Part 1: What the Hell is a Hetalia Anyway? According to 15 seconds of rigorous online research Hetalia is a portmanteau of Japanese words for useless and Italy. Aside from the fact that this joke is fucking hilarious the Redditlike nature of it should clue you in as to what this anime is like. Hetalia is a show in which countries of the Second World War and some other periods of history are given human form. We then witness them interacting like how regular people would. Think those countryball comics but worse because this had to be approved by actual studio executives. It is an anime to be enjoyed by two groups of people: armchair historians who believe that 40k upvotes on r/historymemes is equivalent to a PhD in history and fans of light hearted slice of life with quirky cute boys. Unfortunately I read history books for fun and I care not for most laid back buddy comedies meaning that I do not fall into either camp. I have not enjoyed Hetalia. Hetalia is not a new phenomenon. Its an anime which has run its course and one that people seldom talk about nowadays. Just pretend for a minute that its 2013 and this review is in any degree relevant. Anyway Part 2: The Comedy I dont think its funny. Obviously comedy is subjective and all that and if you find Hetalia funny the last thing I want is to take that away from you I have just scarcely laughed at any of the jokes in this. Most of the humour in Hetalia is derived from national stereotypes. Germany is strict Italy is incompetent the USA is selfcentered France is gay and so on and so forth. Theres nothing inherently wrong with poking fun at ones identity Im not such a funhating goblin that I cant laugh at a funny joke about Croats or Catholics but thats the vast majority of what this shows comedy is. Enter anthropomorphic country anthropomorphic country says or does something wacky yet extremely characteristic end scene. There were a few jokes I liked. The narrator describing the Seven years itch war as Britain wanting to punch France in the balls was actually funny. The episode in which the Americans try to lower their enemies morales is my personal favourite because of how bizarre it was even if it does attempt to humanize Nazi Germany at the end. Belarus incestuous attitude towards Russia was neat? https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/878333835505442846/1122634897383759932/image.png If the show had played up its extremely bizarre nature and did something with its premise that isnt just goofy men but they have the names of countries it couldve actually been really funny. You can tell there was potential there but most of it went to waste. But the absolute worst offender was a joke that Germany cracks very briefly. If my memory serves me right Italy walks in and says I brought you something you wont like to which Germany responds with What is it? Another Jew? This is FUNNY because it makes fun of the mass death event in which TWO THIRDS of European Jews PERISHED. THATS SO FUNNY WHY ARENT YOU LAUGHING? The nature of this joke coincidentally brings me onto my larger more important point of why I dislike Hetalia. Part 3: Hetalia and Fascism Hetalia isnt just a show about WW2. It also focuses on the American revolutionary war the Thirty years war the Seven years war etc. However most of it is about WW2 which is what I will talk about now. Picture if you will what the anthropomorphic version of Hitlers Germany would look like. If you ask me it would be a large violent creature with eyes that scream nothing but bloodlust. He would move in mechanical ways carry terrifying weapons and would only exist to murder pillage and destroy. What does Hetalia give us? https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/820764119820926986/1122608125334261831/latest.png An upright honest handsome individual. Not just any man but the ideal blonde and blueeyed Aryan superman. This is what Hetalia: Axis Powers will have you believe Nazi Germany should be portrayed as. While Nazi Germany is this superior being America is accused of being the asshole of the world and the only character accused of genocide is Russia. There is no condemnation of the Holocaust instead it is laughed about. Italy on the other hand is a lovable goof. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/820764119820926986/1122611301064126575/latest.png He is this quirky jumpy ball of energy who is just so gosh darn cute and can cause absolutely no harm No. He is not cute. His bastard ass gassed Ethiopian civilians. He ran concentration camps for suspected Croatian communists and their families the interns of which couldve been executed without trial at any time. It happened on a smaller scale and is not as known about but Mussolinis Italy attempted genocide just as much as Hitlers Germany did. This goofball while militarily incompetent was a monster and should never be anthropomorphized as anything other than that. Part 4: Is Hetalia Fascist/Nazi Propaganda? Or Conclusion and Additional Thoughts No. Sort of. Also yes. Again sort of. Hetalia is not Triumph des Willens. It is not The Birth of a Nation. It is not a show that will explicitly tell your kids Fascism is cool Support it now It is above all a comedy about national stereotypes and I dont think the author intended it to be propaganda the main character a fascist is shown to be incompetent throughout. However it is a show that promotes the idea that the regimes of fascism and national socialism were in any way humane friendly and redeemable which is incorrect and dangerous. You could call this entire review a massive overreaction and you would probably be right. I mean Im as the kids today would say coping over a decade old anime that many today simply dont care about. A butthurt snowflake. A liberal beta cuck if you will. And its true. I do think that Hetalia is horribly offensive. It was naive of you to think that I have a clever witty thing with which to end this raving seething review. Goodbye.