Episode 48

The forty-eighth episode of Hetalia: Axis Powers was broadcast on December 18th, 2009. It adapts The Long-Awaited Deep Emotion Is Ruined from the first published volume of the manga, as well as strips from Chapter 2: Allied Forces and Chapter 3: G-R Nonaggression Pact? from the webcomic. It also loosely adapts the strip In Vienna.

Plot Summary
Austria plays his piano while Hungary stands at his side and listens to his music. Suddenly, both hears Italy singing Marukaite Chikyuu; when they go to check, they see that Italy has become a teenager, though "her" voice was still high-pitched and childish...

Let's Play Soccer!
Italy and Germany are sitting on a bench. Germany is trying to read, but Italy continues to interrupt him by asking to play soccer. Then, Italy starts to bat Germany's hand between his own hands (to imitate a soccer ball) and suddenly makes a strange gesture. Germany becomes aggravated and demands to know what Italy wants from him, to which a confused Italy simply responds, "Ve?".

The Long-Awaited Deep Emotion Is Ruined
A sick England is shown to be bedridden while the Grim Reaper hovers from behind. America bursts in and asks if Germany was the cause of injury. The feverish, weakened England replies that he was developing a weapon called the Panjandrum and begins to talk about a drunk Scotsman before trailing off. A tearful America tells England that he can't die, adding that the latter still owes him money.

England tells America that, even though they spent all their time fighting, he didn't exactly hate him. England tries to say more but falls silent as the Reaper covers his mouth with its hand. America looks down at the unresponsive England and smacks his head multiple times to make sure he's dead while the Grim Reaper floats over. After verification, America expresses elation that England has finally died and invites the Reaper to go to a bar and celebrate. This causes a shocked England to bolt up from the bed; America then tells the Reaper he knew England would wake up if he said that.

Helmetalia
Germany, who is tired of Italy being risky in training, orders him to put on a safety helmet. Italy apologizes, and throws the helmet down to the ground. Germany then becomes angered and orders Italy to put the helmet on, forcing it on to his head. Italy bursts into tears and apologizes again as he takes the helmet off. He explains that whenever he wears a helmet, he feels like he'll get shorter. Germany assures him that he won't, as their height difference is highlighted: Germany is 180cm, while Italy is 172cm.

In Vienna
Austria and Hungary watch the teenage Italy sing Marukaite Chikyuu, as "she" stands in front of a window. As Italy gets to the verse about toasting with a boot, "her" voice suddenly breaks, becoming that of an adult male. Austria and Hungary stare in shock, and Italy falls silent, frowning in confusion. He then smiles and finishes the song, singing it in his new adult voice.

Post-Credits Teaser
Italy is excited that his voice changed, and Hungary congratulates him on growing up. As the two share their excitement, Austria remains confused, as a caption explains that he always thought Italy was a girl.

Austria then holds up a dress shirt. When Hungary notes his confusion, he explains that he had a feeling that this would happen. A caption then reads that Austria went out to buy boys' clothes afterwards.

A note reads "To be continued".

Character Appearances

 * Italy
 * Germany
 * America
 * England/UK
 * Austria
 * Hungary

Voice Cast

 * Italy: Daisuke Namikawa
 * Germany: Hiroki Yasumoto
 * America: Katsuyuki Konishi
 * England/UK: Noriaki Sugiyama
 * Austria: Akira Sasanuma
 * Hungary: Michiko Neya
 * Teenage Italy (pre-voice break): Aki Kanada

English Dub Cast

 * Italy: Todd Haberkorn
 * Germany: Patrick Seitz
 * America: Eric Vale
 * Britain: Scott Freeman
 * Austria: Chuck Huber
 * Hungary: Luci Christian
 * Teenage Italy (pre-voice break): Brina Palencia

Trivia

 * A new eyecatch featuring Austria is used in this episode.


 * The original In Vienna strip had Hungary bring Italy to Austria to deliver the news of him hitting puberty (and his voice breaking), rather than Austria and Hungary witnessing it together. In the original strip, Austria was confused as to why he suddenly heard another man in the house and figured it was a guest. However, the ending of the strip remains the same, with Austria realizing that the younger Italy was in fact a male.


 * This is the second episode to highlight the height difference between Italy and Germany, the first episode to do so was Episode 11 (which adapted the strip Germany vs. Italy).


 * The fansubbed version by gg subs is notable (and controversial) for subbing Italy's lines about his voice as "Cool! My voice changed! I sound like a fag!" and "I sound like a fag! I really do!" whereas the appropriate translation would have been along the lines of "My voice sounds strange (odd/weird) !". This alteration is presumably a joke and/or prank on their part.
 * However, in the English Dubbed episode, Italy comments on his voice with "I kinda sound like a homo, don't I?" and "Homo!" while Hungary agrees and says how proud she is, both laughing with glee.
 * The first segment after the pre-opening teaser is adapted from Chapter 2: Allied Forces. The strip originally took place after Italy and Germany won a fight against France, only for France to get back up and start to beat up Italy.
 * The second segment was adapted from a strip in the first published volume, The Long-Awaited Deep Emotion Is Ruined. The Panjandrum was previously mentioned in England's character song, Pub and GO!.
 * The third segment is adapted from Chapter 3: G-R Nonaggression Pact? and originally took place after Italy's attempt at planting a landmine (which was adapted at the beginning of Episode 46).