Hetalia: Axis Powers (anime)

Axis Powers Hetalia is the anime adapation of Hidekaz Himaruya's manga of the same title, which premiered on Animate.Tv on January 24th, 2009. Directed by Bob Shirohata, the series is scheduled to run for 26 episodes. It is animated by Studio Deen.

Most of the storyline takes place between the 2 World Wars, however there are segments taking place in earlier times and the modern day as well. The anime is adapted from the published version of the manga, rather than the original webcomic, so early events like the forming of the Axis Powers have been condensed, and some storylines have been left out completely.

Characters
These are the characters that have appeared, or are slated to appear in the anime:

Axis Powers

 * North Italy
 * Germany
 * Japan

Allied Forces

 * America
 * England/UK
 * France
 * China
 * Russia

Others

 * Spain
 * South Italy (Romano)
 * Hungary
 * Austria
 * Lithuania
 * Poland
 * Latvia
 * Estonia
 * Belarus
 * Switzerland
 * Liechtenstein
 * Finland
 * Sweden
 * Greece
 * Belgium
 * Sealand
 * Ancient Rome
 * Holy Roman Empire

Episodes
Note: Most of the episodes had no titles when broadcast, unless they were shown in a next episode preview with one (as the case with episode 5)

1.Episode 01

2.Episode 02

3.Episode 03

4.Episode 04

5.Episode 05: Shouting S.O.S At The Center Of The World!

6.Episode 06

7.Episode 07

Controversy
The anime was originally slated to broadcast on Kids Station on January 24th, but the television airing was cancelled due to "various circumstances". It is believed that the South Korean protests of the series (and reported death threats to the TV station) played a part in the cancellation. The protests arose when an online petition was created to ban the series, due to complaints that the South Korean character was an offensive stereotype. The South Korean government proceeded to declare the series a "national crime", though Kids Station responded that there was no Korean character in the series.

A preliminary character design of South Korea, however, was shown in the early promotional images for the series, suggesting that at one point, he was slated to be included. South Korea can also be seen in the ending sequence, among the other characters on top of the world.