really don’t know what it’s like. D:
@that Christmas song: I can’t stop listening to it. Doitsu singing a Christmas song? Hahaha.. It’s all serious business to him, really. Japan sounds.. amazing! @__@ Maybe because he loves Chrismas so much. Hahaha..
Now i can’t wait for Christmas.. ;__;
I know, isn’t it a great site? I like how it’s laid out…very nice. XD A little less confusing than the LiveJournal site I think….but like someone said (sorry, I’m trying to type without my crazy friend looking), the LiveJournal community is pretty nice…I got a LJ at some point, but I haven’t been on it forever, aha.
~Scamp
Aha, I know, right?! Exaggeration much?
Nope, we like preventing you from watching your other animes, bwahaha! I suggest reading the main comic first….than go onto the the non-linear ones…
Actually, LiveJournal isn’t too…nevermind, it prettymuch is, but it’s not too bad…a good place for the latest news. 😉
And I think I’m going to share Scamp’s hold on Germany…ah…singing.
PROPAGANDA IS A WONDERFUL THING!
I don’t care if the AIDS joke was a mistranslation…France is still my hero. XD I’m going as him to AnimeBoston this year…YEAH! But in his normal uniform. Not that he didn’t look pretty hot in that suit…%D
(Sorry Scamp, I’m spammin ur page with my fangirl fantasies)
I love Hetalia, but it keeps getting me weird looks in history class. Like today, when my teacher happened to mention in passing that the British hired Prussian mercenaries to help fight of colony!America…:O
I loved the ending clip of this episode, with America and Italy being the ditzes they are. Ah, those two…
ON A MORE RANDOM NOTE: IF ANYONE HAS EVER HEARD THE SONG ‘WONDERFUL WONDERFUL COPENHAGEN’ (There’s a link below.) IT SHOULD TOTALLY BE THE THEME OF THE COPENHAGEN CLIMATE SUMMIT. YES. (I think world events are more interesting when you put the characters to their countries…like Russia and Germany mad at America because of the Opel deal. ^^)
I hope you all choke on sausages ❤
As for Hetalia ruining History class… Today, after a test in my American Connections class, we all got up and got magazines to read…
The Magazine was about the Berlin Wall.
Do you understand what happened after that? I alternated between going "Awwww~" to "HAHA, SOVIET UNION" to "BAAAWWWWW"
yeah that was me.
Er, I’ll call myself randomanon then. :p
And yeah, Himaruya Hidekaz is a guy. A lot of people got confused when found out too.
Yes, Himaruya Hidekaz is a dude, though many people have serious doubts over this. 😉
Lol, yeah, we were talking about reasons America wanted independance from Britain and in my head I’m like ‘Why did you leave him Alfred?! Why! Think of all the pain you caused! T.T’
Whoo! Go Hetalia! XD I’d be more able to apply my Hetalia knowledge if eigth grade wasn’t American History… -__- *grumbles to self*
@blissfullynaive
Animenano is an anime blog aggregator. Basically, when you add your blog to Animenano, the most recent posts of every blog will show up on the front page. It’s where a lot of blogs get a hell of a lot of hits. Obviously a lot of the blogs on there are fairly crap or report on stuff that’s happening in Japan, which I couldn’t care less about, but it’s a pretty cool site for finding anime blogs since nearly every single one worth mentioning is on there.
@Humanity_Cat
Where Animenano totally outstrips LJ is the quality of the writing. On places like LJ, Gaia Online and Deviant Art, a lot of what is said is incoherant rambling and fangirl squeeing. People compete on animenano which means they have to write better to attract readers. Essentially, it’s capatalist vs communist at it’s finest
(wow, that was a rather deep insight Scamp. I’ve got to remember that one)
@ksfwolfe
I think that part at the end of the episode was a preview for the next episode…I hope it is because I’d love to see America trying to figure out why people get annoyed by him
@luffyluffy
Hetalia helps your history! In my leaving-school exams this summer, I got an A in history so you lot are in good hands. I wonder how many of you will go onto study history thanks to Hetalia…
@randomanon
Good name indeed.
@Humanity_Cat
I always felt that this was a guys sense of humour. For some reason I don’t think a girl would write something so blatently bishie…I dunno how to put it. It’s like that if a girl writes a fanservice harem manga, they end up sorta playing the genre while simultaniously subverting it.
Sorry, I’m using too many big wurds and I’m not that sure what I’m even trying to say
~Scamp
Yes, that’s a good point as someone who comes from DeviantArt. 😉 A hell of a lotta fangirls squeeing there. XP I can certainly test for that. ^_-
Capitalist vs. Communist…interesting comparison….
You kind of lost me in your last two sentences…but I think i get the gist (how do you spell that? o.O )of what you’re saying…I never really thought about what gender the author was (I’m not Japanese or anything so I have no idea if that was a male or female name..) until I heard he was a guy, lol.
Although usually it’s the female who writes yaoi. 😉
not that there’s really too much yaoi in Hetalia, but it’s kind of hinted with Su-san/Finland and Germany/Italy….
Yep, I’m going to do History for my GCSE- we’re studying the world wars at the moment, and everytime I look at a map… I thought that Himuraya was a girl until I read somewhere he wasn’t… that kind of surprised me.
Oh yes, and I managed to convert two people I know to Hetalia (both girls), and I found one male fan on youtube.
I think LJ has good writing too. I saw a lot of Hetalia comm discussion posts that are
really informative. Some are fanart+discussion of History stuff, and it’s really entertaining
since it has images/fanmade comic strips. It’s really nice. Although there are a lot of fanfics (haven’t read any, but i heard some are good), and not-so good fanarts, too. But i usually skip the not so good ones. xD
There was this post about Germany’s History (with images/4komas and stuff), it was really entertaining. Oh, and that post about England/UK and its culture and history. 😀
Oh, i prolly have read some blogs before that i found in animenano. I think i tried lurking there for a while. Haha.. xD
i also had this feeling that Himaruya’s a male, and well.. turns out he is (i think xD).
I wonder if an audio preview for ep 42 is out. D:
AHHHHH!!! Next episode is.. next episode is.. Belarus and Ukraine.. aaaahhhh!!! ❤
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!!!!! YESHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *fangirlsquee*
Yeah, there are some fan-fics that are really great *coughnonbymecough* out there, but most of them contain: yaoi, sex, or sexual themes. XD Actually, I think it was you Blissfullynaive (or Jan Suzukawa), who mentioned that you really like the pairing of Austria and Hungary and if you’re interested this is a nice fan-fic of the pairing…
–> http://ashitauchiha.deviantart.com/art/Hot-Tea-Ch-1-123292831
There are quite a few chapters but it’s one of my favorite fics of that pairing. 😉 I think you should be able to access it even if aren’t logged in/don’t have an account.
Aha, I got off topic, didn’t i… ^^;
I hear rumors, that Ukraines boobs have sound effects
@Humanity_Cat
Yes, it was me who said she liked Austria/Hungary. Thanks for the link!
I actually haven’t read too much Hetalia fanfic, although I really enjoy reading fan fiction in general. I think when writers use their country names instead of their human character names, it kind of throws me off (“Would you like some tea, Austria?” Hungary asked. That sort of thing.). Especially when they have such nice names anyway (Roderich and Elisaveta).
But here we fangirls are, co-opting Scamp’s fine post once again. Scamp, I guess we just can’t help ourselves! 😉
Well, I find when they OVER use the human names it’s irritating, which is why I write, I switch liberally 8D
@Humanity Camp: Yep, yep~! 😀 I just listened to the audio preview yesterday. And i literally cried. T__T Finally, Belarus and Ukraine. And then Russia’s MKC!!! I think Scamp will enjoy it. xDD (But i didn’t hear any kolkolkol in the song D: ). But Deen should animate Poland next. I think they will though. 🙂
Oh, i might try reading that. I haven’t really read any Hetalia fanfic yet haha.. I keep telling myself “I’ll read them when sem break starts” and it’s now the end of the break. OTL
I don’t read fanfics, actually, but i’ve read a couple of ones a few years ago (during my Samurai Champloo fangirling days) and some are quite nice. :3 I’ll try reading that, since AustriaxHungary is a nice pairing (kinda like reverse roles: Austria is the wife, Hungary the husband haha xD).
I don’t mind reading/using their country names. 🙂 Maybe it’s just me. xD
But i love their human names too. 😀
Can I haz 2000th comment?
Unrelated, so I’ll quickly make the comment related: loved the propaganda angle, and learned something too. That crazy idea about painting Mt. Fuji red. Ah the crazy things people thought of in WWII.
Congrats, I think. What shall we do for our 2000th commenter?
I was planning to do a compelation of all my favourite comments on Hetalia posts. Maybe as a re-imagining of that idea, I could post something about the best comments over the blog as a whole?
Best comment? The problem is the selection criteria. Is there even “best comment” to begin with? Unless, it’s a flaming comment, which can be funny IMHO.
@Brian
Unfortunately we haven’t gotten too many flaming comments. I wasn’t really going to pick out the ‘best’ comment, rather the ones that highlight something…or other. Besides, the best comment by far was the Israeli guy who wanted to help us build a Gundam
@luffyluffy
Yes, all the articles about the fall of the Berlin Wall have got me crying/laughing/crying and overusing the words ‘Prussia’ and ‘awesomeness’, which I don’t even think is a word…*wails* *giggles* AHHH!
@scamp
build a Gundam? XD I once got a smap email asking me if I wanted to help someone build an ‘explosion proof push-button station’ (go figure) But never a GUNDAM. This is new material here!
~Jan
No problem, she has cute fanfics, most of which are history based and I like that. 🙂
~Luffy
It depends for me…some I have to check who they’re talking about if I don’t immediatly reconize it, lol. I know, I’m a bad fangirl. XD
~Blissfullynaive
Yeah, some are pretty b-not so good, but I always enjoy the well though-through ones. ^^
Whoo! 2,000 comments! Seriously? o.O Never saw that one coming….
Someone mentioned that it would be great if Deen animated the whole WWII propaganda strip. Now that i think about it, that would be really great1 I forgot who exactly (was it England? Or France?), but i lol’d at that propaganda poster about Germany and Italy’s lovey dovey relationship! LOL (did i remember that right? xD)
The bit about Russia’s poster “looking so nice, but not understandable” cracked me up, too. xDD
And woah?! 2000 comments?! xD Hurrah! Congratulations. :3
@blissfully naive: It was France, making Germany/Italy porn, er, posters. :p
I love Hidekaz’s reactions on the posters (he likes Britain’s and Finland’s, but couldn’t understand Russia’s) too.
No, the joke isn’t that American penises are smaller, it’s that we don’t understand the difference between centimeters and inches. xD We don’t understand the metric system. And yes, they teach us in SCHOOL about American propaganda.
Was I the only one who noticed that in the English dubbed version, when Italy asked Germany if it was true he hated him, his comment was, “No, I don’t hate you. All lies. In fact, Ich liebe dich.” That means I love you in German 😀 !!!