Let's Have a Talk: Hetalia

A couple of weeks ago our class got into a debate relating to one of the most recognizable anime I have ever seen. I wanted to express the rest of my thoughts on this post, since I have a hard time expressing myself in class and after a couple of days have gone by, I have realized why I have turned against this piece. 

This anime, Hetalia, is known throughout the world for its representation of countries as human beings with emotions and handsome faces. As a former avid fan, I was lured into it because I have never seen a show that aimed at representing countries and history through personalities. However, I was a naive 10 year old who was unable to recognize what was wrong with this show. In my mind, I just wanted a historical piece that would be fun and lighthearted and this was it. I was deep into my anime craze and I wanted a show that would appeal to my taste. I have NOT seen the show in 8 years, but something I realized while watching small snippets during the Hetalia presentation, was how morally wrong some of the things mentioned and acted were. 

Lets start with the fact that this show is pretty much stereotyping a whole country. We live in an era were we have to realize that one person does not equal a whole country. A blond, idiotic, egotistical character should not represent America. A cold hearted, tall blond man does not represent Germany. A dumb, childish, and cowardly man does not represent Italy. It goes without saying that boiling down a whole country to a single person is absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention that by doing so the audience, which is usually that of a younger age, will start to relate these wrongful personalities with the countries themselves. 

By minimizing the historic impact of each country to a funny skit of countries interacting with each other, one can argue that this show can damage the viewer's view of the world. Yes, while throughout history satire has been used as a part of social commentary, Hetalia can not be compared to the same. Hetalia mainly focuses on the World War II countries and their relationship while setting them in a somewhat modern time period. There is no logical way in which that can work out. How can you grab a historical event that has already happened and has had a major impact in our modern day, and make a "lighthearted" remark about it. Satire is meant to be a commentary DURING the time period, not after. Therefore, this show has no real commentary about it other than romanticizing the stereotyping of countries and undermining millions of deaths and actions. NOT TO MENTION, that the show represents most of these countries as male, when in reality countries are comprised of men AND women. 

All this aside, the art style is not the best and while it matches the "lighthearted" nature of the show, it is not something I am drawn to outside of the story.