Yuuka and Russia, two psychos made for each other.

The World History remade as a sitcom with yaoi undertones

In spring 2008, or was it summer, myself, Xena, Aaron and a couple of people in IRC joked about the world and what would happen if you made United States of America the harem hero while the others countries would be the babes swooning over him. England would be the drill-haired related-by-blood big sister who is tsundere for America and can’t cook. France would be that haughty artsy rival of England who can cook and gets into troubles at the worst times (especially against the dutiful Germany). Potential yandere would be Russia. The hot blonde babe with big bust would be Sweden who would wreck everyone’s houses on a whim after drinking too much ale, a throwback to her viking ancestry. Norway would be the rather conservative christian who is secretly a black metal musician who occasionally lost her christian composure at the wrong time at the Sunday mass. Etc…

What I did not know is that there was a webcomic that took the premise of anthropomorphized countries and ran crazy with it. Hetalia.

The anime came, after the controversy from Korea, and the first episode struck me as cute but not so impressive. So I left it in the dust until I decided to check it again. And I sat through all episodes that were released.

It’s hard to write about 15ish episodes clocking all between 3.50 and 4.00 minutes. So much, yet so little happened in it. I think this is how an episode of Hetalia feels in general. But Hetalia grew on me and I soon forgot all about the yaoi undertones of the show, because they are here. However, they are well integrated in the show and don’t feel they are here for the hell of it. I can’t say the same about some shows featuring yaoi or yuri.

The history of the world, the starting point for Hetalia being the Roman Empire, is retold as a gigantic sitcom, even tho the main focus of Hetalia is World War II, with a few scenes telling the story/life of the mighty Austrian Empire, or America cleaning his house (and teasing us with flashbacks to the War of Independence).

When I said sitcom, I am not really joking. Nearly all the stereotypes you know about your country and the others are played straight in Hetalia. Germany being serious ALL the fucking time? Check. Italy being frivolous? Check. Russia having psychotic fits? Check. France being a loudmouth? Check. The humor in Hetalia is cute, harmless and easy to take. This is not the kind of humor you find in Married with Children or South Park. Each episodes worth the 3~4 minutes of chuckles.

And this certainly don’t justify Korea’s hissy fit.

What we have seen in the first season could be an appetizer for the second season to come. I do hope that the second season of Hetalia will come with the extended cast. Because what I have read about Taiwan and the Scandinavian countries looks to be cool.

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