Hetalia Axis Powers episode 45

Well that was a long wait wasn’t it. That’s what happens when an episode gets released earlier than scheduled. The original pleasure of getting the next episode early gives way to the extra-long wait for the next episode to arrive. All things considered, I’d like my episodes to be released on time. No later. No earlier. What goes up must come down folks.

So this episode was an entire episode about the relationship between Liechtenstein and Switzerland (why do I always start off by telling you what happened in the episode. You’ve seen the bloody thing, you already know) and you know what’s remarkable? It worked. An entire episode of cuteness and it worked. I know, I can hardly believe it myself. I think the reason is because instead of the show simply playing the characters off each other doing the same cute stuff over and over again, it got straight back the history aspect of their relationship. Switzerland takes in Liechtenstein, expecting nothing in return and simply out of his own goodwill, it makes for a charming story. I know I said the relationship between the two countries could be described as big Swiss taking care of itty bitty Liech but I didn’t know the extent of the history and how much goodwill the Swiss apparently had towards Liechtenstein. It’s cute, it worked and I had a big soppy grin plastered across my face by the end of the episode, and this is coming from a guy who’s usually oblivious to cuteness.

Something was bugging me throughout the episode though. Do these female voice actors take helium so they can reach that pitch? Liechtenstein is voiced by good old Kugi Rie who also voices Shana, Taiga etc.  Normal pitch voice generally. I can’t see how she is capable of reaching that level without some sort serious amplification. If not, then are there people in Japan who actually sound like that? Do they do it to impress men or do they naturally sound like that? Seriously, try to go that high yourself. I obviously can’t try because I’m a guy and have a deep sexy Pavarotti-esque voice but any ladies out there give it a shot. Any dub actor who is given the task of voicing Liechtenstein has my full sympathy.

Since there’s really very little to talk about with regards to the actual episode at hand, I’m going to bring this post around to a subject I’ve been wanting to cover with Hetalia. licencing. Hetalia sells well. Very well. I’m a big geek and check the dvd sales every week (Otaku are still buying Endless Eight) and Hetalia constantly makes the charts. If it was released outside Japan it would also sell. It’s got hot guys, an ingenious concept and a solid fanbase. However with all the controversy that surrounded this series you’d have to wonder whether anyone would dare touch it. It’s not just Koreans, there are people out there from every country who genuinely think this show is dangerous. They’re all twats and we know that, but they could be a potential barrier to a release.

Totally unrelated topic now but I strongly recommend you to listen to this weeks ANNCast. The ex-head of marketing at Geneon explains the clusterfuck that was the anime industry a few years ago. I was tempted to make an entire post pushing readers to listen to it but decided to simply pimp it in other episodic posts. Lets just say it’s the most amazing piece I’ve ever read/listened to about anime since…ever. No really.